Thursday, November 17, 2005
SESSION SEVEN (as written by Selena)
Rudy starts to interrogate the dog who tells of big bad bears that attacked his master and his pack, killing them and injuring him. They were attacked at the ruins of the old town down the trail many nights ago. The dog says that if he is well and could join Rudy’s pack, he’d help against the bad bears.
Rudy tends to the dog’s wounds that are infected, cleaning out the foreign particles and uses a spell to heal it. The dog stands and limps over, licking Rudy across the face then goes to greet Epoch.
DJ volunteers to go down into the root cellar. There are a lot of canned goods, potatoes, and other staples. DJ reports what he found as Rudy reports what the dog related.
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Meanwhile, Roland has been camping out and searching for whomever he can. His suit has maybe an hour left of power supply, stopping in case he had to use it.
A few nights ago, he saw something from his camp fall from the sky, aiming his search for what it was. This particular morning, he’s made it to the valley, just up on a ledge and sees the ruins of the town and is ready to go down in it. There is the glint of something metallic and sees a mech suit with a couple of people walking around. He starts heading down.
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Stick looks around and sees Roland coming in as Marty points him out. Roland stops and peers through his binoculars …. And sees he’s been spotted.
Marissa notes, “At least it’s not big, spikey and hairy.”
Stick waves at Roland. Roland waves at Stick and heads that way. Stick sets up a perimeter, facing the way that Roland is approaching.
Stick orders him to drop his weapon and Roland does so, then walks on up. Stick starts to ask him questions. Marissa recognizes the imp uniform and asks if Roland is a imp man and asks where his unit in.
Stick asks him to remove his jacket and turn around, then frisks him, finding a locket along with the binoculars, combat knife and that’s it. He explains the locket was his mother’s and opens it for Frisk.
By then the rest of the team has arrived. Stick asked if he is a pilot and what he pilots, and Marty what he pilots now. Roland tells them a scout suit and had disabled the transponder. He said that he escaped during a patrol.
Stick asks where the Imp scout suit.
Marty pulls Ripper aside and mentions that even if Roland is with them, he still has to go through the same tests the others did. Marissa asks how much Roland has power-wise in his mech, which is only about an hour.
DJ can rig something to transfer power.
The team goes to check out the ruins.
They name the other dog Bear.
(These suits are made for walkin’…)
They push the trailer about 10 minutes out of town. Stick powers up his suit to do a sensor sweep, not seeing anything of note on the infrared scan.
Stick, Ripper, Marissa and Marty are one team, the other team is Noble, Rudy, DJ and Roland.
Both dogs are very wary.
Stick uses his infrared and sees nothing.
Something further up the street darts across the street, Rudy and Stick notice them. A murder of crows flies upwards at the disturbance.
They find a spread of old blood on the pavement. There are a few prints leading away from the scene. There is a small park to the left where swings, dilapidated with age. There is shredded flesh on a tree… it takes a closer study to see it is deer.
The group gets to where the movement was spotted. Down the street is another bloody site, crows settle back in. Rudy’s team goes forward to see the site, and the mechs pick up the heat sign. Stick fires a suppressive fire at the window. The thing disappears.
The remains are of 2 humans. There is an assault rifle, badly damaged, off to the side of the street.
Stick positions himself where he can see the building where
Rudy calls out, “If you’re human, you better say something!”
Something heavy is knocked over on the other side of the street. There is another crunch.
Rudy asks, “Ripper, have engaged your… spiritual protection.”
Ripper activates his mage armor.
Another heat blip comes on screen... and Stick fires a shot, scaring everyone. A fourth comes up and a fifth blip, circling the team’s position. They form a circle to try to head back to the intersection.
