vietmyke

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

ECHO DOMAIN - PLATFORM #2884

Acknowledged. Warform falling back. crackled Echo's hollow voice as the Warform began to pull away from the battlefield, it's cargo of wounded crew safely aboard despite the harsh impacts to the hull. In front of them was the battle mech, and behind them were the ZRF, so the Warform began shifting perpendicular, at least relative to their position. Alert. Main cannon damaged. Charging efficacy reduced. Alert. Warform ocular sensor damaged. Targeting efficacy reduced. Recommend. Laser targeting designation.

Had the squad been fresh, the new threat might not have been too difficult for the them to handle, but with the power armor and gunship having worn down their resources and the squad sustaining damage, they weren't in the best position. Still, they outnumbered the mech, and were already far enough away from the ZRF that they might have enough time to focus fire the target down and pull away. Or, at the very least they could disable the machine to a point that they could commit to a breakthrough. Still, with half the squad onboard the Warform, and the other in a compromised position, they still had quite a bit to do.

Acknowledged. Deploying Endoform. The scavenged weaponry from the power armor trooper was unceremoniously dumped into Echo's main hold with Kleo and Alice as the Endoform once again separated from it's main body, Taking one of the autocannons as it's primary armament for the deployment. It was tempting to send out some of the microform as well, as a distraction, but with injured onboard Echo decided keeping as many defensive weapons available to the main body was the appropriate course of action.

Leaping out of the "skull" of the Warform, the Endoform bounded back towards the fight, moving in an opposite arc as Rasch drew its fire. Without waiting for further command, the Endoform planted its feet for a moment before firing a prolonged burst from it's rotary autocannon, showering the mechanized threat with a hail of guided bio-shells at it. Without missing a beat, the Endoform picked up and scooted a few more yards before planting itself down and firing again. While it was possible that enough conctrated fire could bring the mech down, the Envenomed didn't have time for another battle of attrition. Instead of the main body, Echo primarily targeted the enemy weapon systems, seeking to render them useless.

Alert. Extended engagement inadvisable. Recommend. Tactical Retreat.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

Galahad barely had the time to catch his footing before he felt the house beneath him start to crumple. He attempted to jump and cursed as he found himself falling rather than rising as the brute crashed through the building. There was a brief bit of chaos as Galahad found himself tumbling through the ceiling, diving to the side to dodge both oncoming body and a massive swinging mace whizzing past where his head was. Galahad grunted as he felt an armored arm impact onto his chestplate at some point during the chaotic struggle, as an arm grabbed his form and quite literally threw him out of the house.

He barely had time to collect himself and bring his halberd up as a heavy mace came crashing down on him, the haft of his halberd catching the rod of the juggernaut's weapon before the flanged mace head could cave his skull in. He felt his feet push an inch or two into the dirt from the impact as he shifted his weapon and redirected the mace to come crashing down beside him instead, getting headbutted in the face for his trouble. Luckily they were both wearing helmets as Galahad to a quick hop backwards to gain some space. Finding himself in a duel with the armored juggernaut wasn't an ideal situation, but his hefty halberd was capable of dealing with heavy armor- at least moreso than the relatively lighter weapons of his comrades. The others would have to deal with the rangers on their own then, as Galahad faced off with the larger armored man, his grip on his weapon shifting as the Juggernaut took another few hulking steps forward.

Galahad couldn't hope to overpower this man- the size and weight of his weapon were just too great, but Galahad was considerably faster as he sidestepped another downward swing of the mace, stepping within the weapon's reach as he shifted his reversed his foregrip on his halberd, choking up near the axe's head as he drove the heavy blade down against the inside of the juggernaut's elbow, feeling the steel sink into the lighter armor and catch flesh. Wrenching the weapon upwards, he tried to drive the spike on the backside of his halberd into the armored skull of the juggernaut but only managed to puncture the skin of the helmet before the Juggernaut threw him off.

Jumping back a quick few steps, Galahad gave the juggernaut little time to recover, taking the small opening to finally get himself back into the air. Leaping into the sky, Galahad waited until he reached the crest of his jump before he threw his halberd down at the juggernaut, air whipping around in a micro-sonic boom as the halberd fell from the sky and towards the Juggernaut, Galahad following its wake behind the weapon.

