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+--- Thread: [2-8] The Campground (/showthread.php?tid=4243)
[2-8] The Campground - Karl Jak - 06-22-2016
Separated from the others, the hungover prime and the man responsible for his condition wandered deeper into the forest. They'd moved silently for the last half an hour, but with the landscape around them unchanged, both were starting to feel a little concerned.
"Wonder where we are?" Barry muttered as he tried to see through the fog.
"We're not lost," Hiro shot back as they manhandled their way through a series of rough bushes. When they emerged on the other side, both men found themselves greeted by just a little bit more sunshine.
Unfortunately, they also found themselves staring at what seemed to be a small tribal village nestled into the jungle. About six encampments comprised the settlement before them. All the building were made from wood and had thatched roofs and walls. The backwater architecture wasn't what concerned the pair of men. Instead, they found themselves drawn to the variety of village decor made from butchered animals.
Sensing Barry's anxiety, Hiro cracked a smile. "It's all good... it's not like they're..."
Before the hacker could finish his remark, both men heard screams as a group of mostly naked people dragged someone in Syntech clothes out from the trees at the other end of the village. The man, dressed like a waiter, continued to wail at the top of his lungs even as the collection of men and women started to tear of pieces of his flesh and eat him alive.
"Fuck me." Hiro mumbled as the two watched the tribe of cannibals feast on the Syntech employee.
"Poor Ralph," Barry whispered. "Never knew anyone who could carry so many platters all at once..."
RE: [2] Hiro Protagonist - Hiro Protagonist - 06-22-2016
The grisly sight of limbs being ripped right off the man's torso made Hiro's stomach turn. From across the village, he could see weakening jets of blood spurt from rent and ripped skin as the crazed villagers devoured poor Ralph. Dry swallowing, he held up a hand to his goggles and flicked on several settings, recording being the first. Ralph's final moments would be backed up to a hard drive, the very least that could be done.
Barry was scared, obviously. He moved closer to the samurai as Hiro crouched low and took a deep breath, whispering instructions. "Alright...that was fucked up. We gotta be careful here....I have no doubt I could take most of them, but there's a lot of people and I would really rather not have you dragged off for the second course as well. So stick close to me....and take this."
The hacker drew one of his tanto, the short blade making a quiet hiss as he pulled it from it's sheath and handed it to the bartender. Barry looked at the blade with a skeptical eye, then back to Hiro. Rolling his eyes, the crouching bladesman whispered in an annoyed tone of voice. "Just make like you're chopping onions if they get near you, alright?"
Slowly, quietly, they crept forward through the underbrush, making soft shushing noises as they passed through the plant life onto the packed dirt of the village. Sticking close to the huts on the outer edge, they heard voices speaking and the natives spreading out once more, some retreating into huts, others sitting around fires. Barry flinched as he saw one chewing on what was unmistakably a human finger. "Can tah. Tak ah lah su no me?" A voice came from inside of the hut they were currently frozen against, halfway through the village of cannibals. "Ya so ka du. No ma sen teh lak." The reply sounded like it was walking out of the hut, and around the mud walls...right towards them.
"Shit! Shit shit shit!" Barry hissed between clenched teeth. Hiro didn't even bother to shush him, drawing his second tanto and holding it in a reverse grip as they waited for the villager to come around at them. And waited....he never came. Hiro let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, then almost pissed himself when he heard a voice yell behind them.
"SU LAH! SU LAH MA- AGHK!"
A visceral squelch punctured the native's words, and Hiro turned around to see Barry pulling his bloody tanto out of the man's throat, his wrists covered in fresh blood and shaking. Hiro straightened up and grabbed the freshly bloodied bartender by the shirt collar, pulling him away from the corpse and shoving him into the bushes at the outskirts of the village. "Go! Go about a hundred yards out....hide, and I'll find you. Keep quiet, I'll distract them!" Hiro then let out an ear piercing whistle and half jogged, half strutted right into the center of the village.
"RING DING DING, YOU CANNIBAL FUCKS! GUESS WHAT'S FOR DESSERT! COME ON OUT AND HELP YOURSELVES, RIGHT HERE!" He smashed his knife into arranged sticks, kicked over pots, and made a general racket. Soon enough he was surrounded by the murderous natives, still covered in poor Ralph's blood. They held axes made of black stone, short wooden spears, and obsidian knives, all bloody and sticky. The hacker felt a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach as they formed a closed circle around him, his throat dry and his head ringing.
Then, as his hand went to the hilt of his katana, he felt the cool cylindrical can on his belt holster. Ah, yes, his energy drink. Welp.....might as well be stylish before he got eaten. The natives slowly closed in on him, until he barked out a syllable, and cracked the can. "Oi!" The snapping hiss and fizz of carbonation was sudden, and the natives all jumped back a pace as one, watching him curiously as he raised the can to his lips and chugged the fizzy beverage, his hand outstretched with one finger pointed up in a "give me a minute" gesture. Delicious, coconutty refreshment surged into his stomach and quenched his throat before he drained the entire can and threw it on the ground at the feet of one of the burlier natives.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Hiro crouched into a power stance, muscles tenses and ready to unleash razor sharp hell. It was a tense moment, the assorted cannibals watching him with interest and amusement, realizing that this delicious specimen was possibly more of a threat than the unarmed waiter. the stalemate was broken as a short, bronzed man jumped out at Hiro and slashed towards him with one of the black knives, ululating in triumph. His cry quickly died down as the hacker-ronin parried the thrust easily, and with a quick motion of his tanto shattered the blade, driving his own steel into the man's chest. The man died almost immediately, and now the rest of the natives were yelling and stomping around. They were poised to attack as one and overwhelm Hiro with sheer numbers, eventually overcoming his swords and ripping his flesh from his b-
"TOH! TOH! SU NO AHM'NEE!"
The burly, spear wielding native had picked up Hiro's discarded energy drink, the plain white can with black block text easily visible against the misty backdrop of green. The hacker was perplexed for a moment as he looked at the can. Just black block lettering that said "Omnilium" and......and that fucking creepy smile. Omni's smile!
"AHM'NEE! AHM'NEE SO TAH LA MA SE!" The natives took up the chant, their focus pulled away from Hiro as they clustered around the empty soda can held high by one of their warriors...moving away from him and breaking the circle as they followed the bearer of the sacred smile towards a bigger building in the village. Maybe a temple. Hiro didn't waste this distraction, and using his impressive speed burst, dashed out of the crazy cannibal village in search of Barry. Then, as faaaar away from this spot as possible. Maybe Omni really was smiling on him and his erstwhile companion.
RE: [2] Hiro Protagonist - Hiro Protagonist - 06-24-2016
Hiro swept his gaze across the empty jungle, the blowing of wind through the tall tree leaves and the faint chanting of the natives dying as he left the cannibal village behind. God damnit, Barry, where are you? I didn't save your ass so you could get eaten by cannibals. The hacker though to himself as he tried to keep as low a profile as possible while searching for the Secondary who, in retrospect probably rather foolishly, he had shoved into the jungle to hide. So far, he'd seen nothing.
