From Exclusion to Fantastic Zones (STALKER/Gate)

[x] Ignore it, best you can.

This is a problem and something you would have liked to not have sneaking up on you like this, ultimately though, you simply have larger concerns that you have to deal with. If it was Snag who did this (and god damn you would have expected that at least) you could afford to make a deal out of it, but with it being the Dutyer your options are simply too limited. You'll simply have to ignore it for now. You HAVE to prioritize the problems at hand, and make sure he goes off to hand in his report as soon as possible. You need Duty at the bunker, and possibly the village yesterday! If Charcoal feels threatened by you, he probably won't jeopardize that, hell since he tried to buy off the evidence he at least feels some guilt so he won't WANT to screw you over.

Still, despite his relative competence, he seems not that much more familiar with how the Zone works than Mirone… no scratch that. Mirone, for his lack of skill, seems to at least have more of an understanding of things, he just lacks the refinement and training for combat scenarios. Charcoal, you can't be certain wouldn't try to screw you over out of some sort of panic or sense of self preservation. It won't be that he'd WANT to screw you over, it'd be that he would think he would HAVE to. It's a mindset you've seen… a bit more often than you care to admit.
"Oleksy, what did you DO! Your brother is terrified, and he seems to think YOU did something. He won't say what though..."
For now, you conclude your business with Owl, who seems amused by your poorly hidden frustration as he inspects the wares and goods you've just sold him. As you are closing your bags and preparing to drop off the heavier items you don't plan on using Owl finally speaks up once more. "So, you have two strange friends now?" He queries, balancing on on arm on the table with his fist propping up the side of his head. "Seems like you really weren't fucking with me on the info. Those boys downstairs are probably dim enough to buy whatever bullshit you fed them, but I can be pretty sure there's nothing in the Zone with a skull like that. She's not wearing that suit I sold you either."
"I try, I really try to not ask where the money comes from Oleksy. I've had thoughts though, and I can't stand the thought of it… please be careful. My little girl… doesn't need that."
It takes you a moment to process the information that Owl is… somewhat freely giving you. Considering that you aren't looking forward to just ignoring Charcoal's offenses, you decide to test your luck and stick around with Owl for a moment more, "So who told you abou-"

"First off Honeybee, you bought half a suit a couple sizes too small for you, that has interesting implications on its own. Second off, you've bought enough ammunition to supply a rifle team in the past month, for a weapon I KNOW you aren't using. Finally, Sultan." He lists of, counting down the fingers from his free hand.

You look back up to face him fully, blinking a bit in some surprise, "Wait, you are seriously just chucking him into the tracks?"

Owl rolls his eyes, "He's been getting ready to do the same to me, has tried to fuck me over on several deals, HAS fucked me over on at least two, and has been doing some shady shit with his boys that stand a chance of fucking up all the nice things I have going here. Frankly, with the literal goddamn goldmine you are finding for me, I have better contacts lined up, and it'd be really convenient if he were to have a tragic accident while walking naked through one of Freedom's minefields."

It seems that Owl is inclined to sever relations with the local bandit faction. Considering that he now probably realizes the Mercenaries are out in force, and that the ecologists will need protection from some of the PMC elements the local bandit presence probably is no longer necessary for him. His business will sustain just fine off of fostering conflicts between stalkers and mercenaries, and the latter tend to carry much more political importance and information for him to broker than bandits ever have or will.

"Just something I thought I'd mention. Still, you really will have to introduce me to your friends sometime." He leaves off with a smile, before dropping off into his back room to look over his stock.

--------

Charcoal seemed a bit reluctant to follow you into the engine room of the Skadovsk, right up until you pay him his current share of the bloodsucker hunt job. You strongly considered cutting the worth of the cocaine out from his pay, but frankly, you don't want him feeling agitated. Diana meanwhile seems to be only now starting to register that the space around you is in fact entirely made of metal, and is seemingly enthralled by the revelation. She doesn't seem to believe you when you explain that the stalker camp is in fact a shipwreck. Apparently she doesn't believe that metal can float. You don't bother trying to explain how water displacement and buoyancy works for her, as frankly you have more important issues to deal with.

"Charcoal, you are going to need to take some more notes for your meeting with the Lieutenant Colonel." You begin, holding up a hand when you seem him motioning as if to speak. You don't manage to derive as much amusement as usual by picking out expressions on someone you cant see the face of, "There are Monolith on the other side of the gate."

