Fall From Heaven Chapter Three - RPLOG
From Flexible Survival
Participants
Date
1/5/2012
Log
Bam! One of the gryphons goes down as Anbessa cleaves it a new bird-hole. That one won't be getting up anytime soon, or if Redd gets close to it, at all. Casey's ploy to funnel the beasts away from them is at least partially successful; it definitely diverts them, but it only serves to split them off between Casey and Anbessa. Now instead of Casey two and Anbessa two, Casey has one...and Anbessa still has two! Onris' shot is on target, mercifully, reducing it to one-and-one, but an assault rifle was never made for mid-air firing; the recoil sends hir spinning rather badly, and shi'll need to right hirself before shi can try for another shot.
Anbessa opens his eyes wide as the 1 of the two comes after him, though as he sees the funnel spray of blood from the rifle shot going through the Gryphon, he quickly looks up to Onris, smiling to hir before returning his attention to the last of the gryphons. He quickly dashes forward with his Claymore in his paw, taking a wide swing to smack the gryphon with the flat of the large right to it's chest HARD before once more dashing on his feet, shoulder bashing the Gryphon hard to try to knock it down and away from him.
CaseyRune Hrmphs. Fine, if that's the way its going to be. It seems to be getting a little too close for Tranq rounds, but not too close for Casey to choke slam the blue bastard into the fire. Since the others are being taken care of by the rather large sword weilding Talakai and the team's air support. this shouldn't be too hard. They take a quick step foraward, into the fire and makes a grab for the gryphon's neck.
Onris gives a few flaps of powerful wings to right hirself. She nearly falls out of the air again when she sees she not only hit but took out a gryphon. Definitely a skill to but some practice into. For now hir eyes scan the area in front of the party intent on giving warning of any danger that might threaten her land bound buds.
Rounding the hill of rubble, Redd watches as the attacking gryphons are sliced, shot, and fried. He's unwilling to take a shot at the gryphons now, since they're engaged in close combat.
The Coyote, now a freshly-feathered gryphon, spreads her wings and lets loose a short squawk. Now, whether or not this was a good idea, it didn't matter to her. She just wanted in on the action, and so, from behind a smaller mound of rubble, she runs and launches herself, hoping to sail over her party, right into the fight. Such airy dreams.
The gryphon that Anbessa is fighting is mostly thinking about claws and talons, and is utterly unprepared for a slab of metal to its chest or the shudderingly forceful charge immediately afterward! It goes sprawling back down the rubble heap, squawking in protest as it suffers bangs and bruises all the way, but that's nothing quite like the shrieks of the gryphon trapped in the fire with CaseyRune! Onris can't see any more gryphons on the way, though Redd will have a good shot at the one at the bottom of the heap as it tries to scamper away! And suddenly...there's *another* gryphon flying overhead! It's like these things never end!
Anbessa smirks as his strike connects as he expects, quickly going in after the gryphon. Though with a sudden realization, he growls, looking over towards the direction of Redd. He shakes his head, wordlessly telling him to not shoot before he returns his focus to the Gryphon, quickly moving over to it's side before he brings down his foot on it's back, his sword's tip planting threateningly close to the gryphon's neck. He seems to not be trying to kill it, going in for an attempt of a surviving captive Gryphon than a nearly dead/dead one.
CaseyRune doesn't hold the burning gryphon down, instead as soon as the gryphon hits the ground they fluently sept out of the fire, firing off the last few tranq rounds on the foolish solo one that decided to fly in. After a brief pause to change mags to a fresh Tranq mag, they swing right around doing a sweep of their imidiate area for any more damned gryphons.
Onris nearly gets a shriek of warning out before Casey spins on the flanking gryphon. Cursing that she missed the bogey she scans around and behind the group then froward again as shi slosh descends so to hear any comments offered after the battle.
