| From: | Mike Goldberg <michael.goldberg@*******.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Hunting confusion... (long) |
| Date: | Wed, 17 Sep 1997 21:55:50 MST |
>>>>>[ Well tonight we had a scare. As if we didn't have enough
things to worry about, Griffyn, Shadowfox, and Blitzkrieg went on a
day hike. They were already an hour late when Midnight, Keys, and
FireWraith left for London. Midnight said he was checking in on War
and not to wait up for them. He wasn't overly worried when he left,
but that was at eight o'clock.
Midnight's comment was something along the lines of what trouble
could the three of them not handle? At ten o'clock, Geiger ordered
Trax, Puppet, and myself on a rotating schedule to scan the local
area for them. At a little after midnight, on Puppet's shift, she
spotted a large group of individuals moving toward the castle. They
were keeping a decent pace. She counted eleven people. Some of them
were hard to pick up on infrared scanner. Ultrasound picked them up
fine. Two of the people were being supported as they limped along.
They were slowing down the group as a whole. Puppet was pissed
pretty quickly though, because all of sudden she lost the drone.
Geiger ordered all the riggers to get drones out there. Strangely
enough, we couldn't find them. Geiger said, "This might be a false
alarm, but lets do it anyway. There is a threat to the castle.
Suspected threat is from a dangerous group of terrorists that
probably have some magic up their sleeves. While chances are, they
didn't expect almost all of us at home, let's give them a night to
remember."
"From where Puppet spotted them and the fact that they are now
actively trying to avoid detection, it would take about 2 hours to
get here. However, the first wave could be here within five minutes.
That means SCRAMBLE!" I will have to give Geiger credit, he got
everyone in position within four minutes. In the next minute he
briefed the castle staff and team on what would be the plan in order
to deal with the team's thinned ranks. When the enemy didn't show
with in the next five minutes, he downgraded the alert to a standby.
One by one, he had the group prepare if this was going to be a full
fledged night of action - he didn't do the face painting though. He
also didn't send out the astral measures that he would have done in
event of a full scale attack.
Whirlwind after Geiger had everyone completely set up, reviewed the
whole plan. He pointed out a few flaws in Geiger's plan and they
were corrected. Geiger and Doc decided they had enough time to make
it look like life was going on as usual in the castle. They rigged
up a whole bunch of toys to simulate life in the castle. Then we all
sat back for a tense wait. At this point we had two riggers in the
air at once, and every thirty minutes we rotated one out.
It was about 2:30am when the people were detected by the drones
again. I have to give these people credit, they timed it for the
dead of night, and didn't give a whole lot of notice. It was tense
for a few seconds, until I gave the sign that they were heading
toward the front gates of the castle. Geiger quickly got the third
rigger up in the air, and rearranged his defenders to defend the
courtyard.
+++++ begin transmission
It takes a second to realize it, but the people are waiting outside
the gates for something. There two people, who are supporting two
taller people, confer with each other. There is some nodding and
just basically watching over their shoulders. They are all visibly
armed except for one of the people being supported.
A disembodied voice cries out, "Who goes there?"
"It is I, Shadowfox. I bring some people that wish to request
permission to enter the castle from the Countess."
A female voice says softly, but definitely audible for the whole
courtyard, "They are?"
The two supported people stand on their own and then kneel in a very
archaic but formal manner. One in lead, and the other slightly behind
and to the right. Six people, dark as the night, form up in
attention. Leaving three others standing at ease. Another male's
voice answers with pride, "Pestilence with Famine as my
second-in-command. The other six in my group are members of the
mercenary company known simply as Legion. We request permission to
enter your home, and apologize for the lateness of the hour."
----
You can now see them in full light. The six members of the Legion
are wearing camouflage of the green-brown-black variety. Their faces
are painted as well. They sit down after quick introductions are
done. Pestilence is dressed in leathers and seems to be tired, but
nothing more. Famine, a tall Amerindian, shows signs of having been
through hell. Her sleeves and pants are all torn up and stained
brown. From about her stomach down she looks like she walked through
mud. There is a noticeable tear in the pants on her right leg, but
the skin underneath only looks dirty. Blitzkrieg and Shadowfox are
covered in head-to-toe mud, and look pretty tired. Griffyn's lower
legs and forearms are covered in mud. His face is also decently
dirty, but it is nothing when compared to some of the others.
"I see you guys decided to do a drill after we took down one of your
drones. We decided to do the same - mostly we were trying to do
counter-surveillance. I will explain everything more fully after a
shower and some food."
----
This room is rather filled. In the back, there is a drone hovering.
There is a blonde ork male, Wrecker, wearing black jeans and a
t-shirt with a wrecked panzer on it. On the back of the shirt it
says, "Go ahead, make my day." Next to him is a human with his face
painted. It sort of reminds you of the entrails of a gutted animal
-- perhaps a human? He, most likely Geiger, is wearing shorts and a
white t-shirt and his arms and legs are very pale. Next to him is
another pale human, probably Croaker based on the fact that he has a
datajack, who is dressed in all black and looks pretty tired.
Next to Croaker is sitting a tall, but tired looking elven
Amerindian. There are streaks of gray running through his wiry long
black hair, although it is no way near as long as another Amerindian
on the other side of the table. The elf's eyes look like those
belonging to a snake, and you assume this is the name that once
called himself DragonEyes. Next to him is a tall, comely female
human with short blonde hair that is pulled back in a tight pony
tail. She seems to have borrowed a t-shirt from one of the trolls in
the room and belted it around her waist. There are some noticeable
scars are her arms. Filling out the side are three almost carbon
copies of men in camouflage uniforms. They are all eating and seem
oblivious to what is going on around them.
