Episode 2, Part 2: Into an Abyss of Horror [DONE]

[valadaar]

Riv was near overload.  Some much to see...

He absentmindedly started coiling his rope back up - perhaps they would leave differently then he expected. If not, he could always deploy it again, though something in the back of him mind warned this might not be the case.  He squelched that thought and instead lived in the moment.

He simply packed up and walked towards the strange craft, as if that were the only right and proper thing to do.

[dark_dragon]

Pausing up the ramp to gaze upon Helena with consideration, Cormac reflected her sly smile and replied:

"Major Sandstern. What a pleasant surprise it is to see a fine officer such as yourself in these troubled times. These are... Special operatives, recruited for their unique skills in..." Pausing, Cormac turned toward Riv and asked: "What can you do, actually? Besides attracting the oddest coincidences of course. "

Turning back towards his long time friend and lover he continued "Anyway, as I was saying, Major Sandstern, It is good to see you." At this, Cormac picked up Helena in his arms and kissed her. Feeling her lithe and muscular body against him once again was more than he had ever hoped for before dying. Of course a time would come for explanations, blame and accountability, but this was not such a time.

And for an instant, Cormac forgot that he was in the middle of a battlefield, in a ruined city, pursued by atrocities. He forgot the blood on his hands, and his sins committed. He forgot the flames and the scars. For an instant, He was home.

Putting her back down on the metal ramp reluctantly, he said nothing, but let her lead him inside, and saw how she casually gestured to Riv and Kiph to come onboard. Fate, it seemed, had taken a shine to his callous soul.

[Murometz]

Kiph entered the hovercraft gingerly, still keeping one eye on this Major Sandstern. Entering the leather and ox -room however, aroused Kiph in some fashion, and he finally managed to calm himself.

Turning back to Riv and Cormac (or whatever his name was), Kiph let out an audible sigh.

"Now THAT was a @!#$ing s**tSTORM!"

He laughed out loud for a moment, then turned to Sandstern. "I am called Kiph. This is Riv the Firestarter. You already seem to know Cormac here, or the Colonel, or whatever you call him" he wrinkled his nose, "Who are you and where are we going?"

He turned to Cormac then. "You have mated with this one before?"


A thousand thoughts ran through Kiph's mind, he was neurotic to the core, and his false bravado was a way for him to cope with the here and now.

[Bleak Wood Storyteller]

Helena relaxed for the first time in years, being swept up in the embrace of the love of her life. The scene stood in stark contrast to all those nights with the colonel. There had been no love, only brutal desire and cold rape. Keeping the colonel at bay emotionally had kept him interested, however, and she had avoided the fate most of his girls suffered; being handed out to his loyal bodyguards for their amusement.

"Cormac...", Helena whispered as he held her tightly. "I am in trouble. I... I killed the colonel a few days ago, but the pilot and the rest of the Gambit doesn't know that". She looked deeply into his eyes, he had been gone so many years. Who was he now? Did he still love her like she loved him?

Helena was introduced to Kiph and Riv then. and shaking of the hands of the pyromaniac she felt cold to the core of her soul. There was something terrifying about this man, a coldness to his eyes.

He wouldn't hesitate for a second before murdering me. It would be like eating breakfast for this man... A casual thing

Then she looked at Kiph again. There was something vaguely familiar about him. She had seen his face somewhere before, of that she was sure.

"Kiph, I am intrigued. Have we met before? You look so familiar, but I have  been living in a Gambit enclave all my life. Are you Gambit as well?"

*************************************

Jhedai Arongo was one of the finest pilots in the Last Gambit, and a natural first option for piloting the hovercraft. He hit the vertical thrusters and the hovercraft silently cushioned its way upwards, but the cargo ramp wouldn't close. "d**n", he swore. There was an altitude lock on the craft. When in flight he could open the cargo doors, and did so at times to drop goods or special operations Gambit paratroopers, but during takeoff he couldn't go more than two meters into the air. It was a safety feature built into the navigation systems by the Gambit Engineers.

*************************************

Riv rested on the couch, a glass of whiskey comfortably in his palm when a voice spoke over the intercom.

"Major, we have a problem. The cargo ramp is malfunctioning, I can't seem to close it. Could you or one of your companions go out and see if you can unjam it?"

Then the craft rocked violently sideways, throwing Helena to the floor.

