Alfhedil

Heroes Reborn: Year Six (OPEN)

I'll get Velocity updated for Year Six over the weekend.

Fallout: Into the Storm

Khaliya, The Swordwind

December 3rd, 2286
New York City Metro - Blue Line

Enclave. The symbol and its meaning was not lost on either Khaliya or Jeremiah, each reacting in their own way. For her part, she treated it with surprising indifference. Simply taking down the information and processing it, ensuring that when and if the group met the creature again they would know exactly how to take it down. If it had been, or still was, Enclave in the past then that meant that in addition to having advanced and capable power armor, it was innately skilled in the use of it. "Understood Emil, if we see it again, then we'll kill it." All business, no fuss. Even with the helmet it was clear that she was paying no more heed to the matter than necessary, and was already moving on towards the next objective. Her husband was not quite as detached from former grudges however, and even as her thoughts turned towards speaking to him, he spoke out to the group.

"No, we kill it now." Bold words and spoken with righteous fury, the kind that was not unusual to those who served during the Brotherhood-Enclave war. Yet for all of his reasons, this was not the time or the place, and with just a glance around the group her concern grew. If he maintained this stance, then the already palpable tension between the two of them and the others would reach a breaking point. When that happened, it wouldn't matter if they had the power armor, the skills or weapons. Both of them would meet an end right here and now, and there would be nothing they could do about it except take as many of them with them as they could.

While she wasn't entirely sure about Jeremiah, she was determined not to meet that end just yet, as she still had a mission to complete. "Don't be foolish. If we go down that tunnel, we would just be feeding ourselves to it one by one. These two barely made it back, and they're not in power armor." A metal-shod finger pointed to both Emil and Devon, making not just Jeremiah but the rest of them keenly aware of the difference in size between the hazmat suits and the armor. "It isn't giving chase for now, and it might not at all. Even if killing it was on the table right now, our best and only chance at doing so would be to lure it here into the tunnel where all of our guns and armor are."

A nod here and there came in affirmation, though she was sure that it was more so for the prospect of not feeding the group single-file through a cramped and crushed subway train. It wasn't tactically sound, even to the most novice of them, and it put them in a dangerously weak position. Either her or Jeremiah would have to lead the way, likely by forcing a path through and if they got stuck… It was simply too much risk, but he wasn't having any of it.

"I'll be damned if we just sit by and let something like that live." And for just that brief moment, she felt herself slip just a little. Rare did she feel the red come over her senses, only ever in the most intense moments of battle, or when someone pushed her just that bit too far. Never before had she been that way with Jeremiah, but he had let his ego and desire for vengeance get the better of him. No matter that it had been years since Sarah, or that their war with the Enclave was long over. For many of their people, it wasn't over as long as there was a single one of them left.

"Paladin Bertrand, private channel. Now." Silence dominated the open channel for that long moment, both Brotherhood paladins staring across the station at each other. Khaliya from her vantage point on the platform itself, facing the group and her husband. Jeremiah from the tracks just a few strides from Emil, Devon and the open end of the carriage buried in rubble. Neither moved for the duration of their conversation, and their helmets conveyed little in the way of expression. Yet for all of that, it very much looked like things were coming to a head and in a hurry.

"Jeremiah, stand down right now." She hissed the words through clenched teeth and barely constrained irritation, feeling every bit as if the mission was on the line. If he committed to this choice, then it very much could be, and she couldn't let him continue with it.

"You know we can't just let it get away! How many more could there be? What if the Enclave is waiting right around the corner for us, ready to take down the group one by one as we leave the station?" Always so sure of the threat, he couldn't see that their enemy was gone, that it was no longer an enemy at all. Part of her wanted to yell at him over the channel, to shout him down into submission and get things back in order, but instead she took a deep breath and calmed herself. If she came at him with emotion, then he would do the same and… As much as she wanted to believe she would win that, she knew by now that it wouldn't quite go the way she wanted.