Then about twenty yards away, the samurai spotted one of the villagers coming out from behind a tree, stalking forward. Scouting, apparently. And in his grass sash....was Hiro's second tanto.
The hacker saw red. Rushing through the undergrowth, he was upon the cannibal before the man even had time to blink. He'd opened his mouth, either in shock or to call out, and a fountain of red gushed from his throat as Hiro struck him so severely that the edge of his katana chipped on the tribal's spine. Taking a deep breath and sheathing the bloody weapon to be flash reforged in it's sheath, the vengeful ronin bent down and retrieved the tanto from the corpse's sash. Bloody.
Fuck.
"Mmmfrflr! Mffrrmm!"
Hiro whipped around towards the source of the noise to see four more tribals, two of them carrying a long branch with a person tied to up, hanging upside down. A wave of relief came over the hacker as he recognized the bartender's outfit, and a bleeding wound on one of the cannibals carrying him. Barry was shaping up to be pretty feisty, which might make him a better ally further down the road.
The tribal villagers, some sort of hunting party apparently, dropped their quarry unceremoniously, and Barry hit the ground with an oomph. Hiro waved in the air at the hunters, a simple motion to anyone ignorant of it's purpose. On his hip, a green light clicked on and an alert flashed across the samurai's goggles. REPAIR CYCLE COMPLETE. Allowing himself a humorless smirk, Hiro gripped the hilt of his sword. "Four against one, huh? Much better odds than before."
Quote:F**k You And Your Little Village Too
Perception slowed down as Hiro ran forward across the forest floor, two of his opponents loosing arrows at him. Without stopping his pace, he drew the sword and sliced both projectiles in half, the shiny black tips skittering uselessly across the leather of his coat. Before they could notch and restring, the ronin was on them.
With his free hand, he drew a tanto and threw it at short range directly into one of the bowmen's eyes. The man went down screaming, the hilt embedded in his eye socket, bloody hands clutching at it fruitlessly, the last few firing neurons before his brain registered the gash in it. Hiro twisted his palm, the electromagnet in his glove activating and returning the blade to his hand just as another cannibal came at him swinging a stone ax.
Twisting around expertly, Hiro flashed backward to avoid the strike, then immediately forward once more. He barreled into the man shoulder first, causing him to stumble back, arms flailing. Without missing a beat the cyber samurai took another step forward and executed a double downward slash, nearly cutting the man's arms off. He followed up with a scissor cut at head height, and winced as blood sprayed over his goggles and hit his face. No time to get grossed out.
The other two combatants hadn't just been watching in amazement, as Hiro found out when a stone knife zinged by his head and took a nice chunk of his ear off. Whirling around furiously he swung his katana low. The last cannibal had crept up behind him and was ready for the blow leaping up with a triumphant shout and he jumped over the blade. This irked Hiro, so he just stabbed him in the chest with the tanto in his free hand, stepping over his body as he strode towards the now defenseless final hunter.
Bloody, ripped coat flapping in the mist, and with shiny, reflective lenses obscuring his eyes, the hacker barely had to open his mouth and say "Boo" before the final villager was tripping over himself to get away. Once Hiro was sure he had gone, and the moaning of dying men had ceased, he ran over to Barry and cut his bonds, helping him to his feet as they staggered as fast as they could in the opposite direction of the village. The bartender ripped a torn, dirty cloth from his mouth and spoke as they ran, ecstatic. "Dude! Hiro! That was nuts, man! I am -so- glad you're the guy who grabbed me, man. Some of those other Primes looked like they would have just left me!"
The hacker just grunted in response. "It's fine, Barry. You took care of me last night, well, I'll take care of you now. It's a fucked up situation you didn't as kto be in. You just work here."
Two men, once strangers, now gaining an appreciation for each other, staggered and hobbled as far as they could before collapsing in a small clearing surrounded by low rocks and stray branches. Hiro leaned against one of the more comfortable stones and went into his belt pouch. "Here...I've got some jerky I brought, and we could share this energy drink. I also....oh, hell yes." He pulled out his forgotten package of cigarettes and his lighter, offering one to Barry. "Want a cig? Sunshine Slims, if you've ever had 'em."
The syntech employee nodded, and took the proffered teal stick. "I don't usually smoke, but if there was a time to start..."
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Karl Jak - 06-25-2016
End of Round 2
Hiro and Barry continued their trek through the forest, but before they knew it, they had found a nice little hill. Although still a bit winded from all the smoking, the twosome made their way up to the top of the hill.
“Nice view,” Barry muttered as he spotted something half-buried in the ground. The bartended walked over and dropped into a crouch. Without much second-thought, he started to yank the object out of the dirt.
“You know,” Hiro remarked as he walked over to his companion. “That could be a landmine or something.”
The bartender smirked as he yanked the briefcase up out of the loose earth. “It’s the worst landmine I’ve ever seen.” He added as he tried to fiddle with the latches.
“It’s locked,” Hiro replied as he poked at the combination wheels on both sides of the case. “You know the code?”
Barry shrugged his shoulders and handed the case to Hiro, who looked it over for a few moments. The bartender squinted and glanced at the world down around them. From the hilltop, they could see for a couple of miles in each direction, but beyond that, the fog was just too dense for him to see discernable features.
“I think that’s the plane,” Barry stated, drawing Hiro’s focus from the case to a few plumes of smoke hovering in the air.
“And I think that’s something that makes no fucking sense.” Hiro’s focus was in the opposite direction, toward what seemed to be a lighthouse in the middle of the forest.
Quote:Updates
The case requires a combination. Attempts to force it open it will fail. Attempting to blow it up… will fail. #DantePhysics?
From this tall hilltop, you can spot both the wreckage of the Nose (you think) as well as what appears to be a mother fucking lighthouse or some shit. It’s your call.
Also, congratulations on ‘winning’ Round 2. The case represents your prize.
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Hiro Protagonist - 06-27-2016
The wind blew across the two companions on the hillside while they weighed their options. Hiro looked disdainfully as the smoking wreck of the Nose before turning to Barry, quipping. "Y'know, last time we were down there I think the Lord of the Flies was taking command. It'd be a waste of time to head back now. Besides, there's still those missing people we gotta find, and I dou-"
Barry cut him off with a sheepish grin. "Actually, this isn't that island, Hiro. We still had about an hour or so of flight before that one." He raised the dirty briefcase. "I wonder what's inside here?"
Hiro just stared at him, the glassy reflection of his goggles hiding his eyes until he pushed them onto his forehead and stared at the Secondary. Bloodshot, half closed orbs circled in his sockets. The hacker was tired. Very tired. "So....you're telling me I took on a cannibal village on the wrong goddamn island?"
The bartender shrugged his shoulders. "Seems like it." Hiro immediately turned away from the Nose and started stomping down the hill towards the distant lighthouse. Barry followed close behind, carrying the suitcase. "Okay. The plane is a lost cause. That lighthouse looks pretty defensible, and there might be food, water, and some where safe to spend the night, because I don't know about you but I would really like a goddamn nap."