Watching as Anbessa pins a bloodied gryphon to the ground, Redd grins, and rushes over to the trapped gryphon. He grabs the mutant's wings, steps on the center of it's back pulling, and with a loud pop, the wings come clean off, leaving only feathers and fur where they were once attached. The wings themselves seem to fall apart--bones, muscles and skin just gone--leaving the coyote with nothing more than a few handfuls of brilliant blue feathers.
Smokie messes up in flight as she feels the shots fly by her, ruffling her feathers and fur. She goes fro ma graceful sail into a nosedive, straight into the rubble and rolling down the mound, grunting and squawking the whole way. Not at all as glorious as she thought it would be, as she weakly tries to push herself back up. "Well, fuck me, then!"
The gryphon whose wings Redd just dissolved goes still, eyes wide - it doesn't seem to be much for coherent thought, but at the very least, it understands 'sharp thing aimed at neck'. It glares up at coyote and talakai alike with...not quite malice, but nothing like apathy. If there was ever a person in that head, it doesn't look like anyone is home now. With the other gryphons defeated and a fire going, there's a moment to catch your breath, finally!
Anbessa glares down to the gryphon as he watches Redd do his work to it's wings, staring down at the creature before smiling to Redd. "A bit brutal, though it works... Now..." He quietly takes a moment to grab the Gryphon's side with one paw, putting his Claymore into the sheath on his back before grabbing the Gryphon's fully, picking hir up before hefting hir over his shoulder. "I'ma bring this one back to the Transport... May as well capture a live one than a dead one." He says, nodding to Redd with a smirk on his face before he quietly begins to jog back the way they came, waving to the agents waiting before he disappears from their line of sight for the time to get the Gryphon back. Alive this time.
CaseyRune snaps back to the talking gryphon, keeping an eye out for anything blue and feathered. Not knowing Smokie, or anyone else much for that matter. They keep their sights trained on her untill someone says otherwise. They are not getting ambushed again.
Onris shivers as she descends into the Anti-bubble and continues down toward Casey and the flanker. "Sorry bout that one," Shi offers to Casey,"made the mistake of assuming our 6 would sty clear. Won't happen again."
"Anybody seen Smokie?" Redd walks over towards Casey and Onris, sniffing the air checking for his mate's scent. He stops midstride, as he smells the scent of both gryphon and Smokie at once, and grimaces. "I hope one of the gryphons didn't grab her..."
Smokie, at the bottom of the rubble mound, makes a pitiful whine as she stands herself up, one of her wings held in a painfully awkward position. Man, this shit sucks. She looks up the hill towards where her group was, and takes a step towards it. A searing pain stops her in her tracks, "Aw, fuck, I messed myself up some... Stupid fucking wings."
Of course, the moment Anbessa is alone with the gryphon, it starts thrashing about and clawing at him. Something about not having its life in immediate danger takes the fear right out of it! Fortunately, it's simple enough to restrain one gryphon, and the creature is delivered into Zephyr custody for who-knows-what. Much of the crowd has dispersed by now, leaving only a few interested onlookers and the officials themselves. The scent of gryphon does indeed hang in the air, but so does Smokie's personal scent, albeit with a distinct feline/avian hint to it.
CaseyRune grumbes something, keeping their gun pointed at the talking gryphon, which is more than likely said missing party member, they look to Onris and say "I think its safe to say we can't assume anything except that there are hostiles everywhere we haven't been. Four City Blocks falling out of the sky usually heralds bad news. This I can't say I was expecting."
Onris nods to Casey then turns hir attention to Redd figuring Casey more then capable of handling the limping gryphon. "I didn't see her while I was up there, though I was watching more out then down. I'll check it out again." Shi crouches down to jump into the air once more but pauses slightly to await a response, just in case.
The talking gryphon whines as she begins to limp up the rubble towards the party, upset and in a huff with her feathers all messed up, and that wing still looking stiff, as if it was sprained or broken. Muttering to herself, too, with avian whistles and tweets thrown in.