They hear a loud, cry, sounding very apish. Three of the ape things comes out in different directions and go to the party. Stick opens with his plasma rotary gun, firing a burst. The creature gets spun around and thrashes on the ground. Noble does a burst fire and pulps the thing, sending it flying back. Ripper fires his plasma rifle at the critter Stick shot, scoring a solid hit and it howls in pain. Roland fires, missing with the first shot, but the second does hit. Rudy spins around and stands to fire… ending up having to step around Roland. He gets a good hit on the critter, making the arm fly back. DJ fires at the one Stick and Ripper, it had stopped, but DJ didn’t do much else appreciable damage. A critter charges Roland and Rudy fires, but misses. The creature bowls into the middle of the circle as Roland moved out of the way. Two more head in the arc that Noble faces. Marissa and Marty open up and miss widely.
Noble readies a rocket. The critter scrapes at the armor and threw off his aim. The rocket hits to the right and blows up a mail box. Stick gets his vibroblade, spins around and attacks the critter in the circle, but knocks into Noble and the blade is sheathed in pavement. Stick fires at the critter and misses. DJ turns and fires, and has no noticble effect on the critter. Rudy fires and misses with the first shot, but lands a very solid hit, rocking it back, but the critter still is coming. Roland (let’s give the knife a try) pulls his knife and stabs at the critter, hitting solidly and hopping back. The critter goes after Noble. (Bring it on monkey boy!) It claw, claw, bites and tries to rend through the armor. It gets purchase and damages the mech and Noble a bit. The one critter that was down gets up and quickly hobble-lopes towards the group. The two missed with the rocket runs in. The one hit by Rudy goes after him and throws an arm at the doctor and he manages to dodge out of the way. Marissa fires a burst and hits the critter charging. Marty steps out of the circle and opens up on a critter in a burst, and connects, pissing it off.
Noble turns and hits the one in the circle with a burst fire and the circle is sprayed… the thing is still breathing, but down. Stick does a full auto burst at the creature hobble-lopes at him, taking out a leg and fells it, not sure if it’s dead or not. Ripper shoots at the one that Stick just knocked down, hitting it in the side of the temple and it stills. DJ takes out his Glock and fires one shot at the prone one in the ground and it slumps. Rudy moves a five foot step away from the critter. Roland drops the knife, brings his rifle up to attack the critter going after Rudy and Marissa, aiming a bit too high. Critter aims for Rudy with two claws and tries to bite Marissa. One claw connects with Rudy, gashing him a good bit. Fangs latch onto her and she pulls out from its grasp as she screams. Critter closes with Marty and its spikes entangles him , flinging him away and he screams, landing on the pavement. Marissa books and it misses her as she heads towards Marty.
Noble short bursts again and misses. Stick steps from the circle and bursts at the one that threw Marty… missing. Ripper fires and hits the one that Stick missed, shot hits it leg, hurting it some. DJ also fires at the same one and the bullets seem to have no effect. Rudy moves away to the windowless, door-less wall he had eyed. Roland double-taps and hits with both shots and bloodies it, but it’s still up and fighting. One howls and runs off for the nearest alley, the other follows.
Noble does a short burst at the retreating critters, missing. Stick launches a hornet grenade and misses the mark, disappearing into a window, tagging the mannequins. Ripper misses. DJ double-taps and hits, but doesn’t seem to do anything special. Rudy double-taps and misses with the first shot, hits with the second in the ass, making it yelp. Roland also double-taps and drops one, making it slide into a brick wall. The other one disappears into the alley.
Noble tries to riverdance on one of the critters and almost falls down. Stick pokes at the other with his vibro-blade, removing lungs and the heart. Stick just wants to see what it takes to permanently kill the creature. When he took out the heart, it stopped.
Marty is still alive but sinking fast. Roland reaches out his hand and starts praying over Marty… but is only able to let him rest peacefully. Rudy keeps examining and figures he may have a pierced lung and some kidney damage, but nothing appears to still be lodged. They burn the other bodies.
Some of the party takes trophies from the critters.
The party heads up to the cabin, one mech pulling the other on the trailer. DJ looks for radio and does a thorough search, finding a compartment and the manual to the radio. He tries to use the mech to find the radio signal, but doesn’t manage to do so.
Rudy checks out the trails to see if there is any that lead up wards and does find heading upslope and decide to check that on the morrow.
