The Twisted Earth (Post-apocalyptic Role play) (Started - Closed)

[Dectomax]

Marcus nodded. "Where I grew up, there was a great forest close, some of the creatures used to end up in the village. See a few other things when I ventured with the Far traders too, they took me to some pretty fucked up places." Marcus said.

Blake seemed to freeze up for a second and Marcus took note of this. As the old man stepped away from the door, Marcus took his place. Gripping the handle tight, Rifle ready in hand he entered the house. The door was open within a second and with military precision Marcus had stepped over the threshold and already had his gun trained along the corridor. Peering into the room to his left, Marcus saw Ian searching through some desks.

 

[ninja555]

Ian rummaged through the office desks. Barely anything here. Scrap bits of paper, paper clips, junk, nothing that could get us inside. As he went to close the draw he was currently searching through, something caught his eye. Moving a bit of paper away he uncovered a small, blue card. He held it up to examine it. It was still in good condition. Bingo. Our ticket in. He turned to head back down the stairs and saw Marcus peering in to the room. He held up the card. "Our ticket in, if it still works," he said to Marcus, "Now, if you have some spare time, I'd like to discuss work and payment."

 

[Chaos Incarnate]

Delrath nodded, the Kalorik were not known for their innocence or kindness. Women from raided villages that showed exceptional abilities were given a choice, join or bear a child to the Kalorik then die. "You will not be taken" Delrath reassured her before a piercing scream cut through the darkness, Delrath bared his teeth "Meat" He growled extending his tongue as he sniffed out the wounded man.

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

As Marcus stepped into the room, Blake stuck close to his back, aiming in the opposite direction of the younger man. Ian - the new guy - addressed them, waving a small blue object in their direction.

"Payment?" Blake snarled, his voice echoing through the empty corridor. "You don't now what you've got yourself into..." He paused, taking a deep breath as he felt his heartrate skip a number of times. Clearing his throat to mask the hesitation, Blake continued, his icy stare fixed on Ian's face. "Balthazaar has...commandeered us," He waved his free hand, groping for the right words, "ah...by force. We aren't in a position to be paying you anything."

 

[tobi the good boy]

Mortis had opted to remain behind and uphold the guise of a scientist too busy with his work to run off on their endeavours. However, Mortis was no fool, he had no intention of remaining in the open for another swarm to take flight and devour him. Mortis retrieved the dead insect that had gnawed at his neck and mysteriously fallen out of the sky, he also gathered the charred remains of one of the bugs that Ashe had detonated with her incendiary round. He slipped the corpses into the doctors bag, now noticeable heavier than it was before he set out on his little journey.

"I'll save these for the ride back, but right now I have business to attend to."

Mortis slung his weapon over his shoulder and began trekking the circumference of the dome, his eyes methodically analysing the great structure as if he was in search of something, something familiar. After some time he came to a halt, he had found what he was looking for. Behind the thick coils of vines and past hives of ferocious wildlife, Mortis had managed to discover a small ventilation duct and an alternate route inside.

As Mortis leant down to inspect the hollow track into the gigantic monolith he noted that entry was going to be an issue.
"This is going to be tricky..." Mortis whispered under his breath to himself. Mortis removed his coat and jacket and proceeded to roll them up into a make shift rope. When he was done he tied it from base of his left leg to the wrist of his right arm. Next he locked his in the grasp of his legs and macabrely tore it from his socket.
"Perfect" He cheered as he began making his way through the now traversable vents into the unknown, his arm being dragged in after him.

 

[ninja555]

"I said work and payment, I won't demand something for free. You can pay me information, what is in the dome should be more than sufficent. And our friend Balthazaar doesn't need to hear about our arangement, from what I heard about him, if he finds out I was involved in this mission he sent you on, it could get ugly for me." Ian slid the card into a pocket on his duster. "By the way, I don't think we have been proberly introduced," Ian held out his hand to Blake, "My name is Hunter."

 

[Dectomax]

Marcus looked at the card. "Well, there's only one way to find out. Anything else in here you want to check out?" He said.

Outside, the sky was darkening, the clouds had reached the dome and the low rumble of thunder could be heard over head. Lightning streaked across the sky miles behind the dome, and the first, soft drops of rain were hitting the floor.

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

Blake glanced down at Hunter's proferred hand before looking the man up and down. Satisfied that he wasn't a mutant, Blake gripped his hand firmly and shook it.