The secondary nodded in agreement. "Plus, we might be able to turn the light on and signal some help. There might be a radio or something. Mr. Jak -did- build this island, maybe he left some emergency supplies."
They walked through the jungle for about forty minutes, both of their throats dry and their stomachs rumbling. Barry had found a bush of bright purple and blue berries about ten minutes into their walk, but Hiro slapped them out of his hand at the last minute. His goggles had identified the bush as causing extreme diarrhea and muscle cramps. That was the last thing they needed right now. But then again, if they shit themselves, maybe the cannibals wouldn't eat them.
Finally, they broke through the tree and arrived at the massive white base of the monolithic lighthouse. One old wooden door, faded and pitted from years of use, was set in the smooth white stone. Hiro and Barry stood there, taking the enormity of the building in, before the hacker tried the knob.
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Hiro Protagonist - 06-28-2016
The sight that greeted them beyond the door was horrible. Almost unbearable, after everything they'd been through, and yet, Hiro wondered why he hadn't expected it. Barry shuddered in revulsion as well, but the hacker-ronin steeled himself and strode forward to meet this new challenge.
"Oh..gasp....fucking.....gasp...pant....god fucking damnit."
"Stop...huff....whining...you big...gasp...baby..."
Omni knows how long the spiral stone staircase had been, but they finally reached the top of it. Well, more like collapsed into the landing, half splayed on top of each other. Lungs burning and muscles quivering with exhaustion, they slowly rolled away from each other and lay there recovering for about five minute. Finally, the hacker spoke. "There better be some goddamn water up here....because if not you're lugging my dead ass back down those stairs, Barry."
The bartender weakly raised a hand and flipped Hiro off. "N-nah...I'll give you a shove, let momentum do the rest." He struggled to his feet, followed by the samurai. "Now let's see what we got here."
The top of the lighthouse was surprisingly furnished, almost like a small apartment. There was a bed, bookshelf, and nightside table tucked away in one corner, the mattress neatly made up with pillows and a blanket. Across the room was what looked like a larder, with barrels and crates and some heavy sacks labeled "Grain". The front was open, or so it seemed. Upon closer inspection it was covered with thin panes of glass, ostensibly to let the light from the tremendous lamp shine through.
Hiro peered inside the large, reflective dome and shook his head. The bulb was smashed and the wiring was pitted and rusted. He might have been able to fix it if could summon things, but this was museum era tech. He was a whiz with circuits and data, but rewiring a turn of the century lightbulb was beyond him. "Hey, Barry-"
The hacker turned around to hear a loud crunching noise, and was subsequently hit with something in the chest. It thunked off his torso and he caught it in one gloved palm. An apple. The Syntech bartender wiped his mouth and waved, sucking down a plastic bottle. "There's water too. Whoever was here left without their supplies. Maybe they got rescued?"
Hiro walked over to the larder and began to help himself, drinking two full bottles of slightly brackish water before eating the apple in two bites. There was also some less palatable hardtack, but they ate that too, washed down with a couple sips of that liquor Hiro had rescued from the plane.
Both travelers now full and content, if not happy, were at least optimistic now. Barry was perusing the bookshelf and nighttable, and held up some old looking papers. "The lighthouse keeper was studying stars. Look, here's some constellations! That's weird, though..." He walked over to the glass window in front, peering through an old and battered telescope in the corner. "You can't see anything in this fog."
Hiro waved him off. "Let's unwrap that mystery tomorrow. It's getting dark, and those stairs were a bitch." He got up from his perch and went back over to their slightly depleted food stores, grunting and shoving a barrel over to the staircase. Doing the same with another couple crates, there was soon a rudimentary barricade at the top of the stairs.
Hiro took off his sword, dual tanto, and goggles, leaning them on the side table. Barry, still musing over the star charts, looked behind him at the ragged hacker. "I'll stay up for a bit, I wanna see something. You hit the hay, Hiro."
The hacker needed no more encouragement, and was about to fall onto the mattress, before thinking better of it. He looked around for something else and spied the sacks of grain. Rearranging them into a more comfortable shape, he reclined in his makeshift beanbag and was soon out cold.
The bartender looked back at his traveling companion and sighed. "I really hope he doesn't snore."
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Karl Jak - 06-29-2016
Round 4
The two men slept silently in the rotten lighthouse. It wasn’t until the storm began that Barry found himself unable to sleep. With a groan, the bartender sat up from the floor and blinked a few times as he saw a few sparse bolts of lightning crash down against the island in the distance. As he sat there, he realized this was the first time he’d actually seen lightning so close.
Thump!
Although the rain provided a loud and jarring amount of background noise, Barry clearly heard the heavy sound of something wet smacking against the floor down below.
“Hiro, you up?” When the bartender received a grunt from his companion, he shrugged his shoulders and made for the entrance to the stairwell. Since the lighthouse was leaky, there was some water, so Barry had to step cautiously as he made his way down a few of the aged stone steps. Fortunately, he only had to descend about twenty of them before the wet thumps drew close enough that he could see someone ascending the stairs beneath him.
Draped in a black cloak, the figure moved with slow, almost labored steps up the stairwell. While its features were concealed, Barry didn’t like what he was looking at, but as he tried to calmly make his way up to the top of the lighthouse, he nearly lost his footing. After recovering, he discarded all pretenses of stealth and went scampering back to the top of the lighthouse where he discovered Hiro still deep in sleep.
“Hiro, wake the fu—”
Barry’s words were cut off by a thunderous boom, and he spun to see the cloaked figure standing right behind him. On the ground before the figure was a large wooden chest, but before the bartender could ask the obvious question, the individual lifted a perfect finger up to the blackness beneath its hood.
“What the hell are you up to, man?” Hiro’s voice caused Barry to turn to look at his groggy associate, but when the bartender turned back to the stairs, there was no sign of the cloaked figure. Only the wooden chest remained.
[spoiler]
PM should be sent to you by 11 AM CST. Otherwise please skype me.[/spoiler]
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Hiro Protagonist - 07-02-2016
Tossing and turning on his comfortably makeshift bed, Hiro barely heard Barry creep downstairs. He'd drifted back to sleep and was just about to reenter a wonderful dream when the bartender came charging up the stairs. "Hiro! Hiro!"
-THUMP-
At that, the samurai sat bolt upright, frantically looking around in the darkness and scrabbling for his goggles. He grabbed them off the nightside tabld, staggering to his feet, and strapped them to his face. The darkness was banished by a friendly green tint, which allowed Hiro to see Barry standing by a large, dark box. Also, he could see he'd put his goggles on upside down.
"There was someone here just now. Something wet and huge. It....it came up the stairs, and dropped this...thing...here." Barry wiped nervous sweat off his brow and started pacing, visibly shaken. "I say we get oit of here, man. Load up on provisions, and try and find somewhere else to make outside contact."
