- Location
- Brazil
We are bringing Pheela, right? Her HMG could scythe through them without much trouble, and we are going to be getting more than enough ammo from the choppers.
From Exclusion to Fantastic Zones (STALKER/Gate)
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Whole team is going to Iron Forest.
Qwaar
Jesus Christ how horrifying
More games should have the "Casually deploy mortars" option.
The holes Mage blew were in the water processing plant on the southeastern corner of the swamp, on the opposite side of the motor pool and the plateau from Iron Forest. Honeybee's elevated position at the edge of Zaton just let him pan left from Iron forest to look since you all picked up binos way back.
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Hmmmm, light mortars aren't that hard to make come to think of it. They are just not that useful in the great majority of stuff that a Stalker would be doing. Hypothetically speaking, if we put an order for one or two with our sources, are there gunsmiths who could have them done by the time we come back from our pending trip with Diana? I mean, with some ammo included.
Gunsmiths in the Zone charge a shitton to just repair your guns. Mortars would be too expensive.
What if we just bought a crapton of the underbarrel grenade launchers and use those?
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
You mean grenades? Cause we have literally one person in our team with a weapon and training to use them.
You know, reading on the subject of Diana this chapter and the chimera hunt; I've realised that she resembles a character from League of Legends called 'Kindred, the Eternal Hunters' more specifically 'Lamb'.
Both are deities of the hunt, both have animal masks covering their faces, and both are small female beast-folk with difference being that Diana doesn't kill people based on the fallacy of: "its the circle of life".
Qwaar
Jesus Christ how horrifying
Probably similar inspiration veins. I basically threw together Diana's design from playing Vagante at the time and running a lot of the wildling. Hence why she is brutally physical, with a little bit of Mononoke in there.You know, reading on the subject of Diana this chapter and the chimera hunt; I've realised that she resembles a character from League of Legends called 'Kindred, the Eternal Hunters' more specifically 'Lamb'.
Both are deities of the hunt, both have animal masks covering their faces, and both are small female beast-folk with difference being that Diana doesn't kill people based on the fallacy of: "its the circle of life".
Ah.. thought I'd found a fellow league player.
I have spent 3 days binging this ENTIRE thread. Glorious. Scratching that Specific Post Apocalypse wasteland/ Cutesy anime, with guns and slaughter itch I've been having. Honestly astounded I've missed this for so long. Just made an account just to follow this, due to both the quality of writing and enthusiasm, and interaction and thought from the readers. Looking forward to more of this awesome stuff.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Welcome aboard.
I'm in a very similar position to Dodsodalo ... I follow several of Erin's fics ... and I just found and binged through this one, marvelous, and the audience here seems fun. I finished SoC, and started on BS, but it's been a very long time. I actually just reinstalled SoC, working up the nerve to play it again. I'm still giggling at the idea of Honeybee realizing that the 'turtles' are from the JSDF (the question is: which JSDF is it?), and both his and Dianna's reaction to Rory, if they ever cross paths. I'm also curious as to how Rory Mercury would react to the Zone.
- Location
- The End of Glory
Who's Erin ?
@Erien is a beta for @Qwaar, also runs his own quest threads. A Fox In Paradise is a complete Touhou quest. American Hero's Journey and On Angel's Wings are in progress, BNHA and Ah My Goddess, respectively.
Qwaar
Jesus Christ how horrifying
If anyone has a love for those settings, I whole heartedly recommend those quests. Erien has been a great help, and I continually find myself wanting to do what he can do with character voice. I long for the day where within 3-4 words of written dialogue you know who is talking, even at the start of a scene with little context.
Catching the Scent
Qwaar
Jesus Christ how horrifying
You are Gonta, and there is some shady shit going on.
Honeybee may occasionally seem slightly arrogant, and from time to time he seems to think he just knows more about certain types of situations than anyone around him. To the man's credit, he is a bit older than most of his peers here, and probably has seen a bit more combat prior to coming here than just about anyone you or the other hunters know personally. Still, it isn't like him to overlook the idea of anyone catching on to what he's doing. You know the story that got him the damn name, and you're pretty sure he's wisened up since then.
So why does he think nobody has caught on to the… thing, with him being so obviously not some random savage girl? It's like he expected to just bulldoze his way through any questions with that thin explanation and everybody to just accept it before the wrapping paper tore. Sure, you and… most of your crew frankly had bigger problems holding a lot of your focus, but Crab has finally stabilized, even if he's not on the road to recovery yet.
Then again, maybe he expected someone to help run interference on that. Danilla was notably less surprised and opposed than you'd expect. The way your friend was looking when she first showed up with the old vet was less akin to the muted shock of everyone else, and more like he already had half the puzzle. You didn't press him on it, as you figured it was part of what happened in that Bloodsucker nest that left Grouse in such a pissy mood.
That has its own questions to ask too, as you don't really see what could possibly piss off Grouse that Danilla wouldn't have immediately brought up once the diet-Berkut and knockoff-pathfinder were both out of earshot. It can't be anything conventionally problematic. Grouse would have just escalated if it was, and Danilla would hardly be quiet about it. It has to be connected to these rumors of Honeybee picking up companions, even if the origins of such rumors are questionable. Loose lips and slips from Snag may be ploys, you aren't about to discount the possibility after getting played by that fucker Magpie. The Sultan's sycophants are hardly a better source, but in the light of things developing like this… and with Honeybee roaming around with some 'wild-woman'...