Anbessa quietly pads back up and returns to the group after dropping off the gryphon. Even though his longsleeve shirt is slightly ripped in some places, he looks fine. Having been out of Redd's anti-nanite bubble, he had enough time to do a quick bit of healing on himself before he came back, shivering softly as he reenters the bubble. Though as he spots the injured gryphon, he raises an eyebrow, taking a sniff at the air before openning his eyes wide... "Wait... Why did you shift to that form...?" He asks, his nose able to recognize who the injured one is as he tilts his head, padding up to the injured avian with a worried expression upon his face.
CaseyRune looks at Anbessa quizically, still not lowing their pistol. "Who shift what? She's supposed to be one of ours?! Can people PLEASE tell me these things before I put an Anti-tank round into one of you? For the love of..." They holster their pistol, face securely in palm. "I mean these things are important are they not? I'm pretty sure I nearly tranq'd her."
Onris relaxes as Anbessa's comment brings things together. Shi shakes hir head as lips purse in irritation. She relaxes slightly as Casey's words fit hir own thoughts almost exactly. "I would have to agree, Not the best move." Shi grabs hir medkit from a pocket and starts towards the injured team mate. "How bad did you mess yourself up?"
Smokie snorts in frustration as she rounds the top of the mound, meeting Onris halfway. "Not as bad as if you hadn't shot at me. But blegh, you're right, that was kinda stupid..." She shakes her head, then winces. "I mean, I was in a tight spot, okay, I couldn't exactly think of any other flying forms at the moment."
Anbessa frowns for a moment at Casey, just shaking his head for a moment before returning to Smokie, "Well... Maybe choose a form that isn't just a Gryphon? It is hard to tell apart from the ferals." He says, a paw scratching behind his head for a moment as he stands quietly... Though for once since after the fight, he begins to actually look around at the rubble surrounding them, inspecting it wordlessly as he decides NOT to walk away this time, lest he gets attacked by a ambush once more.
CaseyRune rubs the bridge of their nose, adjusting their sunglasses. "A Duck, a pegasus, a Dragon, hell a flying monkey would be better than a gryphon, as long as it's not blue and feathery." They huff, looking at the area, and the restaraunt where the gryphon back up came from. "So, what's our next move? We need to find out where this flying feathered Atlantis came from right?"
Onris shoots a glare at Casey. "Next move is getting our 'team' member back in shape." Shi hopes the stressed word will find some effect. "After that, we continue assessing the threat this Atlantis poses and grab as much shiny shit as we can carry. Per our orders." Onris looks over Smokies paw and wing as shi voices her opinion.
The gryphon sighs, just standing and surveying as she's worked on. "Look, I... I don't like being a dragon. It gets to my head way too much. No one would like me when I'm a dragon... And, I don't know any other flying forms... At least, none that are any worth in combat against a flock of these featherbrained fuckers." She just shakes her head again. "I swear, no, next time I'm bringing my rifle, no more of this 'Just a normal coyote' bullshit."
The recent battle seems to have taken its toll on the alpha team, with few of them seriously wounded but several breathless and rattled. Anbessa falls back to take a rest from the action, and Redd and Onris are called back to give a report on the situation thus far. Fortunately, word of a bravo team has come up the ranks, new agents supposedly ready to stand with the remaining alpha team members. The movie theater, the office building, the restaurant from which a half-dozen or so gryphons emerged - all are tempting targets, and are among the few buildings that look stable enough to explore after whatever events led to what looks like a small city falling from the sky.
With the Alpha Team now scrapped, one of its remnants holds her position just outside of the secured zone. It had taken a little convincing on her part to keep the guards from shooting her, or from shipping her back to check for 'feral influences'. What a lame excuse. But it didn't matter, the nonmorphic gryphon was here to stay, now, whether or not her current form was a bullet magnet. At least with Redd gone, everything was resaturated with nanites, though that didn't help her much. She was still unarmed and on four legs.
CaseyRune can feel nanites in the air again. Thank gods. It should keep them flying under the radar in terms of healing now, along with the fires, the ice and minor vampirism. They sigh, another chunk of the team lost. They may have taken the place of someone else, but it seems like none of them can really finish the mission.