"d**n, Major, we seem to have collided into... something, and we are stuck. The shuttle won't respond to my instructions. I need you out there now!... Sir"

And with that Helena pushed a button beside the door to the cargo room. Part of the wall slided silently open, revealing three assault rifles in a steel gun rack.

"Okay... Cormac, I don't want to lose you again. Who knows what just happened, with this town I ain't taking any chances. I just found you, I don't want to lose you again... Stay here, take a shower. Kiph, Riv, grab an assault rifle and help me outside!"

She moved to open the door to the cargo room.

[Bleak Wood Storyteller]

<OOC>

Just wanna say: You all play your characters to the core! Murderous Riv, Charismatic Cormac and Confused Kiph! I LOVE IT!


Please note that there is room for some conversation before the incident.

Also, roll 1d20. If you roll lower or equal to your DEX score you remain afoot during the crash. If not you fall, and in Riv's (and any other with drink) case, you spill your drink.

Kiph: You can also roll 1d100. If you roll below your INTx2 score (13 x 2 = 26) you will gain some memories about Helena which have been buried in your subconscious.

</OOC>

[dark_dragon]

At Kiph's blunt question, Cormac burst out laughing.

"It seems you still have much to learn, dear Badblood. Perhaps a long conversation on the ways of the world is in order. You'll not pick up girls going round asking thos kinds of questions, you know.  "

Turning towards Helena with a smile, his eyes grew serious: "Can we trust your pilot?", but her reply was interrupted she was thrown to the floor.

Roll against DEX@6: This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d20 : 15, total 15

[dark_dragon]

<ooc> to the floor I go.</ooc>

No rest for the wicked he thought darkly while getting up himself. Watching Helena part the wall and reveal the cold, matt and deadly hardware, he remembered why he'd fallen in love. It had all been such a long time ago.

At her suggestion, he looked intently at her with surprise: "In all this time, dearest Helena, you seem to have forgotten what it is I do for a living."

Having heard that the pilot had called for a male major, Cormac thought fast.

"Badblood, stay here. We need someone to watch out for our pilot. He tries something funny, you slit his throat. " with that, he took out his combat knife and handed it butt first to the fatebringer. "I'll have that back, though." he added with a smile.

Cormac took a rifle from the steel rack, as well as two spare clip which he tucked in the specially designed pouches at the back of his uniform. Cradling the familiar shape of the rifle, he put on his glasses and added with a weary look: "All this killing is getting somewhat tiresome." and without waiting for Helena or Riv, he started towards the rear of the craft.

[Bleak Wood Storyteller]

Helena laid her hand on Cormac's wrist. Blushing with shame she looked him in the eyes.

"I am the major. They call me Major Titts. It is a long story, but I have a temper and the colonel thought I barked like a major. A well endowed major, breastwise. So he ordered his boys to call me major, and I have been speaking for him when he is gone, like now. The pilot must have realized you weren't the colonel though, and... No, he can't be trusted. Not when he finds out what I've done. He is Anderson's man, through and through."

The woman looked embarrassed and lost at first, but then regained her composure as she told her tale.

"Can any of you pilot a hovercraft? If not, well, he is all we have"

[dark_dragon]

Being stopped by Helena, Cormac though about his options. "Well, Riv here can pilot chopppers, can't be that different, can it?"

Turning to Kiph once again, he spoke wistfully "Alright, I guess we can't just kill him outright. Kiph, you better leave his his eyes, hands and feet intact. But if he starts being funny feel free to remind him he doesn't need his tongue for piloting, nor his testicles." He winked cheerfully at the fatebringer before  continuing towards the ramp.

[valadaar]

<ooc>Dex check [blockquote]Rolled 1d20 : 11, total 11[/blockquote] vs 15...</ooc>

[valadaar]

Riv watched his fellow passengers thrown about by the impact dispassionately and then drained his glass.  He went over to the arms locker.

Riv's eyes lighted up when he saw the heavier ordinance, grabbed the rifle and took a few moments to fit the launcher.  He then grabbed the grenades, barely suppressing a giggle, loaded the rifle and grabbed another pair of clips.

He looked at the bayonet as well, but figured he wouldn't likely be knifing someone from a hovercraft.  Well, most likely not.