You can hear the rapid intake of breath through the Dutyer's mask, "The fuck?! That's… damn that is possible, even would explain a bit." He barely avoids stammering, you can hear the slight shakiness to his tone. Frankly, you are a little surprised by the reaction. Monolith is fucking terrifying, but you know that from experience, you don't get the impression Charcoal has had sufficient opportunity for such an experience. "So then that ruin we went to where we picked her up?"

You nod and cross your arms while leaning against the rusted bulkhead, "Yeah, Diana had a patch from one of the attackers who actually got injured, and it sure as shit was a Monolith patch. They apparently killed most of her congregation, captured a bunch more, and blew the shit out of the place with plastique." You elaborate, before looking towards the Huntress, "According to her, they took her people up to that keep on the mountain, the place where the village said the Stone Hearted Knights were."

Charcoal brings a hand up to rub at his neck while he looks down from a moment, he pulls the hand away to help jot some things down in a notepad program on his PDA, before he seems troubled by something, "Wait, wait a minute, that can't be right." He retorts, which puzzles you. He doesn't immediately explain, only seeming to realize that you aren't following when you don't say anything and he looks up to your expectant expression, "They called them Stone Hearted Knights, I mean, that sound ominous, and seems like what you'd call Monolith soldiers, but they didn't think they were like us or the turtles down near Ulmus? Also, to get that impression that meant they'd have to had talked to them, or someone who had right?"

"Its Alnus apparently, but… hm" He has a point. You definitely would not call anything you've heard of Monolith wearing something you'd expect a knight to wear. Exoskeletons were close if you squinted and were on some drugs maybe, but still that doesn't seem right. "They seemed to think they were an option, though not a preferred one to help deal with the bloodsuckers as well. They thought they were someone you would expect to talk to and negotiate with." You pull a hand up to rub at your stubble and growing beard, before looking towards Diana, "Diana, the people from the Mountain, where that patch came from. Do they leave often? Do they interact with anyone?"

The self proclaimed humanoid gnoll tilts her head in a manner you are starting to recognize as thoughtful, causing a gentle rattle of her bone totems, "We never had major interactions with them. None of their number sought the blessing of the hunt over the years, and they were too insular to allow any of our prophets inside their keep. As I understand they occasionally have sent groups of extraordinary knights to answer Imperial calls to arms, but that is mostly hearsay from distant pilgrims." She explains, before lowering her head farther, one hand reaching under her mask to likely grasp at her chin. "I do believe that something similar must be true, as they are at least vaguely known elsewhere, despite their relative youth as an order, and are universally said to be… unsettling. Perhaps I should have been more concerned about that when it became harder to even approach them."

You spend a moment relaying Diana's impressions to the Dutyer, who makes some detailed notes. After a moment, he also raises his PDA up, and takes Diana's picture, before looking back to you, "Alright so… honestly that doesn't seem to fit what I've heard of how Monolith usually operates, but if they've been there awhile, and it sounds like they have… they might be doing something more low key, and don't need to worry about being attacked as much. Still, if it's hard to approach them, even for HER when she seems to shrug off having her head turned into slurry… I need to get this to Duty, there's something going on here that we don't have all the pieces too, but we can be certain it's going to fuck us if we don't do something about it."

There is silence for a period after that, nothing else needing to be said. There are things you want to say, but for now, you discard the notion. There are more important things to be concerned with.

--------------------

Charcoal paid, -40000 rubles from your account.
Snag paid, -40000 rubles from your account.
Mirone not conscious, can't accept payment.

Personal suit evaluated, damaged beyond practical repair, more valuable as maintenance materials.

Owl is carrying some russian and ukrainian ration packs, unopened again, however his prices have roughly doubled. It seems some of his smugglers have been disappearing further south. He's also had to tighten his buyer quota's.

As far as sustenance goes he has:
Russian IRP-B, seven portions, 1x24280 rubles
Ukrainian Combat Ration, six portions lesser nutritional value, 2x19870 rubles
Ukrainian Combat Ration (opened, around three portions remaining) 8700 rubles
Stolichnaya vodka (unopened), good for relaxing or using as a wound cleanser. 5x3350 rubles
Nemiroff vodka (unopened), good for getting Cardan drunk for haggling or steadying his hands considering he refuses all other brands, tastes like a moldy car seat. 2x2200 rubles
Mineral water (1 liter), the label advertises that it is very clean water, with essential mineral additives. It doesn't have any citations as to who believes this, but hey, it's a sealed water bottle, its got to be the good stuff. 2x1100 rubles