The reports were bad enough, but to actually see this place annoyed him...a huge mess to be cleaned up while there were so many other threats to the people to deal with right now. But all the same, the Marine officer known as Colonel Cerris Voss arrives with a rutal tumping of the ground as his massive form barrels over rubble, walls and barricades to gome grinding to a halt over Smokie, gazing down in triplicate before addressing the guards with identification codes and a sitrep request.
A black and white blur approaches in the skies from the direction of Zephyr HQ in the south. It moves with an admirable amount of speed given the emergency of the situation. Alpha team was in bad shape, the situation was falling apart. They needed fast responders. Medics. And security. Thankfully, Kori was all three of these. With a backpack of medical supplies, an assault rile if things got hairy, and a very unassuming skunk girl body... This supernaturally powered herm was almost pushing the sound barrier in order to make good time. There's no such THING as a speed limit when you can fly.
Davina quivers, being a greennhorn amongst the team, she is uncertain of her tasks. Surveying the landscape for hostile beings with her acute vision, she stealthfully hides behind her fellow teamates. Her heart beating at a sureal pace, she obedient follows her team, as duty calls. Cerris's undoubted experience with battle soothed her fears and with the arrival of Kori she soon began to gain the cofidence needed to go forward on the assigned mission.
The remains of what might have been a city at one point remain sprawled out before the group as they assemble atop a rubble heap that was recently the site of combat. The bodies of several gryphons have been disposed of appropriately, and now only the fragment of the metropolis - bearing occasional insignias that resemble nothing in current-day Fairhaven or Woodfield - lays before the newly-reforming team awaiting exploration and investigation.
Smokie frowns up at the behemoth, shaking her beaked head. Now things were really messing up, the bravo team being even stranger and more mixed-up than Alpha Team. So much for stealth! A giant, a flashy skunk cheerleader, and a n00b... So, all the gryphon does is shake her head again and sigh.
CaseyRune leans on the restaruant, looking up at the new arrivals... And their face proptly returns to their palm "Oh For the love of... THAT is the backup? Really?" They sigh. Casey's with Smokie, stealth is out the window. Good thing the nanites are back... They WILL need them if things go they way they think they are.
Cerris descends slowly, shrinking as he adjusts his form for further information gathering, sprouting more heads as he sacrifices ize and power for the ability to avoid abushes.
Kori has about as much subtlety in flight as a boom box. Shi may not have a jet engine or any sort of tech propelling hir, but it wouldn't matter if shi did. The pale glow of whatever it was that allowed hir to do that may as well be a night light. At the very least it faded when shi got on-scene, stopping to hover and take stock before making the decent to land in the rear flanks of the group and muble under hir breath. Oh hey, that IS a pretty big medkit! There's still a problem though; shi can't exactly adapt to the surroundings like certain other people are. At least all that black fur will help in the darker places they may go. ((Repose))
Davina deftly swats Casey in the back of the head, her claws retracted, while she kicks Smokie in the ass. "Hey! We are a team, whether you like it or not! Get with it." Her anger emboldens her as she looses her fear of the unknown ahead. "Cerris, any clues as to where we should search first?"
Smokie jumps up, spinning around and shreiking a sharp note, her wings flaring. To be fair, she's a little bigger than your average gryphon, and a little more scary-looking. Gryphons usually look pretty slutty, but not this one, no. This Gryphon looks like something out of an oldworld painting, bent on all fours with vicious talons and claws. "Bitch, if you kick me one more time, I'll rip your leg off and eat it in front of you." If only her speech were as elegant as her form.
CaseyRune grumbles at Davina, exposing a fang, only mostly on purpose. "Look, you really want every hostile in this feathered husk piling on out asses? If not, don't do that again. This place is still dangerous." They hrmph, looking at the other two "So what's with the two of you? As useful as the Incredible Kaiju and SuperSkunk would probably be. The Avenger's we Ain't, and I REALLY don't feel like getting killed here."