Rudy starts to interrogate the dog who tells of big bad bears that attacked his master and his pack, killing them and injuring him. They were attacked at the ruins of the old town down the trail many nights ago. The dog says that if he is well and could join Rudy’s pack, he’d help against the bad bears.
Rudy tends to the dog’s wounds that are infected, cleaning out the foreign particles and uses a spell to heal it. The dog stands and limps over, licking Rudy across the face then goes to greet Epoch.
DJ volunteers to go down into the root cellar. There are a lot of canned goods, potatoes, and other staples. DJ reports what he found as Rudy reports what the dog related.
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Meanwhile, Roland has been camping out and searching for whomever he can. His suit has maybe an hour left of power supply, stopping in case he had to use it.
A few nights ago, he saw something from his camp fall from the sky, aiming his search for what it was. This particular morning, he’s made it to the valley, just up on a ledge and sees the ruins of the town and is ready to go down in it. There is the glint of something metallic and sees a mech suit with a couple of people walking around. He starts heading down.
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Stick looks around and sees Roland coming in as Marty points him out. Roland stops and peers through his binoculars …. And sees he’s been spotted.
Marissa notes, “At least it’s not big, spikey and hairy.”
Stick waves at Roland. Roland waves at Stick and heads that way. Stick sets up a perimeter, facing the way that Roland is approaching.
Stick orders him to drop his weapon and Roland does so, then walks on up. Stick starts to ask him questions. Marissa recognizes the imp uniform and asks if Roland is a imp man and asks where his unit in.
Stick asks him to remove his jacket and turn around, then frisks him, finding a locket along with the binoculars, combat knife and that’s it. He explains the locket was his mother’s and opens it for Frisk.
By then the rest of the team has arrived. Stick asked if he is a pilot and what he pilots, and Marty what he pilots now. Roland tells them a scout suit and had disabled the transponder. He said that he escaped during a patrol.
Stick asks where the Imp scout suit.
Marty pulls Ripper aside and mentions that even if Roland is with them, he still has to go through the same tests the others did. Marissa asks how much Roland has power-wise in his mech, which is only about an hour.
DJ can rig something to transfer power.
The team goes to check out the ruins.
They name the other dog Bear.
(These suits are made for walkin’…)
They push the trailer about 10 minutes out of town. Stick powers up his suit to do a sensor sweep, not seeing anything of note on the infrared scan.
Stick, Ripper, Marissa and Marty are one team, the other team is Noble, Rudy, DJ and Roland.
Both dogs are very wary.
Stick uses his infrared and sees nothing.
Something further up the street darts across the street, Rudy and Stick notice them. A murder of crows flies upwards at the disturbance.
They find a spread of old blood on the pavement. There are a few prints leading away from the scene. There is a small park to the left where swings, dilapidated with age. There is shredded flesh on a tree… it takes a closer study to see it is deer.
The group gets to where the movement was spotted. Down the street is another bloody site, crows settle back in. Rudy’s team goes forward to see the site, and the mechs pick up the heat sign. Stick fires a suppressive fire at the window. The thing disappears.
The remains are of 2 humans. There is an assault rifle, badly damaged, off to the side of the street.
Stick positions himself where he can see the building where
Rudy calls out, “If you’re human, you better say something!”
Something heavy is knocked over on the other side of the street. There is another crunch.
Rudy asks, “Ripper, have engaged your… spiritual protection.”
Ripper activates his mage armor.
Another heat blip comes on screen... and Stick fires a shot, scaring everyone. A fourth comes up and a fifth blip, circling the team’s position. They form a circle to try to head back to the intersection.
They hear a loud, cry, sounding very apish. Three of the ape things comes out in different directions and go to the party. Stick opens with his plasma rotary gun, firing a burst. The creature gets spun around and thrashes on the ground. Noble does a burst fire and pulps the thing, sending it flying back. Ripper fires his plasma rifle at the critter Stick shot, scoring a solid hit and it howls in pain. Roland fires, missing with the first shot, but the second does hit. Rudy spins around and stands to fire… ending up having to step around Roland. He gets a good hit on the critter, making the arm fly back. DJ fires at the one Stick and Ripper, it had stopped, but DJ didn’t do much else appreciable damage. A critter charges Roland and Rudy fires, but misses. The creature bowls into the middle of the circle as Roland moved out of the way. Two more head in the arc that Noble faces. Marissa and Marty open up and miss widely.