"We are in the most dangerous place on the East Coast, and perhaps in the whole damn wasteland, Jeremiah. In here, we need to work together and carefully consider every threat we take on." It was exactly what she had said to him that night when he agreed to come with her. He had his doubts about the Necropolis and the potential within, as the Brotherhood had sent patrols in every so often and none ever returned with anything substantial. Though it wasn't that which had given him those doubts, but that he had not actually spoken with the Pariah or seen them for himself. Taking on a mission from an outsider, especially one that he didn't know, that was what made him wary.

"I am aware of that, Khaliya. We still nee-"

"No. Remember what I said. No Brotherhood, no Enclave, there is only the mission. The people in this group are here because they have a specific purpose to fulfill, a specific skill. I asked you to come along because I trust you, and I need you to have my back. You said once before that you would do anything for me, is that right?"

Silence over the channel, his posture shifted just a little bit. Shoulders dropping a fraction, her words had the intended effect, and she hated herself for it. Using people had never been something she liked to do, even if it was for the good of the mission or for their own benefit, but while she could stand it when dealing with strangers… Having to do this hurt. Luckily for both of them, he couldn't see her face and the way it twisted with anguish over putting him through this.

"It's always been like that…"

"Then stop this. What you're doing, it's not in the interest of the mission, it's to satisfy the vendetta you and the rest of our order has against the Enclave. If you go down that tunnel, you would be dying for a grudge. A grudge that has long since been met with blood and to continue down that road only courts more. I need you to be able to look past that, to come with us and ensure this group gets where it needs to go." She paused, biting at her lip as she carefully considered the next words. There needed to be more resolve than feeling if she was to see this mission through, and though he wouldn't like it and she would hate herself for it, she had to ensure his own loyalty.

"You swore your life to me, just as I swore mine to you. I need to know, are you still willing to die for me if that is what it takes?"

It was just shocking enough to work, to get him focused back on the mission and moving away from the railcar. "Of course, Khaliya." With that, they both shifted back to the open channel, where she addressed the rest of them.

"Not ideal by far, but yes we have to go above ground. What was on the other side of the collapse will likely not be the worst the city has to offer, but so long as we play it safe and only engage when we have to…" Her gaze lingered on her husband for a moment, just to reinforce the point a little more. "We will reach our objective, and we will make it out of this city alive." There was no point to drawing things out longer than necessary, only that she saw Servius turn over a spare weapon to Devon, and that the rest of them were ready to move.

Her steps cracked the tile of the platform as she made her way towards the stairs, flickering lights illuminating the towering form of her armor and casting a long shadow back into the tunnel.

Fallout: Into the Storm

@ONL That's a lot of boom, go ahead and slide him over into the character tab. You'll be taking up the role of one of the two Talon Company mercs under Prism.

Fallout: Into the Storm

Khaliya, The Swordwind

December 3rd, 2286
New York City Metro - Blue Line
Interacting with - @Dread@Searat@AnneLynch

The railcar shook in their hurry to distance themselves from the creature on the other side of the collapse, dust falling from the ceiling and coating the floor as they passed. It stood there watching, eyeless sockets focused on Emil before he was taken around the bend by Devon and both were lost to "sight". That was the last either of them saw of it, and the moment they fell from the carriage and onto the ground Khaliya had her sword out and at the ready. Jeremiah followed suit as well, both paladins had their weapons ready before the danger was even mentioned.

"Firing positions!" The command came clear and concise over the shared channel, Khaliya at the front of the group and ready for a first contact that never came. A long moment passed, silence dominating the tunnel as all they heard was the subtle creak and groan of the concrete above them and their own breathing. She stood guard for as long as she felt the danger still possible, until finally she stood down, though her sword was still in her grip. There was no doubt in her mind that the two of them had encountered something on the other side, and part of her felt foolish for even suggesting the venture in the first place.

For now though, they had but one direction to move in, and they needed to do so in a hurry. Devon and Emil were shaken up, but the group couldn't afford to rest. "You." A power-armored finger pointed at Emil, his account most concise in the brief interlude after their exit from the subway train. "Now that it's not after you two anymore, we'll need a more concise description of it. Any distinguishing features of the armor or creature that could be relevant in case we have to face it later?" She was all business now, her mind working to get things in order and help the group focus. If they dwelled too long on the mere fear of their first encounter, then the expedition was doomed from the start. What they needed was not to be afraid of it, but to determine how to kill it.

