Town in the Mountains
Participants
Log
A group gathers to investigate the rumors, heading up the trails infested with wild touskies and crazed dragons. The guy with the information back at the city was quite certain, 'Just look for the red arrow,' he said, 'Take you straight to them, red arrow'.
Cilan trudges in, the woman in the middle of pressing a cigarette inbetween her lips with one hand, and bringing a zippo up to it with her other. Setting the zippo back into her pants pocket Cilan then goes back to looking for that ellusive arrow. The soldier remaining silent the entire time.
Rin pipes up. "You know that stuff will kill you." Shi says as shi follows Cilan through the underbrush, eyes flicking from tree to tree in search of the red arrow, as well as any potential ambushes. "Besides...if this camp of survivors was the kind to shoot first, ask questions later...a good sniper can hit a hot cherry frim a mile away." Shi adds.
A certain Hyena attached herself to the group earlier, responding to the call for action with gusto. She tirelessly totes her M16 in her paws as her black nose quivers with steady breath, her rounded ears twitch back and forth. Wearing dusty biking leathers, she looks more like some sort of punk than a field agent, but the large Zephyr patch on her shoulder betrays her status. On her back is slung a rusty crowbar, her backup weapon. "I'd ask for a smoke myself, if'n the smell wouldn't stick in my nose for hours."
It's a fine and clear day, the clouds wispy overhead, the air fresh and brisk. It's a good day to spot things, like a small red arrow. It would be easy to overlook if one was not looking for it specifically, hidden in with the natural features as it is. Pushing the bush next to it aside a little, the group can see a narrow trail wending down an equally narrow valley.
Bringing up the rear of the party was a mid-sized dragon, apparently made of crystal. His claws grip a small rifle, as he scans the landscape behind them.
Having found the object she had been looking for, Cilan plucks the cigarette from her lips and calls over her shoulder, "Hey, got something here!" with her other hand she points to the trail. A few moments she thinks on Rin's words and breathes a soft sigh, "Good point, can never really tell with these guys." and with that, she brushes the ashes of her cigarette against the nearest object and returns the now unlit cigarette to the oposite pocket on her pants. With her hands now free she pulls twin CZ 75b two tone handguns from their holsters and continues on the path.
Smokie brings up the middle of the formation. She glances apprehensively at the steep sides of the valley, gripping the polymer triangle grip of her forty-year-old gun. "Oh man, this is like... Dangerous. This is where I'd ambush someone." She glances at the female human-looking pointman in front of her. "Hopefully we won't have to shoot these folks..."
Rin doesn't carry a weapon, instead relying heavily on the mutant powers shi's aquired over time. Shi found that few problems in life could not be solved with the propper application of a tail scythe. "Well...we're following a human and clearly armed....so any idiot can se we aren't ferals." Rin points out, looking back over hir shoulder at Smokie, trying to sound reassuring. "With any luck they'll be smart enough to try talking first." Rin adds, though shi had to agree, these mountains were a great place for an ambush. Shi pulls hir communicator from hir jacket pocket and gives it a quick test. "I'm going to take to the skys, see what all I can see." Shi informs before jumping into the air, flapping hir powerful draconic wings hard to gain altitude and rise above the tree line.
Proceeding along the trail, they come around a sharp corner to find a wooden fence blocking the way. A voice calls from the top of the canyon, "Say cheese," A glint of a rifle directed in their general direction, "If you can." It's hard to see what's holding the metal against the glare of day. Interesting how guns always stand out, especially when aimed at you.
Cilan quickly bolts back around the corner and presses her back against the mountain-side, "We're friendlies!" she shouts to the other human. "None of us are ferals! Zephyr sent us!" she continues.
Smokie jumps and yelps, the high-pitched, animal sound echoing in the valley. A puff of dust and a whistle announces the hitting of the bullet just where her paws would've been in a moment. She snarls, her hackles all raise as she scrambles back behind the corner. "God damn! I'm not in the mood to get put down today!"
Redd stares towards the glint, trying to spot where about it was, he didn't move though, not like he could hide anywhere...
Rin pages, "would the shooter realize Rin is there? One's attention is pretty narrowed while looking down a rifle scope...and with it trained on the ground team, he might not see hir approaching from the air..." to you.
Rin circles around over head, managing to catch a stream of warm air and ride it upwards, hir altitude climbing quickly now that shi was above the trees. Hir eyes scanned the ridge line looking for anything suspicious. The crack of gunshot fired at Smokie drawing hir attention. "I see him." Shi spoke into hir comm before tilting hir body to close in on the shooter, flapping hard to put on the speed to try and reach him before he could fire another shot at the ground team, being immediately reminded of the disadvantage of not carrying a fire arm...limited effective range.
The hyena whines as she checks her magazine loads, still backed against the corner of the valley, hugging the ground tight. "Why do you folks always gotta shoot at the dog?! I promise I don't bite!"