Still, even if Danilla had run some bullshit story, how would you have ignored that Honeybee and the newcomer have clearly talked to each other a few times? You almost didn't even consider the idea of talking to the creepy fucking thing, falling back on that flimsy excuse of a savage person, but you've seen Honeybee whispering with them. They also seem to have extremely sharp hearing, but have never responded to your own pointed whispers, even when you've muttered some extremely provocative insults they didn't even twitch.
Either they have the best control of their impulses of anyone you've seen, or they don't speak Ukrainian, Russian, or English. Honeybee just happening to share a language? It doesn't smell right, but… you don't call him out on it.
So he's doing something fucking shady, for the moment that means he has this strange figure on the hunt with you. There isn't any reason you can think of that would cause you problems though, as there just isn't any value in it you can see besides aligned interests, and this would be a very unnecessarily roundabout way to kill and rob your group.
It's not like babysitting either, the supposed female seems rather capable of caring for herself. They are apparently very capable of tracking, though you have suspicions in that regard… You've glanced their way a couple of times with your night optics… her eyes shine brightly in a way entirely too similar to some nocturnal animal. You've only caught it a couple of times, the mask means you have to glance back when you can get a view more or less directly down the sockets of the skull.
It made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, especially when each time you caught a glimpse it'd soon be followed by the rhythmic clatter of the various 'jewelry' draped across her form. Considering how silent she is otherwise, you can't help but feel like she's 'letting' you hear that, and the pattern evokes an impression entirely too much like laughter.
No, she is definitely screwing with you. It's not any better when she seems to escalate shortly after you come to that realization. She must be picking up on body language you can't even think of, and is not falling for what you think is subtlety. She moves on ahead shortly after you realize she is messing with you, and seems to drop any pretences of not being able to navigate this pitch black marsh perfectly. The clouds have sporadic breaks, but even the nearly full moon doesn't give enough light for a human to navigate these conditions at this speed.
You glance down and shake your head trying to ignore your growing concerns, before lingering a moment on one of her footprints, one made by no shoe but... you aren't inclined to call that print 'human.' Even if she was walking on her toes it's just… off, just slightly. The splay and distribution of the weight in the print just isn't something people do.
What the hell did Honeybee find, and what is he about to bring down on all of your heads?
----------
You are Diana Atalanta, and you can recognize that you may be getting a bit too much into expressing your enjoyment of your role. As an apostle of the hunt, there is obviously going to be a significant draw to take part in hunts yourself. While moving with other hunters you are generally going to let them take up a significant portion of the effort, as if you did it all yourself with the boons granted to you it would rapidly become boring and stale. As is, you are already planning on taking a bit more of an active role than you'd normally consider appropriate.
It is perhaps a bit unfair to the hunters here, and deprives them of a prime opportunity to prove their worth and possibly prove themselves to you, especially so considering that they cannot even know they might desire to consider doing so. The snippy one who seems to be their leader might be catching on, since you are trying to give him some reason to have the inclination to consider such things, but he really doesn't have all the necessary pieces. Regretfully, you are twice incapable of offering him such things. Lacking the necessary tongue, and for the time being your advisor and counselor telling you to remain subtle, there is little you can do. Though, how properly you could induct the hunters into your flock also comes into question when you can feel little to no connection with your own benefactor in this cursed place.
Which brings you to the… as distasteful as it is to think, pragmatic reason to operate as you are. It is perhaps unwise to keep jabbing a sleeping wyvern with a stick like this, but you just suspected that something may yet be gained. You are soon to head back to your own realm with your counselor and his retinue. It may be some time before you can investigate your interloper in their own den.
And it seems to have borne fruit, as even without the influence of your God you can feel the same rewarding impulses firing into life, as you can tell you are simultaneously the hunter… and the hunted.
The beast these men were pursuing was going to move, whether naturally out of a lack of prey and excessive risks, or unnaturally under the guidance of the controlling entity in this place you aren't sure… but a beast is a beast, a hunter is a hunter, and prey is prey. Your own power isn't perhaps as flashy as the walking butchering table that is Emroy's, or as imposing as Hardy's draconic monopoly, but here, in these circumstances, well...
Your purpose cannot be denied. Your control may be indirect, your methods limited, but ultimately interfering enough with the natural inclinations, affecting the unseen and creating opportunities where none may have been apparent before is what you are. The success of your efforts became clear the moment you could feel that building warmth and anticipation of being prey yourself.
The hunters wishes can possibly come to fruition now, so their prey is no longer on its way out of their net. Furthermore, while it has nothing to work with, it's now inclined to hunt you specifically. You were noticed, and the entity here either took offense, or thinks it's being clever. Either way your role is not something it respects appropriately.
But you already knew that, this will just be your way of making a retort… and possibly learning more about your foe. Even if it weren't for it effectively insulting your domain by snatching away prizes arbitrarily, the presence behind this place has already stolen from you once.
You glance towards your advisor… the man is not strictly the type of hunter you normally have a domain over, but the spirit exists. There is more to why he is here, and that is closer to your domain. For now though, you need to tone back on your prying, as the last few times have quite irritated him, though given his behaviors around Pheela and the couple times he's muttered an unfamiliar name you have some promising puzzle pieces.
