You wake from strange dreams to feel the earth trembling under your fingers. A prickly grass is under your cheekbone and the palm of of your right hand.  You hear in the distance a rumble,a nd a shriek of badly stressed metal.

PT

"Bloody hell.. I've had some bad verses.. but what the hell did I do to wake up to that noise...?"

I get up, massaging my temples, and then take a look around..and then see what type of grass I'm on...

The grass is light yellow, and clipped low to the ground.  To your left you see scurrying soldiers in new uniforms about a hundred feet distant. They have four tanks, behemoths, and they've crashed one into another.  Some civilians are watching.

PT

Eh.. that's interesting..  Well, I might as well see what the commotion is... I sure as hell hope though that the other me hasn't been here as well..and what of Andrew.. where did my son get to?  Oh well, he is my son after all, he'll be fine by himself.  I wonder if I can sense magic in this world..

I try to sense any magic that may be in the area or occurring around me.  After a moment or two, I continue onwards towards the civilians.

Hey Ajax...ya there? I have the feeling that some food might be heading your way..  ya there?  Oh and don't feign not being there only to surprise me and try to take over my body in my dreams again, its not going to work, ya failed last time, and regardless of how much training you get, you'll fail again.  Just as I used you to damage the god of death, I can certainly damage one who might try to imitate his abilities.  So bloody 'ell don't mess around.  And answer already if ya can hear me.. what good is a sentient sword that doesn't nag endlessly about not getting fed..

*There is little magic here.* Ajax's voice is faint. *And what there is is locked behind a tall barrier. I won't be taking over your body in this world.  Perhaps next one.*  A menacing chuckle echoes through your brain.

You walk up to the crowd of t-shirt and khaki pants dressed civilians, and now you can see beyond the tanks to a cluster of homes another two hundred yards up the road.  There are similarly dressed people walking up and down the road in the early morning light.

The troops look green and untried.  Their weapons are some sort of battle rifle with a large round, and automatic capabilities you think.  On their arm patches you can see...

"High Guard. Duchy of Plainsland."

Some of the civilians are looking at you strangely.  The soldiers are arguing about what to do about the tank 'wreck'.

PT

I look at a few people in the crowd and generally just say..

"What?  There a problem with how I look?  Don't like it?  Tough.  I've been through hell and back.  4 wars, and thousands of battles and skirmishes, some with the god's themselves.  If you have an issue, bring it up with me, and I'll show you what I mean, otherwise quit staring.  It's annoying."

I move through the crowd over towards the soldiers.

"Seems like you guys have a problem here.  Perhaps I could help.  I assume you guys are the local militia.  No need to be so worried, I'm not an enemy."

If they don't shoot me where I stand I move closer to inspect the carnage.

They step back, and you hear some whispering behind you about you 'being one of them'.  You can tell they are not going to attack you. You've seen people  like them before...in one world, they'd be rich peasants, and in another world, they'd be suburbanites.

The soldiers are startled to see you, and one reaches for a weapon, but a leader type orders him to stand down.

"Men, he's not one of Them. He's not eight feet tall, and he doesn't have fangs."  He turns from his men. "I'm Knight Captain Morrison. Did Mount Royal send you?"

"Nope. Never heard of the place.. I assume its a capital or defense center, or something of the sort, right?"

I look around for a moment.

"Well, you can call me several things..  You could call me General Avahur, as some have called me..  or you could call me Achillephon...  Though I haven't been called that in a long time.. I prefer General Avahur.. or just Avahur, either way works."

"How...how can you not have heard of Mount Royal?" The Knight Captain speaks.  Plainly suspicious he backs up a step, and puts his hand near his pistol.  His men make ready as well, without going so far as to point a weapon at you.

PT

"Quite simply.  Because I was sent here by a powerful force, to help this world for whatever reason that it needs helping.  Basically to put it so that you all will understand.. I was sent by the gods..more or less.. I don't know anything about this world.. but I was sent to my previous world to help restore power, as it was stuck in darkness.. the lights of the world disappeared..

So, to put it simply. I'm a verser.. I can do things you guys probably could never think of doing.  Soo..  Maybe I can show you.. By shooting me now, you are only going to lose a very powerful ally."

I try to teleport to my right about 20 yds.