S P I R I T U M

Awesome, take your time both of you. Lookin forward to seeing what pans out!

SPIRITUM

I've been reading things and I vibe with this

y'all got a working discord link?

@Blizz

Here ya go

Paranormal Detectives

Interesting!

S P I R I T U M

Looking for one or two more players to fill out the party!

SPIRITUM

Gerard Biserus

"Well, where's the fun in that?" Gerard snarked as he reluctantly posted himself back up at the truck, casually sipping his beer. He'd temporarily suspending the setup of their camp for the moment. While the use of mist and magic wasn't exactly illegal, it was extremely uncommon amongst the lay-people. Most people that showed any aptitude for mist manipulation were press-ganged into the WARDEN program, or were otherwise State certified- and State monitored individuals. In the cities you might see some handful of folk with the ability to manipulate mist. Out here in the boonies, it was no better than a boogieman's tale. "Tell them to shoot you again, I like that one."

Out of the corner of his eye, Gerard caught the glint of glass. Glancing subtly in the direction, Gerard spotted what must've taken the Marshals so long to come out to play. Up on the town's single combination radio-cell tower, a man had climbed up. Backlit by the sun, it was hard to make out exact details, but Gerard reckoned the man didn't climb up there to drink a beer. In fact, the party favor he brought seemed a little bit like one that had to be held in two hands, and braced on the shoulder.

"Long gun, 2 O'clock high." Gerard murmured into the squad's communication spell, his face never losing its casual, easy grin- like a college kid with too much time and alcohol.

The WARDEN's heard the men long before their faces came into view. For almost all of them it was almost impossible to miss- their training and situational awareness long since drilled into them made them well aware of the crunch of combat boots on gravel from about twenty meters away. Silhouetted in the afternoon light was a fellow in a wide-brimmed hat, but otherwise uniformed like a Rassvet army regular. The uniform was flat khaki rather than camouflage, and on his left breast there were the Rassvet sword and runes, but on a shield.

"Afternoon folks. Just stopped by to check up on you young travelers, make sure alls' well!" came the voice of the lead Marshall, an old, gravelly baritone of a voice with a slight drawl. Well on past his physical prime, the man had a something of a beer gut, and his shoulders had slumped a bit in age. A bushy, more-salt-than-pepper beard covered most of his face, but his eyes held the faint gleam of one a bit faster on the draw than his age might suggest. His hand rested casually on his hip- though no more than an inch away from a holstered handgun. "Heard a bit of a ruckus over at the general'."

“Marshall.” Gerard called back as a way of greeting, ignoring Justice's command to let her do the talking, his voice mimicking the country drawl. “All's well over here. Anything we can do for you?” Gerard's eyes flitted from the badge to the pistol, but took no initiative other than to take another casual sip of his drink.

"Well, there's a war goin' on out there, and orders have it that it's my job to check up on anything unusual. So a bunch of... young folks like you lookin' like you just left the Citadel..." he shrugged, "Well, you know." The man was bold, Gerard gave him that. Deserters were heavily persecuted in Rassvet, but if the Marshall thought they were deserters, he was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid to approach them with such scant backup. Still, the man looked like he could handle his own well enough- maybe not against a cadre of WARDENs, but well enough against whatever this backwood might throw at him.

"Now I hate to interrupt your afternoon, but I'm gonna need to see some papers, alright? Just one'uv ya'll do, don't see the point in runnin' em' all if it checks out." The old timer said rather pleasantly, current circumstances considered, as he held his hand out expectantly. In Rassvet, a police state, citizens were expected to show ID, papers, and endure a check at any given moment. This fellow, out in the boonies by a bit, was at least a little more common sense and friendly in his approach. Around Orestia, these guys acted like they were on the front lines already, and that everyone was a spy. Now that he was a bit closer, the old timer cocked a glance at Justice's tank top, and the WARDEN insignia stenciled across the front.

"Hopefully I'm not offendin' ya'll when I say this, but what's a bunch of WARDEN types doing out here?"