In the realm of tools he has:
Axe 1.18kg, decent enough for segmenting firewood, or for cleaving the skull of a wounded yet persistent mutant. Not really suitable for regular combat use. 3753 rubles
Steel survival hatchet 1.01 kg , the construction is narrow, and poorly suited to splitting wood, or even trying to cut down saplings. The handle is fairly short, making it easy to stow, conceal, or sling with the handy little sling pin built into the side, but it would make it very uncomfortable for repeated hacking for a prolonged period and nearly impossible to get the leverage to actually prepare wood. It's probably great for severing arteries, or parting kevlar sheets to bite deeply into flesh. This is pretty obviously a murder weapon advertised as a survival tool. 6300 rubles.
Crowbar 1.35 kg, would be great for prying open old doors if every relevant door wasn't already rotted sufficiently for a decent kick to shatter the hold on the locks. Mostly used to pry apart broken equipment for spare parts. Could possibly be used to brain a zombie if you were fucking nuts. 834 rubles
Military shovel 1.36 kg, decent for digging for sandbag filling, or to try and set up a camp. Fairly sturdy, and folds up conveniently when not in use. 1300 rubles

Maintenance kits:
Universal weapon cleaning kit 0.43 kg, basically what it says on the tin, a set of brushes oils, and other implements suitable for minor repairs and major cleaning and tuning of a massive variety of firearms. The tools wear out fairly quickly though, and as such these kits aren't very popular considering the prices they run at. 2x13366 rubles

Medium and large caliber rifle fixing kit, suitable for rifles of 7.62 7.92 .338 or 12.7, this kit offers everything you needs to begin maintenance on all but the worst condition weapons. The expense of this kit as well as the weight generally means most won't bother, even before considering the hours of labor and care required to repair a weapon to a point where its resale might excuse the wasted days. Generally, you are better off simply finding a better rifle, or getting Cardan drunk off his ass and having him repair it regardless of the cost. 74592 rubles

Smallbore rifle repair kit, suitable for rifles of 5.45 5.56 and 9x39. Tools for these rifles have greater ease of construction and don't have to meet the same durability standards as their larger cousins, which means these kits are a bit cheaper, however the weight is still fairly high, and the labor involved in restoring a rifle fully is still so high that the same problems. 65808 rubles

Suits (and oh god you need one):
Sunrise suit 15.20 kg, unmodified sadly, but this is ultimately where your own suit started… about thirty thousand rubles ago. The base models aren't really sufficient to reliably stop pistol rounds at close range, or rifle round at any range. Still, it's zone produced equipment, which in this case tends to be a sign of quality, as it's fairly simple to drag poor manufacturers out in their own products and chuck them into harsh conditions that the suit is supposed to protect them from. They are geared mostly towards light anomaly protection, decent radiation protection, and even the base model has an artifact attachment section and can be expanded with another at the expense of user comfort. They are heavily customizable, though their ballistic protection will always be somewhat lacking. 47130 rubles

Bulat armored suit 22.00 kg, designed for spetsnaz operators within the exclusion zone, while like most military equipment it primarily focuses on protecting the wearer from wounds from gunfire and mutants, it offers _decent_ protection from anomalies and radiation. It even has an artifact attachment section, and can be expanded fairly simply. Fairly popular among those who can afford them and who can get sufficient funds to customize them due to compatibility with auto injection systems that aid the body in healing and in dulling of pain. Offers excellent ballistic protection and durability, and mediocre anomaly protection. 65490 rubles

Berill-5m armored suit 18.00 kg, designed for normal military people in the zone, IE the types who sit at checkpoints, yell drunken slurs at you all night via megaphone or intercom, and generally keep you from a good night's rest. As such they have fairly good ballistics protection even against rifle caliber rounds provided sufficient range, such as say, the length of a minefield. The anomaly protection inherent in the design might as well be nonexistent, and they come with a single anomaly grade armor attachment module, and can be expanded for further armor plate sections but are largely unsuitable for supporting multiple artifacts. 57120 rubles

Helmets:
M40's are back in again 2.67kg, they are still good at blocking occasional bullets, impairing your senses, protecting your hearing, and at being cheap. The ballistics visors make some of the dorkier rookies compare you to some protagonist out of a story you can't pretend to care about. Fits nicely over either a balaclava, or a PMK series gasmask. Clunky as hell if you are one of those poor bastards who wears a EO-20 series gasmask, like say, Danilla. Offers no psi protection whatsoever, which is probably why you see these hanging off of zombies fairly often. 5x15000 rubles