At first it doesn't work, but on the second try it does.  However, you had to strain terrifically hard to make it work, and you arrive with beads of sweat dripping down your back.

Your reaction is as nothing to their reaction.

They are utterly astonished.

There is some talking, but they arrive at this reasoning fairly quickly.

"We are being invaded by hideous beings from another world. We think they are genetically engineered.  If, another dimension exists, then it stands to reason that more dimensions exist.  And perhaps the gods or aliens don't approve of worlds invading other worlds."

Once they've reasoned this out, and have a 'place' in their minds for you, they relax a bit.

The Knight Captain says.

"I think, Lord General, that I should confer with my superiors.  But I, we also have a problem. It is said that within a few hours, the front of the Great Water invasion force, that came from the Gate near San Luis Rey, will reach here. I need to defend this highway, this suburb...I would appreciate any help you are able to offer."

PT
OOC: I'm assuming this t-port is psionic, right?

"If you have a map of some sort of the suburb, or can guide me through this area, and get me a list of what manpower you have that can defend this city.  With that, I can help set up some decent defenses for this town.  Also, I need to know everything that you know about this invading force, just because I get sent here, doesn't mean they tell me anything about where I'm sent.  So I need all the information you can give me.  If we only have a few hours we'll have to work quickly.  If there isn't enough soldiers, we'll need to see if we can get some civilians to help us out.  What planet, or orbital colony, or whatever are we on?"

I let the sweat remain and so when the wind blows it will help cool me off a bit.

Well.. looks like its time to have some fun.

One of them pulls out a local one 9 by 11 map of the sort given to tourists.  The Knight Captain is red-faced with frustration as he tries to not yell.

"It would really have been helpful to have packed the maps, Corporal Rally." He directs his words to one man who looks mortified.

"We have this ten men, with our four tanks, each tank takes three men, but we're done a couple since they were out of town when the invasion hit."

The tanks are huge, eighty tonners, well above the size of an Abrams M1A1 which is fifty-five tons.

They've given you most everything they know about the invasion force. There is very little known. Eight foot tall, fangs, and has some advanced weapons, and is infantry.

  Ideally, the tankers would join up with a larger force, but the enemy is moving so quickly that any forces that are about are being tossed into his path to slow him down.

"Planet? Orbital colony?" The Knight Captain squeaks, and you can see in his and his men's eyes that their faith in your extraordinary origins just hardened. "Um, this is Earth, and you're in the Great Plains Duchy of the Kingdom of Vespuccia."

PT

"Earth? Nice.. I haven't been back here in many many years.  Spent the first 26 years of my life here..  then the gods came a callin and I went elsewhere..

Anyway, let's take a look here...  Oh, have you tried any means of communicating with these things?"

I continue to look at the map and look for any gun shops, police or fire departments, and then take a good look at what buildings are in the center of town and around the outside of town.  (PT I'd like to know..)  I also take a look at the shape the town is roughly in..

"Hmm...  I think I might be able to come up with something...  Oh, by the way..  Have any of you heard of the battle of troy, way back in earth's history?  If ya have, then a useful tidbit of information...  I was there,  yep, things were interesting back then..  I was in a position where if I wasn't needed elsewhere, me and a friend could have ended up ruling the world.  Man things were good back then..  But then I went elsewhere, and I eventually came here."

OoC: Yeah PT, I'd like to know of any buildings that I was looking for and whats on the edges of town.  I do intend to come up with a plan and can't unless I know what's there.

They shake their head with rueful smiles at your statements.

"We're glad the gods, or the One God sent you. I assume that we've tried to talk to them. I cannot imagine my superiors not doing so.  But I do not know the result except that they continue to advance."

The land is flat, with most of its fields of Yan (some grain) already cut. The north-south road (which you're on south of town) is raised above the plain by four feet. It is asphalted. Most of the other roads are gravel, and tend to be straight as does this road.

About a mile behind you to the west are a low range of five hills with the tallest hitting three hundred feet.

The town is shaped like a watermelon. In the center is a downtown with a gridwork design,a nd a public square (on which the police and primary fire station rests.).  There is one north, and one south secondary fire stations. There are two gun stores, and five pawn stores.  Also, there is an armory at the north end of town, but most of the weapons are already being used by the ten soldiers here they say.

