Farmstead Salvage Hunting - Pt 3 - RPLOG

Participants

• Ebreus
• Edel
• Fenris
• Otto
• Phosphorus

Date

31/3/2018

Log

T'was early in the morn in the quest valley by the woodlands where our story had left off last, some ways down the main pathway leading through the forest, secluded away from the hustle and bustle of the post-apocalyptic cityscape, far from the server and far from the powers that be, the small farmstead was almost scenic, in its own way. Naught but the gentle chirping of the crickets disturbed the peace, and it would be very easy to nod right off...

Yet having riled up the highwaymen up the road, the adventurers knew better than to bunker down and just sleep the night away without putting someone up there to keep an eye, or rather an ear out for any trouble. This was not Otto, ofcourse... the wee fennec was busy tending to the jeep he'd parked within the barn, accompanying the rest of his team and spending the hours tending to the engine, buffing out the dents and checking for damage after that gunfight they'd gotten into.

Praised be the gods, two flat tires was the worst of what they'd suffered, and Otto was able to relax in the driver's seat, with his laptop in his lap. He seemed awfully nonchalant, even well distracted by what he was reading about in the faint glow of his computer's screen. Sleep seemed to elude him, but he was holding up alright nonetheless. In fact, he seemed quite happy! After having traded a weapon to the owner of the farm they stayed at, the team had managed to acquire some decent salvage from the barn they'd stayed in.

Indeed, within the trunk of the jeep was a collection of solar panels, the lot with questionable usability, but surely at least some of them were of use to the research lab, right? One could hope so...

Fenris is seated in an attitude of meditation, though the occasional snore emanating from the tubby tanuki puts the lie to that. He dozes pleasantly, waiting for his turn on watch.

Edel has been in far worse situations. This was barely on the radar. As such, she shibanuki has no problems sleeping. She found herself a little safe corner nook to tuck herself into after her first watch and promptly went right to sleep.

Ebreus managed to find a nice spot to lay down and rest, not risking removing his armor, while he waits for someone to wake him up because the bandits are attacking. Behind suitable ballistic cover against as many angles as he could get while still being in an area that he could fall asleep in.

Calmly, from the second floor of the house, Phosphorus scans the tree line, trying to make out moving shadows from the scope of her sniper rifle. She's largely unsuccessful, despite the zoom. However, as soon as she hears voices outside, she sighs, picking the rifle up and throwing the strap of the sniper rifle over her shoulder, and pulls her SMG from her rucksack, slapping the bolt into place. She quickly makes her way down the stairs, unfolding the stock of the weapon and raising it to a ready stance, ready to meet the intruders, and preparing to 'sound the alarm' with the rapport of gunfire.

Otto meanwhile was none the wiser. He expected a warning of some sort so he merely kept himself busy with his laptop. That is until those massive ears picked up on gunfire somewhere in the distance... He blinks a few times and raises his brows, then looks over towards Phosphorus, noting she was ready to rumble. "Trouble?" he asks, head tilted but hands ready to make a knife-filled pin cushion out of anything that threatened their haul. "You folks wanna check that out? I don't. I have a jeep to guard." he shrugs, then looks back at his computer screen and continues to browse lazily, albeit his ears were now perked all the way up, tilting slightly every so often like radar dishes, scanning for danger.

Fenris is totally awake. And was meditating, thankyouverymuch. The burly tanuki hops to his feet with surprising alacrity, his short spear seeming almost to materialize in his hand. "There was a scream!" he says, and charges out into the night, ready for action.

"Hmmm?" Edel sits up and stretches her arms. "Trouble? If they're causing trouble for the kindly family that let us stay here, well... I am not going to let them face it alone." She pushes herself up, grabbing her equipment. "Best get to it, then." She brushes her hair back and sets out into the night.

Ebreus' ears perk up on his sleeping head as they detect the commotion in the distance but alas hearing distant commotion isn't enough to wake the huge hellish hound and so he stays laying upon the ground in his makeshift safe area. His shotguns in range to be grabbed at a moments notice but alas not yet grabbed as their owner snoozes. Then as the Tanuki yells closer to him he hums, "Hmm?", as he stirs he opens his eyes lightly and looks around then it registers that the second yell was in fact one of his friends and he grabs his shotguns and rolls to a crouching position. "What's going on?" he calls out looking around and ready to fire on anything that comes too close.