Speaking of promising, the group of local hunters continue to amuse you. Their leader is particularly alert tonight, and he seems to be paying special mind to you whenever he catches you looking more directly. Those odd devices over their eyes seem to stare directly at your own, and must be augmenting the humans own senses. It gives you the opportunity to toy with the hunters a bit as you approach the current den of their prey.
Though such enjoyments will soon be coming to an end, this place they all occupy and roam is so… small, and though the care with which they tend to move draws out the journey and the hunt a certain amount, there is just the simple matter of the total distance to be traversed is not terribly great. A small ruin is ahead, partially obscured by rolling fog in the humid night. It appears to have once been some sort of market or perhaps just an auxiliary housing group. A rather unimpressive stage looms against the night sky, a dark silhouette against the dreary mist.
You have no illusions that the thing which looms over this place will allow this hunt to continue unmolested. It's influence is not immediately clear or blatant at the moment, but there is no way it won't interfere. As your retinue proceeds through the ruins, and the hunters slow their movements to only the most tentative and respectful they can manage, the first signs come from a ragged wheezing echoing from one of the piles of refuse and kindling. Something you should have heard as you approached, yet only noticed when its presence was irritatingly close.
One of the hunters, not the leader, turns towards the noise, just as the refuse explodes out towards him. A lashing spike of a limb from a twisted and maimed ball of meat and fat.
You are not amused, a trap like that could not be masked by the beast, it's a more blatant and direct interference. The human grunts and protects his weapon as you shoulder him aside and lash out with the metal hook provided to you. The back of the implement strikes just below the joint of the beast, and the limb deforms and bends around its new joint. The creature shrieks in agony and its multitude of eyes bulge around a flaring set of nostrils before your fist strikes it and sends the creature flailing back into the fog, and from the sound of things down the far side of the hill and into the water.
You shake your hand to your side to shift your joints back into place. The hunter has halted his tumble against the side of a nearby rubble pile. He looks at you, and then a scraping noise behind him has him tucking his head down against his chest as out of the fog a massive shadow leaps for you. Under the skull of your mask, your teeth flash in a wide grin as you a bowled backwards and begin grappling with the creature.
---------
You are Honeybee, and the hunt has just gone to shit.
Of course there was a not quite dead flesh in the damn campgrounds, why wouldn't there be? Gonta had been certain based on this chimera's habits that the creature should have been sleeping off a meal, and you'd have the opportunity to ambush it. That all relied on not making a racket on the way over though.
The thought reflexively goes through your head, 'it's like the Zone knows and wants to fuck us over' before you recall that according to Diana, and quite possibly the case with the evidence she brought forth, that is probably exactly what is going on. Actually, Diana seemed a bit spun up the entire time… was she like this with the bloodsuckers? It's hard to recall with all the other shocks you were dealing with at the time. Still, you can't help but feel that she was expecting something like this… she probably didn't arrange it herself though, you think.
"Honeybee I think your new toy is dead!" Garmata replies as he picks himself up from the rubble.
"She'll be fine, after them! While we can still tell where the fucker is!" You shout back before turning to pursue. The Chimera went straight for Diana, instead of pouncing on the downed hunter, or Danilla or yourself at the sides. The creature went straight into the middle of your group.
Diana recovered from a shotgun blast to the face, you're pretty sure she's fine… actually judging by all the snarling down there you think she might be enjoying herself. Still, it's best to keep the hunters alert, and to take down the chimera as fast as possible. As your group scrambles and slides back down the hill you hear the snarling and splashing before the grasses ahead of you part and a rolling mass of claws, teeth, leather and fur slam into you, forcing your breath out with a grunt as you are imbedded into the muck and roots of the hillside, the stock of your rifle jamming painfully up into your armpit as the weapon is forced against you by the passing mass of angry.
Gonta is helping to pull you out of the muck a moment later as the twin blasts of a hunting shotgun sound out, and Garmata's spent shell casings fall past you as he starts to reload the over under firearm. The lack of any response to the blast, be it ain indignant yelp from the huntress or a savage snarl from the Chimera indicates that he likely didn't hit anything. Is he pulling his shots because he can't get a clear line with those two tumbling? You cant really get a clear enough view while buried in the fucking hill like this.
As you pop free from the muck, Gonta readies his own rifle, and fires off another blast, this one getting a rather more satisfying result as the mutant screech of pain announces his success… just before he shoves you back into the muck again and dives away. The Chimera's bulk slams down into the water between you, and its three faces glance briefly into the brush before panning back over towards you. The inhuman malice just feet away from you seeming to dig into your resolve before you see Diana leap onto its back and start clawing at its eyes.
Her mask is off, and hanging down her back, a gash down the side of her head and across her shoulder is visible under her torn patchwork tunic, even in the simple palate of the night vision optics however you can see it's not slowing her down at all. A manic grin splits her face as her eyes reflect the limited light, and then she is flipped out of view. The chimera is rolling into the swamp to try and dislodge her, apparently not appreciating the turnabout.
You however appreciate the opportunity to get your rifle up to bear, and snap off a burst into its side while it's trying to drown the apostle with its bulk.