Noble readies a rocket. The critter scrapes at the armor and threw off his aim. The rocket hits to the right and blows up a mail box. Stick gets his vibroblade, spins around and attacks the critter in the circle, but knocks into Noble and the blade is sheathed in pavement. Stick fires at the critter and misses. DJ turns and fires, and has no noticble effect on the critter. Rudy fires and misses with the first shot, but lands a very solid hit, rocking it back, but the critter still is coming. Roland (let’s give the knife a try) pulls his knife and stabs at the critter, hitting solidly and hopping back. The critter goes after Noble. (Bring it on monkey boy!) It claw, claw, bites and tries to rend through the armor. It gets purchase and damages the mech and Noble a bit. The one critter that was down gets up and quickly hobble-lopes towards the group. The two missed with the rocket runs in. The one hit by Rudy goes after him and throws an arm at the doctor and he manages to dodge out of the way. Marissa fires a burst and hits the critter charging. Marty steps out of the circle and opens up on a critter in a burst, and connects, pissing it off.
Noble turns and hits the one in the circle with a burst fire and the circle is sprayed… the thing is still breathing, but down. Stick does a full auto burst at the creature hobble-lopes at him, taking out a leg and fells it, not sure if it’s dead or not. Ripper shoots at the one that Stick just knocked down, hitting it in the side of the temple and it stills. DJ takes out his Glock and fires one shot at the prone one in the ground and it slumps. Rudy moves a five foot step away from the critter. Roland drops the knife, brings his rifle up to attack the critter going after Rudy and Marissa, aiming a bit too high. Critter aims for Rudy with two claws and tries to bite Marissa. One claw connects with Rudy, gashing him a good bit. Fangs latch onto her and she pulls out from its grasp as she screams. Critter closes with Marty and its spikes entangles him , flinging him away and he screams, landing on the pavement. Marissa books and it misses her as she heads towards Marty.
Noble short bursts again and misses. Stick steps from the circle and bursts at the one that threw Marty… missing. Ripper fires and hits the one that Stick missed, shot hits it leg, hurting it some. DJ also fires at the same one and the bullets seem to have no effect. Rudy moves away to the windowless, door-less wall he had eyed. Roland double-taps and hits with both shots and bloodies it, but it’s still up and fighting. One howls and runs off for the nearest alley, the other follows.
Noble does a short burst at the retreating critters, missing. Stick launches a hornet grenade and misses the mark, disappearing into a window, tagging the mannequins. Ripper misses. DJ double-taps and hits, but doesn’t seem to do anything special. Rudy double-taps and misses with the first shot, hits with the second in the ass, making it yelp. Roland also double-taps and drops one, making it slide into a brick wall. The other one disappears into the alley.
Noble tries to riverdance on one of the critters and almost falls down. Stick pokes at the other with his vibro-blade, removing lungs and the heart. Stick just wants to see what it takes to permanently kill the creature. When he took out the heart, it stopped.
Marty is still alive but sinking fast. Roland reaches out his hand and starts praying over Marty… but is only able to let him rest peacefully. Rudy keeps examining and figures he may have a pierced lung and some kidney damage, but nothing appears to still be lodged. They burn the other bodies.
Some of the party takes trophies from the critters.
The party heads up to the cabin, one mech pulling the other on the trailer. DJ looks for radio and does a thorough search, finding a compartment and the manual to the radio. He tries to use the mech to find the radio signal, but doesn’t manage to do so.
Rudy checks out the trails to see if there is any that lead up wards and does find heading upslope and decide to check that on the morrow.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
SESSION SIX
(as written by Selena)
Back at the base, there is a memorial for those that had fallen in the mission.
Mercer has a word with Stick about the prime goal of the mission after the debriefing.