The hacker replaced his goggles the right side up, and taking a minute to get his bearings, activated a full spectrum scan on the box. It turned out to be a chest, heavily waterlogged, barnacles growing on the sides. Deterioration patterns placed it at a least a hundred years old, and the best part: it was unlocked.
Hiro knelt down, fingers wedging into the slightly ajar lid, algae staining the tips of his gloves. Barry muttered and puttered off across the room, stuffing a few of the star charts and some provisions into his pockets while his companion investigated the mystery box.
The creaky, dripping wood lifted easily and peering into the chest with nightvision enhanced sight, the hacker made out two separate things inside. Two more boxes, each with a small tile fresco on the top of them, rested on the floor of the chest. Each box had a keyhole as well, which was odd. One lone brass key also lay in the chest.
Picking the key up and staring at the frecoes in puzzlement, he chanced a glance back at Barry, then at the box on the left. "No....no, that doesn't seem like a good thing."
He stuck the key in the box on the right and turned it.
-snap-
"Goddamnit."
Barry just looked back in the hacker's direction and snorted. "I can't believe you're messing with that. Just leave it, and let's go." Hiro pulled the second box out and opened it to reveal.....nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Tossing the empty box back into the chest with a frustrated sigh, the disappointed swordsman stalked over to his compatriot to fill his own belt pouches with provisions. "Yeah...you're right. Let's just, koff, get....get a...hhuurgh...hack....ahhh-hkk!"
Hiro started coughing, thick and wet, doubling over as his ribs ached fron the force of the expulsions. His head swimming, he could see Barry similarly incapacitated. A salty, iron taste hit his tongue, and the phlegm that came out of their mouths was much looser and darker than ordinary mucus. They were coughing up blood.
Unable to do much to help themselves, the two expelled gobs of thick crimson on the floor. Just as suddenly as the coughing fit had come on, it stopped. Both the Prime and the secondary exchanged glances, Barry's a bit more accusatory. Hiro wiped blood from his lips, his head spinning, and reached for a bottle of water with a shaky palm, twisting the lid off and sipping slowly. His throat still hurt from the bloody coughing, and he passed the bottle over to Barry, breathing slow before he spoke.
"Okay...hhuhk....okay. You were right. Fuck this place."
The two gathered as much food and water as they could and set off down the spiral stairs, leaving thick splatters of blood and an uneasy feeling that something horrible had happened behind.
Quote:Something has Happened....
Hiro has taken 2 Points of Damage.
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Karl Jak - 07-03-2016
End of Round 4
At the moment that Hiro's blood spattered across the floor of the lighthouse, every other prime or secondary on the island felt a similar fit of pain in their gut that made them pitch over and spew up few globs of their blood. Those that were less organically inclined were felt twisting fits of pain inside their bodies, as if someone was trying to rip out their insides.
As soon as the pain began, it subsided.
Hiro was halfway down the steps when he heard static from one of his pockets. Reaching in, he pulled out his communicator and realized that the device was working, and more than that, someone was trying to talk to him.
"Hir... hiro..."
"Hello?" The hacker asked as he patted the device in his hand to try and get a better signal. The line, unfortunately, went dead, but the device continued to operate normally.
Quote:Everyone on the Island takes 2 points of Damage.
Communicators now function but with a range that covers just the island.
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Hiro Protagonist - 07-05-2016
-click-
The removable Communicator module slid back into his wristcomp. He'd removed it when it was apparent communication was impossible, to save on battery life, but now it seemed that whatever he'd done had made it infinitely more valuable slotted in. Tweaking the wavelength, he tried to get the signal back as he and Barry pushed out the door of the lighthouse into the misty dawn. It was still very early, early enough that the sun hadn't risen high enough to cut through the eldritch fog surrounding their collective prison.
-kzzsshhh- -fzzzt-
C-connection established.
The hacker allowed himself a small smile and paused outside the lighthouse, watching Barry lug the briefcase outside. "Marcus, come in Marcus. This is Hiro. If you read this, I managed to reactivate communications, somehow. If you can see a lighthouse, head towards it, there's provisions inside." The message would go through and be saved as a voicemail if the robotic soldier didn't pick up.
After a few more minutes of rest, Barry looked at Hiro and asked, "So now what? I really think we should get out of here." The cyber samurai nodded in response and scanned the trees around them. His goggles had a simple compass mod in them, and they had approached from the south west. North it was, then. "Let's keep moving. It's odd that we haven't really run into any other survivors yet. Let's see if they've managed to make it off the- huh?"
"Hiro. Hiro, answer me."
The hacker frowned. A voice came over his commicator, right into his earbuds. An unfamiliar, female voice. "Hello? Yes, this is Hiro....how do you know my name?" He held up a palm to Barry as he fiddled with the reception, the signal coming in waves of static and sound. The mystery girl spoke again. "That's not important right now. You're at the lighthouse, right? You have to be."
Her tone wasn't sinister; she sounded tired, pleading, almost desperate. The kind of voice that would make any red blooded chivalrous man spring to it's assistance. Which was almost clairvoyant, since the next thing she did was ask for help. "Please....this island. It's horrible. I'm a few miles north of the lighthouse. If you can, please help me. I'll explain when you get here. I'm being -ksszz- for -ffszzzt-. They've started -bzzzzzt-."
The signal fizzled and died again, and this time Hiro wasn't able to get a communications lock. However, enough of it was still transmitting that the systems whiz was able to kludge together a rudimentary tracking filter fron several different programs in his wristcomp. "Barry," he called, sounding a bit roguish. "We have a new goal. Rescuing a damsel in distresss."
The bartender couldn't help but chuckle. "Man, you're really living up to your name today. But, uh, I got a question." The hacker looked back at him. "Could you carry this goddamn briefcase for a while?"
Hiro strode forward towards the direction of the signal. "Sure, I'll carry the briefcase, and you can have my swords, goggles and daggers. Here, take my jacket too. Then you can be the badass cannibal fighter while I run away and drink."
Barry punched him in the shoulder. "I did not run away, and besides, you drank plenty last night. Also, who's the one who unlocked a freaky box and made us vomit blood, huh?" They both laughed, and continued into the woods. Amazing what good natured bitching will do for an uneasy sense of dread.
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Hiro Protagonist - 07-07-2016
The two companions journeyed through the misty woods at a respectable pace. As creepy as the lighthouse had been, sleep, food, and water had done it's job and refreshed them. It was with renewed vigor Hiro led them through the thick trees and overgrowth, pulling out his tanto to chop through bushes and branches. He felt like whistling, but thought better of it. They were making enough noise already, and those cannibals probably had people all over the island.
Nothing bothered the samurai and the bartender for a long while, although Barry pointed along the side of the trail they were blazing at a leopard, snoozing in the trees up above. They took a moment to study the creature, Hiro especially intrigued. Wildlife was scarce back home, most of it having been driven to extinction by the establishment of so many independent territories. He made sure to save the footage in it's own separate bookmark for later perusal.
"Hiro....hiro, you're closer now. Please, hurry."
