[hr] [h1][center][color=Teal]The Changeling Crew[/color][/center][/h1] [hr] [@thedman] [color=teal]"Well everyone... I think I know where we 'need' to strike..."[/color] Those in the crashed ship couldn't 'see' it any better than those in the cloaked one that was quickly closing the distance, but the changelings could 'sense' what was coming... Down in the ship though- The Adjutant Chimed once more *Beep* "Sergeant! Seismic activity has reached our perimeter" *Beep* "Surface breaches detected, unknown life-forms are are crawling out, both from the ground, and within caved in paths detected beneath the ship's crash-site..." *Beep* "Confirmed non-zerg, species unregistered in UED database..." *Beep* "Each one has begun radiating small amounts of the unknown energy source." Reports began coming in from various members of the remaining crew about strange monsters clawing their way through the hull of the ship like paper, several had begun incoherent screaming into the comms that did not stop quickly to imply something was 'just' killing them, some had shouted something about shooting them not seeming to affect anything. *Beep!* "Sergeant, it appears that a number of crew members have broken into a manic hysteria." *Beep* "... I am unable to ascertain the cause of this hysteria." That was about the time that something seemed to start clawing it's way into the vehicle bay as well... or rather, some 'things', what it looked like was something more befitting nightmares, although many might argue that the Zerg were far more fundamentally terrifying. Though these things looked like they shouldn't be capable of functioning, the zerg at least followed understandable biological requirements, these things behaved like something out of a horror story, crawling around like corpses on the move or jittering along like some kind of otherworldly horror. [hider=warning, potential horror bait] [img]https://derpicdn.net/img/2015/12/6/1037986/large.png[/img] [img]https://derpicdn.net/img/2016/4/10/1128719/large.png[/img] [/hider] *BEEP* "Sergeant" Yet again the Adjutant chimed in without much time for him to have replied with another update. "The larger individual signature is drawing closer and still devoid of visual recognition..." *Beep!* "Unknown Energy build up detected from the cloaked signature. Caution is advised." [hr] [h1][center][color=red]Captain Cloak[/color][/center][/h1] [hr] This really was a bummy situation... Food was going to be exceedingly limited after the crash, their stock of hours was going up in smoke, and what was left was either burning or ticking down until it reaches the right heat level to explode and kill them all... And the captain was 'still' babbling on and on. [b]*CLANK!*[/b] "I. Found. Him." The captain whirled around to spot the big something pulling someone else out of the hole in the ship... quickly revealed to be a slim brassy something dressed up in a butler's suit, which the Captain shamelessly pulled out of the big one's hand and embraced "AHHH! COGSY! You DID make it!" *Click-fzzzzz-Chk!* "In-deed... a lit-L singed-and*Fzzzz*over-heat-ed... Also" *kzzzzt* the voice paused for a bit as the sound of thumping and creaking vegitation came from below the ship. *bbzzzz* "Thee for-est is en-cro-ching on-thee-ship... Thee clays are hold-eeng it back... poor-lee." *Chnkzzzzz* The captain set him down with those words, suddenly a lot less 'playful' as he toddled to the edge of what little of the ship they could actually stand on with the wreckage... he couldn't see much from there, but the subtle presence of vines that didn't burn so well crawling up the sides of the ship. "Clayton... tell me, honestly... are your brother's 'living'?" The lack of mirth in his voice whenever he got serious always set his second's fur on end. The huge clay thing replied without a hint of difference though "They. Are. not... I would not follow you if you kept the living as servants." To hear him speak in a full sentence without pauses was rare, but always meaningful... though it was unclear if he said as much out of truth, or knowing that stopping to save them would simply be their end as well. The captain perked up then. "Very well then... We're going! Everyone hop on!" Without a hint of shame he and the other well covered individual climbed onto the big clay things back to hold on, and it grabbed the brassy butler thing and subsequently leapt off of the chip, reaching quite the distance before they crashed through to the forest floor, hopefully safely away from the encroaching vegitation, but they made sure to keep moving just to be sure. Delightful timing as well, as mere seconds after they touched down the ship exploded anew, blowing the rear half clean off and into the forest somewhere nearby... they could worry