Ripper gives DJ a project, shape charged shot gun rounds
Rudy asks if they are aware that bio-mechs work in green storms. Also disturbed about the news of the sorcerer is so close to the base.
A month later......
Group is called in by Capt Jordan. Once all are gathered, she says that they've lost communication with one of the cells to the north and are a week over due in checking in. The standard policy is to go in and check via Fox-bat.
Marissa, Van and Marty will be joining the PCs. Marissa is an excellent Fox-bat driver of average looks. They are also taking 2 of the warden suits, Noble will be training Stick. It's a two day journey to the cell.
Before Bro Mercer went south, he did a quick check and couldn't find the cell in their normal camp. Find McCoy and his men. They are going well within the Green Zone so Atlantean influence is not suspected.
Rudy requests a personal LAW.
DJ and Ripper have their shotgun ammo made and Ripper takes a gun and his rounds. Ripper gets 10 sticks of dynamite. They are given an ammo case with 4 extra boxes of plasma ammo, and standard case of assault rifle rounds (240), standard survival kit, medical kit.
In the morning the group gathers and they head out. They have a map to the location and there is a mech trailer for the warden suits behind the Fox-bat. Van points out the cabin that is owned by Zoners (people who aren't rebels and just live in the Green Zone.)
They get to the cabin, very rustic.
Mick (looks like Grizzly Adams) points to where the group can park their Fox-bat and they invite the group in for dinner. And they tell that they are going up to go check on McCoy and his group.
The camp is a day's journey down the old highway. Mary mentions that they were around Silver Mountains. Jimmy mentions that the saw something like a shooting star around that area.
Mick mentions something else to consider that there were a few herds of elk that came down a couple days ago. He also mentions a story from the west side of the mountains about a flying tiger.
DJ goes to check the nets and hears something in the trees and sees the furry butt of a bear. DJ blinks and heads off to finish his task. The bear climbs down and ambles off the other direction.
They sleep the night there, and have a good breakfast in the morning before heading out along the highway, which is overgrown with cracked pavement here and there. Old rusted out cars ocassionally.
Late afternoon, there is a storm coming in.. They find a good spot that affords some protection from the wind. They decided to send out two sentries, one goes up road, one goes down within range of the Fox-bat radio.
Ripper is out with Marissa. Rudy goes out with Van. Noble goes with Marty, and DJ goes out with Stick. Storm comes in very heavy and the rain makes visibility most difficult. Dark, wet, cold and miserable. very limited sight.
Noble and Marty is out on sentry duty, up road, there is a scream that wakes those under the Fox-bat, and they notice Van is gone. Rudy tries to track Van since t hey notice that Van's boots are also gone.
Rudy finds Van's footprints leading up the slope into the rougher terrain. Ripper shoots a flare upslope. Marissa and Stick stay behind by the Fox-bat and the gear as the others go upslope as Rudy tries to pick up the trail again.
They get up to the tree line and Rudy finds the tracks again. They find some paper in the mud. The footprints stop. Everyone looks around and sees nothing. Rudy casts light on a rock and looks at the tracks again for any further indicators.
Rudy sees two limbs of a tree are broken and a splash of blood. He turns to tell Ripper his findings and sees a large, scary shape coming at him from behind.
DJ looks around Rudy swings his rifle around and fires, hitting. the thing behind Ripper, but it doesn't stop the charge. Marty turns around at the sound of Rudy's shot, cries out oh shit and backpedals a bit. Ripper dives out of the way, leaving him prone on the hillside. Noble turns in the thing’s general direction, fires twice, and hits twice, landing solid hits staggering the thing, making it careen into a tree. It hit the tree, it steps into the light: 9’6” tall, a mix between a silverback gorilla and a razorback hog, with bone protrusions along its back, and joints. From down the slope the group hears some one say “OH SHIT” and gun fire.
DJ double-taps and lands his second shot and the thing stills. Rudy puts a round in the things skull just in case, then checks the perimeter, but doesn't see anything. Marty scoots down the hillside. There is a loud roar and the slamming of metal. Ripper gets up and heads towards the commotion. Noble heads down the hill and trips and lands on a rock and looses his gun.