The Symphony - A Fated Quest

Odran Stormweaver
Marching Music

---

When it came to Iron Dwarf companies, not even their scouts were particularly subtle. While they were not going out of their way to be noisy, when dwarves in plated armor came marching, it was hard to be quiet about it. Unlike their regular army units however, at least the Ironborn's Ranger crews marched relatively light. In place of a two-score platoon fitted a full baggage train of wagons, cargo and support crew, Odran and his crew numbered a bit over a dozen warriors and shield dwarves, and a quartet of laden mules. Still, it was hard to mask the subtle shake of the ground as some 18 dwarves marched through the village. The main component of unit itself was made up of 10 dwarven rangers and a pair of war-goat riders of varying ages, though all experienced in their own right, heads on a constant swivel as they scanned their surroundings. The remaining 6 dwarves made up the unit's small complement of shield dwarves, attendants to the older, more experienced rangers in the column. The column slowed down as they entered the village proper, hands on blade, rifle and shield as one of the shield dwarves, a young woman, approached her adoptive father at the front.

"Flint and fell... Da', what do you think's happened here?" Alfira asked, her normally bright alto voice low and subdued, her face more than a little pale given the sight. The orange light of her runelantern on the back of her pack pulled long shadows on her father's face as he glanced back at her.

"Well, that's what we're here to find out." Odran murmured in reply as he knelt down, checking one of the corpses and the accompanying beast prints. The poor man had been torn apart by the beast, whether by teeth or claw, it was hard to tell due to the severity, but whatever it was, the beast was massive. Removing a gauntlet, Odran ran his fingers against the edge of one of the footprints, feeling for textures, as his eyes and hands looked for something that might clue him in to what it was they might be marching into- be it stray furs or claw marks. Whatever it was, Odran hadn't seen anything like it, but it was smart- at least smart enough to keep the village people alive after slaughtering its defenders. Either men had control of the beasts and had taken villagers prisoner, or the beasts themselves were capable of taking folk prisoner.

"Callan!" Odran barked as he stood, there was an attendant grunt as one of the goat-riders rode up to him. "Return to the company and tell em what's happened 'ere. Request for reinforcements." The dwarf named Callan gave Odran a sharp nod before kicking his spurs into his goat, sending the two careening back the way they came. "Mulloch! Oryl!" Odran barked at two of the veteran rangers. There was the rapid shuffle and crunching of steel and sod as the responding dwarves marched up to him. "Take the mules and the lads and hold here. Hopefully flare rounds will make it through the treeline if we need ya."

"But Captain!" One of the shield dwarves protested, "How are we s'posed to learn if we're stuck here on camp duty?" To Odran's chagrin, Alfira nodded in agreement, speaking up as well. "I'm not stayin' back either Da, I'm coming with you."

"This un's no learning matter." Odran grunted, "We've stumbled onto something big here."

"All the more reason for me to come with you." Alfira argued, several of the other shield dwarves nodding in agreement, "You'll need every axe you can, right?" Odran eyed his daughter down for a moment, his vision flitting over to the other shield dwarves for a moment before he sighed. "Fine. Arek, the goat's no good in the woods. Stay here. Alfira, Tonben, form up." The two mentioned shield dwarves' faces lit up as they began to fall into formation with the rest of the rangers. A few of the remaining shield dwarves began to protest before Odran cut them off.

"I'm sorry- I think you lot are under the impression that this was a discussion." Odran barked, "I didn't say, 'Hey laddies, would you all like to stay in the village or come with me?', I said 'Mulloch, Oryl, take the mules and the lads, and Hold. Here.' Understood?"

With the riders gone, and two of their number staying back with the remaining shield dwarves to set up a small base camp, Odran's unit now numbered 8 Rangers and 2 Shield dwarves as they prepared to enter the woods- seeking whatever it was that had torn through the village. With any luck, they'd be able to find the remaining villagers and bring them home. If not that, then at least put an end to whatever was tearing this countryside apart.

"Stick close to me loddy, don't rush in looking for a fight." Odran murmured to Alfira, cradling the starmetal rifle in his hands as the dwarves glanced at the woods ahead of them, necks craning as the short dwarves looked up at the towering treetops above them. There was a silent breath before Odran led the march into the forest, the stomping of steel muffled in the thick underbrush. Now about half their original number and without the mules, they could at least try to travel more quietly- especially given the unknown they were heading into. The darkness of the night and trees soon enveloped the dwarves, their runelanterns like willow-wisps in the dark woods.

"Stop worrying Da, I'm not a child anymore." Alfira replied to him quietly, a plated elbow nudging his side reassuringly.

