”Let’s keep moving” - Oderon grunts.
After an hour of picking your way through the dust, you stumble across a field of dozens of Swarm corpses. Near the center stands Major Jaldamarrak, pulling his doshko from the wriggling carapace of a recently killed dredger.
When he turns to greet the PCs, they can see that his armor has been slashed open at his torso and he has taken what appears to be a mortal wound; a strand of his innards hangs limply over his belt.
With a grimace, Jaldamarrak straps the doshko to his back and says, You all fall back. I’ll provide covering fire. He draws his pistol and checks the clip.
I aim to break two hundred confirmed kills before I die! His eyes become steely. That’s an order, soldiers! Cross the river before they
drop the bridges, and I’ll see you on the other side!
"I will respectfully disobey sir - I am staying also" - Oderon moves toward the wounded Jaldamarrak with a grim visage.
He carries an MK Healing Serum in one hand, and a cigar in the other - "Do you have any preference Major?"
Godammit men, leave now, this is an order!
The vesk tries futilely to stop you from helping him but he's too weak to do it.
He still looks very injured but his wounds close a bit.
Stubborn lot aren't you? - he manages a blood soacked grin. He looks around as a strong draft clears the dust for a few seconds. Approaching fast, you all see a wave of creatures, covering the ground like an ant army and his grin dissapears - No point in fighting here. - he holsters his pistol and turns to you
Alright, the orders remain the same, retreat and regroup in Fort Gallant. Make sure that they manage to blow the bridge before the bugs get there. Then contact the Commander-General Askhar and tell him what you saw, this is lost. - he takes a medallion off his armour and gives it to one of you - Tell him I sent you.
I'll make my way north and do the same on the next bridge.
That's it, move on soldiers! - He walks to the dust cloud without looking back
I would drive the vehicle close to the river then abandon it and move across the bridge like Major Jaldamarrak said.
All right let's go friends, let's honor the Major by following his orders. He knows better than us what's at stake.
"Damn this..." - with a snarl, Oderon grabs the medallion and follows his companions - "See you on the other side Sir!" - he shouts at Jaldamarrak as they leave.
You hear the clicking noises far away but approaching fast and feel the rumble under you feet anytime you slow down so you try to keep a fast pace.
Your comm units crackle to life with a recorded message every few hours.
An unidentified female voice says, This is an emergency transmission. A full evacuation is in effect for the Brinnoa region. Civilians east of the Dethomar River must immediately relocate west of the river, as the bridges crossing the river will shortly be demolished to halt the Swarm advance. SDF forces and civilians are to report to Fort Gallant for further orders. This is an emergency transmission... The message
then repeats.
After moving for about an hour, you escape the dust cloud covering the Brinnoa region. You see empty, dry brushlands with small plateaus and hillocks stretching around you in all directions. The temperature remains just below freezing, though the sky is cloudless and the bright sun beats down. A quick glance to the east reveals a column of hundreds of Swarm dredgers stampeding across the hinterlands.
The group has been moving and fighting for hours now and fatigue starts to bear on them
"They just keep coming..." - Oderon snarls, then turns to the others, urging them on - "Lets keep it up boys and girls - we need to keep moving"
As we move, if we spot an abandoned vehicle that could carry us I want to highjack it.
[/ooc]The highways are packed with abandoned vehicles, even if you could find a vehicle, you wouldn't be able to use it[/ooc]
Quig fumbles around one of the cars anyway but to no avail
The group struggles on for a few more hours, trying to ignore the exaustion as the snow starts to fall, more and more.
As everything the group sees starts to become white, they spot a acorpse of a human man on the ground, the red from the blood clashing against the white of the landscape
Oderon stops, and draws his doshko, scanning their surroundings.
"Careful guys..."
If the group finds no threats, he moves ahead.
Quig sends Scout up to take a bird's eye look around
The group slowly approaches the body, checking around for dangers
As they come near, they see fresh blood around the body, the death was recent.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kesk sees a creature hiding behind a brush !
It's a four-legged creature with large padded feet and plumes of feathers around its head, along its tail, and down its front legs. It has a bat-like face and ears, and its body is covered in dark, greenish-brown scales mottled with white
Before he has a chance to warn anybody, it jumps and attacks him! Luckily, it misses its mark!
"What the hell is that?" - Oderon hisses.
Action for the round after surprise is to get Scout to shoot at the thing while Quig moves 5' back and activates his energy shield...
Energy shield is 5 temp HPs, duration 2min I think...
This is a Brush Stalker, an animal native to this region. It survives on the local wildlife but it looks starving.
It's an accomplished hunter relying on stealth attacks to catch its prey
"What the hell are you doing Kesk? You have a death wish or something? Get back here and use your damned pulse pistol!"
Oderon stands between the creature and his remaining companions and readies an attack, for when and if the creature approaches, perhaps chasing Kesk.
Kesk boldly attacks the creature but misses
Odo readies an attack and waits for the creature's move
The creature growls, its tail lashing wildly about and then, suddenly, it springs at Odo.
Altough the vesk was expecting the attack he was surprised by its viciousness and misses his own swing getting grazed by the claw.
"You're gonna regret that..." - Odo growled back at the creature, swinging hard.
Quig attacks the Brush Stalker...
... and so does Scout
The group fires many shots at the creature, but misses it.
Altough no damage was made, the stalker seems to have had enough and runs away to a nearby building, crashing through a window
Oderon does not attack the creature as it retreats - "It put up a strong fight, probably defending some younglings" - he nods approvingly.
"Quig, any chance for Scout to check out the building? We may find something worth scrounging"
Of course. I also want to see where the beast went, just in case it's got reinforcements about.
Quig sends Scout high to get a better view, then through the window the beast jumped through.
Scout enters the building through the window. The lights are off but thre's some light entering from outside
It's clearly a girls room, with lots of pink and stuffed dolls. A chair is knocked in the ground and a door is wide open
After checking the room for possible hiding places, if he doesn't spot anyone, Scout flies through the wide open door.
Quig focuses on his rig, controling the drone from the street
Scout hovers slowly around the room, its cameras focusing on possible hiding spots but he doesn't see anything.
Carefully, he moves outside the room to a narrow corridor with a fallen furniture. The corridor has two more open doors and at the end of it you see some stairs going down.
Navasi gains some distance from the building, choosing a better viewing spot
The rumble of the bugs never left your ears, you didn't manage to gain that much distance from the swarm. Concentrating on it, you clearly notice the sound growing lowder... or is it just your own fears confusing your senses?
"You're right, but we are in survival mode now" - Oderon grunts - "We do not know if and when we will find supplies. So we cannot simply pass this one up - let's go"
Odo and Kesh slowly approach the building