The tallest buildings are five stories, and most of the buildings in downtown are brick faced or marble. The older 'gridwork streets' n'hoods, and more modern suburbs are all brick-faced. Its a local law to help with tornadoes.  Indeed, the houses seem rather sturdy, and on the small side.

Eight hundred square feet, and solidly built is the average.

The town has about ten thousand people.  Many are fleeing north along the road.  Others seem to think this is a lark.  Others are buying up in the grocery stores.  Those who are staying seem to have confidence in the military, or just to not have adapted to the switch from peace to invasion.

The knight captain nods.

"I had to read the Illiad and the Odyssey in college in the original Greek.  Were you here in this world, or was it another world's history?"

PT

"Not sure if it was here specifically after all, it was in the past.  However, I was there twice.  The first time, the god Ares, came to a friend and myself and asked us to defend troy.  We did, and ended up kickin' ass, thus troy was successfully defended.  Then a few years later, Priam was gettin old and dying, and his sons and such were arguing, and my friend was still here doing whatever it was he was doing, and then the god of death...whose name eludes me right now, basically I started to work for him.  Imagine that, working for the gods of death and war.  Fun times indeed.... Now let's see what we have here..."

After a moment or two considering the options.

"This isn't good.

Captain can I speak to you for a moment?"

If he agrees, then I take him over to the side away from people.

"This isn't good.  With situation, we lack the manpower to do anything effective, most if not all of us would die here today if we tried to put up a fight.  We lack the manpower, plus this city, while I could sort of come up with something, the city is small, and its buildings smaller.  It'd be better to retreat from here, get the people moving to another place, one that is more defensible and a place where if we want to push the invaders back, we would have the manpower and weapons to do so.  Get volunteers, and get them guns of some sort from whatever is left.  We need to get moving within the hour.  Those that don't want to leave need to be left behind.  To stop them effectively we need more time, and need to be able to set up the area to our liking, fight on our terms not on theirs.  The needs of the one, or the few, do not outweigh the needs of the many.  We need to get the people moving away from here at a brisk pace as quickly as possible.  Save all that we can, live to fight another day.  So that when we do some damage, it'll hurt, and won't be something they can easily patch up."

I wait to see what he has to say.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:09, Tue 08 Apr 2008.

He turns pale.

"Mass evacuation? The best route is north to the railhead at Porter's Creek. But we couldn't get everyone out in time. Even if everything moved smoothly, the road north can only carry so many people."

He rubs his face; the knight captain looks haggard, like he has had all his strength sucked away by a vampire.

PT

"Then we need to get as many as we can out now.  Tell them to take only what they have on them.  We move quickly.  We need to put a lot of distance behind us.  If we don't they will all surely die.  If some people need to be left behind then so be it.  We move within the half hour.  Get as many as you can out in that time period,  this is war, and touch decisions need to be made.  We can't be slowed down.  The populace may hate the decision, but if they live to tell about it, then at least they are alive.  Isn't the military supposed to be about protecting the citizens, and such like that?  Well now is the time, let's move."

I continue waiting to see what he says, and finally if he agrees I await to see what he says to everyone.  If he doesn't start saying something in the form of an order, then I'll do it myself.

He gets the mass evacuation started by commandeering the radio stations, and then by sending speaker trucks through the streets.  A trickle has started to flow, and these people, even though shocked, and partially disbelieving, seem of the sort to be practical and respectful of authority.

But, only five hundred have left town by the time the half-hour is up.  And there is a traffic jam, three-tenths of a mile long near the north exit from town.

PT

I instruct people to hop off of the road and walk along the sides to continue going.  Every 20 minutes, I see about getting people to move faster to get the town evacuated.  Then I move to find the Captain..

"Are there explosives of any kind around?"

"We have some erc cord in the armory, and a few grenades. I think two dozen.  Two bad this wasn't three weeks on, then we'd have the High Summer celebrations, and everyone loads up on about a hundred pounds of explosives."

It turns out 'erc cord' is electrical resister cord. A small, very powerful capacitor holds an electrical charge. Its flushed down the cord. The cord resists, and explosively expands.

You can use it to chop down a tree by encircling the trunk, or about four feet of it is enough to turn a car into a fireball.  Fifteen feet, properly laid out since it can't cross wires or get too close even, is enough to flip over a Destruction Duke, one of their eighty tonne tanks.