"Blake Rheinhart," He stated before releasing Hunter's hand and stepping past him towards the desk. "Balthazaar has a lot to answer for..." He said, opening the dusty drawers. Looking up, Blake fixed the two men with his pale eyes, "After this is done, I plan on finding out what he's up to. Violently, if need be."

Satisfied that the desk and it's surrounding area had nothing of use, Blake approached the open door and gazed out into the approaching storm. "Shit, Marcus," he croaked, "we better quicken the pace." He turned to Hunter and pointed to the distant dome. "You go with Marcus and test out that card, I'm gonna search this place more thoroughly...there could be something of use in here."

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Ashe arrived at the scene with shotgun still aimed at the wounded man. From the looks of it he had been in the fight with the insects but it was a wonder on how he passed out. All the blood seemed like it was from the insects but just to be sure Ashe looked him over.

"Looks like he was the one that did all the killing here. You wouldn't eat yet... he might know a thing or two with this place." At that moment a thunder clap sent a roar in through the hangar and Ashe hurried her movements.

"Here, let's bring him back to the group. I'll just get his guns..." Ashe took the man's katana and his pistols just to be sure.

 

[tobi the good boy]

Mortis found himself scrounging through the tangled abyss of the complex's labyrinthine ventilation system. About halfway through the vine cloaked air ducts, Mortis found himself faced with a new implication. The vines that seemed to be nothing more than a simple obstruction seemed to develop small thorns that become more pronounced the further he made his way in.

As Mortis was crawling through those pitch, black, metallic tunnels he found himself questioning and hypothesising the nature of this great structure. It was large and clearly built to last, but was unpopulated. The place required a great deal of energy to do whatever function it served, but the power that been disabled. Things seemed to fail to add up.

The clunking of Mortis' now claustrophobic advances into the complex were becoming more muffled by the influx of vegetation as he drew deeper. The vines were like needles tearing into this coat and jacket, shredding them into ribbons and the sheer bulk was making it difficult to progress. Finally, pushing himself to the furthest reaches of the dome that he could, Mortis used his remaining good arm to remove a rust coated panel that covered a shaft that descended beneath him.

Mortis, disregarding the human instinct insisting him to desist, coiled into position and let himself fall down the shaft with his mauled appendage swiftly joining him on the ride down. Mortis' fall was interrupted by another grate that covered a vent opening leading into a wide open room. However, momentum decreed that Mortis' frame was more than enough to pry it loose and Mortis soon found himself embraced by a cold, grime coated base in a nihilistic black room.

Promptly unfastening his limb and supplies from around his ankle he reached into a sealed portion of the bag and removed a vial of fluorescent green 'bug blood', guiding it over his arm examining it for damage.

 

[tobi the good boy]

Silly double post.

 

[Dectomax]

Marcus made his way to the blast door, checking the sky as he went. It was getting dark. As he reached the door, Marcus took the key card from Ian and slid it into the slot by the side of the blast door. The switch flickered on and flashed green. Suddenly a bright orange light flashed over his head as a light switched on. Then a deafening klaxon went off, as the door slowly slid open. Inside, the ground was overgrown in plant life, like a greenhouse gone wild over the centuries. As the door opened, a scream came from within. "HELP US!" Followed by several gunshots, a terrifying screech came from within, as some great beast was wounded. Marcus peered inside, but the darkness was complete, the only visible item was a giant crashed Airship, in the middle of the dome, above it a massive hole was torn in the dome, creating a shaft of light peering down onto the ship.

 

[tobi the good boy]

Mortis' eyes traced the cuts running up and down the disembodied arm. The thorns had done some damage but surprisingly it ended up being purely superficial. Mortis cautiously connected the fresh tissue of his arm to the torn gap just below his shoulder, allowing the blood to freely flow once more. He quickly sent the message through his 'blood' from the foreign organ grafted to his heart to seal the wounds together and make Mortis whole once more. The process was excruciating as always, those familiar jolts along the nerves that arced through his body. How he cherished this feeling it was almost euphoric. The reassuring siren that screamed that he was still alive, Pain.

Once Mortis' surgery was complete he made his way through the dimly lit room stretching out around him. A single globe hung from the metallic ceiling by a rusted chain with a blood red wire intertwined with its coils. It proved to the the singular source of light that he had found during his entire exploration of the Dome. Mortis rose slowly, making sure not to exert pressure on his recently reattached limb. Once on his feet he made his way towards the light aloft in the corner of the room, as he drew nearer a prominent audible humming began to ring inside of Mortis' cranium. At first he assumed it was a side effect of his fall but soon came to realize that the sound had direction, pattern and consistency.