The creature rolls off of her, and into the brush, giving you a couple of moments to breath as Diana picks herself up out of the water… the muck of the hill however doesn't seem to want to let you go very readily.
"Can one of you get me out of this fucking hillside already?!" You shout out, and listen to the mud slickened feet of Garmata sliding down next to you before they slip out from under him and dump him into the swamp, soaking your entire front in brackish polluted water. "For fucks sake hurry up, before that thing gets away!"
"Oh, so you're stepping in again?" Diana asks, though seemingly not to you, instead looking out towards the swamp, and then towards… or maybe through the hill next to you.
Despite his not understanding the words, it's enough to get Garmatta to look over from where he's tugging at your shoulders, and you can see him starting to react to her appearance as you pop free again. You are concerned with the rising tension for a moment, before he frantically starts slapping at himself and then splashing his hands through the water at his feet. "F-fuck! Where's my shooter!?"
Shit! That is not the kind of problem you need right now. You're pretty sure he's not asking that out of wanting to not leave the thing behind, but rather wanting to use it, right now, on the thing that has obvious inhuman traits.
Diana doesn't seem to understand the risks, or perhaps just doesn't care that much, as she steps around the panicking hunter and promptly shoots a hand down into the water at the base of some taller reeds and hauls up the waterlogged hunting rifle. Garmata freezes, before letting out a grunt as the apostle casually tossed the weapon back to him, forcing him to catch it vertically against his chest else it fall back into the muck again.
The action causes the man to hesitate and take a moment to mull over the situation, which works for you. "Nice save Diana." You remark dully to the huntress before slapping your hand on Garmata's shoulder, snapping him out of his lethargy but also making sure you can keep control of his arm if he tries to shoulder the weapon at the apostle.
Gonta picks himself up from the tangled swamp plants, looking like some sort of swamp thing as he comes back over towards your group, staring at you for a few seconds before shifting his gaze over towards Diana. You guess it would be too much to ask for both of their optics to not be waterproofed.
"What the fuck is that?" Gonta's tone does not match his words, as the question comes out rather flat. It's more out of irritation than a shock. Garmata's own expression is not so reserved, but he doesn't bring voice to it.
Danilla, when he sees fit to join the rest of you down the hill, doesn't opt to get involved, instead sweeping his rifle out over the marsh and keeping watch. Of course, that says things on its own, which Gonta does not seem to miss as several emotions flash by on his face before he looks towards you again.
"Is this the time to bring this up? We've wounded that Chimera pretty bad, we should be focusing on that." You offer.
"This hunt hasn't gone at all like it should have, but your little friend doesn't seem very surprised, or even that hurt from going two rounds with the bitch. I want some ans-"
"Oh how impatient, so petulant~" Diana starts lilting out as she sways almost drunkenly, slinking her way through your conversation without a care in the world. "You are so assured of your place, and being the only one there. So assured of whatever plots or ploys you've set."
"And there's that bullshit, what language even is that?"
"Now you throw tantrums the moment something actually challenges you, still so assured, so untouchable~" Diana trails off into a giggle that dissolves in that special inhuman laughter of hers as her eyes open wide, and her entirely too pointy set of teeth glint in the limited light.
"Honeybee! What the fuck is she on about? I know you understand her!" Gonta finally breaks down and begins to angrily shout as he fingers his weapon.
Diana's laughter cuts off abruptly as her head snaps to the side, her hand reaches out and pulls the hatchet from its strap on your side, and she twirls it in her hand, catching it a couple of times as the uneven weight ties to tumble before she finds a grip on it she likes. "But you aren't the only hunter! And I have your scent you bitch!" She shouts before flinging the hatchet into the brush just before it parts ahead of the leaping chimera. The blade buries itself into the center skull, and the creature's limbs spasm as Diana twirls out of the way of the massive predator.
The creature tumbles in the muck and comes to a stop beside your group, and after a couple of seconds shakily tries to get to its feet.
This does not go well for the mutant, as an AK, a G36, and two hunting rifles quickly come to bear on it, and a rapid series of flashes sends the beast back into the muck with a deathrattle gurgling into the muck and water by the hillside.
Diana lets out a shuddering breathy sigh a moment later, after the reports have finished echoing in your ears, much of the tension rolling out of her shoulders while you can watch the gash down the side of her head stitching itself back together. The hunters seem to be uneasy, but don't move their weapons from the Chimera, even as she speaks again, making a firm decree. "We're eating that."
"Alright, seriously, stop fucking around, what is she saying?!" Gonta shouts, Garmata nodding while Danilla tries to avoid eye contact with either of them, despite the rigid gas mask hiding his face.
--------------
[] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on. (This will validate the hunters irritation, and also probably give them enough information to work with if they felt like spreading word. You can't reliably stop them.)
-Via
----[] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
----[] "Most of it was just talking about the hunt, she had fun." Still admitting to sharing a language you have no business sharing, but lacking the attempt at diffusing with humor.
[] Deflect like a fucking madman, you'll probably be burning a couple of bridges, but you really, REALLY need them not to have more of this kind of info before everything is set in reinforced concrete. The better part of two days remains before then, and while it sucks, you cant have people swarming the area around the bunker. If Freedom gets interested and rushes whatever locals they have to hold the bunker, they might be able to keep Duty out long enough for things to really become a problem.