They have three hundred feet.

PT

"Grab all of it and take it with us.  I have an idea and we will be making some serious fireworks.  Get everything, we won't be leaving anything here for them, we move quickly and get as far away as we can."

They snatch everything that might be remotely useful, and ten minutes later your team leaves the building. The roll of ERC cord is about eight inches in diameter, and two inches in depth.  It comes with a larger bag of mini-capacitors, and a special 'erkie cutter' wire cutter.

They follow you with enthusiastic smiles.

You see an old man as you leave. He is setting up bags of potting soil on his roof as a firing position. He has some sort of long rifle leaning up against the side of his house in the shade of the metal ladder he is using to get to the roof.

PT

Well.. some people just can't listen.

"Continue along road and get people moving quickly.  I will be there shortly, I've got some business to take care of."

I move away from them as they head off and go see what the old man is up to..

Probably gonna say something like his old bones can't take travel and he'd die before he got there..  bah..nonsense.. let's see what what we've got to deal with here...

"You want to help me tote a sand bag to the roof, sonny?" He looks over at you. "And 'fore you say it, I ain't got any relatives I care to visit, but I do have a Boonrick rifle which I used in the Tsar's War. I ain't as good as I was, can't hit someone at four hundred yards anymore, but someone needs to do something, and even if these monsters are ten feet tall, why seventeen mill of lead and copper will spoil just about anyone's day."

He pauses and looks straight into your eyes.

"Look, son. I'd run, but the roads were never made for mass evacuation here in the middle of the country. I mean, who would have thunk an invader could get this far? So someone has to stay behind, and the doctor told me last year 'you're eighty-five, every day you get is a blessing from the High King, now go out and have some fun.' Seems to me, this is my place. Someone is going to get left behind, and I can slow down the invaders better than most."

PT

"I knew you'd say something like this.. someone always does.. perhaps you'd like to go out in a bang then?  We've got some Erc cord and some 'nades, and I was thinking of creating a nice ball of fire out of the city, but I'd need someone to stay behind willingly to set it off once these invaders entered the city.  It'd be one helluva fireball, but it'd be an interesting spectacle.  Perhaps you're interested.  While lead may spoil someone's day, I think fire can do it just a bit better.."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:24, Thu 01 May 2008.

He thinks for a second, and then his face splits into a fierce grin.

"Yes, that will show them alien monsters. They should have stayed home. You've got your man, sir. I'll do it."

He slings the rifle over his shoulder, and gestures for you to lead the way.

PT

"Hmm.. wait at the base of the building, I'm going to retrieve some help..  This is going to be a blast..literally."

I head down to the base of the building and dart off after the soldiers, and inform them to set up the erc cord crisscrossing everywhere barely within the safe confines, so that its all throughout the center of the town and such.

"My plan is to lure them in and make a large explosion.. It should be fun.  We'll be hanging the grenades along the lengths of cord, and have the cord criss cross, base of a building, up a level, through a hole and across the street to another building, etc.  We've got the explosives, so let's throw a party.  We'll need someone to stay behind and set it all off, and I've got myself a volunteer for it.  It will be fun.. and if it doesn't work, at least we got a nice show."

Without waiting to hear from him I head back towards the town to set stuff up.

You get it set-up. About an hour later, the tank task force commander calls you.

"Sir, I've spotted humanoid forms on the IR scan at two miles range, and confirmed it on the next tank in line. Speed of advance looks to be about fifteen miles per hour. I'm dug in behind the roadbed, and have prepared another retreat position. My plan is to sweep around the end of town in a fighting retreat. Hopefully, I can funnel them into town, and Ba-ba-boom. Do you want me to engage at maximum range which is 1.25 miles for the main gun? Or should I try to get a concentration of targets? I'm leaning toward the first because from what I hear, these guys don't shock. You just have to kill them."

Checking with the north road police who are keeping things moving, you hear that another two hours is neccessary to get everyone out.  But everyone is out of the blast zone. Everyone is concentrated in the north side of town.

You receive word from some laughing semi truck drivers who stop by to boast on their way to getting their 4x4 trucks and heading out cross country. It seems they've parked some full fuel trucks near the edge of your explosive area with the intent of creating a larger area of destruction.