Her attention was swiftly turned to Devon next, seeing her state mirroring Emil's and proving without a doubt that despite a couple murmurs from others, that the threat was very real. "Medics, check for tears and possible exposure. Evaluate their condition and let's be ready to get the hell out of here as fast as possible. I don't think any of us wants to linger here and find out if whatever they found is interested in following." A slight pause, her gaze wandering over Devon's suit and finding a distinct lack of gun. "And someone please give her a gun or something."

Age of Glory - a Pseudo-Earth, 1800s NRP

I did the thing, hope I got everyone's colors and areas correct, was a little hard to see some things. If not, this version doesn't have the text overtop of things, so should be easy enough to correct.

Age of Glory - a Pseudo-Earth, 1800s NRP

Principality of Kzechverin claim

That's what I'm looking at for the moment.

Age of Glory - a Pseudo-Earth, 1800s NRP

Working on my pseudo-PLC nation, going to have my claim up here shortly. Basically expect a fairly large and populous nation with extensive natural resources, but with an elective monarchy controlled by the nobility and a military so backwards and under-funded that the rest of the world has already lapped them twice.

Fallout: Into the Storm

Khaliya, The Swordwind

December 3rd, 2286
New York City Metro - Blue Line
Interacting with - @Dread@darkwolf687

As two of their number ventured into the collapsed tunnel, Khaliya was left with a moment of stillness and a group who seemed once more on the verge themselves. Idleness allowed the demons inside to explore, and while their walk was not quite as eventful as expected or fruitful as most would have desired, it provided a distraction. Now one was shouting at ghosts from a tear in her suit, and others were shifting back to the barely constrained hostility towards one another. Thankfully the suddenly quite talkative westerner spoke up, asking questions about the objective. From the way he spoke, the subtle inflections of a life far from here and the armor he wore that she spotted on entering the subway, it was clear at least to her that he was from some place far to the west.

"The USSR was our rival before the war, yes, but not quite an enemy." She spoke out at last, turning to press her back against the metal of the railcar. At least this could distract the group a little more while they waited, but she kept a keen ear on the radio at all times in case they ran into trouble. "There's evidence of some loose cooperation between our countries, and that the USSR was closer to us than the Chinese. We could have found them a mutual enemy, and in light of that, it wouldn't be quite out of the question for the Russians to have stored away essential documents at the Consulate in case Moscow fell."

To the side Jeremiah was staring at her, his posture questioning as what she spoke of wasn't quite common knowledge even in the Brotherhood. It was information kept within the deeper archives, history that the scribes tended to carefully. She could only smirk behind her helmet as she wondered just what he was thinking, expecting more questions once they found a place to camp for the night. It didn't matter much though, not to her and not right now.

"There have been some vague mentions of an agreement like that, and points to a secured bunker beneath the Consulate to store classified information from both nations. Obviously we can't know for sure what is down there until we get there, but considering the untouched nature of the city it's likely we'll find at least something of value."

Hopefully that would satisfy his curiosity for now and give the rest of them something to think about. Her gaze passed over Monika for a moment, watching her recover and weighing her options carefully. The radiation level here was tolerable, but she wasn't sure if it would be worth the risk to have one of their medics examine her. Especially if their scouts came out of the tunnel in a hurry. Instead, she took the middle ground and gestured towards the smaller girl.

"Give her a glance over real quick. If it's urgent, we'll take up firing positions, otherwise we'll have to wait until first camp to treat any wounds or radiation poisoning."

---

@Searat@AnneLynch

With every step the local radiation levels increased, already in the red by the time the pair reached the central point of the tunnel and where the first carriage connected to the second. Here it had begun to twist, the violent derailing it suffered so long ago having flipped the entire train on its side. The weight of the tunnel above had also come down harder here, as the sides were not quite as resilient to that kind of pressure. What was presented to them was a crawlspace of crumpled metal and on the other side a darkened carriage.