"That's why I'm worried."

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

The march up to Osprey was a quiet one- at least from Galahad's perspective. To be fair, none of them were much in the way of conversationalists, but furthermore Galahad had a bit more on his mind than usual. He was glad to let Izayoi guide them for the time being, let him have the time to get his head on straight, given the facts of the previous night. He wasn't expecting the samurai to take them to her old home- she seemed like the private sort, so he would've thought that she might've kept that personal knowledge. Though that being said, most of them trended towards rational anyway- and a familiar place in an otherwise hostile countryside was as good as any for safe camp.

Or so they thought, anyway. The small town itself was apparently already occupied- by Valheim, unsurprisingly. They'd spent too much time trying to get themselves down here to turn around and find some place better to camp with what little light there was left. Galahad also knew that stealth was something hardly worth suggesting- subtle wasn't exactly their strong suit. "Here we go." Galahad sighed as he watched Izayoi charge into the fray, followed shortly after by Éliane, Arton not far behind to provide cover. Straightening his neck, Galahad slowly pulled his halberd from his beast's side as he dismounted, pausing for a brief second before leaping into the air. Steel glinted in the fading sunlight, a shadow against the setting sun as he hung in the air for a moment. He had a better vantage from up here- a small group of melee fighters were approaching the party, while a group of gunners and a mage were setting up to hit the party from their flank.

"Over here! Set up here and- Augh!" the small formation of gunners scattered as an oversized halberd fell upon their mage, piercing through armor and pinning the man to the ground as its bulk- alongside that of a dragoon hurtling to the ground. Stray shots were fired as the gunners scattered and split, their flanking maneuver set back as they attempted to regroup. A richochet pinged off Galahad's armor before he leapt back into the air- not intending on sticking around to find out how Eldren steel fared against Valheim lead.

Once again in the air, from his vantage Galahad spotted a pair of figures heading towards the party- the first one was obvious, one man, larger than the others, wielding a giant hammer or mace of some sort, in hulking armor stomping towards the party. The other hung back a bit, a crest in his helmet- an officer. Recognizing the priority target, Galahad whistled and threw a bolt of lightning towards the man, the electricity more or less a glowing beacon in the fading light of the coming dusk, the crackle and burst of blue light silhouetting the crest for his party to see.

Tile and wood cracked and groaned beneath his feet as the dragoon set down on a roof, halberd in hand. He took a step back as enemy bullets began to strike at his position. "I'll take care of their ranged fighters!" Galahad barked as he jumped yet again, the force sending tile and splinters scattering from the roof.

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

ECHO DOMAIN - PLATFORM #2884

As the third set of coordinates appeared, Echo paused for a moment. Odd. They were being tasked to fire on a hostile position- formerly hostile anyway, as the bunker was now occupied by ostensibly friendly forces. To be fair, the ZRF were nominally friendly, but were temporary allies at best. The command was puzzling to the Echo platform. If only for a moment. The Endoform bristled with subtle activity, its grip on its weapon tightening for a moment as it began to slowly lift it up in preparation to perform a pre-emptive strike on what would likely soon be hostiles. Before Rasch's voice crackled across the squad comm. There was a twinge of hesitation before the Endoform abruptly turned on its heel and began returning to its main host.

Echo Platform falling back. Command Acknowledged. the voice rumbled through the squad comm as the Endoform and microforms fell back and merged themselves with the patched up Warform, returning the unit to full firepower. Patched up being a relative term- their mobility was mostly restored, and its damaged sections were armored, but its ability to stand up to heavy concentrated firepower was no longer a sure thing. Preparing Defensive position. Recommendation. Break contact and initiate tactical retreat.

With its heavy legs, the Warform plodded over to where Kleo and Alice were patching up, lowering one side of its body as it deployed a platform to lift them into its troop-carrier section. Alert. Contact imminent. Recommendation. Load onto Warform. Addendum. Anti-grav locomotion allows stability within acceptable ranges to continue triage.

If necessary, Echo's warform could plow through trees if they required a hasty escape, at the minimum it would be able to provide mobile cover for the squad as they engaged with the new enemy. In preparation for the incoming fast mover, Echo's weapons angled themselves in its approximate heading, preparing to- as Rasch said- open fire on the new contact as soon as it came into range, collateral damage be damned.