With four heads oriented on Smokie the terror, and the other three sniffing the air and searching their general surroundings for more clues. "We are better off questioning this gryphon you just annoyed. All I can smell is a troublemaker and death...eh?" One of the other heads growls into the primary's ear. "Yeah, we know it seems to be gryphons. I'd sugest sending the glowing flier out to take a quick once over the area, if anything is going to attack, it'll be on her ass and she can mark it in flight with her spray. Otherwise lets compare notes, quit bitching and move on."
Kori snorts with indignance. "Oh sure. Send your medical support into a flyby. I don't glow THAT brightly you know. Only if I need to break the sound barrier.. Pfft. And its hermaphrodite. Should be flattered you called me "her". Now to eb honest I'd rather compare notes. So I know what happened so far besides this city having fallen from the sky." You know she wouldn't spray them anyway. Not with skunk musk.
Davina grins, having sparked the team. "I'll recon the immediate area while Kori searches from the air. since we seem to have a small compatability issue at the moment. Any objections?" Not waiting for an answer, she darts forward into the destruction, wantonly unafraid of the dangers that may lie in wait for her.
Smokie almost takes a step forward, but pauses before her talons touch the ground. "Oh, fuck me. She can get raped and have her eyes pecked out if she wants." She sighs, sitting back on her haunches and folding her wings carefully. "Look, skunkie, you're the one who decided to be all flashy. You could've walked in like everyone else. I'm sure ever other feathered fuck around here knows we're here, now, too!" She sighs again. "THere's not really much to say about this shithole, besides whatever it was, there were more computers in it than an Intel office."
CaseyRune reaches out to grab Davina by the scruff of the neck "Oh no you don't." They turn to Cerris "Now that that's out of the way, The story so far, That gryphon," They point to Smokie with their free hand "Is on our side, The only thing we've managed to do is get attacked, two were brought in, the rest died. The end. Now The theater and this restarunt are where they came out. So they /may/ be clear to explore."
Cerris rumbles as he coonsiders that bit of info "I don't know a lot about all of this crap, but I know every egghead I've met has said that the nanites and possibly the ferals can be controlled by computers...Lets split up and hit both potential locations...The theater sounds like paydirt to me...I dont care who goes with who, lets just get moving and check both locals...if the computers can be found, shut down and removed, we can possibly diffuse this setup and gain valuable intel for the labcoats and nerds to chew on."
Kori snorted at the responce Smokie gave hir. "Look, the request sounded like an emergency. It would've taken me considerably longer on foot. I'm not The Flash on the streets. You wanted backup? Here it is. Expedient. Now putting this goddamned squabble out of the way, I will agree about checking the buildings out. I'll take the moody gryphon out of your hair to check the resturaunt. There's room for one other person to follow me."
Smokie catches herself in a hiss, and stops abruptly. She clears her throat, and cracks her neck. "Sounds good. I'm pretty hungry, actually, I could go for a big cut of gryphon." She laughs a little, clawing at the ground. "Well, I suppose that's what we'll do..."
CaseyRune sighs, sonofa... Greenhorns running off is never good.... "I'll take the Theatre. Don't really expect to find much but Gryphon porn though."
Cerris takes the lead heading toward the theater, seven heads spread out to take in pretty much every angle possible. The hydra hound finding the thought of the bloodthirsty feral gryphon accompanying him making him somewhat nervous. Something about her seemed familiar, but more importantly, he had a chance to take a step toward recovering something of use rather than just idle head cracking.
Kori didn't get another volunteer. Fine with hir. It wasn't her concern what they did, this was part of the job. With that in mind, the skunk began a quit trot to the resturaunt. "We've got better things to do than worry about food. That's a secondary concern. Besides, I know you're one of us. They don't. The voice, the scent. Better off with you than one of them."