PT

"Do you have fireworks or something of the sort?  If so, launch them skyward, to get the attention of here, if not, shoot over the city, from behind it to pull them towards the city.   When they get to 3/4 of a mile fire 1 shot at the to get them mad then retreat.  If they survive the blast, fire at will."

I tell the soldier to "set the explosives off when they get close to or into the town... whichever is closer, and if they start to veer off, shoot your gun in the air to draw them to you."

I proceed to leave the blast area and get ready to watch the fireball...from a distance.

Too bad I don't have sunglasses...

I pull a helmet from one of the uniforms out of my bag and put it on, then get ready to watch the blast...closing my eyes of course if it gets too bright...  then reopening when the light dies down to see what goes on.

OOC: GE roll of '20' which is not great, but not disastrous.

IC:

The tank commander Morrison fires main gun fletchette shells over the city.  He then opens up at 3/4ths of a mile, and rips to shreds the very loose front ranks. Something about how far apart the enemy is bothers you.

More come, and he begins to retreat. One tank gets stuck, and its tread comes loose. Fire from the other tanks is chewing up the enemy, but the nearly a hundred feet between each attacker is making the attacks not so effectual.

At half a mile, with what seems plenty of time for the tanks to get out as they lay covering fire for the damaged tank as it evacced its men, you notice the enemy suddenly begins to sprint.

Before the tanks can go more than a hundred yards in retreat, bright splashes of light come from the charging infantry. Perhaps eight blasts. All four of your eighty tonne tanks are burning wrecks. One is literally cut in two.

The soldier in the town fires on them to draw their attention,a nd his seventeen mill bullet does knock one, and then two down. By this time, their in the town.  They suddenly slow down. Each building is opened up, and loot is pulled out to be piled in the street.

With a feeling like Fate, you know what is going to happen. The soldier can't see them in the streets, and so he has to guess. He's going to be thinking they'll charge in. He's not going to be expecting loot and pillage.

You can't get through to him.

A few minutes later, you see a second wave of infantry coming toward the town. The first group of two hundred got chopped up a bit, and is now in the town. The second is coming.

The town vomits fire up to the storm clouds that are hanging over the town. The whole town vanishes, including the several thousand humans at the north end. Covering your face with your hands, you see chunks of buildings arcing through the sky, flaming, like some great trebuchet had tossed the whole of a gas station at you.

It lands behind you with the sign still somewhat visible.

'Royal Oil'.

Ash drifts out of the sky.


The flames are now only four hundred feet high.

You're deaf.
PT

"Damn."

Eh?  I can't hear myself.  Oh well.  Could be worse.. but now I can't hear people's pleas when I kill them.  Oh well, it could be worse.

I flee the area.

OOC: I prefer "Aargh."

IC: You head along the northern highway, and within a mile a truck filled with refugees pulls off in front of you.  You're able to get on, and sit on the truck's edge with nine other people.

One of them hands you a bottled drink of lightly vingegarred and tomatoed water. The others are drinking it casually, but its a bit of an acquired taste.

An hour and a half later, the truck stops at a campground at the edge of the next town. This town is about three times the size of teh one you blew up.  Its named Plains City.

"Folks, I'm going to try to connect with some of my friends. We agreed to meet here. You're welcome to stay with me, if you like. Or you can try your luck in town with the bus, or the rail. Right now, I'm going to stretch my legs for ten minutes."  The driver says as he gets out of the cab of the truck.

PT

Excellent.  I can hear again.. that explosion rocked...hard.  I need to do more stuff like that.. blowing things up..  But.. then I can't use my swords..  I need to find an alternative.  I wonder what the rest of my clan would say if they knew I destroyed a city...oh well.

"That was quite an explosion back there...I think the invading guys died...maybe."

I head over to find the truck driver.

"Where are you heading to?"

OOC: Duly noted.

The others in the truck agree with you quite sincerely.

"Better it gets blown up than them alien monsters get it." One man says coldly. A few others look doubtful.

"I'm heading toward the Divide." The driver points toward what you would have called the Rocky Mountains. "We have a fishing cabin up there."

He walks off, and most of the others do so as well. Several of them are talking about catching the train.

PT

I also head off and see about catching a train.

If I get one to the capital, perhaps I can find a way to be in charge of the military..  That'd be fun.  To the capital it is..