The female voice came through his earbuds again, much clearer. Urged onwards, he quickened his pace, Barry huffing and puffing behind him. Soon enough, he held up a hand as they came to the edge of a clearing. It looked old, grass and shoots starting to grow up through the cleared dirt. In the middle of the clearing was a small concrete shack, almost like a bunker.
Barry peered over Hiro's shoulder, watching the far side of the clearing and the surrounding treeline. "Looks like the coast is clear, buddy. Is she....is she in there?" The hacker nodded, the bartender's question answered by a whispered message in his earbuds. "I'm in here....please. Help me."
Keeping his sword low, he jogged across the clearing and up to the doorway of the shack. There was no door, but it had paneless windows carved in the walls, allowing natural light to illuminate the interior. Hiro stepped inside, confused at what lay before him, a tingling, pricking sensation on the back of his neck.
Inside was a rough, wooden table, made out of logs and branches. A matching chair was seated in front of it, pushed out like someone had just gotten up. And most perplexing of all, a laptop. Feeling very strange, the hacker sat down in the chair and put a hand up to his ear bud. "Hello? Where...where are you?"
Barry watched the hacker with a strange look on his face from the doorway, but kept glancing back outside in case someone started to creep up on them. "Open it, Hiro. Open it so we can talk." The voice came not from his goggles, but from the laptop itself. The hacker heard a high pitched ringing in his head, and a sudden thought crossed his mind. This is not the world you know.
Opening the laptop, he watched as the dark screen came to life, an image slowly brightening. He couldn't see too well in the glare from the sunlight, so he leaned closer and lifted up his goggles to get a better look. As soon as he did, the image brightened and the ringing in his head turned into a nasty, grinding roar. A snowfield of black and white static flickered across the laptop screen, like a television tuned to a dead channel.
"ASHERAH LIVES IN THE OMNIVERSE, DISCIPLE OF ENKI. SUBMIT."
The woman's voice came back again, thick and harsh, buzzing. Not from the computer. Not from his earbuds, either, he realized. From inside his head. He let out a frustrated yell and stabbed the laptop with his tanto, sparks and electrical dust flying from it as it died and the image disappeared. He stood up, panting, clutching his head with one hand. Looking up, he saw Barry staring at him, jaw open.
"Um. Hiro? You okay?" The hacker nodded slowly, bringing his hand down. He opened his mouth to reply, but Barry beat him to it. "Because I was wondering why you were staring and poking at it. Before you stabbed it, I mean." The bartender pointed at the desk. There was no laptop. Just a leaking coconut, with a knife embedded in the thick shell.
Hiro blinked, and slowly retrieved his knife from the fruit, rubbing his temples. This island was not his element. He was not a dashing crusader, or Robinson Crusoe. He was at home on asphalt, amid buildings and circuits. It was only by sheer luck he'd managed to make it as far as he did without getting seriously hurt. And it was starting to catch up to him.
He held out the knife to Barry and sighed, staring into the trees. "K-keep this for now, please....and maybe you should lead for a while." The bartender stared at Hiro, and took the knife after a long silence. He reached out a comforting hand and patted the addled hacker on the shoulder, maybe hesitating a fraction of a second too long. "Hey...listen. We'll....we'll get out of here soon, man. We just have to find somewhere to call for help."
For the first time since Hiro had rescued Barry Sanderson....there was fear in the Secondary's voice.
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Karl Jak - 07-08-2016
End of Round 5
Hiro and Barry exited the cabin, and while nothing of them brought it up, they both felt as if their surroundings were more than a little different.
Behind the shack, the clearing was large. They could spot several additional cabins out there in the mist, and if they squinted, they could see what seemed to be a large pier that stretched out onto a lake. The two men were clearly shaken up from recent events, so the display went without some sort of witty reflection. Instead, Barry took a few steps forward and put on half a smile.
“Kind of reminds me of this summer camp my parents used to send me to…”
Quote:As always, you may stay and search for clues or try your luck in the forest once more.
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Hiro Protagonist - 07-11-2016
For some reason, Barry's comparison gave Hiro a sense of unease. The only time he'd seen a place like this was in old horror movies. Nothing good ever came of a bunch of hormonal teenagers sleeping in the middle of the woods, be it murder, or even worse, pregnancy scares. He tilted his head up at the sky, then at the lengthening shadows creeping across the ground. It hadn't taken them that long to come this far north, had it? It was already getting dark, the mist becoming thicker and cloying, almost light purple in it's light obscuring qualities.
He motioned for Barry to come with him and started exploring the abandoned cabins. They swept each wooden building like a two man swat team; that is, quickly, scared, and rather overwhelmed. Their searches returned nothing in the cabins besides mattress-less bunk beds, empty nightables, moth eaten curtains, and in one anomalous cabin, empty condom packets, crushed beer cans, and a half full bottle of liquor. "Must have been the counselor's cabin." Barry mumbled, retreating out the door in front of Hiro. "Hey, this next building looks a little different than the others. Maybe it's the main building?"
The out of place samurai looked at the building, confirming its different structure. It was at least twice as big and wide, with etched, faded letters that read "CAMP CR------ L---". Huh. Hiro looked back at the misty horizon and debated their options. Night was starting to fall, and even though they had only woken up a few hours ago, he was feeling fatigued, worn out. Numb, even. His hangover was long gone, but had been replaced with frayed nerves and a jumpy paranoia. "It...it does look like it. But we should probably make camp here before moving on. I don't know where the day went. And I bet we can get some fish from the lake, or something. We should build a fire, too. That's the first thing we should do."
The two companions started gathering sticks, brush and branches to use as fuel for their fire. It wasn't hard, Barry gathering a large amount of kindling in the span of a few minutes and arranging them in a stacked pile in front of the main building. Hiro had the good fortune to discover a log rack behind one of the cabins, and they both took turns bringing the seasoned firewood back to their rudimentary firepit. Eventually, they'd piled enough around the kindling to build a respectable bonfire. The hacker pulled out the last bottle of alcohol he'd rescued from the plane and emptied it on the logs and kindling.
Pulling out his lack of cigarettes, Hiro lit one and offered another to Barry, who graciously accepted the cylinder and a light, before Hiro put the flame to the bonfire. It caught rapidly, bluish flames licking the dry bark of the logs before the entire pile lit up rapidly. The light level in the immediate area increased significantly, illuminating the "lawn" in front of the cabins and main building, extending to the beginning of the pier into the lake. The psychological boost from making such an impressive blaze soothed both Barry and Hiro's nerves a bit, enough to make the Prime take off his jacket and gloves for the first time since they'd crashed on the island. Sitting cross legged in front of the blaze, Hiro stared into the flickering flames, then past it at the silvery, mist covered lake and pier. That could wait for a bit while they recovered.
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Hiro Protagonist - 07-11-2016
"Nothing but a bunch of old papers. Activity lists, weekly menus, 'Camp Talent Show Singalong Lollapa-Loon-za.' " Barry closed the desk drawer and sighed. "Anything useful is long gone, probably along with the stuff that was in the rest of the cabins." The Syntech bartender looked around the dusty, disused office, Hiro's multipurpose goggles shining a bright white LED around the interior of the main building.