The rifle raises off target, "Don't go soiling your jeans," comes the voice again, "If you can talk, you're probably alright. Now tell me, who was the first president of these United States?" he calls down.
Cilan mumbles to herself, "Bad time to be Canadian then, huh?"
"Washington, George" Redd shouts, keeping his eyes on the shooter.
Smokie peaks her head up, ears first, then ruffled headfur, then muzzle. "Wait, wait, under the Articles or the Constitution?"
Rin pulls up out of hir attack dive as the shooter calls out. "What? Never could pass second grade history?" Shi asks, tauntingly as shi circles over head before landing a few feet away from the shooter, amlost certain there were more eyes trained on the entire group by now. But, he stopped shooting to talk, so that's a good sign. "Save your ammo for the ferals." Shi adds with displeased growl.
"Fucking smartasses," comes the reply before the figure looks up towards Rin, "And traveling in a group. Probably alright," He grabs a rope, then hops over the side, sliding down that sheer face with his boots sliding on the hard rock, bouncing down in grand bounds thanks to the rope he holds securely.
The glance Rin had of the guy looked not human, with a pointed snout and fine whiskers, though he is wearing a full set of clothes, making many of the details hard to pull out.
Believing the danger to be over Cilan returns her handguns back to their holsters and turns around the corner, raising her hands showing no threat towards the gunman, "You from the survivalst village?"
Redd slings his own rifle, and walks towards the strange mutant, "I'll assume we're at the edge of town?" he asks, hoping to get some sense of direction and location.
The fence stands in the way, but with the force of the man falling on the rope, it seems to pull the fence upwards, making that problem soon fixed. He ties it down to a small peg at the bottom of the canyon, "Sure enough on both counts, well, almost. Village is another bit of a hike. Good to catch freaks before they're close."
Smokie shifts her rifle to her off-paw, carrying it by the carrying handle. She slowly edges out from behind the rocks, her eyes up to the top of the canyon's steep sides. "Well, I'd say... Couldn't pick a better place, myself." She seemed a little shaken up, but she began to brush down her fur with her free paw, so as to not look like a savage.
Rin raises an eyebrow as shi sees the man jump over the edge of the cliff. "Hey where...oh." Shi says, starting to question his sudden retreat before noticing the mechanics being used to raised the gate. Smart actually. Shi shrugs before leaping off the cliff hirself, spreading hir large wings to glide down and meet up with the rest of the group again. Now that they actually made contact it was less likely they were going to get shot by a sniper.
Cilan drops her hands back down to her sides and pulls the cigarette from earlier, relighting it and taking a long drag, "So." she says before breathing out the smoke, "We aloud to go inside? Or would you rather we pass some sort of test before we're aloud in? Guys up in the hospital arent exactly.. friendly to tourists.."
He looks over the group a moment, "They made it? Figured those fuckers'd bust through." says the man as he runs a sleeve over his pink nose, "You all coming to trade, or just looking for something to gawk at? I don't see a cart."
The hyena shifts her weight and cocks her hips, wiping at her wet, black nose with the back of her paw. "Well, me, I just came here looking for something to do. Gotta stay on the payroll somehow. I guess I could trade you a couple things, some stale granola bars and such."
"One of the guys over there said something about another group being still in the mountains, gave some basic directions to here." Redd quickly adds, "I think they were hoping either you had avoided infection and were willing to head back with us, or were all dead and it was safe to come by and loot the place. That's just me being cynical though..."
Rin lands gracefully near by. "Not every day you get to make contact with a lost group of survivors..." Rin points as shi smooths hir fur and folds hir wings against hir back. "So....something to gawk at I guess." Shi adds with a shrug.
Cilan shrugs, "Both I suppose.. heard rumours that there was a group of survivors here and I wanted to see if it was true." offering Redd a glance atleast for a moment before turning back to the guard, "Yeah.. its a war outside, could use every hand we can get in regards to claiming the city again.."
He shakes his head, "Wouldn't put it past. Too bad for them, we're doing just fine up here, even if we had to invest in flea dip." He gestures back, "Well, go on then, enjoy your rubber necking, just don't make a mess," he invites, moving to lower the fence back down once everyone is past it.
Smokie reaches into one of her jacket pockets, and pulls out a specimen of the aforementions granola bars. She peels back the foil after fumbling with it in her paws for a bit. She takes a nibble, then a moment to chew it, before swallowing it. "Pretty dry. Eeyeuch... Anyways. I was kinda hoping for some loot too. Or some food. Soylent Green and flat pop is getting old. It's not really so much of claiming the city, though, as it is trying to monopolize trade."
Redd nods as the gate closes behind them, "About how much further to the village proper?"