DJ heads down the hill and also looses his rifle as well. Rudy tosses his light stone down and heads down the slope. Marty gets out of the range of the light and fires, there are growls. The light shows on the edge of the Fox-bat, there are muzzle flashes from beneath the vehicle. Marissa screams and the Fox-bat rocks and a furry shape move across. Ripper makes it down the hill and doesn't' see a viable target so moves further down and see a shape in the darkness, 15 yards going over the edge of the cliff. He fires and misses. Noble takes out a glow stick and looks around and sees no enemies, he saw the critter go over the edge of the cliff, the Fox-bat and the figures underneath and finds his rifle.
DJ sees as Noble does and gets to the Fox-bat. Rudy makes another light rock and tosses it down. The mud is churned up, Stick is laying on the ground looking for a target, Marissa is moaning in pain. The net has been torn off the Fox-bat. Marty slings his rifle and runs over towards where Marissa is and tries to lift the Fox-bat. Ripper looks in for the jack to lift the vehicle. Noble heads towards the Fox-bat post haste to help Ripper with the jack to lift the vehicle off Marissa.
DJ goes to the cliff edge and peeks down but doesn't see anything so takes up a guard position. Rudy moves to Marissa and sees she is pinned by one of the grav-pads of the Fox-bat. Ripper is working on the jack and starts to crank with Noble's help enough that Marty is able to pull Marissa out from under. Rudy uses magic to heal up Marissa and Marty looks on stunned as Rudy does his magic.
Ripper grabs the med kid for the doc. Noble tries to re-net the Fox-bat, but there is a huge tear in it. Rudy uses his mending spell on the net, then checks Marissa who still has a fracture, so he splints up her leg.
Rest of the night goes by, tension is thick and no one is able to get back to sleep. Come the morning, it's still drizzling, but the storm is passed. Rudy checks the tracks. Covers on the mechs are fine, the Fox-bat won't start. DJ and Noble look and see the Fox-bat is fucked.
Other group goes up and finds the critter gone... and it crawled off under its own power. DJ and Noble salvage as the other group tracks the critter some. It had skirted the trees, then it goes from crawling, to walking and is obviously slowly regenerated.
They head out once the group returns and the highway slopes down. DJ and Noble come up with a way to go. Stick and Ripper start the 'da-da-da-ta' portion of 500 hundred miles by the Proclaimers.
Stick and Rudy trade off scouting ahead. Epoch shows up. (That was scary, feed me.) Rudy finds tracks 4 miles down the hill. First there is one set, large dogs, possibly wolves.
Evening and the group is not quite down the slope yet. The brakes broke once and had to be replaced. They are most of the way there and look for shelter. They sit down to eat. Rudy heals Marissa's fracture so she is limping sans the splint.
The night passes uneventfully.
They head down to the valley floor. At the base, the road dwindles into grass and shrubs and a river. On the other side of the valley are several old buildings, the derelict ruins of old town. The map shows that McCoy's camp is up the first main trail to the left following a stream.
Rudy leads the way towards the cell camp. It takes 20 minutes to get to the break in the trail to get to the first sign to the camp. Within a grove of pine trees, there is a crude cabin with a fire-pit outside. It’s a fairly tidy camp, but no one about. They look around the perimeter.
DJ stays outside of the cabin as Ripper and Rudy go inside. Epoch runs in and growls at the far cot. Noble arrives. Ripper crouches and shines the light under the cot; there is a dog underneath and more blood. Epoch growls still as the other dog lifts up its head.
The dog has a big tear it its flank, looks infected. Rudy looks for a root cellar. Ripper and Rudy tend to the dog. Noble does a sweep of the perimeter before powering down outside the cabin.
Rudy uses his spell 'Speak with Animal' on the dog.
(as written by Selena)
Back at the base, there is a memorial for those that had fallen in the mission.
Mercer has a word with Stick about the prime goal of the mission after the debriefing.