--- [] "The job was to kill the Chimera, she found the thing, helped fight the thing, and its dead. I don't see how anything else is relevant." Just try to get any reward you can, and get the fuck out. Though maybe get your hatchet back from its skull first.
As usual, write-ins are accepted. Sorry again for the long wait, I tried to do way way too many things at once with prior attempts at this update, and failing spectacularly really fucked my mood to try for a long time. Work wasn't the problem, moving wasn't the problem, depression… probably wasn't the problem. Overreaching and almost burning out doing so like a moron was the problem.
As usual, thanks @Erien for betawork.
Honeybee may occasionally seem slightly arrogant, and from time to time he seems to think he just knows more about certain types of situations than anyone around him. To the man's credit, he is a bit older than most of his peers here, and probably has seen a bit more combat prior to coming here than just about anyone you or the other hunters know personally. Still, it isn't like him to overlook the idea of anyone catching on to what he's doing. You know the story that got him the damn name, and you're pretty sure he's wisened up since then.
So why does he think nobody has caught on to the… thing, with him being so obviously not some random savage girl? It's like he expected to just bulldoze his way through any questions with that thin explanation and everybody to just accept it before the wrapping paper tore. Sure, you and… most of your crew frankly had bigger problems holding a lot of your focus, but Crab has finally stabilized, even if he's not on the road to recovery yet.
Then again, maybe he expected someone to help run interference on that. Danilla was notably less surprised and opposed than you'd expect. The way your friend was looking when she first showed up with the old vet was less akin to the muted shock of everyone else, and more like he already had half the puzzle. You didn't press him on it, as you figured it was part of what happened in that Bloodsucker nest that left Grouse in such a pissy mood.
That has its own questions to ask too, as you don't really see what could possibly piss off Grouse that Danilla wouldn't have immediately brought up once the diet-Berkut and knockoff-pathfinder were both out of earshot. It can't be anything conventionally problematic. Grouse would have just escalated if it was, and Danilla would hardly be quiet about it. It has to be connected to these rumors of Honeybee picking up companions, even if the origins of such rumors are questionable. Loose lips and slips from Snag may be ploys, you aren't about to discount the possibility after getting played by that fucker Magpie. The Sultan's sycophants are hardly a better source, but in the light of things developing like this… and with Honeybee roaming around with some 'wild-woman'...
Still, even if Danilla had run some bullshit story, how would you have ignored that Honeybee and the newcomer have clearly talked to each other a few times? You almost didn't even consider the idea of talking to the creepy fucking thing, falling back on that flimsy excuse of a savage person, but you've seen Honeybee whispering with them. They also seem to have extremely sharp hearing, but have never responded to your own pointed whispers, even when you've muttered some extremely provocative insults they didn't even twitch.
Either they have the best control of their impulses of anyone you've seen, or they don't speak Ukrainian, Russian, or English. Honeybee just happening to share a language? It doesn't smell right, but… you don't call him out on it.
So he's doing something fucking shady, for the moment that means he has this strange figure on the hunt with you. There isn't any reason you can think of that would cause you problems though, as there just isn't any value in it you can see besides aligned interests, and this would be a very unnecessarily roundabout way to kill and rob your group.
It's not like babysitting either, the supposed female seems rather capable of caring for herself. They are apparently very capable of tracking, though you have suspicions in that regard… You've glanced their way a couple of times with your night optics… her eyes shine brightly in a way entirely too similar to some nocturnal animal. You've only caught it a couple of times, the mask means you have to glance back when you can get a view more or less directly down the sockets of the skull.
It made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, especially when each time you caught a glimpse it'd soon be followed by the rhythmic clatter of the various 'jewelry' draped across her form. Considering how silent she is otherwise, you can't help but feel like she's 'letting' you hear that, and the pattern evokes an impression entirely too much like laughter.
No, she is definitely screwing with you. It's not any better when she seems to escalate shortly after you come to that realization. She must be picking up on body language you can't even think of, and is not falling for what you think is subtlety. She moves on ahead shortly after you realize she is messing with you, and seems to drop any pretences of not being able to navigate this pitch black marsh perfectly. The clouds have sporadic breaks, but even the nearly full moon doesn't give enough light for a human to navigate these conditions at this speed.
You glance down and shake your head trying to ignore your growing concerns, before lingering a moment on one of her footprints, one made by no shoe but... you aren't inclined to call that print 'human.' Even if she was walking on her toes it's just… off, just slightly. The splay and distribution of the weight in the print just isn't something people do.
What the hell did Honeybee find, and what is he about to bring down on all of your heads?
----------
You are Diana Atalanta, and you can recognize that you may be getting a bit too much into expressing your enjoyment of your role. As an apostle of the hunt, there is obviously going to be a significant draw to take part in hunts yourself. While moving with other hunters you are generally going to let them take up a significant portion of the effort, as if you did it all yourself with the boons granted to you it would rapidly become boring and stale. As is, you are already planning on taking a bit more of an active role than you'd normally consider appropriate.