I ask around about the name of capital, then proceed to get a train there.

You've climbed on to the train to Royalmount, the capital, and are settling in the dining car for a snack when you see a coffee cup across the room that had been falling freeze in mid-air.

Your sword is in your hand even as two people appear out of thin air. You move to get a sword to their neck, and the man moves even faster.

A blade of light appears in his hand and blocks your sword.

The woman by this time has a pistol out, and is aimed with rock-steady hands at your skull.

"Avahur!?!" The blue eyed man with red hair says with some shock. You don't recognize him. "I'm Christophe, this is Annie. I'm recruiting for a problem. I'll return you to this time/space coordinate when its done.  But I need your promise to 'be good'.  You've got a rep among experienced versers, tough, but a wild card. If no, tho' I'll just go, and let you continue with whatever you're doing in this verse. And if you're still mad about the time I ran you through, well, I'm sorry, but I'd do it again in the same circumstances."

OOC: This is your chance to join Krillis' temporary gather if you like.

PT

"Sounds interesting.  I've died too many times to remember most of the people that have killed me.  I'll go.  Things could be interesting.  But, be good?  Come on, since whenever am I actually being good?  I won't kill anyone unless they threaten me, how about that?  But if someone threatens me, as your partner is doing now, I will kill them.  I've got quite a few things I can do to avoid the bullet.  Enough of that though, just send me there."

I grab a hold of my belongings.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:49, Fri 30 May 2008.

"Just self-defense, Avahur, Annie wouldn't shoot you out of hand." He pauses, and holds out a hand as he clicks off his sword. "I'll accept your terms."

You take his hand, and the world wavers around you....

PT

You see Christophe appear, and he looks worried.

"I'm having trouble stabilizing the return spell. I think someone else versed in, drawn by the mass of scriff, and that upset the balances...."

The world around you turns surreal for a second with watches melting, and colors starting to speak, and then ....

"Hang on!" You hear Annie's voice come out of the air.

"We're here. Sorta. Thanx. Best of luck."

He dissappears with a worried and distracted look on his face.

You're not on the train. You're in an apple orchard.  You smell smoke, and hear the grinding of metal in the distance.

Behind you through the trees looks to be perhaps a white house. In front of you is a thing, humanoid in shape, with jagged teeth.  Its three rows of trees in front of you, and it seems to be bending down in its loincloth covered shorts, with its short energy rifle in its hand.

It looks to be eating apples fallen on the ground.

After all, red runs from its mouth.

With a lurch of horror you realize what its really eating.

Worse, there is another one about fifty feet down from it to your right.

And you hear another one somewhere to your left.

You hear a piercing scream back toward the house.

PT
OOC: Dark enough?

Pfft...figures.  Well, time to do what I do best.

I pull out the rifle I got from the world with pollux, take aim and fire 4 times at it, then I run forward towards it.  As I get closer I fire again and prepare to jump to the side if it doesn't die and comes at me.

Should it get knocked down I run around it and keep on running.

After I fre the 5th shot, I trace the rune on my arm to activate stoneskin, and pray it doesn't kill me like last time.

OOC: I need some details. It matters greatly if the gun is a .22 rifle or a .454 Weatherby or a gravity pulse rifle.

Also, how much skill do you have? If you're, um, me (not Tadeusz), you'd have a hard time hitting the broad side of a barn from inside the barn, but if you have Michael Di Vars skill you can probably choose which eye the bullet goes into.

And your magic notably fails to do anything at all.

PT

You fire and miss because he's partially obscured by a tree trunk.  He looks up, and you fire again, slamming into his thigh, and the explosion from the tiny pellet knocks apples loose to pelt him, and spins him around.

He rides the explosion, and comes around to shoot you.  A trunk near your head splits with a bwmmwwmwmwm-K-RACK!

You hit him in the chest, and demolish him.  He falls, and another shot from your right brings your head about to see one of them advancing toward you in a sprint and then crouch behind a tree trunk fashion.

An apple above you explodes and showers you with sweet scent.

PT

I aim and shoot 3 times.  The first two are aiming at the tree trunk, the third I aim at the ground just to the right of the tree trunk so that the explosion would hit the beast.

Eh... apples... these guys are going to be troublesome... why am I doing this again?