In the dancing shadows behind the swaying, flickering light-bulb was small side room, it's door barely on it's hinges. Inside was an assortment of machinery, Tesla coils with sparks firing off randomly behind reinforced glass, cogs and gear that had come to slow churns and all of it cloaked in a thick, sticky web. As Mortis was preparing a slot in his doctors bag A loud noise resonated throughout the chamber. Mortis glanced in the direction of the scream to note a flight of stairs ascending through the cobwebs into the lush vegetation. Mortis had recognized the words "Help me" and began making an advancement hoping that a prospect to dissect a freshly killed corpse would be his. As his foot made contact with the first step a resounding, inhuman screech wafted through the chambers followed by the roaring blasts of gun fire.

The smile on Mortis' carved up face grew wide as he bolted up the stairs to witness what that horrifying call was. The thick flora made his strides arduous but when he had made it to the top he was gifted with a vision that made him weak at the knees. Before him, amongst the rich emerald green vines and under the stream of light cascading radiantly from a hole at the peak of the dome, was a great creature that made the arachnids in his childhood tomes look tame. It was gargantuan in size, its fangs the size of Mortis' forearm. The legs spread keeping it suspended above the vegetation. It had six gleaming eyes that bulged from it's stark black thorax and in it's two forelegs were the impaled bloody pulps of the body of some fool who had made contact with the beast.

"It's beautiful, I must have it!" Mortis whispered under his breath while unslinging his rifle and bringing the iron sight to his eye.

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

Finding nothing of interst to him in the building, Blake jogged towards the dome just as the doors opened. Evidently, the card that Ian had found was correct.

As he approached the two men, Blake peered through the dark interior of the structure towards the shaft of light spearing what Blake could only assume was the airship that Balthazaar had tasked them to find. Surprised at the sheer volume of vines and weeds dominating the dome's interior, Blake whistled quietly and turned to address Marcus, but before he could open his mouth a terrified scream pierced the darkness, closely followed by gunfire.

"Shit," he sighed, turning to the other two men. "We goin' in without the others?" Blake took a few steps towards the ominous shadows whilst holstering his beretta and setting up his crossbow.

 

[Chaos Incarnate]

"Smell different" Delrath grumbled sniffing the man, What does he taste like? He smells so... Unique Delrath let his tongue drift near the man's unconscious body, a small bit of salvia dropped onto his face, a brief spark of electricity sparked from his face. Delrath growled "Ability" and tightly gripped the man's arm easily throwing him onto his shoulder, Delrath's bone spikes lightly poked into his body. "Quick dead" Delrath said to Ashe positioning the man's head near his large shoulder spike.

 

[ninja555]

Ian raised his pistol in front of him, "Sounds like people are still in here, or another scavenger crew found another way in." Ian took a few steps into the dome but froze when he spotted the spider. He froze in his, eyes riveted to the creature. He felt his entire body break out in a sweat, limbs shaking and mind blank as his old phobia returned with an added vengence. He felt time slow and his heart stop as he saw the spider turn towards him. For what seemed like an eternity, he stared into the creature's eyes. In a momentary flash of lucidity, his instinct kicked in and he fired 3 shots into the spider. One tore into one of its eyes, another into its leg, and the last took a chunk out of the abdomen. He heard the creature shriek in pain and retreat into the bush. Ian slumped to the floor, head in his hands as painful memories were reawoken. "Of all the creatures in the fucking world, it just happened to be fucking spiders bigger than of fucking cows," he sobbed out, "Fuck this, I'm better off with the rain."

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

As Ashe made her way to the trucks she saw the doors were open and what sounded like a fierce fight echoed through. Ashe drew her shotgun again and pointed to Delrath.

"Sound like the others need us! Drop that guy on the ground and let's get to them!" Ashe said as she hurried into the recesses of the dome. Right then and there she noticed the airship followed by the huge spider. It was truly unlike anything she had seen before. The vines and the thick foliage in the large building only heightened Ashe's sense of dread as she could hear one of those things emerge from behind her.

Ashe turned and fired at the large spider. The shot cleared the two of the thing's leg in one volley making the creature hobble back and forth, hissing at her. Ashe fell back and noticed her other teammates in the thick of it and doing their best to survive.

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

Turning to the sobbing Hunter, Blake kicked a cloud of dust towards him. "Then go sit in the rain! We got some abominations to kill!" With this, Blake glanced at Marcus and ran into the foliage, thick with darkness, towards the shaft of light.