PMK headgear set 2.93kg, Great for traversing chemical anomalies, and for protecting your lungs from smoke and embers around heat anomalies, and good for keeping your eyes inside their sockets around atmospheric anomalies. Can be modified with minimal psi protecting layers, a feature you've opted for in your own set. You own like five of these, they are popular among artifact hunters, and well, there's a heavy turnover around anomaly fields and in popular scavenging haunts. 3x19104 rubles

Sphere 08 headgear set 4.18kg, A modern, high quality combat helmet, sourced out of western manufacturers, contains its own gasmask and filtration system. Made almost entirely out of composites, making it fairly decent protection against the effects of electric anomaly fields. They also offer moderate protection against psi effects, making approaching such mutants much less of a suicidal prospect. 3x38290 rubles

Sphere M12 headgear set 4.88kg, a direct upgrade from the 08 model, contains an objectively better air filtration system, more capable of handling toxins and easier to breath through. Titanium construction allows for much increased resilience to hostile fire. A holographic display projecting on the lenses allows for integration of military HUDs, provided you can acquire the software to run it. A revolutionary image recognition system can identify mutants among foliage and will outline them with red square for target acquisition. It can be adjusted to also identify anything without a registered IFF chip, but this is generally not implemented due to unreliability and operatives tend to become annoyed when they are blinded every time they look near a stalker camp. 1x45000 rubles

Weapons:
AS "val" 3.59kg, a fairly reliable gas operated rifle with an integrated suppressor. Generally used by Russian special forces and recon units. You don't really want to know why Owl has this. It is not an export model. Uses 9x39mm SP-5 rounds. 1x51503 rubles

FN Fal Para (modified) 4.74kg, Has a nice custom magpul stock, would make for comfortable controllable shooting. Chambered in the heavy 7.62x51mm nato, this is an excellent battle rifle. It is being offered at a fairly low price, likely owing to the unpopularly expensive rounds required to feed it. While an incredibly precise rifle with good stopping power even at longer ranges against mutants or armored opponents, feeding and maintaining it is a potential concern. 1x36520 rubles.

AKM 3.76 kg, Its chambered in 7.62x39mm, and is very reliable mechanically. Has the stopping power to kill whatever it hits, but not really the accuracy at range you like. It's great for a simple platform you suppose, but its an aging design. Owl is charging a higher rate than you consider sane at the moment. 7x38088 rubles

Karabiner 98 "Kurz" 3.78kg, this is an ancient rifle from WWII germany chambered in 7.62x57mm mauser. Apparently certain rifles were selected for exceptional accuracy and tuned for potential sniper use. It has the fittings for a scope, but no scope attached. Its iron sights are functional you suppose. Supposedly they've proven effective in excess of a kilometer. 27583 rubles

PKP Pecheneg 12.10 kg, This is a more modern iteration of a general purpose machine gun in the same line as Pheela's PKM. While it's barrel isn't removable, supposedly it's forced air cooling system does its job so well that isn't necessary, and it is much more accurate. Additionally, the design keeps the heat haze out of the shooters sight picture, making it a hell of a lot easier to aim even when it's hot, which it supposedly doesn't get. It technically has a forward handle enabling gripping for hip firing, but the offered handhold is too small for you to confidently get your fingers through without tearing up your gloves and knuckles. 94848 rubles

AKS-74U (Heavily kitted) 2.96kg, chambered in 5.45x39, It has a kobra sight as well as a side mounted laser sight, and a flashlight on the opposite sight that you think might be bright enough to melt the sun's face off or turn the surface of the moon into a plasma. The flashlight has a variable aperture enabling easy adjustment of the illuminated area ranging from around a sixty degree cone to a twenty degree cone. It has a folding polymer stock offering much better stability than the typical metal frame ones, and an exceptional suppressor. Most of the furniture seems to be made of the same incredibly durable polymer which is probably the reason the weapons price tag is so horrifying for an AKS. 42820 rubles

OTs-02 Kiparis 1.80kg, chambered in 9x18 makarov, the ones here are only midly cleaner and better maintained than those you saw and left in the bunker. They have a fairly high fire rate, and are fairly small, making them decent holdout weapons or PDW's. Something you'd recommend to someone who should mostly be emphasizing their mobility and reactions to survive rather than objective stopping power. Against a competent armored opponent or a more tempered mutant, this is mostly an annoyance. Against most bandits, or even some mercenary companies, as well as most mutants short of chimera or the like it's perfectly serviceable. 5x19420 rubles.