"Not entirely, Barry." The hacker responded, shaking the two long, thin sticks he'd found in a supply closet. Apparently one of the camp activities had been making your own fishing poles, and Barry had almost gotten hooked when he tripped over a half deflated t soccer ball while looking for a light switch. These two were perfectly serviceable, and with their large bonfire having produced a serviceable amount of red hot cooking coals, Hiro was hoping to pull something succulent and delicious out of the lake. Beef jerky and introspection only got you so far.
Eyeing the faded posters that gave the name of their current abode as "Camp Crested Loon", Hiro followed Barry back out into the still night. There were no suitable beds anywhere to be found, so the two had decided that a combination of restful loafing, occasional naps in shifts, and low effort activity would have to sustain them until they could continue onwards when it got light out again. Which led to Hiro standing on the shoreline, his fishing pole baited with a bit of dried apple that Barry had found a packet of.
The night wore on, Hiro casting, reeling, waiting, then casting again. The secondary alternated between napping close to Hiro, tending the fire, bumming cigarettes, and staring up at the sky, trying in vain to match the stars to the ones on the pages he'd taken from the lighthouse. Hiro finally gave up about an hour and a half into it, and not five minutes later Barry had walked back to the fire with the largest bass Hiro had ever seen.
Stomachs full of roasted fish and brackish water, the samurai and the server sat around their cheery, roaring bonfire. Waiting for the dark to lift, for what little sun there had been to cut through the clouds, filter through the mist, and ask those people still alive, 'Have you passed through this night?'
Quote:Out In The Treeline, No Sound, No Movement
RE: [2-] Hiro & Barry - Karl Jak - 07-12-2016
Everything seemed to be going okay.
The fish tasted great. The fire felt wonderful.
Although he should have known better, Hiro was a little startled when a couple of the old lights turned themselves on and bathed the area in a sickly yellow light. In the new sources of light, the two men looked around to see that the camp had aged nearly a century. Wooden buildings had been rotted through by years of rain- and insect-damage. The sign that bore the name of the camp had collapsed into a heap of fetid wormwood, and the metal posts that held up the lights were rusted and crooked like the spines of the elderly.
“Fuck.”
Somewhere, there was a crackling sound not unlike feedback from a sound system, but before Hiro could trace whatever speaker was trying to speak with them; one of the cabin doors was literally thrown off its hinges. Both men were on their feet and brandishing weapons, but their stances softened when they saw that it was a person-shaped figure stumbling out from the dark of the cabin.
“Hey, wait a second…” Barry furrowed his brow as someone very familiar to him stumbled out into the pale light by their campfire. “Mr. Jak?”
Although he was dressed in a vintage camp counselor’s uniform and coated in a blend of sweat, blood, wood fragments, and bruises, it was clearly the executive producer of Dante’s Abyss bent over in front of them with his hands on his knees. After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Karl lifted his face up and stared at the two men. Despite his mangled appearance, the executive put on one of his perfect little grins and tried to smooth his hair, which had lost its gel and become an unkempt (yet shockingly stylish) mop on his head.
“Hello, Mr. Sanderson…” Karl spoke, his voice still out of breath before turning to look at Hiro. “Mr. Protagonist. I’d like to recommend that we leave.”
Hiro glanced back at the shadow-covered cabin before turning a scowl to Karl. “What the fuck are you doing out here, and the fuck is that outfit?”
For a moment, there was a flash of confusion on the producer’s face as he glanced down at his short shorts and form-fitting t-shirt emblazed with a ‘Camp Crested Loon’ logo and a picture of a bird soaring over a mountain. “This isn’t…”
Chh chh chh … ahh ahh ahh…
The sound, which seemed to echo from the darkness all around the trio and their pool of pale light, caused Karl’s pupils to widen and his pulse to race. Stepping forward, he clasped a hand around Hiro’s wrist. “It’s too late, he found us.”
“How is your grip this strong?” Hiro asked as he wrenched his hand free and shoved the panicked man backwards. “Who are you talking about?”
CHH CHH CHH … AHH AHH AHH
“I’m sorry, Mr. Protagonist,” Karl spoke, his voice a frail whisper as a shadow befell the two men. “Good luck, my little ebony samurai,” The Syntech executive paused just long to blow a kiss toward Hiro before turning and fleeing into the darkness. For a moment, Hiro started after him—before he suddenly realized that Karl had been looking over his shoulder. The samurai swallowed deeply as he heard Barry let out a horribly scream.
Hiro turned just in time to have something warm smack him across the face, blinding him momentarily as a weight struck him in the chest. The man caught the mass with one hand as he stumbled back and tried to wipe his face clean. After clearing most of it away from his eyes, he opened them to see that his forearm was stained with blood.
Oh. Oh no.
Hiro’s eyes dropped down to the heavy weight that had smacked into him just after he had been blinded. His own blood ran cold as he realized what he was holding in his hand.
The severed head of Barry Sanderson.
With a yelp, Hiro stumbled backwards and dropped the head. He immediately felt like an awful person, but before he could dwell on that, he realized that something was still standing five feet away from him. Scanning across the ground, Hiro moved passed the twitching, headless corpse of his companion and saw a pair of water-logged leather boots. Those massively large pieces of footwear were connected to legs hidden behind stained, worn-out jeans. Patches of missing fabric revealed sickly, half-rotted flesh underneath.
Up from the jeans was a hugely broad chest draped in a rag-like white shirt and a heavy leather coat. The fists were clenched into the gloves of someone who worked as a gardener or a carpenter and held inside one of those too-large fists was an oversized machete stained red with Barry’s blood. Hiro swallowed once more as he looked up at the seven foot man’s visage. The bald figure’s face was concealed behind a vintage hockey mask that sported a few faded red triangles and what seemed to be a crack from an axe wound.
“…fuck.”
Quote:End of Round 6
Barry Sanderson is Dead.
Hiro may elect to Flee or Fight this mini-boss.
http://img04.deviantart.net/ef58/i/2015/164/3/6/jason_voorhees_by_disse86-d8x4axb.jpg
RE: [2-] The Campground - Hiro Protagonist - 07-12-2016
Blood seeped through his shirt and wet the wrist of his right hand as he beheld the gargantuan revenant standing before him. Barry lay dead on the ground in two pieces, Hiro's spare tanto still clutched in his palm.
No. God fucking damnit, no. He was going to save Barry. Get him out of the Danteverse, give him a job at The Black Sun. But now, no more. Secondaries didn't come back from death. Omni didn't deem them important enough. Barry was truly dead. But Hiro didn't have to fear death. Not with the Omnilium coursing through his form. Not with Omni expecting entertainment from him.
He glared at the sickly looking murderer before him, hate and vitriol metaphysically splattering across the view screen of his goggles. The man, or whatever it was, didn't seem to care. The black holes that served as the thing's eyes just looked back at the hacker, no emotion, no elation. Just blankness as it held the dripping machete that had ended Barry's life in an instant.