Drive him from cover, and then shoot him.

The first two shots leave the apple tree swaying, on the verge of falling over, and send dozens of splinters flying. One of those splinters is a foot long and buries itself in a tree trunk fifteen feet to your right.

The Iron Caste warrier lurches from his crouched cover, and ....You hit his head, and his skull evaporates. His remains fall forward.

You hear a faint "Help me." from the direction of the first warrior.

PT

I look around for the other warriors in the area... if I don't see anyone, I find the source of the calls for help. If I do see them I take aim and fire, 2 shots in quick succession once I get a decent aim at it.  If no good aim can be reached I shoot the ground near it for the explosion to get them.

You hear movement, and some trilling cries that seem to be signals between at least three of your adversaries, but they are out of sight right now.

You make your way around the tree to see a brunnette female, perhaps thirty, although with her left arm nearly chewed off its hard to say. She's also holding in her intestines with her other hand.

"I...I'm...a..." Her voice stutters and pauses as she fights the surges of mind-blasting pain. "A courier from Renax's forces to the Commander holding Bluffgate. Sally your troops at twilight across the bridge. We'll catch them between us."

She subsides, and you think she's died.

And then she raises herself up a few inches.

"Grant me the arrow of mercy from Athena's hand."

PT

"Pfft."

I turn around and walk away looking for any weapons the beasts I killed had with them.

She curses you, and dies mid-rant.

You gather up weapons. There is an energy rifle of some sort. You can see that it has a power cell in place of the ammo clip you might see on a rifle. The whole thing is the size of a carbine.

There is some sort of device for fitting over the end of fingertips in a bag on his waist. At least you think so. There are ten individual pieces that are clumped together by magnetic charges.

Across his back is hung something that looks like a very large bore shotgun with a four inch long barrel. Next to it are a number of small boxes.

He has another bag in which are several dozen stickers with alien language and alphabet boldly put on them. His little book of stickers has about a dozen stickers used already as you can tell by the empty spaces.

He has another bag which is full of twenty rings. Wedding rings, engagement rings, high school graduation men's rings, something probably designed for a belly button ring... They're a bit bloody.

He has a placard about three inches by three inches with large, bold alien print on it.

He has boots, a loincloth, and decorated shorts with the same symbol on the placard. None would fit you.

PT

I grab the weapons and the bag of stickers and look for an anemy to kill.  I intend on seeing if their own weapons can kill them, if so, then I'm going on a killing spree... I start walking towards the house.

You get close enough to see several windows in the white-sided house when one of the Iron Caste warriors tries to draw a bead on you on the right, and ends up flashing a tiny blip into your right eye from a mirrored button. You spin around and he goes for the shot.

You fire first.

You clip his thigh, and blood spurts, but its clearly a minor wound.

He fires, and misses cleanly.

In the excitement of the thirty foot gun duel, you also miss. You can see his eyes widening, and his chest heaving for air as he tries to calm and focus himself.

Impact slams into your chest, and you feel as if your muscles had been flayed off your ribs. But you're still standing.

Another outright miss as the pain makes your jerk your gun finger....

PT

I turn sideways and aim at him, at least in his general direction and shoot in bursts of 3's at him.  Firing 3 bursts, allowing a second in between each burst to re-adjust, but if I can see that won't be happening then I do what I can to keep it on him as I fire.

If I'm sideways, then there is less of a surface for him to hit, and if he does hit, then there is a good chance it will avoid the vitals.  When I get through this I can rest.  Afterall, as the saying goes, you'll get plenty of rest when your dead... or in my case, verse.  I know I'm not ready to verse yet, so I need to keep...on...shooting..

I fire another 3 shot burst at him... or at his corpse if he's already down by now.

You turn, and fire.  The strumming shot hits him in the chest, and he folds to his knees.

He fires, and you feel a slamming blow to your head like you just got bashed with a snow shovel.

You fire again by rapidly pulling the trigger and hit him in the chest. He's going over, and your brain knows he's dead, but your body is firing still, and his head explodes.

Trembling, you stop firing. There is a power meter on the side of the gun, it has dropped perhaps a third.

Your chest feels like you pulled 3-4 muscles, and looking under your shirt, you can see dozens of capillary veins have burst, and your chest is slick with blood. Still, it doesn't seem serious unless you got internally injured, but you don't know if you have.