As the group splits down the middle, both groups find something rather different. Smokie and Kori will find that the restaurant has had a large section of the roof torn away, and the establishment itself appears to be a mess of gryphon droppings, nests, and egg casings...with a few unhatched eggs mixed among them. Anyone with even a passing understanding of such things would readily recognize this as a living chamber of sorts, but the scattered feathers and unkempt state of the place suggests that those living within are little more than animals at this point. As for Casey and Cerris, they'll find that entering the theater is easy enough, but the structure of the place makes for tight quarters as they pass room after silent room. Tactically unsound to say the least.
Smokie puts her foreleg and crooks it over the nostril slits in her beak. She scoffs, just as the door opens. "Fuck. There's nothing worthwhile in here, no." She grimaces. "Sloppy, nasty fucking birds. I don't know any other animal that shits where it sleeps and fucks." (Sorry for the cussin! xD)
CaseyRune is stuck in tight quarters with the Atom, lovely. At least they have melee... somewhat. They swap out their laser sight for a flashlight, and flick it on, discreetly freezing themselves a blade made of ice.
Cerris responds to the confining quarters by shrinking more and more until he is small enough that ambushes and tight corners mean nothing. All the same he would retain point position, his speed and raw striking power perfect for making opponents wish they had a wall of drones to keep him at bay.
Kori pulls off the bag on hir back and fishes around. Its unsanitary in here, its so obvious. So gloves go on and a mask is donned. "Well we know we can't redeem this group. The odds are half and half that these ferals were ferals before P-Day. Would explain this mess. Walk carefully, with these eggs here we could get visited by their parents at any time."
There seems to be little of value in the restaurant, unless one counts a bit of mechanical salvage; in truth, the real issue with the establishment seems to have been that several of the locals made it their home. That, and...some more subtle indications that more is at work here. Mutants would at least have some human seeming, some human habits, but these creatures seem to have reverted to an instinctive state surpassing even the ferals about town; not a one has attempted to harm the interlopers. Furthermore, no other creatures have been found; gryphons, and only gryphons. Most unusual...as for Cerris and CaseyRune, they're able to find some electronic and mechanical salvage, largely in the form of movie projectors and sound wiring. Unfortunately for them, a quartet of gryphons move into the area from elsewhere within the theater, positioning themsevles so that there is no escape except through them! On the up side, the two don't seem to have been noticed...yet.
Smokie just stands in the doorway, looking in on the nastiness. "Aw hell, that's... That's gross, I wouldn't even do that in gloves. I mean, I"ve touched some nasty stuff before... But man, this is worse than that unplugged freezer full of two-year-old elk burger!" She takes a step back, sighing. "Man, these gryphons, they're seriously fucked up. Not at all like the innercity ones..."
CaseyRune quietly unholsters their pistol, taking a silencer from their pocket and screwing it into the barrel and turning off the light. They whisper to Cerris"Keep going I have these 4." Before dissapearing into the shadows. It isn't too long before they reappear beside one of the gryphons, quickly grabbing them and draining them of blood.
Tiny beast drops lower and moves creeping onward, allowing Casey to do what must be done as he searches with his three heads, carefully he marked things of use as he passes, a few movies would do amazing things for human moral.
Kori wasn't going to go digging in the muck. Not with the gloves. They aren't large enough. No, this was for salvaging. Unfortunately shi couldn't find anything worth removing form the cesspool of filth. "Nothing here worth the time. These gryphons aren't from here, period. If they were, they'd have the decency to at least speak a few words of english and use a toilet somewhere besides wherever the fuck they happen to be standing."
The only sentient gryphon on the block and the skunk will discover, as a group, that the gryphons who were occupying - defending? - the area are mostly likely the ones they fought and defeated outside. There's little more to be done in the restaurant. CaseyRune easily steps out of the shadows and drains one of the gryphons dry as Cerris wanders on, leaving them to their fate. This may or may not prove to be wise, as there were /four/ gryphons mentioned...and as one falls, the other three pounce on CaseyRune, burying the 'human' under a mass of feathers and fur and beaks and talons. Looks like everyone else is fine, but for CaseyRune, the fecal matter has struck the air dispersement device!