Phosphorus makes some quiet hand motions, gesturing towards where the source of the gunfire is. It's best if they can retain a bit of silence, to get a slight element of surprise. She drops her stance a bit, ready to fire. She glances backwards, over her shoulder, attempting to gesture so that half of them could go around one side, and the other half go straight into the door. Divide and conquer, and all.

T'was night pitch black out there, the flickering of the lights within the farmhouse hinting at the commotion within, shouts easily audible but indiscernible through the open window on the first floor... at least for now. Telltale lights scan the area near the road past the house, two more thugs immediately visible, both patrolling the area with their rifles at the ready. It is unclear how many more men there are, but this is definitely starting to look more and more like a raid on the farmhouse. Oddly enough... the two men approach one another and begin to converse. This would be a good opportunity to strike while they're distracted, or... perhaps sneak by if bloodshed is to be avoided. Perhaps someone stealthy and perceptive enough could listen in on their chat? It was hard to tell what was around the other end of the house, however. One would need to peek around the corner to tell...

Fenris pads forward in the darkness, hoping there is nothing in the grass to trip him up or hurt his feet. He moves quickly toward the men, ears perked and listening. His initial reaction to draw a weapon gives way to discretion and he hosters it nearly as quickly as he pulled it. He does, however keep his hands loose and free for some good, old fashioned fisticuffs. He kind of has an idea of clonking the goons heads together like in the movies should they catch sight of him.

Edel is short enough as it is, and she keeps low as she moves into the night, her dark attire assisting her in her skullduggery. Similarly, she draws near the thugs. If she could hear them, great. If not, they could be dispatched.

Ebreus glances about until he spies Phosphorus. He nods as he sees the gestures and nods as he rises from the area he was sleeping in and makes his way over to the exit to begin flanking them. He activates his bubble and begins scanning the area around the farm with his thermal vision watching for any attempt to flank them while those with flashlights may be distracting the attention of most of them, looking back periodically toward the others to ensure he hasn't been detected.

Phosphorus puts her PDW away, utilizing yet another set of straps to keep it from wobbling, bringing her assault rifle back to the ready position. She peers down the sights, a reflector sight making it a bit easier to see in the dark of night. She moves around to the side, glancing at Fenris and Ebreus due to their lack of subtlety, keeping her rifle barrel locked on one of the flashlights, roughly where the body would be, continuing to maneuver herself closer to get a better look. As soon as they're distracted, and she has a clear sight picture, she'd open fire.

The alarm was raised the moment Fenris triggers a barrage of gunfire in his direction. The tanuki had managed to evade death, but his aggressors were coming fast with their rifles raised, focused on the nuki's hiding spot. "Come out, ye furball! The boss is gonna love making a right fine pelt outta yer hide, he is!" the man growls and lets another few rounds fly, thankfully unable to hit Fenris from where the nuki was. As for Ebreus... well, only he knew what was going on at his location, seeing as he was the only one to peek around that corner. One could hope that things were going their way...

Fenris does his best to stay behind cover, a hand clapped over an oozing, but clean wound on his shoulder.

The tanuki grimaces at the wound, but at the mention of a pelt, his grimace turns into a wicked little smile. He reaches up to take hold of a low branch or knot in the tree, the goes a bit cross-eyed in concentration. His form becomes a little indistinct and his features flatten out as he utilizes his tanuki magic to turn himself into a heavy fur coat, hanging on the tree.

A strange plan, but it seems to make sense in Fenris's head.

Edel frowns softly. Unfortunate, but Fenris' loss is her gain. With the thugs focused elsewhere, she is free to stalk from behind. A throwing knife is drawn and aimed at the backs of one of them, letting it fly with a flick of her wrist while in the same motion she reaches to draw her sword.

Ebreus smiles a sinisterly as he can as the when the flashlights are shown upon him. He points his pistol-grip shotties at the two pointing their rifles at him and with the hellish flames surrounding he sees the two aiming at him and opens fire ready to pump buckshot into their chest cavities then shouts in the direction of the lights, "Surrender or die!"