The energy carbine seems to be a sonic weapon with a modest explosive effect. It causes body parts to try to fly apart from each other. It tried to rip your muscles from your chest, but it wasn't a good enough hit to do that.

Its not as powerful as your explosive shell gun.  It is more silent though (although not very silent...lets just say your ExGun is very loud.)

PT

OOC: Oh, yes, +@1 to your rifle skill as I'm going to assume you haven't been in a gunfight with you using a sonic rifle before.

I go and retrieve the gun from his corpse, see how much is left in it, and if there is no one immediately threatening me, then I sit down and rest for a bit.  Giving my body a chance to recover.  3 shot bursts to anyone or anything that tries to interrupt my rest, human or otherwise.

The rifle is 50% full.

You slump down against the trunk of an apple tree, and breathe in and out slowly. You're just starting to relax after thirty seconds when you hear a branch snap and a heavy footfall.

One guy is trying to sneak up on you to your left.

You spin around, and shoot at him. Your first shot hammers him to one knee, and your second shot goes where his head would have been. Your second shot takes his head off.

You're knocked off your feet by a blast from your right. You see an Iron Caste warrior crouched in very good formation for a kneeling shot to your 3 O'clock. There had been two stalkers, and one had been very silent.

You spin about on your back, and fire even as he seems to fire at you. He misses. You don't.

He's dead along with his buddy.

You feel like you just got hit by a truck. That was a full-on shot, and you're not sure you're going to make it.

PT

I collapse on the ground barely breathing, willing myself to stay alive, and hold onto the thread of consiousness that is keeping me in the world.  As I lay breathing and trying to recover from injury.  I avoid any movement, relaxing and trying to hold on.

Ten minutes later you're feeling a tiny bit better, but still very fragile.  A military jet roars overhead heading east. Birds chirp.

PT

I continue laying down until either someone comes or I feel much better.

You drift off into an uneasy and pain-filled sleep troubled by dreams of Iron Caste warriors snacking on your fingers while the god of death acts as a food critic.

Weary and sore you wake to see vultures settled down over the Iron Caste warrior and the human courier as well.

One gives you the eye, but seems content to feast on the unmoving.

You drift back to sleep.

A bit of chatter wakes you, and lifting your head, you see people that look like Iron Caste warriors, but smaller, less predatory, and only armed with shotguns and toting wagons behind them. There are eight of them, and they are coming up through the orchard, stopping to pick up apples, and eat them or toss them in their wagons.

PT

It was a little before noon when you had your fight, and it is now near twilight.

You don't feel good, but you also don't feel like you'd die at any moment now.

PT

Interesting... maybe they can be reasoned with.  I'm not in the best shape to fight more, but I might be able to finish them off from this distance...

I slowly get up with the guns in hand and point in their general direction.

If they make hasty movements, its bursts of 3 at each of them.

"Hold it, identify yourself."

They stop.

They reply in their own language which you don't recognize.

They stare at you.

They talk a little amongst themselves, and you can see they are considering rushing you, and finishing you off.

PT

"Hey!"

I point to Iron Caste Warrior corpses around me, and show that I'm holding thier weapons.

I drop one gun, take out the one I used to kill the first couple of warriors, then drop the other.  I turn sideways, take aim and start shooting.

You fire first and hit one squarely in the chest. He collapses in his tracks. Your next two shots are misses as they dive wildly out of the way, scattering like ducks chased by a dog.

You pause, and then start on your second three rounds.

A hit in one person's arm is followed up by three of them firing. You hear trees cracking behind you, and suddenly you're knocked to your knees.

You fire again. One of the shooters loses their gun, and part of their hand as they crouch among their wagons.

You realize, unless something drastic is done to heal you, you're not going to make it. That last shot spread weakness through you, and you can feel your strength draining away.

PT

I try to recall the healing that I learned back in the heart...  And proceed to shoot a bit..

It's pretty basic...so it might work...if not, then I'll go down fighting, that's my way of doing things...

You begin to heal yourself a bit. Its slow and it drains vital energy from you...

You fire and hit someone in the arm.

They fire, and you start falling.

You fire, and hit one in the chest.

You verse out.

PT
OOC: +@1 to your Limited Healing Skill (Psi).