"Well, there might a bit of an adjustment, but nothing we couldn't figure out if we had to," Riv bluffed, he could barely drive a car, much less one of these fancy machines.  But then again, these things burned when they crashed, and that wasn't all bad..

"Lets see what we have back there.   I might be able to unjam it.  Or blow the @!#$ing thing off," he added with a grin.

[Murometz]

[ooc]umm, my dice-roller icon has vanished[/ooc]

The Last Gambit. Kiph's heart skipped beats as he studied the woman intently. No, he could not remember her, he thought. But that would make sense, he remembered little, and though Cormac had filled him in a bit, the torturers that 'worked' on Kiph, had picked at his thoughts and memories like crows feeding upon corpses. All was hazy.

He was about to answer when the hovercraft jolted and Cormac, aming others, went down. Kiph managed to hold his balance, and dutifully rushed to grab a rifle, until Cormac, having quickly recovered, redirected Kiph toward a purpose the Fatebringer found significantly more appealing.

Cormac appreciates my talents, Kiph thought, as he accepted a knife, clutched one of his own in the other hand, and proceeded toward the pilot cockpit's ladder. As he slithered, he cut a long, shallow line on his forearm, with his own knife, coating the weapon in his own blood. Grinning, he proceeded, gleefully willing to follow Cormac's instructions quite literally.

"Blow the @!#$ing thing up", he heard just then, and laughed out loud. "Blow it up!" he chimed in pointlessly, glancing in Riv's direction.

[Badblood Kiph]

dex [blockquote]Rolled 1d20 : 4, total 4[/blockquote]
int   [blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 87, total 87[/blockquote]

[Bleak Wood Storyteller]

[ooc]First out is Kiph Badblood as he stalks his way to the cockpit[/ooc]

Kiph slid past several doors until he came to the ladder up into the cockpit. He knew the pilot was up there, he had seen him from the outside. There was a round metal hatch in the roof, with  a steel gray button beside it, perhaps for opening it up? As Badblood stretched his hand to push the button he heard the pilot inside.

"Rouge Tower this is Captain Arongo, over"

*radio scratching sound*

"Captain Arongo, we read you loud and clear, over"

"Rouge Tower, I've got news about the colonel, it seems his maj..... Oh, noo, nooo. By the thrice blasted Amaroch of the Nomads!"

The sounds from within suggested frenetic activity, unbuckling of belts and falling to the floor.

[Bleak Wood Storyteller]

Kiph's hand rested on the hatch opening button as all sound from within the cockpit died out.

***************************************************

Helena approached the door to the cargo room, and it opened silently. There was a gentle rocking motion in the vessel, as if in rough water on the sea. Holding the assault rifle in her right hand, she used her left hand to support herself as she made her way through the narrow passage of the cargo hold. Cormac followed right behind her, with Riv at the rear.

[ooc]Successful listen check: Cormac[/ooc]

As the shapely woman made her way towards the open cargo ramp, Cormac heard sounds from above some netted wooden containers. Looking up and to his right, he noticed a soft blue glow against the back wall and then heard the soft sparking of electricity. Helena, however, seemed oblivious to this and continued further through the narrow space, tossing her hair dramatically as she extended her neck (and rifle) to better see what was ahead.

[ooc]Cormac: You notice something dark approaching fast, looking like shadows and lightning merged into one[/ooc]

[ooc]Fumbled listen check: Riv[/ooc]

Cormac had just made his way out of the op center when Riv heard something from the sole monitor that was turned on.

"A massive explosion devastated Rouge Tower as the munitions depot within Majestic Compound was set off in a huge fire earlier today", across the monitor was several images of an enormous fire and smoke bilging through the streets of the most advanced city Riv had ever seen.

"The Scientist bids us all to stay calm, even as reports of squads gone missing and assault choppers being lost comes out of Bleak Wood"

[dark_dragon]

[ooc]initiative: [blockquote]Rolled 1d4+5 : 4 + 5, total 9[/blockquote][/ooc]

[Bleak Wood Storyteller]

A sound from the left made Helena turn around, her gun pointing in the direction of the unknown sound. Step by step she inched closer to the dark, until she was so close she stabbed at the shadows with the muzzle. She didn't know why, but there was something about this that didn't feel right.