Hiro's boot shifted on the ground as he extended his hand towards Barry's body, the magnetized tanto zipping to his palm as he drew the other one, his hands loosely at his sides as he spoke. "You....you killed the only friend I made since I got here. For what? FOR WHAT?!" There was no reply. "You can try to kill me too....but I sure as hell ain't going to make it easy for you."
As soon as he finished speaking, or maybe even a second before, the waterlogged monster lunged forward with a vicious slice from his bloody machete. Hiro raised one of his tanto to parry the blow, but the sheer amount of power in the man's swing caught him off guard. He was forced to turn aside, dodging the follow through as the machete knocked his tanto out of his hand. Thank Omni for those magnets he'd installed.
Before it hit the ground, it was already snapping back into his glove. The hacker strafed around the zombie like killer, and drove the knife deep into his back, right over his heart. Easy ki-
-thwap-
The giant was unfazed, knocking Hiro backwards as easily as swatting a fly. The machete came whipping around to slice open the ronin's chest, except he had ducked a split second earlier, the rusty, gore covered blade taking off two of his dreadlocks.
Aother flex of his hand and he was dual wielding once more, focusing solely on the combat. No time for emotion, he had to be quick enough or Barry would fade unavenged. Slicing and stabbing, parrying and pirouetting, Hiro fought valiantly against the murderous monstrosity. Multiple deep slices flayed the monster's skin and clothes open, spraying black ichor, but to no avail. He just kept coming.
Hiro used his speed burst and flashed backward, panting, his knives raised in a defensive stance. Jason, because of course it was Jason, stared at him, before turning his impassionate gaze to Barry's body. The monster bent down and grabbed the headless corpse's wrist, lifting the cadaver limply. Hiro came barreling towards his opponent, screaming curses and threats, before realizing he'd been baited into a trap.
Almost immediately, the monster swung his weapon, dropping the body. Unable to overcome his own momentum, he crashed into the killer and felt a sharp, stinging cut, warm liquid flooding down his side along with a searing pain. Jason kicked him away and Hiro stumbled backwards, clutching his side. Almost as if to add insult to injury, the monster prodded Barry's body again, this time with his machete.
That was fucking it.
All the stress of the past few days came flooding over Hiro. Okor, the crash, the cannibals, the bloody vomit, the psychotic voice in his head, and finally, his friend's meaningless death. The view in his visor changed from it's usual blue to a bright, striking green, the words "OVERCLOCK ENGAGED" flashing across his field of view. Anger, hot and righteous, flooded over him, along with his vector shield. He hadn't consciously activated it, and it wasn't the usual bubble shape - It looked, and felt , like a suit of armor, extending a few inches from his body. Time slowed down. He could see Jason standing before him, his seven foot frame outlined in red, with faint white lines and marks dotting his frame.
The hacker ignored the pain in his side, and drew his glass katana with a noise like a digital nail file, the blade trailing green lines in the air. It was surrounded by the same outline covering his body. Gritting his teeth, the hacker-ronin pointed at Jason.
"You're fucking dead, you rotting pile of shit."
Quote: A Friend Avenged...Hopefully
Quote:Hiro has used Tier 1 Power-up: Ronin of the Metaverse (1 Spent, 1/2 SP Remaining. Activated for the beginning of the next round).
RE: [2-] The Campground - Hiro Protagonist - 07-15-2016
The first thing Hiro noticed as he dashed forward was a firefly, it's tiny little wings beating in slow motion as he whizzed by it. Everything was moving like it was coated in molasses, except himself. Whether it was the goggles' unknown "Overclock" function, or something that Hiro himself was creating didn't matter. He was fucking fast. In an instant, he was upon Jason's towering form, slicing with his katana at the monster's knee. Blowing by him, he felt the answering machete blow whiff right where he'd been a second before. He turned on a dime, and felt invincible, power flooding to his muscles and head.
His vision had painted Jason in faint white lines, laid over his joints and what looked like rotted bits of his flesh. Over and over he dashed by the murderer, performing split second hit and runs, showering the ground with black ichor. His adversary's mask belied no emotion, but Hiro got the distinct feeling Jason was pissed. It didn't matter though; Hiro was untouchable. Katana flashing like a god's razor, he sliced up Barry's killer methodically, removing strips of flesh and bits of mask.
However, for all Hiro's mastery of the blade, he didn't seem to be doing much damage. Jason was unfazed, still more than able to attack at Hiro's afterimage, his machete even catching the green vector armor a few times. Sheathing his katana, the cyber samurai drew his tanto and ran at top speed towards his opponent. With both blades flashing and stabbing, Jason swung wildly at the powered up hacker. Hiro's superior skill with his weapons held the monster at bay while he stabbed and harried over and over, turning the waterlogged zombie man's chest into a dripping black mess. Jason's machete arm was strong, though, monstrously strong, and he finally landed a blow that shattered a large chunk out of Hiro's fancy digital armor.
The hacker flash stepped backwards almost immediately, leaving green tracers in the air as he breathed hard and looked up, ready to launch a counterattack at.....nothing. Jason had disappeared instantly. That.....was weird. They had fought each other into the trees, and Hiro scanned the misty forest around him as he turned around warily. As fast and strong as he was, the glowing armor made him an obvious target. He tried to keep mobile, looking for the bleeding zombie. Just as he skidded past a tree, a rotted arm shot out and grabbed his throat, lifting him bodily into the air. Hiro kicked and struggled, feeling the armor around his throat crack and fizzle raw data. Jason stared impassively into Hiro's goggle and squeezed harder, pulling his machete back and thrusting it forward at his captured prey's midsection.
Wincing as his armor finally failed, he felt the tip of the dirty blade slice into his stomach. A shallow cut, but wide. Jason couldn't quite break through the entire layer of digital protection, and as he was trying to tug his weapon out and gut the hacker again, Hiro raised both tanto to Jason's elbow. With a mighty yell, he sliced both knives against each other in a scissoring motion, and severed Jason's arm at the elbow, falling to the ground. He immediately flash stepped backwards once more, out into the open clearing. Unsteadily, he rubbed at his throat and raised his blades, ready for round two.
RE: [2-] The Campground - Karl Jak - 07-16-2016
Face to Face
Hiro Protagonist vs Jason Voorhees
Hiro Protagonist vs Jason Voorhees
Hiro turned his attention to where the monster had stood.
Nothing.
“What?” The hacker muttered as he started to glance at his surroundings. After a split-second of stupidly scanning the area around him, he turned around and ducked as the machete sliced through the air over his head, claiming another of his dreadlocks in the process.
Although his armor was marred and his blood was oozing down his waist and legs, Hiro lashed out with a rapid succession of jabs and surgical strikes with the blades. Chunks of decomposing flesh flew from the huge bulk of the massive zombie as it mindlessly absorbed the samurai’s onslaught. Taking a step back, Hiro grunted as he thrust the tanto up through Jason’s chin, burying the blade up into the mute man’s mouth and skull. Hiro backed up, leaving his tanto wedged into his opponent’s skull as the behemoth wobbled back and forth before dropping to his knees with a wet thud.