Vines clutching his ankles and thorns snagging at his clothes and skin, Blake fought through the black void, mind fixed on theimage of the giant spider that Hunter had shot. In all his years on this Twisted Earth, the grizzled mutant hunter had never encountered such creatures. Clearly the Good Man was guarding this place for a reason. Blake figured it must be a sacred place, something the Good Man cherished in order to protect it with the grotesque arachnid.

Suddenly tripping, Blake was jolted out of his reverie and found himself sprawled amongst the bushes, crossbow still gripped in his hands. Pushing himself to his knees, he felt a stab of pain and noticed the sliding sting of a sharp object removing itself from his stomach. Lightly patting the spot, his hand came away slick with blood, the white-hot pain spreading across his body.

Staring up at the shaft of light, Blake again envisioned the Good Man watching over this sacred ground and felt the sudden urge to not be encroaching upon this place. However, the airship was there, people nearby were screaming for help and firing at the mutated spiders and Blake remembered Balthazaar's expectation.

Torn between his faith and his professional duty, Blake caught sight of a spider, lowering itself from the top of the shaft of light. Raising his crossbow, Blake watched it through his make-shift scope. So beautiful, so graceful at it lowered itself using only the glittering silk. Surely this creature wasn't an abomination? Surely it was the perfect child of the Good Man...

As he followed the spider in his sights, Blake breathed heavily, his heart rate began to increase quickly, and his vision blurred momentarily before clarity again returned to him. Blinking once, Blake fired at the descending creature, the bolt lodging itself halfway into the spider's head.

"All the abominations must die!" Blake roared through the darkness as he jumped to his feet and contiuned on towards the airship, with renewed vigour.

As Blake pushed forward, he swung his crossbow wildly and roared primitively, the stab wound in his stomach forgotten, and almost healed. The rage had gripped Blake and nothing was going to stop him.

 

[Dectomax]

Marcus raised his rifle, seeing the outline of a Spider. It was massive. With a quick squeeze of the trigger, he let of a burst. The roar of gunfire bounced off of the dome walls. The shots connected with the beast, but done little to it. The Spider turned to see where this new prey had shot it from and upon seeing the group moving into the dome, it let out a screech.

At once, a shuffling of grass and plants echoed around the room and then it went silent, eerily quiet. Nothing stirred. The only sound coming from the storm outside and the pitter-pattering of the acidic rain hitting the ground, broken by the occasional roar of thunder.

The Airship lay in ruins on the floor. A slight drag mark behind it, where it had hit and torn up some of the foliage. The ship was nearly fifty metres in length and had multiple floors. The sails were made from strange material, black and sleek with square panels stored all over them. The ship itself looked like an old galleon, but far larger. On the back, two huge propellers were dug into the floor, laying to one side, broken and bent. On the side of the ship, two cannons were attached, each with multiple chambers and what looked like fireworks, stored near them. A massive hole was torn from the side and from that, came the moan of an injured human.

 

[StormShaun]

Minutes before the Storm starts

A familiar smack to the face sends Shaun flying a meter across the concrete, and an older man with a brown goatee speaks "NO, no, Shaun you have to parry below, don't try to dodge it", "I still say it doesn't work!" A younger moaning Shaun says while wiping blood off his face, "Well don't come crying to me when you die because you tried to dodge it rather then parry the blow" the older man says with a smirk, suddenly a bald middle aged man walked into the small training room and calls out "Shaun, time for your exams!", "I don't want to do the stupid fuc..." Shaun says with a pout on his face before a palm swipes over his face before he could say the next word "He'll be there in a second Mister Raids" the older man speaks "Good Chief Dred, i'll see you in a second Shaun" the middle aged man called Raids said before walking out of the room.

A flickering light shines above Shaun as he opens his eyes, a blunt feeling of pain runs down his spine and it reminds him of what happened before he passed out, As Shaun's eyes come into focus a big dark cloud hangs above him and he starts to get up and flex his muscles.

As Shaun fixes his clothes up he hears gunfire incoming from the dome, as Shaun reaches for his back sheath where his sword should be stored he feels nothing in his hand, he fingers through his pockets and there is nothing as well.

"Aww fuck they're got my weapons, I cant leave without the weapons they advance technology" Shaun says with a sigh and walks slowly to where the sounds are coming from and hopes to find his weapons and hopefully his new friends. A thunder bolt rattles the sky as he starts to walk.