*********

In the corner of his eye Cormac saw a brute figure emerge from the shadows behind Helena. Its face was twisted into rage, its crown a series of studs bolted in a circle from temple to temple around the head. Jolts of electricity jumped between the spikes as it charged against Helena. It brought its right fist high into the air and brought it down against her head like a hammer to the anvil, but impossibly fast she spun to the side, diving to the floor and scrambling towards Cormac.

*********

The thing on the crates crawled towards Cormac, seeming like a blur between shadows and electricity, until the weight of the crates shifted and they stretched the nets dangerously in his direction. It was a human thing, a G'Kraun, that moved on all four and had some kind of scorpionlike tail with blade at the end. The being jumped over the passageway, its blades swinging in a deadly arc towards Cormac's neck.

[ooc]Luckily, first shot goes to Cormac[/ooc]

[valadaar]

Again, those d**n voices were distracting Riv from the vision of beauty.  Move your ass - something is happening!

Looking away from the screen took force of will - and time, but he succeeded, and headed towards the ramp..

[dark_dragon]

Numerous deadly encounters had taught him that his most important asset wasn't his gun, but his mind. So Cormac kept it crystal clear. He used his entire body to aim, gently squeezing the trigger, before quickly following the first burst with a second, more carefully aimed burst at the glowing head.

The burst counterpart to the Mozambique Drill was deadly, and cormac had seen its devastating effects. It usually left opponents splattered over the floor in Rorschach-like patterns.

[ooc]Double burst. Burst 1: point shooting, Burst 2: aimed shooting. rifle skill roll:[blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 86, total 86[/blockquote] [/ooc]

[Bleak Wood Storyteller]

[ooc]Chest burst[/ooc]
[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 3, 1, total 4[/blockquote] + 4
[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 3, 5, total 8[/blockquote] + 4
[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 3, 4, total 7[/blockquote] + 4

[ooc]Head burst[/ooc]
[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 3, 5, total 8[/blockquote] + 4
[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 3, 1, total 4[/blockquote] + 4
[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 1, 6, total 7[/blockquote] + 4

Cormac fired as the thing leapt over him. When the rounds hit the creature was lifted into the air, huge holes being torn through it's chest and head. It hit the cargo room ceiling with a thud and fell down like a limp ragdoll somewhere in the cargo far behind Cormac's back.

Cormac looked up and noticed blood blotches in the ceiling and warm blood mist gently trickling over his face.

[ooc]NEW ROUND! EVERYONE SEND ME INITIATIVE ROLLS AND I WILL POST THE COMBAT ORDER[/ooc]

[dark_dragon]

[ooc]Boy, am I glad I've got my glasses on right now. Someone remind me to take a shower.[/ooc]

[Bleak Wood Storyteller]

[ooc]New Combat Round:
#1: 'Major Titts' Helena
#2: Cormac 'Ladies' Man' Jefferson
#3: Riv 'Torch' Scarlette
#4: Pin Head Ceres

Kiph can post whenever he want as he is not in combat mode.
I DO hope he posts, however. Kiph the Badblooded is always a pleasure to follow.

VAL & d_d: It is of no matter who of you posts first. Just post when you can, it happens fragment of a second apart anyhow. When both of you have posted, I will reply. So.... dd or val, whoever of you are online first: post at will!
[/ooc]

She spun about so quickly her velvet dress audibly tore, revealing skin as smooth as the fabric of her clothes. Dropping to one knee, she aimed at the giant form of her shadowy opponent, aiming for it's head. She squeezed the trigger, but the giant, now dashing madly towards them, right shoulder lowered in a battering charge, was not hit.

"Coooormaaac!", Helena yelped

[dark_dragon]

Cormac barely had the time to turn toward the oncoming giant before letting loose another burst on instinct alone. Taking his time once again, he aimed for the head and repeated the battle-tested lethal routine.

roll rifle against 100: [blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 97, total 97[/blockquote]

[valadaar]

Riv saw the bizarre man-thing bolting towards Cormac and Helena, lifted his rifle to his shoulder, and fired a spray at its torso.

[blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 25, total 25[/blockquote]

Riv will fire until, it, or he, is dead.

[valadaar]

<ooc - sorruy for missing ooc tag on prior post, but I Aint touching that one...>

Riv grunted as the rifle kicked hard, its recoil more like his shotgun then the subgun he was using so recently. But it was time to play the music, and hopefully the thing would dance...