Phosphorus, too, maneuvers to the back. Once she has a clear shot, she fires a rapid burst at each of the standing targets, aiming for the sides and back, quickly cycling through targets to maximize the surprise advantage she had. She glances over to Edel, noting the knife blade embedding itself in one of them, then simply shrugs and continues onwards. She notes they have body armor vests on, which is why she specifically aimed for the rear and sides - they typically don't have plates for rifle-grade threats, and would only help against pistol-grade ammunition. Not that she was concerned about penetration - her rifle would likely pierce the front, too.

With all the patrolling thugs occupied and the otherwise quiet farmstead turned into a warzone, it was beyond clear that whoever was inside the house was well aware they were up against some serious opposition. One could only hope that things were not going to go to hell in there. Time was short, and a little common sense might be enough to remind the team that their actions had consequences...

Fenris realizes, as he assumes the form of a fine fur coat hanging from a tree, that this was really not helpful in this situation and berates himself internally for not having a team mentality. The hanging fur coat quickly becomes a tanuki once more and he peeks around the tree he is covering behind to watch one of the thugs fall. The burly tanuki hisses in pain, as his non-pelt status allows his wound to start bleeding again. He swallows the pain and charges out of his hiding place and toward the house. All of this can only have put the family inside in danger. There was a kid in there!

Edel decides -not- to draw her sword, upon seeing the little impact the knife had. As soon as her target starts to turn, she lunges in quick and low, going for the grapple and to minimize effective rifle maneuvering. One hand goes for the rifle, the other for the face as she pivots to the side, trying to separate weapon from wielder.

Ebreus charges forward toward the riflemen as he holsters one of his shotties and summons an infernal power from his hands wretching a fragment of the souls of the two bandits from their bodies. He closes as best he can to them and introduces his knuckles to the face of the closes bandit.

Phosphorus watches the first one go down with a short burst from her rifle, maneuvering the barrel to quickly reacquire on the second target. She holds fire, noting how close Edel is, not wanting to have any friendly fire incidents. She moves closer, planning to enter the house and make sure nobody is hurt.

Having taken another scrape, this time to the leg, Ebreus still manages to disable one of his attackers, and then smack down the other. Edel's takedown works like a charm, her sheer strength and expertise in hand-to-hand disarming and disabling her aggressor entirely. Alas, as Phosphorus goes to check on who's hurt, her legs carry her quickly, but not quickly enough to intercept the pair of bandits leaving the house. To her horror, she spots the corpse of the farmer they'd traded with through the door, moments before it is engulfed in flames. The interior lights up in a spectacular fireball, likely caused by an intense accelerant of some sort, the entirety of the first floor immediately engulfed in fires so intense it was painful to even get near the door! The two that she spots dashing out the door make a rapid sprint for the exit, aiming to disappear into the night. There would be nothing left of the farm, soon... the flames licking up the walls, the wooden structure not standing a chance...

"NO!" Fenris cries, accelerating toward the farmhouse. Obviously the first floor was lost. . . but the kid's room was upstairs, right? The tanuki takes an acrobatic leap, trying to fling himself up onto the roof, looking for a window and any desperate chance that there might be survivors that he could help!

Edel knocks her foe to the ground and flips the rifle around to level it at the prone thug. Just as she's about to start an impromptu interrogation, the farmhouse going up in flames catches her eye. "Congratulations, you just got a lot more valuable to me alive." She takes a step back, though the rifle remains leveled at the thug. "Get up, and do not make any sudden moves. Where is your group holed up and how many are you?"

Ebreus snarls as a shot catches his leg from one of the two he's dealing with and channel's the pain-induced anger into the carry through to knock the unlucky bandit clean unconscious with his one punch. As his armor begins to med his wound he grabs ahold of the nauseated compatriot of the now unconscious bandit and holds him in a headlock, off the ground, using the poor fool as a shield against his friend's gunfire. As the building goes up in flames he tightens his grip on the bandit he's holding and pulls him backward as he looks around for more lights. He snarls, "Where da fuck the fire come from?!" to his teammates as moves and looks up at the not-burning second floor.

Phosphorus quickly drops her stance, spotting the two running out of the building, taking a deep, measured breath and firing at the targets, letting off precise, single shots to try to take them down. She's indifferent to the corpse. Staying in this area was a risk. Not relocating after hostiles were proven to be nearby was a risk. She also has a strong distaste for organized banditry, so that makes pulling the trigger very easy, here. Not that she would've hesitated, anyways.