about valuable salvage later. [hr] [@Rune_Alchemist][@ninja] Zecora was already quickly backing up, paying the alien considerably less mind in comparison to the door-way there, though oblivious to what was coming, there an over-bearing sensation that something was... displeased, with their presence there. She really 'was' fascinated by the alien's presence, but inter-species interactions were... not her forte, she needed to incur someone else's attention who could better handle this... Then the door's slammed open on the castle's fore, a raging wind pouring out and buffeting those beyond... all sight within had been robbed, turning the insides of the castle entirely black despite the moon-light still illuminating things to some degree... oddly, the moon-light seemed to naturally focus onto the door-way, one could only imagine why, it even seemed to glow brighter in general, but it made sure there was enough light to see what sauntered it's way out... [hider=Whatever could it be?] [img]https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/7/17/938618__safe_artist-colon-breezy-dash-aria_artist-colon-equum_amici_tantabus_do+princesses+dream+of+magic+sheep_absurd+file+size_animated_cinemagraph_c.gif[/img] [/hider] It looked as if a chunk of the night sky had torn itself free of the infinite black and walked out of the castle as frightfully tall quadrupedal creature, looming even over the tall alien creature by several feet... It was difficult to discern features on it aside from the brighter tinted glow around it's edges that hinted as it's shape, but there were also darkened voids where it's eyes could be, something that created quite the nightmarish feeling when peering into... Suddenly it's muzzle stretched longer, strands of 'night' seeming to shred open into a sharpened maw shape that revealed a light contained within it, and a bone-shiveringly shrill wail was emitted that sent the zebra fleeing as if her tail were on fire, though it looked clearly like a fearful retreat, it was mostly that she was beyond certain this was far beyond her league of threats to face, and had to hope that the two strange creatures could handle themselves... or at least hold on until she retrieved much more powerful assistance. Meanwhile the creature's maw closed only partially and began an ominously slow approach to the pair of creatures... one point of interest, The robot will not have actually heard the screech from the creature, though it was clearly visible to him, it seemed to only pay attention to Shael. [hr] [h1][center][color=purple]The Responders[/color][/center][/h1] [hr] The group had been observing closely from their high perch in the sky... or at least, as closely as they could, but it became clear quickly that not only was the forest agitated by the crashes that had damaged it, but these strangers were obviously not aware of what would make it worse. Incidental fire was one thing with the one that had crashed in the center, but the group near the gorge had actually 'attacked' with fire, the others had... [color=purple]"Shit, this is turning into a critical mass scenario real fast..."[/color] "Orders, Alpha?" [color=purple]"Right, we can't do much for the one in the middle, it's too surrounded for us to be useful, but we've got 3 other situations to resolve, and eight of us to go around for fixing it" "Jade Two and Lapis, Take care of the the one's that crashed near the castle, you'll be better for the job I hope."[/color] [color=blue]"Aye sir!"[/color][color=green]"Eee! Sir!. heehee!"[/color] [color=purple]"Pearl, Jade One, and Bronze, Take care of the one's who crashed on the mountain, Lethal force is authorized, the threat looks feral. Pearl, you're likely to make contact with the survivors there, do your best to make 'diplomatic' contact, but it's understandable if they attack defensively first, make sure you get out of their in one piece first, we can let the immortals handle contact after that if need be."[/color] [color=7bcdc8]"Understood Alpha"[/color][color=8dc73f]"Aye sir!"[/color][color=a36209]"Heheh, I'll crush em"[/color] [color=purple]"Amber, Ruby, and Myself will hold back the forest so it doesn't kill the other group, remember, hold it back, don't 'attack' it, understood?"[/color] [color=yellow]"Eeeheheheheheh! You bet boss man!"[/color][color=orange]"Of course sir."[/color] [color=purple]"Good, then Disperse! and send up the signal on the way down."