Galil AR 4.55kg, chambered in 7.62 nato again, the weapon looks serviceable to you, but you've neither shot one or been shot at with one, or even seen other stalkers using them. Supposedly it takes design cues from the better models of the kalashnikov rifles, but you aren't really seeing anything indicating that. Owl is hawking it as a quality product, one much more reliable than the customized FN Fal you already noticed. You are skeptical. 2x49675 rubles

HK416 4.08kg, chambered in the more affordable 5.56 nato cartridge, supposedly a venture between the united states and the germans to make a more reliable and quality rifle for use with special forces units. It is extensively customizable, but the one on the table is about as vanilla as they get. 4x63072 rubles

Ammunition (cropped for relevancy):
9x18mm RG028 (used in the Kiparis), meant to counter body armor, though some question its success in that regard. 75x85 rubles
9x18mm FMJ capable of penetrating skin and light armor, but not much else, and the tissue damage associated with it is mediocre as far as bullets go. 66x45 rubles
9x19mm AP (used in Pheela's and your own GSh-18) meant to counter body armor, and in your experience actually capable of doing so. Still generally only pisses off an exoskeleton, but if you are hoping for a pistol caliber to save you there you are a moron. 45x100 rubles
9x19mm JHP, hollow points, not great at penetration, but do fairly horrific tissue damage for a pistol caliber. Reliable at incapacitating targets. 45x85 rubles
5.45x39mm 7H10 (used in your AK-105), a great round for its cost, fairly prolific in the zone and used in the most popular rifles. Has decent performance against armor and does good tissue damage. It wasn't really enough against those exoskeletons though… 150x105 rubles
5.45x39mm 7H22 AP, not an export round, you don't generally question where Owl gets these. They seem to be the real deal though, as they did chew up one of those exoskeletons pretty well. 120x315 rubles
5.56x45mm SS109 (used in the HK416, and most of the nato rifles found in the zone), standard issue round, fairly good performance in penetration and tissue damage, and with a good set of ballistic characteristics owing to its basis originally as a hunting round. 90x130 rubles
5.56x45mm AP SS190/M855, used more often by supposedly not present US special forces or the better paid PMC operating within in Zone. Very effective against body armors, though it seems ineffective against hardened mutants for whatever reason. 90x390 rubles
7.62x39mm FMJ, nicknamed the round of the revolution due to how prolific it was among terrorist and criminal organizations. Simple, effective, and all over the world. Not any easier than anything else to smuggle into the zone, so its price doesn't follow that. Furthermore, it is in relatively high demand due to its effectiveness against mutants. 150x130 rubles
7.62x39mm M43 rounds, a chinese made armor piercing round. Banned for importation in some countries, making its export a bit less prolific. Despite a significantly larger projectile with a greater powder load available to it, it boasts no advantages over the 5.56 armor piercing rounds besides its tissue damage against mutants. Generally not worth buying. 90x360 rubles
7.62x51mm NATO, A fairly prolific round for battle rifle and machine gun designs from western nations. It has excellent performance against many armors and mutants, but difficulties in acquiring both the weapons and consistent supplies make it less popular among stalker communities due to the expense. 150x180 rubles
7.62x51mm DU, a round popular among PMC, especially in the zone with prolific mutants and armored opponents. It boasts excellent armor piercing and tissue damage. 120x360 rubles
7.62x54mm PP, designed for use in the PKM, despite sharing caliber with the dragunov rifles it is unsuitable for use in them due to differences in manufacturing and small design differences in the round. It is relatively cheap for the caliber, but supply can occasionally be hard to come by. High ratings in both armor piercing and tissue damage. 5024 rubles per 100 round belt, three belts available.
7.62x54mm 7N1 (used in your SVU), a non export armor piercing high quality sniper round. You do not know where Owl is getting these. 20x540 rubles

VOG-25 GP munitions (for use with the underslung launcher on your AK-105) each round is 0.26kg. Great for when you need a particular spot to be an explosion, which is a frequent need in the zone. Those bandits? They are an explosion now. A pack of mutant cats? Boom. 12x2616 rubles

Smoke grenade, generally not terribly useful, as mutants seem to somehow ignore the things, and most engagements aren't in circumstances where it actually will effectively hide you from an opponent. Still, if the mercenary corporation that hit the bunker knows who you are… they might not be an awful idea. 15x708 rubles.

RGD-5 a mediocre grenade, yes it explodes and sprays fragments, but the lethal range leaves something to be desired, and the fragmentation pattern is inconsistent sometimes misses bandits or mutants completely. 20x1860 rubles