It is perhaps a bit unfair to the hunters here, and deprives them of a prime opportunity to prove their worth and possibly prove themselves to you, especially so considering that they cannot even know they might desire to consider doing so. The snippy one who seems to be their leader might be catching on, since you are trying to give him some reason to have the inclination to consider such things, but he really doesn't have all the necessary pieces. Regretfully, you are twice incapable of offering him such things. Lacking the necessary tongue, and for the time being your advisor and counselor telling you to remain subtle, there is little you can do. Though, how properly you could induct the hunters into your flock also comes into question when you can feel little to no connection with your own benefactor in this cursed place.
Which brings you to the… as distasteful as it is to think, pragmatic reason to operate as you are. It is perhaps unwise to keep jabbing a sleeping wyvern with a stick like this, but you just suspected that something may yet be gained. You are soon to head back to your own realm with your counselor and his retinue. It may be some time before you can investigate your interloper in their own den.
And it seems to have borne fruit, as even without the influence of your God you can feel the same rewarding impulses firing into life, as you can tell you are simultaneously the hunter… and the hunted.
The beast these men were pursuing was going to move, whether naturally out of a lack of prey and excessive risks, or unnaturally under the guidance of the controlling entity in this place you aren't sure… but a beast is a beast, a hunter is a hunter, and prey is prey. Your own power isn't perhaps as flashy as the walking butchering table that is Emroy's, or as imposing as Hardy's draconic monopoly, but here, in these circumstances, well...
Your purpose cannot be denied. Your control may be indirect, your methods limited, but ultimately interfering enough with the natural inclinations, affecting the unseen and creating opportunities where none may have been apparent before is what you are. The success of your efforts became clear the moment you could feel that building warmth and anticipation of being prey yourself.
The hunters wishes can possibly come to fruition now, so their prey is no longer on its way out of their net. Furthermore, while it has nothing to work with, it's now inclined to hunt you specifically. You were noticed, and the entity here either took offense, or thinks it's being clever. Either way your role is not something it respects appropriately.
But you already knew that, this will just be your way of making a retort… and possibly learning more about your foe. Even if it weren't for it effectively insulting your domain by snatching away prizes arbitrarily, the presence behind this place has already stolen from you once.
You glance towards your advisor… the man is not strictly the type of hunter you normally have a domain over, but the spirit exists. There is more to why he is here, and that is closer to your domain. For now though, you need to tone back on your prying, as the last few times have quite irritated him, though given his behaviors around Pheela and the couple times he's muttered an unfamiliar name you have some promising puzzle pieces.
Speaking of promising, the group of local hunters continue to amuse you. Their leader is particularly alert tonight, and he seems to be paying special mind to you whenever he catches you looking more directly. Those odd devices over their eyes seem to stare directly at your own, and must be augmenting the humans own senses. It gives you the opportunity to toy with the hunters a bit as you approach the current den of their prey.
Though such enjoyments will soon be coming to an end, this place they all occupy and roam is so… small, and though the care with which they tend to move draws out the journey and the hunt a certain amount, there is just the simple matter of the total distance to be traversed is not terribly great. A small ruin is ahead, partially obscured by rolling fog in the humid night. It appears to have once been some sort of market or perhaps just an auxiliary housing group. A rather unimpressive stage looms against the night sky, a dark silhouette against the dreary mist.
You have no illusions that the thing which looms over this place will allow this hunt to continue unmolested. It's influence is not immediately clear or blatant at the moment, but there is no way it won't interfere. As your retinue proceeds through the ruins, and the hunters slow their movements to only the most tentative and respectful they can manage, the first signs come from a ragged wheezing echoing from one of the piles of refuse and kindling. Something you should have heard as you approached, yet only noticed when its presence was irritatingly close.
One of the hunters, not the leader, turns towards the noise, just as the refuse explodes out towards him. A lashing spike of a limb from a twisted and maimed ball of meat and fat.
You are not amused, a trap like that could not be masked by the beast, it's a more blatant and direct interference. The human grunts and protects his weapon as you shoulder him aside and lash out with the metal hook provided to you. The back of the implement strikes just below the joint of the beast, and the limb deforms and bends around its new joint. The creature shrieks in agony and its multitude of eyes bulge around a flaring set of nostrils before your fist strikes it and sends the creature flailing back into the fog, and from the sound of things down the far side of the hill and into the water.
You shake your hand to your side to shift your joints back into place. The hunter has halted his tumble against the side of a nearby rubble pile. He looks at you, and then a scraping noise behind him has him tucking his head down against his chest as out of the fog a massive shadow leaps for you. Under the skull of your mask, your teeth flash in a wide grin as you a bowled backwards and begin grappling with the creature.
---------
You are Honeybee, and the hunt has just gone to shit.
Of course there was a not quite dead flesh in the damn campgrounds, why wouldn't there be? Gonta had been certain based on this chimera's habits that the creature should have been sleeping off a meal, and you'd have the opportunity to ambush it. That all relied on not making a racket on the way over though.
The thought reflexively goes through your head, 'it's like the Zone knows and wants to fuck us over' before you recall that according to Diana, and quite possibly the case with the evidence she brought forth, that is probably exactly what is going on. Actually, Diana seemed a bit spun up the entire time… was she like this with the bloodsuckers? It's hard to recall with all the other shocks you were dealing with at the time. Still, you can't help but feel that she was expecting something like this… she probably didn't arrange it herself though, you think.