Ripper gives DJ a project, shape charged shot gun rounds
Rudy asks if they are aware that bio-mechs work in green storms. Also disturbed about the news of the sorcerer is so close to the base.
A month later......
Group is called in by Capt Jordan. Once all are gathered, she says that they've lost communication with one of the cells to the north and are a week over due in checking in. The standard policy is to go in and check via Fox-bat.
Marissa, Van and Marty will be joining the PCs. Marissa is an excellent Fox-bat driver of average looks. They are also taking 2 of the warden suits, Noble will be training Stick. It's a two day journey to the cell.
Before Bro Mercer went south, he did a quick check and couldn't find the cell in their normal camp. Find McCoy and his men. They are going well within the Green Zone so Atlantean influence is not suspected.
Rudy requests a personal LAW.
DJ and Ripper have their shotgun ammo made and Ripper takes a gun and his rounds. Ripper gets 10 sticks of dynamite. They are given an ammo case with 4 extra boxes of plasma ammo, and standard case of assault rifle rounds (240), standard survival kit, medical kit.
In the morning the group gathers and they head out. They have a map to the location and there is a mech trailer for the warden suits behind the Fox-bat. Van points out the cabin that is owned by Zoners (people who aren't rebels and just live in the Green Zone.)
They get to the cabin, very rustic.
Mick (looks like Grizzly Adams) points to where the group can park their Fox-bat and they invite the group in for dinner. And they tell that they are going up to go check on McCoy and his group.
The camp is a day's journey down the old highway. Mary mentions that they were around Silver Mountains. Jimmy mentions that the saw something like a shooting star around that area.
Mick mentions something else to consider that there were a few herds of elk that came down a couple days ago. He also mentions a story from the west side of the mountains about a flying tiger.
DJ goes to check the nets and hears something in the trees and sees the furry butt of a bear. DJ blinks and heads off to finish his task. The bear climbs down and ambles off the other direction.
They sleep the night there, and have a good breakfast in the morning before heading out along the highway, which is overgrown with cracked pavement here and there. Old rusted out cars ocassionally.
Late afternoon, there is a storm coming in.. They find a good spot that affords some protection from the wind. They decided to send out two sentries, one goes up road, one goes down within range of the Fox-bat radio.
Ripper is out with Marissa. Rudy goes out with Van. Noble goes with Marty, and DJ goes out with Stick. Storm comes in very heavy and the rain makes visibility most difficult. Dark, wet, cold and miserable. very limited sight.
Noble and Marty is out on sentry duty, up road, there is a scream that wakes those under the Fox-bat, and they notice Van is gone. Rudy tries to track Van since t hey notice that Van's boots are also gone.
Rudy finds Van's footprints leading up the slope into the rougher terrain. Ripper shoots a flare upslope. Marissa and Stick stay behind by the Fox-bat and the gear as the others go upslope as Rudy tries to pick up the trail again.
They get up to the tree line and Rudy finds the tracks again. They find some paper in the mud. The footprints stop. Everyone looks around and sees nothing. Rudy casts light on a rock and looks at the tracks again for any further indicators.
Rudy sees two limbs of a tree are broken and a splash of blood. He turns to tell Ripper his findings and sees a large, scary shape coming at him from behind.
DJ looks around Rudy swings his rifle around and fires, hitting. the thing behind Ripper, but it doesn't stop the charge. Marty turns around at the sound of Rudy's shot, cries out oh shit and backpedals a bit. Ripper dives out of the way, leaving him prone on the hillside. Noble turns in the thing’s general direction, fires twice, and hits twice, landing solid hits staggering the thing, making it careen into a tree. It hit the tree, it steps into the light: 9’6” tall, a mix between a silverback gorilla and a razorback hog, with bone protrusions along its back, and joints. From down the slope the group hears some one say “OH SHIT” and gun fire.
DJ double-taps and lands his second shot and the thing stills. Rudy puts a round in the things skull just in case, then checks the perimeter, but doesn't see anything. Marty scoots down the hillside. There is a loud roar and the slamming of metal. Ripper gets up and heads towards the commotion. Noble heads down the hill and trips and lands on a rock and looses his gun.