Inside it was empty, completely devoid of bodies unlike the prior one, vague streaks across the floor to imply there had once been people there. They led in one singular direction, the only one available. By now their geiger counters had stopped functioning, past the maximum reading of a thousand rads. Despite the suits they would both feel a growing heat inside the subway car. Most of it was from the intensity of the radioactive field they were scouting, but something else was clearly at work the deeper they went. That much became clearer when the opening of the carriage was illuminated by a flashlight and the subtle blue glow beyond waxed just slightly.

A glint of something in the beyond caught the light here and there, throwing shadows across the tunnel and drawing their attention to the central rail. Still there was no sign of the bodies except the direction they had been taken, more and more debris formed along the sides of a narrow pathway until it simply spilled out onto the ground at the end of the carriage. Skulls and bones lay scattered across the dirt and stone, snapped and hollow as if drained of the marrow. Some even looked somewhat fresh, and it was on that revelation that a sickening crunch was heard from just in front of the pair.

Light played across a towering figure of hardened black angles, gore dripping from razored edges and pooling at its feet. Now as if realizing the danger before them, the wheeze of long-neglected pistons and gears carried around them. It was clad head to foot in a grotesque parody of power armor, ropes of sinew binding the various original pieces to the shattered frame. From the back, nothing seemed untouched by violence in some way or another. Bullet holes riddled the torso and thighs of the armor, many straight through from high-caliber penetrations that scattered light on the tunnel walls across from them. Scorch marks from flamers and laser impacts showed where at various points someone had tried to torch it or hit the weak joints, some of them obscured by crudely bolted on plates of steel, iron or even bone.

Yet it was the helmet that drew the most attention as the creature was occupied by its feeding, the swept-back structure of it marred by more battle-damage, including one lense blown out from what clearly looked like a plasma impact. To the average wastelander it might have been just another variant piece, perhaps one rarer than the others, but those few in the know would have recognized it immediately. For Devon and Emil however, they would get their revelation as the creature suddenly stopped moving. With a painfully slow turn of its upper body, it turned to regard the two onlookers, the remains of a ghoul in a metal-shod fist with fresh bite marks along the broken bone jutting from the corpse. Regardless of the display of cannibalism before them, everything about the creature screamed out that it should not be, that it should have died long before now. The damage the armor displayed from behind was nothing to what greeted them as it dropped its meal and regarded them fully.

More ramshackle repairs had been done to patch various holes in the chest and shoulder, glowing necrotic ooze leaking from obviously fresh bullet holes, and a still smoldering plasma-burn at the collar. Both gauntlets had the fingers sharpened to a point, the jagged edges showing where it had held them against a grinder and cut them with a torch. A section of its chest was completely missing, glowing blue ribs wet and twitching from the steady rhythm of its breath and now carrying a stench over to the scouts. It overpowered the filters in their hazmat suits, a smell of death rich and pungent, far worse than even the feral ghoul reavers. The creature crunched down on the fragments of bone remaining in its mouth, teeth of broken steel catching the light and dripping with gore. Staring back at them, thick staples held what was left of its face onto its skull, as if at one point it had been carved off and it tried to put it back on. Many hung loosely around the jaw and chin, the simple act of trying to feed itself tearing them loose and showing the necrotized muscle beneath.

Neither eye remained, only hollow sockets that tracked their every movement as if it could still see them, and it confirmed that as it slowly stood to full height, revealing that it had been mostly hunched over. Now towering in the tunnel, a single patch of pristine black paint caught the light. It was the one singular place that seemed untouched by the depravity and horror of the occupant, a brilliant white "E" surrounded by stars on the left shoulder. Then it spoke. Mouth cracking open for a use that was clearly unfamiliar to the abomination, its voice was akin to the first breath of an opened sarcophagus.

"You're not supposed to be here."

Age of Glory

Personally not entirely sold on any of the maps except maybe that second one.

Fallout: Into the Storm

@darkwolf687 You're good to shift Servius over to the Characters tab.