"Honeybee I think your new toy is dead!" Garmata replies as he picks himself up from the rubble.
"She'll be fine, after them! While we can still tell where the fucker is!" You shout back before turning to pursue. The Chimera went straight for Diana, instead of pouncing on the downed hunter, or Danilla or yourself at the sides. The creature went straight into the middle of your group.
Diana recovered from a shotgun blast to the face, you're pretty sure she's fine… actually judging by all the snarling down there you think she might be enjoying herself. Still, it's best to keep the hunters alert, and to take down the chimera as fast as possible. As your group scrambles and slides back down the hill you hear the snarling and splashing before the grasses ahead of you part and a rolling mass of claws, teeth, leather and fur slam into you, forcing your breath out with a grunt as you are imbedded into the muck and roots of the hillside, the stock of your rifle jamming painfully up into your armpit as the weapon is forced against you by the passing mass of angry.
Gonta is helping to pull you out of the muck a moment later as the twin blasts of a hunting shotgun sound out, and Garmata's spent shell casings fall past you as he starts to reload the over under firearm. The lack of any response to the blast, be it ain indignant yelp from the huntress or a savage snarl from the Chimera indicates that he likely didn't hit anything. Is he pulling his shots because he can't get a clear line with those two tumbling? You cant really get a clear enough view while buried in the fucking hill like this.
As you pop free from the muck, Gonta readies his own rifle, and fires off another blast, this one getting a rather more satisfying result as the mutant screech of pain announces his success… just before he shoves you back into the muck again and dives away. The Chimera's bulk slams down into the water between you, and its three faces glance briefly into the brush before panning back over towards you. The inhuman malice just feet away from you seeming to dig into your resolve before you see Diana leap onto its back and start clawing at its eyes.
Her mask is off, and hanging down her back, a gash down the side of her head and across her shoulder is visible under her torn patchwork tunic, even in the simple palate of the night vision optics however you can see it's not slowing her down at all. A manic grin splits her face as her eyes reflect the limited light, and then she is flipped out of view. The chimera is rolling into the swamp to try and dislodge her, apparently not appreciating the turnabout.
You however appreciate the opportunity to get your rifle up to bear, and snap off a burst into its side while it's trying to drown the apostle with its bulk.
The creature rolls off of her, and into the brush, giving you a couple of moments to breath as Diana picks herself up out of the water… the muck of the hill however doesn't seem to want to let you go very readily.
"Can one of you get me out of this fucking hillside already?!" You shout out, and listen to the mud slickened feet of Garmata sliding down next to you before they slip out from under him and dump him into the swamp, soaking your entire front in brackish polluted water. "For fucks sake hurry up, before that thing gets away!"
"Oh, so you're stepping in again?" Diana asks, though seemingly not to you, instead looking out towards the swamp, and then towards… or maybe through the hill next to you.
Despite his not understanding the words, it's enough to get Garmatta to look over from where he's tugging at your shoulders, and you can see him starting to react to her appearance as you pop free again. You are concerned with the rising tension for a moment, before he frantically starts slapping at himself and then splashing his hands through the water at his feet. "F-fuck! Where's my shooter!?"
Shit! That is not the kind of problem you need right now. You're pretty sure he's not asking that out of wanting to not leave the thing behind, but rather wanting to use it, right now, on the thing that has obvious inhuman traits.
Diana doesn't seem to understand the risks, or perhaps just doesn't care that much, as she steps around the panicking hunter and promptly shoots a hand down into the water at the base of some taller reeds and hauls up the waterlogged hunting rifle. Garmata freezes, before letting out a grunt as the apostle casually tossed the weapon back to him, forcing him to catch it vertically against his chest else it fall back into the muck again.
The action causes the man to hesitate and take a moment to mull over the situation, which works for you. "Nice save Diana." You remark dully to the huntress before slapping your hand on Garmata's shoulder, snapping him out of his lethargy but also making sure you can keep control of his arm if he tries to shoulder the weapon at the apostle.
Gonta picks himself up from the tangled swamp plants, looking like some sort of swamp thing as he comes back over towards your group, staring at you for a few seconds before shifting his gaze over towards Diana. You guess it would be too much to ask for both of their optics to not be waterproofed.
"What the fuck is that?" Gonta's tone does not match his words, as the question comes out rather flat. It's more out of irritation than a shock. Garmata's own expression is not so reserved, but he doesn't bring voice to it.
Danilla, when he sees fit to join the rest of you down the hill, doesn't opt to get involved, instead sweeping his rifle out over the marsh and keeping watch. Of course, that says things on its own, which Gonta does not seem to miss as several emotions flash by on his face before he looks towards you again.
"Is this the time to bring this up? We've wounded that Chimera pretty bad, we should be focusing on that." You offer.
"This hunt hasn't gone at all like it should have, but your little friend doesn't seem very surprised, or even that hurt from going two rounds with the bitch. I want some ans-"
"Oh how impatient, so petulant~" Diana starts lilting out as she sways almost drunkenly, slinking her way through your conversation without a care in the world. "You are so assured of your place, and being the only one there. So assured of whatever plots or ploys you've set."
"And there's that bullshit, what language even is that?"