[/color] With that the Either fliers in the air circled around eachother for few moments before soaring down and splitting off in groups, 'something' they did releasing a small ball of color into the sky that soon acted like a flare, creating a rainbow of light in the sky for a few moments as the grouped trailed made bee-lined for the various crash-sights. [hr] [@rangingwolf][@wanderingdragon] Any local who saw the boy's reaction to his pursuers would have likely laughed madly for a moment before running to get help, or trying to save him in a few bolder cases... Though it may have been a good thing he couldn't see them given the darkness, one can never tell how strangers will react to their first encounter with such creatures, and potentially freezing up in shock is the second worst possible move to make... The first is anything that 'angers' them, like the knife that was imbedded in one and called forth a furious howl instead of a dying whimper. Handy thing about crashes with such big things though, the ground night become roughed up and less stable, but it also tended to create some very useful clearings, and clearings meant better lighting... hence it became clear that it was something wolf-like chasing... 'dozens' of somethings actually, one of which had a familiar knife still sticking out of it's face. Numerous eyes glowed brightly in the night, better illuminating those strange wooden muzzles, and more seemed to keep joining them. Lucky for this poor bugger, he ran right into the midst of someone more equipped to fight a 'swarm', and when that biotic lance zipped past him it blew the wolf to pieces... 'killed' might be a bit assumptive though, not that it was too visible amidst the others that over-came the reassembling pieces. Of course, these creatures were no more prepared for an onslaught of ammunition or alien abilities than these aliens were for this planets countless intricacies, they crunched, fell apart, or scattered to pieces quite easily, though one might note basic ammunition was less effective than alternative means. Those that Elijah had unleashed his flamethrower on were the only deviation from the mad charge, reaction desperately to avoid it, but they went up like dry kindling when hit, being engulfed easily, yet released howls the likes of which belong in nightmares... Anyone present without a mask on might also notice an absolutely horrendous smell coming from them, worse than burning corpses in-fact. Alas, the understandable ignorance of this world on Elijah's part had seen him stumble into one of the gravest taboos, and the primary reason this forest still stood as it did... Never. EVER. burn anything bigger than a torch or a campfire in the forest, it had extremely low tolerance for damages caused... Thus, amidst the more relaxed reaction to a perceived ended conflict, the howls were answered by a cacophonous roar that shook the ground, a sound not unlike a million trees crashing and grinding together in the distance, something that could be 'felt' rattling one's bones as much as it could be heard splitting the air. It was undeniably heard for miles around... As was the rumbling that followed... For a moment the forest seemed still and silent aside from that rumble... Then the tree-line 'exploded' with activity, it was quite literally the roots of trees surging with growth that progressed rapidly towards the ship, soon coupled with vines lashing out and snatching back the pieces of the destroyed wolves amidst the arrival of more of them... And yet it was likely that none of that quite compared to the tree-line more 'literally' exploding, trees both whole and in pieces launched into the air like a giant shot-gun as a single far more massive iteration of those creatures, easily a dozen meters tall, Barreled towards the ship and the fighters outside of it with speed far exaggerated for a creature with such size. [hider=image] [img]https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/8/26/411055__safe_artist-colon-huussii_applejack_spike_badass_beautiful_dragon_earth+pony_epic_female_glowing+eyes_hat_king+timber+wolf_male_mare_pony_scene.png[/img] [/hider] As luck would have it, the surprise blitz was deterred, if only slightly, by a sudden flurry of lightning bolts spraying the general vicinity of the giant Timberwolf, each strike punctuated by a thunder-clap that sent the smaller ones stumbling around and scattered them, though none of it did more than slow them down... interestingly, while it had blown some chunks free, it had produced no fires as one might expect... what was more handy was the streak of lightning that defied logic as it danced through the air on it's way down to the target and impacted it's big woody head with enough force to make it stumble off course. If someone had a particularly sharp eye they might the shape of some'thing' in the impact point on it's head before that same thing launched right back off into the sky with the sound of maddened cackling, successfully diverting it's attention, if only for the moment before it returned to it judged the threat negligible and returned to it's charge.