DJ heads down the hill and also looses his rifle as well. Rudy tosses his light stone down and heads down the slope. Marty gets out of the range of the light and fires, there are growls. The light shows on the edge of the Fox-bat, there are muzzle flashes from beneath the vehicle. Marissa screams and the Fox-bat rocks and a furry shape move across. Ripper makes it down the hill and doesn't' see a viable target so moves further down and see a shape in the darkness, 15 yards going over the edge of the cliff. He fires and misses. Noble takes out a glow stick and looks around and sees no enemies, he saw the critter go over the edge of the cliff, the Fox-bat and the figures underneath and finds his rifle.
DJ sees as Noble does and gets to the Fox-bat. Rudy makes another light rock and tosses it down. The mud is churned up, Stick is laying on the ground looking for a target, Marissa is moaning in pain. The net has been torn off the Fox-bat. Marty slings his rifle and runs over towards where Marissa is and tries to lift the Fox-bat. Ripper looks in for the jack to lift the vehicle. Noble heads towards the Fox-bat post haste to help Ripper with the jack to lift the vehicle off Marissa.
DJ goes to the cliff edge and peeks down but doesn't see anything so takes up a guard position. Rudy moves to Marissa and sees she is pinned by one of the grav-pads of the Fox-bat. Ripper is working on the jack and starts to crank with Noble's help enough that Marty is able to pull Marissa out from under. Rudy uses magic to heal up Marissa and Marty looks on stunned as Rudy does his magic.
Ripper grabs the med kid for the doc. Noble tries to re-net the Fox-bat, but there is a huge tear in it. Rudy uses his mending spell on the net, then checks Marissa who still has a fracture, so he splints up her leg.
Rest of the night goes by, tension is thick and no one is able to get back to sleep. Come the morning, it's still drizzling, but the storm is passed. Rudy checks the tracks. Covers on the mechs are fine, the Fox-bat won't start. DJ and Noble look and see the Fox-bat is fucked.
Other group goes up and finds the critter gone... and it crawled off under its own power. DJ and Noble salvage as the other group tracks the critter some. It had skirted the trees, then it goes from crawling, to walking and is obviously slowly regenerated.
They head out once the group returns and the highway slopes down. DJ and Noble come up with a way to go. Stick and Ripper start the 'da-da-da-ta' portion of 500 hundred miles by the Proclaimers.
Stick and Rudy trade off scouting ahead. Epoch shows up. (That was scary, feed me.) Rudy finds tracks 4 miles down the hill. First there is one set, large dogs, possibly wolves.
Evening and the group is not quite down the slope yet. The brakes broke once and had to be replaced. They are most of the way there and look for shelter. They sit down to eat. Rudy heals Marissa's fracture so she is limping sans the splint.
The night passes uneventfully.
They head down to the valley floor. At the base, the road dwindles into grass and shrubs and a river. On the other side of the valley are several old buildings, the derelict ruins of old town. The map shows that McCoy's camp is up the first main trail to the left following a stream.
Rudy leads the way towards the cell camp. It takes 20 minutes to get to the break in the trail to get to the first sign to the camp. Within a grove of pine trees, there is a crude cabin with a fire-pit outside. It’s a fairly tidy camp, but no one about. They look around the perimeter.
DJ stays outside of the cabin as Ripper and Rudy go inside. Epoch runs in and growls at the far cot. Noble arrives. Ripper crouches and shines the light under the cot; there is a dog underneath and more blood. Epoch growls still as the other dog lifts up its head.
The dog has a big tear it its flank, looks infected. Rudy looks for a root cellar. Ripper and Rudy tend to the dog. Noble does a sweep of the perimeter before powering down outside the cabin.
Rudy uses his spell 'Speak with Animal' on the dog.
SESSION FIVE
Where a great deal of the action is resolved... has yet to be written by anybody.)
Where a great deal of the action is resolved... has yet to be written by anybody.)