Rin chuckles. "Well...you guys are lucky...don't have to worry about Zephyr taking all your money and jabbing you with sharp needles." Shi responds with a grin. "I'd love living out here personally...and I know a few tricks to deal with fleas." Shi adds, hir body becoming engulfed in flames a moment before fading back to hir usual blue, furry self with a self satisfied grin at the chance to show off hir adept powers.
Smokie rolls her eyes a little at Rin, even as she walks along the trail. "Not even that complicated. Flea dip's not so bad, if you don't get it in your eyes. Now, it's the mutant fleas you gotta really worry about."
"Aint too far," he assures before he is yanked right up off his feet by the weight of the descending gate, pulled right back up to where he started. Curious system that, "Just follow the path," he shouts down. "And no setting fire to shit," he appends, likely for Rin's benefit, "Water aint that easy to get up here."
Rin offers a playful frown up at the guard. "Aww...ruin all my fun." Shi pouts before jogging forward to catch up with the others. "So....that went well." Shi comments, glad to see no one got a .50 calibur hair cut.
Cilan continues up on the path, offering the guard a short wave over her shoulder, "Huh.." she muses, "Wonder if they'd appreciate becoming human again.. probably need a hell of a lot of hypo's though.. but definately help with the flea's." shrugging later she continues down the path, hoping she'd find the village soon.
THe hyena callously muses, "I'm sure their forms have grown on them. Pun not intended. I don't ever see any reason to ever be human again, please thanks. Not that I'd stop someone, but I think I make this biker hyena thing look good."
Cilan shrugs again, "Dont mean to say they should go back to being human, I've got plenty of friends that are furry, even my mate, Apostasy! And I wouldnt change her for the world.." she says with a warm smile, "But if they wanted, the offer was up on the table.. afterall Ive met quite a few survivalists that hate the thought of growing fur.."
Redd shrugs, "Its probably been, what? 12, 18 months they've been out here? Can't imagine they haven't grown used to it by now..."
Onwards! With no obstacles in the way, it is but a short ten minute hike up to a small village nestled against the side of the cliff. The people loitering about are not as well armored as the guard, but everyone is dressed. Still, without a combat helmet, it's a lot easier to see that they are all rabbits, or hares, lapines, yes, lapines. One of them wanders up with a cowboy hat, which he raises up in a tip, "Howdy. Tom let you past, must not be raiders or mutants. What can we do you for?"
Rin grins toward the hyena. "Personally, I agree...I love being the...cat, dragon, fox...thing I am." Rin responds. "Besides...never could fly as a human." Shi responds, enjoying the idle chatter. Shi glances toward Cilan with a slight grin as she mentions Apostasy, but says nothing about the mutual aquantence and just walks on quietly. When finally reaching the settlement and being approached Rin just offers a friendly smile. "Oh...just heard there was a group of stranded survivors out here...and I just love meeting new people." Shi greets with a playful chuckle. "More importantly, is there anything WE can do for you?...I mean, must be hard getting supplies all the way out here."
"Anyone smell bunny?" She whispers to the nearest party member, minutes before the hit the town. But once they get there, she has to stop a moment. She double takes, and blinks, and wipes her eyes before she manages to close her jaw and conceal her eager tongue. Rabbits! For dinner! No, not for dinner. Unfortunate. She wipes some excess saliva away from her black lips with her brown-furred paws. "Er, uh... Nice to uh, eat- I MEAN MEET you! Yeah! Nice to meet you!"
Cilan greets the man with a wave, "Yeah, just a group of survivors, but.. nah, just thought we'd pass through, greet the locals, ask if they needed anything.. supplies and the like.." coughing and murmuring later, "Helpwiththeferalsoutside.."
A glance is afforded towards the 'hungry' one, "Yea, sure. We're doing alright," he assures, "You want to hunt those great big diamond..." he points at the diamond dragon that happens to be available, "That, but less chatty. You want to get rid of some of those, we won't complain none.
Redd glares briefly, "Sure, I suppose we can do a bit of culling."
Big, gleaming white teeth show as the hyena cracks a grin, laughing a little as she glances toward her crystalline lover. "Oh, those? Sure. Guess you folks dun't... Well, dun't have much quarry worth eatin' out here? No offence hun," She shifts her weight again, still showing off her sharp teeth, "But y'know... So, what DO you guys eat up here?"
The lapine hikes a thumb over to the edge of the cliff, "We got some farms going, doing just fine," he lifts his shoulders, "Still some wild animals, fishing, not a bad living. Not as much taste for meat since we went long ear, but I still enjoy me a fine steak once in a while." he explains, "Tell you what, since you strike me as the mercenary sort. You fetch me a clean hundred of their scales, unchipped, and I'll arrange a fitting re-ward for ya."
Redd glances around, before looking at himself, "Damn, most of mine are chipped..."
Smokie pats Redd's shoulder. "Don't fret. I couldn't imagine that feeling good at all."