The structure is quickly engulfed in flames, the interior and exterior alike turning the wooden building into a bonfire. Fenris would do well to let it go... lest he wanted to become barbecued chicken. What he finds... is for him to share, or not if he wishes, though what he'd find down is Edel interrogating a very disabled bandit, and Ebreus gripping an unconscious one, using him as a human shield. The remaining one alive was looking very sickly, and stumbles over his feet in his attempt to get away...

"What are you gonna do to me, eh? Kill me? Go ahead. When the boss finds out about this he'll want me dead anyway, not like there's easy living out here outside the gang, might as well kill me now and save me the trouble of starving or being flayed by the boys." the man growls in response to Edel. It was clear he wasn't going to talk... yet...

A loud honking sound is heard, Otto having started up the engine and grabbed what he could from the barn to bring back. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he yips, then honks again to draw the others' attention. It was clear the fennec was not looking to hang around the area anymore...

Fenris has seens enough.

The tanuki swings himself nimbly down from the roof and makes his way to where Otto waits with the car. He eases himself into the front passenger seat and waits quietly.

"We already lost the only thing here worth saving," he says, then waits for the others, watching the flames forlornly.

"Kill you? No, I won't do that." Edel keeps the rifle pointed at him regardless. "I am not even going to hurt you. Not physically." She looks towards the burning building again, jaw setting, before jerking the rifle towards the jeep. "Let's go. We're going to take a ride, you and I."

Ebreus drags the unconscious bandit back to where Edel is interrogating the disabled one then drops him, "How the fuck did you even do that?!" he questions, gesturing to the inferno of a building, he demands of the conscious bandit. He looks to Otto then to Fenris, "... fuck..." he says. He sighs and looks back to the bandits, "They did this..." he accuses and as Edel goes to bring the bandit into the jeep the climbs in, "We're going to have to pre-empt this happening again." he says.

"Right then." Phosphorus sighs and checks her magazine, placing it back in her chest rig and swapping it out for a fresh one. "We should move, find an alternate route back. Pushing for a hunt right now would be unwise, especially in a forest. Too many hiding places. Best just to leave them alone, I think. We blew our best chance of successfully pulling everything off as soon as we engaged them the first time, instead of waiting to do it on our terms."

"What? What do you me-" and then it hits him... Otto's ears droop down once the news strikes, that the farmer that'd took them in was gone. "Say no more..." the fennec sighs and shakes his head, then revs the engine and waits for the others to get in. Leaning out the window, he honks the horn again and yells out loudly "COME ON! THIS FIRE IS LIKE A FUCKING BEACON, ATTRACTING THINGS FROM FAR AND WIDE! GET IN AND LETS'S GO BEFORE WE HAVE MORE SHIT TO DEAL WITH!" he yells out once the others climb in. The last thug casts her a sneer and a defeated frown. "Better listen to your buddy there. But fine... I hope my skin's really worth something to you." he growls and rises with his arms behind his head, then heads towards the jeep.

Fenris has nothing to say as they travel and asks Otto to drop him off at the city limits. "I'll pitch in for damages on the jeep," he promises, "I just don't want to go by the Z right now." Otherwise, he is very introspective.

"Sure it is," Edel says, climbing into the jeep after guiding 'her' thug in at gun point. "Once upon a time, I would have shot you on the spot. That was the old me. This is the new me, and the new me doesn't do executions or torture. I just want to help you make this right."

Ebreus leans into the bandit, "Besides, for the time being, you're more useful alive" he says, though ready to break his bones if he tries something on the ride back. He then looks forward to the front of the Jeep, "Yeah, guess we'll head home for now. They're not getting away with this." he asserts. He angrily hufs and continues, "We can't let banditry run amuk if we're going to rebuild."

"Starve them out. The bandits aren't going to go away by charging into the forest, trying to be a hero. You tried to be a hero earlier, and look where that got us." Phosphorus notes, frowning, climbing into the vehicle with her rifle in hand. She flicks the safety on, and drops it to hang from her straps, taking the time to repack the magazine as they ride back. Important to keep up on maintenance.

"Who's this?!" Otto raises a brow once he spots their prisoner. "Oh, whatever. Just keep him in check." he sighs, and once everyone had entered the jeep, he floors it all the way back to the bubble, not stopping for anyone, or anything. It'd be a long and bumpy ride, but they'd arrive just at the crack of dawn to deliver their solar panels.