On the other side of the table, there are three more men in
camouflage uniforms. (One of them is smaller than the others.) Then
there is Shadowfox wearing a t-shirt and jeans and eating his food.
Next to him is a dwarf who seems to be fighting off falling to sleep.
Continuing along the table, there is a gruff human who looks tired
but proud -- probably Griffyn. Next to him is an elven beauty
dressed in black leather. Next to her is a tall Amerindian with by
far, the longest hair in the room. It is done in a complex braid.
Next to the Amerindian is another blond human who is dressed in sweat
pants and a ripped up t-shirt. Continuing down the table, there are
the two troll brothers who are just patiently waiting for something
to happen. Next to them is Lady Quinn, dressed very comfortably
considering it is at least 3 a.m. At the very end of the table is
Blitzkrieg, he isn't wearing a shirt at all. You can see the ugly
scar left from where he lost his left arm, and the silver necklace
that has a lightning bolt on the end. He is obviously works out a
decent amount.
Blitzkrieg grimaces, "I'm going to be getting mud out of my left arm
for weeks." He sighs and picks at his food with his right hand. The
female wearing the troll shirt as a gown laughs.
Griffyn responds, "At least you are alive."
Phoenix (the Amerindian with longest hair) says, "So what did
happen?"
Shadowfox, Blitzkrieg, and Griffyn all share a look. Finally
Blitzkrieg who wasn't eating much anyway shrugs and says, "It all
started about oh, seven o'clock. We were heading back and heard some
hounds baying like they were chasing something. We didn't think
anything of it at first, but Shadowfox decided not being in the open
might be a good idea. At about 7:30, we realized the dogs were
hunting us. We made our way to a marsh, and started following it
around. At this point the dogs had pinned us in the marsh. A lot of
men in camouflage entered the marsh after us. There were carrying
hunting rifles, and looked to be serious. Since it is easier to hide
alone than together, especially against overwhelming odds, we all
separated. At first we kept near each other, but then, we lost track
of each other as we became more and more intent on avoiding their
search nets. Shadowfox managed to draw a decent amount of attention
by dropping two hunters from ambush. I lost track of him pretty
quickly as it became obvious that I was their full target."
"I couldn't tell you how long we all spent in the marsh. I almost
gave myself away when Pestilence showed up in astral to inform me
that help was on the way."
Pestilence shrugs and says, "At least I didn't send a watcher. Then
everyone within a fifty-foot radius would have known where you were."
Shadowfox responds, "Hey! At least you had warning! My warning was
that I almost took out Famine by accident. As it was, it cost us
both because then we had to evade the dogs again. Which turned out
to be ugly for Famine."
Famine says (she has a noticeable Scottish accent), "I wasn't trained
like you were fox. I'm not a stealth machine."
Shadowfox laughs and challenges her with, "No, but you certainly were
trained in intimidation techniques. I almost blew my hiding spot
when you used a grenade to get rid of some of those dogs. It made it
a lot harder to buy you time from the dogs owners. Speaking of which
..." He pulls out a set of dog tags from his pocket and throws them
down to Quinn who catches them easily. "I would say those hunters
were most likely from the British military based on some of the
techniques they used. It might be worth checking into if you get a
chance, madam."
The dwarf moves over to sit next to Blitzkrieg. He starts working on
cleaning Blitzkrieg's cyberarm. Blitzkrieg finally continues after
eating one handed for a bit. "Anyway, I met Pestilence at the edge
of the swamp. We sat tight as the rest of the Legion was hunting
down the people who were hunting us. At least, they were obviously
not British folks which I imagine made it easier for Griffyn to
realize that they weren't the enemy."
Griffyn responds, "Actually I figured out who was who by the comment,
`Go away you damn creeps, these are our chums.' Distinctly American,
and when I focused on who said it, I saw the American style of
camouflage face painting. So I eventually let them know I was around
when they had some breathing room. I'm sure glad they thought first
before firing. After they told me who they worked for we teamed up,
and eventually made it to where Blitzkrieg and Pestilence were at."
One of the guys, ('Hanged' you think, but it is hard to tell) in
camouflage comments, "Yeah, we teamed up, but there was a tense moment
when we thought we were about to become kitty food. It wasn't until
Mom said on our radio channel, `What the frag is a tiger doing here?',
and Pestilence responded with, `Don't attack him!' That we figured
out we were on the same sides and quickly introduced ourselves."
Shadowfox starts up the story, "Once we were all out of the marsh,
Pestilence quickly healed the injured, and then we moved out. We were
all pretty tired by that point, so the going was slower than it should
have been. We were also trying to not leave a trail, so that made it
slow as well. Our first sign of trouble was a drone that Griffyn
spotted. To be safe, we downed it through magic. We then decided to
continue playing it safe and go completely counter-surveillance. Our
goal was to get to the castle unseen. Judging by the last minute
shifting of defenses in the castle, I would say it worked." He
smiles.
Whirlwind says, "So did you get to interrogate any of them?"
Shadowfox answers, "No, but I listened to their radio line for a
while. I think they were looking for Blitzkrieg. I'm not sure how
they knew where to find us though. Its like they heard a rumor that
some criminals were in the area and were sweeping in hopes that they
would find someone. Very strange. But when they realized that Mark
was there, they were very excited and the commander was offering a
large incentive to capture him alive."
Shadowfox looks at his watch and says, "I expect the next couple of
days to be long ones, so we better get some sleep. I recommend, that
we start keeping watch though, because if they did track us, then we
might have a hit at any point. I do apologize in advance Quinn if we
got you into trouble. We certainly weren't planning on doing
anything illegal when we set out for a hike almost 19 hours ago."
]<<<<<
-- Croaker <06:00:00/18-SEP-58>