“That’s for Barry, you motherfucker.”
Instead of falling face down onto the floor of the clearing, Jason lashed out with the machete. Quick reflexes allowed Hiro to sheer off the zombie’s fingers mid-swing, and the oversized knife spiraled from Jason’s grasp and sank into a nearby tree.
“Die!” Hiro bellowed as he jammed the other tanto through the hockey mask and right between Jason’s eyes. A gurgling rasp escaped the waterlogged zombie’s toothless maw as it drooped sideways to the ground, leaving a victorious Hiro to collapse backwards onto his haunches. With Jason gone, the samurai looked down at the wound that had nearly disemboweled him. He could feel the blood dripping down his legs and collecting in his boots. He pressed a hand against his slashed gut, but the pressure did little to staunch the flow of blood.
Need the medigel… or a surgeon. Or maybe a nice, busty nurse…
Clenching his teeth so he didn’t cry out in pain, Hiro pushed off the ground and made it to his feet. Although they shook like he was forty years older than he was, the samurai found his footing and tried to clear out the haze in his thoughts. He had to backtrack to the camp... perhaps there were medical supplies in one of the cabins. Before heading back, he would have to collect his weapons from his opponent’s skull—the last thing he wanted was to have to fight unarmed.
Only, when Hiro looked over to the corpse, he realized that it was gone.
“The fuck?”
Ten yards back, Jason stood near a flattened path that entered the clearing on one side and exited it through another. As Hiro watched, the revenant pulled the first tanto from the underside of his skull with what remained of his fingers, freeing a liberal spurt of blood in the process.
Before the creature could work on the other, Hiro saw a pair of lights from outside the clearing. A moment later, he heard a mechanical roar as a truck came barreling down the path and crashed right into the towering zombie. Jason vanished beneath the old jalopy, which burped black smoke as it swerve alongside Hiro. A door swung open to reveal that the driver was Karl Jak in his camp uniform.
“Hop aboard, Mr. Protagonist.” Hiro furrowed his brow and stood his ground, despite the fact that his legs were ready to collapse beneath him. “This isn’t your death scene. Come on!”
Hiro didn’t have time to debate. The samurai limped forward and grabbed the outreached hand that tugged him into the cabin of the truck with little effort. Karl reached over and slammed the passenger side door and started the old vehicle in the other direction. Before exiting the clearing, he made a quick stop to lean out the window and grab something. As they drove off, Karl dropped the machete on the floor in front of Hiro.
“Sorry about your jap knives. That’ll have to do for now. There’s a medkit underneath your seat. Take the morphine, and we’ll bandage you up once we’re clear of this silly little camp.”
Quote:End of Round 7
Hiro takes 8 points of damage.
Hiro loses his tantos but gains Jason’s Machete, which effectively replaces his tanto move for the remainder of his time on the island. Hiro gains 2 SP that he may only use for a Tier 1 Super Attack – Machete.
The medkit down below will heal you for 2 damage. If you let Karl heal you, it will be twice as effective. Either way, you’ll have to write out either scenario before you move on.
The call is yours, as I know you also have medigel on your person.
When all is said and done, Karl will state that he's en route to 'one of the bunkers.' It's your call what Hiro does next.
RE: [2-] The Campground - Hiro Protagonist - 07-20-2016
The jalopy bumped and rumbled along the rough dirt paths through the forest, headlights cutting a limited field of vision from the mist. As Karl piloted the jeep, Hiro reached down under the seat for the aforementioned medkit. Still holding the wound on his stomach closed, he scrabbled in the white plastic box for the morphine the producer had mentioned. It wasn't as if the pain was crippling, though; there was no pain, and the wound felt cold. Hiro figured it might be the onset of shock, or something else. But he was no doctor, and drugged half lucidity was better than suffering every time the tires went over a log. Finally finding the syrings, he pulled off the safety cap with his teeth, and jabbed the morphine into his leg, letting out a short gasp of pain.
-blam blam blam-
"Aaauugh!"
-splash-
The sting of gunpowder residue splattered his wrist, and just as he turned, another spear wielding pirate was creeping up behind him. His life was ended with a quick slash of the samurai's sword, Hiro struggling to keep his balance as the boat took another hit. Running to the edge, he leapt the six feet to the next craft, impaling another attacker as he made his way towards the aircraft carrier in the center of the Raft.
"You can't kill your way out of all your problems, Hiro." said Barry, holding his head in his arms as Hiro ran past him on his way to his goal. "Sometimes you fail. And you failed this time. You failed me at least." The hacker tried to block the words out. He had to reach the clay envelope, he had to stop the spread of the Metavirus. Sadly, the Barry apparition spoke again. "Do you want to live? Or are you trying to fail, just to get away from it? You'll be back. But you dying doesn't pay for my life, Hiro. Hiro? Hiro Protagonist! Mister Protagonist, look sharp!"
Hiro snapped his eyes open, his vision bleary as he watched an indistinct figure crouched over him, removing his bloodspattered jacket and shirt. He realized he was lying down on his back, in the back of the truck, while Karl Jak was ministering to his wounds. Looking down at his torso, he could see the producer nimbly stitching up the slice on his stomach, sewing his abdominals back together and tying off the line.
"Can't have you slipping off while we're still en route, Mr. Protagonist!" Karl said cheerily, reaching for the machete lying next to him. He raised what Hiro recognized as his lighter to the flat of the blade and continued to speak while the metal heated up. "I'm going to need your technical know-how at the bunker. Shame about Barry, though. He will be missed, especially on Cantina Night."
The hacker coughed, his head a little fuzzy from the morphine. "You...we....we left him...back there. We need to...." Karl cut him off a bit harshly. "He's dead, Hiro. Dead. It's a shame, but you saw how much punishment Mr. Voorhees can take. We'd be joining him shortly if I hadn't come back. Which you should be grateful for." He pointed behind Hiro's head, just as he pressed the sterilized blade to the sewn up wound, cauterizing it and making the wounded ronin twitch at the smell of burning flesh. "I managed to grab the briefcase he'd been carrying, if it's any consolation."
Laying his back, Hiro let Karl finish patching him up, the producer ripping his bloody shirt into strips and bandaging up the samurai's torso. Maybe a little too eagerly, Karl stood up and looked at the now shirtless Hiro. "That's a good look for you, Mr. Protagonist. Very intimidating. Very fierce." He went around back to the driver's seat, leaving Hiro in the bed as he propped himself up against the rear wall. "Now let's keep moving; we're not out of danger until we reach a bunker."
Bunker? So Karl knew about this island.... "Where exactly are we, Mr. Jak?" The hacker called over the noise of the engine. The producer turned his head back and flashed one of his trademark smiles. "All in due time, my wounded warrior, all in due time."
Quote:Hiro has healed 4 points. (14/20)
RE: [2-] The Campground - Karl Jak - 07-21-2016
End of Round 8