"Now you throw tantrums the moment something actually challenges you, still so assured, so untouchable~" Diana trails off into a giggle that dissolves in that special inhuman laughter of hers as her eyes open wide, and her entirely too pointy set of teeth glint in the limited light.
"Honeybee! What the fuck is she on about? I know you understand her!" Gonta finally breaks down and begins to angrily shout as he fingers his weapon.
Diana's laughter cuts off abruptly as her head snaps to the side, her hand reaches out and pulls the hatchet from its strap on your side, and she twirls it in her hand, catching it a couple of times as the uneven weight ties to tumble before she finds a grip on it she likes. "But you aren't the only hunter! And I have your scent you bitch!" She shouts before flinging the hatchet into the brush just before it parts ahead of the leaping chimera. The blade buries itself into the center skull, and the creature's limbs spasm as Diana twirls out of the way of the massive predator.
The creature tumbles in the muck and comes to a stop beside your group, and after a couple of seconds shakily tries to get to its feet.
This does not go well for the mutant, as an AK, a G36, and two hunting rifles quickly come to bear on it, and a rapid series of flashes sends the beast back into the muck with a deathrattle gurgling into the muck and water by the hillside.
Diana lets out a shuddering breathy sigh a moment later, after the reports have finished echoing in your ears, much of the tension rolling out of her shoulders while you can watch the gash down the side of her head stitching itself back together. The hunters seem to be uneasy, but don't move their weapons from the Chimera, even as she speaks again, making a firm decree. "We're eating that."
"Alright, seriously, stop fucking around, what is she saying?!" Gonta shouts, Garmata nodding while Danilla tries to avoid eye contact with either of them, despite the rigid gas mask hiding his face.
--------------
[] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on. (This will validate the hunters irritation, and also probably give them enough information to work with if they felt like spreading word. You can't reliably stop them.)
-Via
----[] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
----[] "Most of it was just talking about the hunt, she had fun." Still admitting to sharing a language you have no business sharing, but lacking the attempt at diffusing with humor.
[] Deflect like a fucking madman, you'll probably be burning a couple of bridges, but you really, REALLY need them not to have more of this kind of info before everything is set in reinforced concrete. The better part of two days remains before then, and while it sucks, you cant have people swarming the area around the bunker. If Freedom gets interested and rushes whatever locals they have to hold the bunker, they might be able to keep Duty out long enough for things to really become a problem.
--- [] "The job was to kill the Chimera, she found the thing, helped fight the thing, and its dead. I don't see how anything else is relevant." Just try to get any reward you can, and get the fuck out. Though maybe get your hatchet back from its skull first.
As usual, write-ins are accepted. Sorry again for the long wait, I tried to do way way too many things at once with prior attempts at this update, and failing spectacularly really fucked my mood to try for a long time. Work wasn't the problem, moving wasn't the problem, depression… probably wasn't the problem. Overreaching and almost burning out doing so like a moron was the problem.
As usual, thanks @Erien for betawork.
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- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on.
-Via
----[X] "She said we're eating that."
-Via
----[X] "She said we're eating that."
- Location
- Estonia
Eeeee.... this isn't dead! This is amazing, and completely makes up for the shitty day I've been having so far.
[X] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on. (This will validate the hunters irritation, and also probably give them enough information to work with if they felt like spreading word. You can't reliably stop them.)
-[X] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
[X] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on. (This will validate the hunters irritation, and also probably give them enough information to work with if they felt like spreading word. You can't reliably stop them.)
-[X] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
- Location
- The Grim Dark North
[] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on. (This will validate the hunters irritation, and also probably give them enough information to work with if they felt like spreading word. You can't reliably stop them.)
----[] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
Nice to see this back in action again.
----[] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
Nice to see this back in action again.
Should we perhaps also tell the truth we discovered a portal to Fantasy Rome and they've been in the presence of (To Honeybee's knowledge since I don't think he's had the whole Apostle thing explained) some sort of being worshipped by the locals as the lord of the hunt?
Or would that be jumping the gun a bit?
Or would that be jumping the gun a bit?
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
The Chimera knows you're coming.
And here it comes!!!
The Zone doesn't like her, the interloper that can read it to some extent.
Oh, that thing is going to be a bitch to clean.
Great, she's getting high on the hunt.
And it's dead, finally.
You forgot to put X in your vote.
I think it's still too early for that, since the bunker is still up for grabs. No reason to start pushing people there quite yet and make things more complicated. Weird mutant woman is believable explanation in the Zone.
[X] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on. (This will validate the hunters irritation, and also probably give them enough information to work with if they felt like spreading word. You can't reliably stop them.)
-[X] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
- Location
- Newer England
[X] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on. (This will validate the hunters irritation, and also probably give them enough information to work with if they felt like spreading word. You can't reliably stop them.)
-Via
----[X] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
-Via
----[X] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
[X] Clearly admit to having a much fuller understanding than you've let on. (This will validate the hunters irritation, and also probably give them enough information to work with if they felt like spreading word. You can't reliably stop them.)
-[X] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
-[X] "She said we're eating that." Just using the portion you properly understand in full, you aren't sure most of that was meant for you to interpret… Also the hunters probably know how to make this shit relatively nontoxic, and you are curious what eating a chimera is like. The hunters might not have the patience, but this is also possibly a chance to cool them down.
