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As Darkness Fell - A dark fantasy story

Mardion caught a glimpse of one of the culists crumbling from his shot.

But that satisfaction was quickly replaced with the horror as he ducked into cover and found himself catching aflame anyway. He beat the sleeve down before he could actually be burned, but it was a stark reminder that good cover from an arrow wasn't good cover from a fireball. The thrill of the kill only lasted a moment before the horror happened, shaking the limbs a bit, but not enough to make him useless.

The terror was something else; they threw fire. He had paltry arrows. He could distract, he could even kill one in ambush, but there was no toe to toe fight for Mardion in this environment. He was a good hunter, but no warrior for the mass clash of arms. He didn't dare go back to the old position just to be scorched to ashes by an angry mage. Instinct dictated flight here. He was already shifting his position, though it was to another firing position.

So the halfling was met halfway with Mardion already falling back. Not a suicider, and not armored, he wasn't about to fight a battle that couldn't be won.

Handed something by a stranger, he did something that would be absolutely idiotic in a normal situation and just put the stuff in his mouth and kept it there, however distasteful. That was overshadowed by the sight of the minotaur. There was rope and a way out a window, but as he was hauling him up on the ground by the halfling he asked, "If that thing was summoned, would killing the summoner stop the beast? What would happen?" He had to spit to avoid swallowing. (no jokes)

He didn't know a thing of magic, but it was a valid sort of question. He had a sense of which one summoned it, but he needed to find a clear shot. There was plenty of rubble around, and he plotted the movement to avoid the undead so he could focus on killing the living. There was a low-grade headache behind his eyes already, and a constant buzz in his ears, but he could focus on the task and that had to do for the moment.

Shadowrun: Moldbylur

Think it's dead, Jim.

As Darkness Fell - A dark fantasy story

Hey guys! UPDATE TIME! I see we are still missing a few posts, and I have yet to start the collab process with those involved as I am still spent from all the close-opens at work; after we work on the collab post, we will have a few days before I write up the next major post that will advance us. I am sorry I haven't been around as much, but I did get some good news and that has my spirits high!

@Nariata

I am holding up because the collab apparently mentions Mardion? I'm not in the collab, but my character is affected, apparently.

Soviet Amerika - Red Dawn-Inspired Alternate History

Awesome. I also posted up. Basically, this activity is the first activity in this region, so it will probably bring in some attention. I think that way, characters can take it seriously that they just offed three guys and they're probably bringing down the KGB.

Soviet Amerika - Red Dawn-Inspired Alternate History

Messy

---

Killing was always messy, but Dan found this a messier sort of killing than anticipated. The familiar coppery smell of blood filled the place, and Joe had questions.

"Nice work," Dan drawled, as he looked over the handiwork. He noted that Joe wasn't a bad shot -at all- if he could get a moving target like that. Good to know. Also good to know that the Giguere brothers didn't fuck around either. "Orders are to leave them there. They wanted it to draw out some investigation and see who was running this guy. What now for us is that we're going into the hills. Not sure of the orders after that."

Sometimes, he felt like a mushroom. Kept in the dark and fed shit. Then again, he didn't tell Joe that he had orders about Joe. It was done, they didn't matter anymore.

There was bound to be surveillance on the guy, but that wasn't his end. That's what they had surveillance wizzes for, like the Korean girl and other specialists. Dan, Joe, Gigger, Preston, they were muscle.

"Anyway, we can always use the medication, stash it away for later and I guess we can keep the money too." That, someone would probably want back. He glanced over to Joe and shrugged, "I mean, is there anything else you usually do in this situation? We want to make it look authentic," though he had unvoiced doubts on that. He holstered his pistol and tried to make sure he wasn't stepping in blood or something ridiculous like that. Fitzsimmons was dead, but he died fast and surprised.

"Think it's worth getting that .30-06 round? That head is a mess. They might not figure out what went on if we grab the round." Then again, they probably would if they brought a full forensics team. Dan was pretty blase about the concept; three guys were dead and he was worrying about what came next. But it was good to have a cool head, right? Perhaps it was a reminder that the east coast establishment guys were the ones that started the CIA.

He also had the feeling that the guys that ordered the hit wanted to draw some Warsaw Pact forces out here, which meant that someone was thinking sneaky.

Goddamnit.

Soviet Amerika - Red Dawn-Inspired Alternate History

Only three targets at the meeting, right? LeBeau, Fitzsimmons, and Stone? Wanted to double check before I posted.

@Byrd Man

Correct.

Soviet Amerika - Red Dawn-Inspired Alternate History

That's a pretty good idea, one I didn't necessarily think about. There's never just one ordained resistance group. There are always different groups backed by different people with different goals. Could be a potential storyline with this cell competing against a rival group.

@Byrd Man

The honest truth is that the command and control will be hazy just because of the nature of the fighting and that on the spot decisions have to be made. Also, some groups will be gung ho about fighting the Soviets directly and others will be more circumspect in the how and where. About a third of America is invaded, I'd say, with there being a strong possibility of conventional operations against the Soviets and Warsaw Pact. It will be a pretty grinding war and everyone's going to be afraid of using nukes for various reasons...

Soviet Amerika - Red Dawn-Inspired Alternate History

The way I imagined it, he's a financial baker more than anything. Using his money and connections to help the resistance, but he's just one of what I imagine would be many supporters.

@Byrd Man

So he's basically working pro-bono for the American resistance in a sense, and is not worrying if guys join cells and run crews or whatever. I'm just figuring that some of these groups are highly militarized and there are probably paramilitary factions as well as officially-run ones that the Special Forces are training. But this group in Vermont might be considerably looser. I also feel like there definitely are not enough Green Berets to go around running things at a cell level.

The French were always a mish-mash of political aims, like armed political parties opposed to the Germans, and I think that's a good model to go on. And, as noted previously, it's practically CIA tradition to work with mob guys.

It also makes the plot murkier than starting with an ambush of Soviets or East Germans or Hungarians or whatever though I used East Germans in the last incarnation with the idea of emphasizing how divergent the history was.

Presenting his Imperial Majesty!

Welcome to the Guild!

Soviet Amerika - Red Dawn-Inspired Alternate History

@Byrd Man Also, let's discuss where Billy resides in the hierarchy, if he's bringing some of his loyal guys into the guerrillas. I mean, it might be that they're all working for an Irish mob guy, and that'd be kind of hilarious. Eventually, they'd be more military, but I wanted to start this one doing the murky stuff.