They Walk Among Us: Game Thread

[Drummodino]

"Private Jackson Clark, NBWDAC,"

Adrian nodded, satisfied with the man's response. He still didn't trust the man, yet at least he knew his name and allegiance now. Shifting his gaze back to the newcomer, he listened in on Eligos and Rain's conversation. It seemed they still had little information on the target, other than he was powerful and skilled at the creation of monstrosities.

It seemed their new acquaintance had little patience for the group. As he turned away, the young Templar with the itchy trigger finger spoke up.

"So do we. We came into this Boston Underground tracking a Type-II or possibly Type-III Demon, and it appears you've killed one of these Cabalite's colleagues judging by that axe."

"Not one of ours," Adrian growled, giving Hugh a withering stare. "Rain and I are the only agents here, so stop jumping to conclusions." Looking away from Hugh, he called out to the man walking away. "If you want to get yourself killed, keep walking. Your screams will hopefully lead us to our prey."

 

[DarkRawen]

"Dram glory in ripping snapping marionettes made of dead flesh and magic apart; no essence within either. The creator is well-versed in stitching flesh and hath a fair amount of power. Little else can be gleamed from their remains."

"I see, that's a shame." So not even Eligos truly knew what this thing was. That was troubling, though, to be expected. If it was a demon, and not a human, a special ability like this meant that it was at least a type-II, which was also suggested by Eligos saying it was rather powerful.

So this is likely the real target.

It made sense, though, this far in the mission, it was clear that anything could happen, who knew just what was going on?

"So do we. We came into this Boston Underground tracking a Type-II or possibly Type-III Demon, and it appears you've killed one of these Cabalite's colleagues judging by that axe."

Rain felt a slight pain in his chest as this Hugh spoke. The woman hadn't been connected to the Cabal, he was sure of it, yet... if she really was dead, was it because he hadn't followed her? Rain knew that he couldn't save everyone, and she had approached the monsters herself, but if she hadn't had any bad intentions...

It wasn't my fault.

"Not one of ours. Rain and I are the only agents here, so stop jumping to conclusions."

"Yes," Rain added, tone defensive and noticeably bothered about it. "If she had been one of ours, I would have followed her, regardless of if I would have risked getting shot or not."

She didn't want me to follow her.

Even so, he didn't like the thought of it, it made him feel frustrated and kind of sad. And now another one was leaving, the newly happened upon Foundation agent, and he had nothing to say about it, especially since Adrian had already spoken. While he didn't agree with everything the older Cabal member said, he held his tongue, he'd spoken too much out of line already.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Jackson considered firing a warning shot to get this agent to cooperate, but didn't want to break the fragile trust that existed with this group.

"We came into this Boston Underground tracking a Type-II or possibly Type-III Demon, and it appears you've killed one of these Cabalite's colleagues judging by that axe.

Rain and I are the only agents here, so stop jumping to conclusions." Looking away from Hugh, he called out to the man walking away. "If you want to get yourself killed, keep walking. Your screams will hopefully lead us to our prey.

Jackson had to agree with the Cabal agent, going alone basically is suicide. Although, by all rights, this guy SHOULD be dead...

"Assuming he wasn't compromised by our target," Jackson said under his breath to those around him. Jackson turned his attention to the axe.

"If it isn't a Cabal agent's, who's is it?" Jackson said, taking a photo of the axe, not wanting to touch it, "It doesn't seem like Templar or any other religious faction."

 

[IFS]

"The creator is well-versed in stitching flesh and hath a fair amount of power. Little else can be gleamed from their remains."

"Ha, whose bad at their job now?" Randall remarked quietly to himself. He didn't quite trust the appearance of the Foundation agent here either, though there was little to do but keep an eye on him for now. After all he wasn't about to go off half-cocked like the templar child.

"It doesn't seem like Templar or any other religious faction."

"Could be an indy, our choice of weapons is quite varied," Randall replied, walking over and picking up the axe. The soldier seemed concerned about it, but Randall figured it might come in handy in the close quarters of the sewers. Besides I'm sure I can handle a pesky curse if its got one.

Randall shrugged and approached Adrian, nudging him with his elbow "We should follow the foundation agent, he might know something we don't," he said "No point in letting him get himself killed, besides he seems to know where he's going in this rat maze better than any of us do."

 

[Texas Joker 52]

+ Father Daughtry +​

As the lone agent introduced himself, Shaun found his eyes narrowing at the mention of having 'bigger things to deal with than paperwork or putting up with some damned alliance'. At that, he scoffed once and set the butt of his spear down even as Hugh replied in his stead.

"So do we, we came into this Boston Underground tracking a Type-II or possibly Type-III Demon, and it appears you've killed one of these Cabalite's colleagues judging by that axe."

But it was the reply of the towering swordsman that caused Shaun's brows to wing up.

"Not one of ours. Rain and I are the only agents here, so stop jumping to conclusions."

Not from a Templar, and not Cabal? That was a little troubling, particularly since they already had several rival factions present. Having more conflicting goals and methods simply threatened to turn the entire ordeal into a powder-keg. But as they others debated the implications of the axe, Shaun's attention was drawn to the shorter of the two Cabal agents, and the demon in the sword.

"Do you know what created them?"

It was said in a murmur so as not to disturb the others, but Shaun caught the question as well as the demon's reply.

"Dram glory in ripping snapping marionettes made of dead flesh and magic apart; no essence within either. The creator is well-versed in stitching flesh and hath a fair amount of power. Little else can be gleamed from their remains."

That was far more troubling, he thought as he stepped forward.

"Hold on. You can tell that from slicing through a few of these... Constructs? Is there anything else you can tell us about what we're dealing with, demon?" he asked, an intent frown as he knelt to face the sword directly.

 

[Terratina.]

Humans were such a noisy, wasteful bunch.

Eligos grew quietly annoyed with the disappointment from the humans, especially Randall. If only every problem could be solved with a stab to the face... What was even more ridiculous was he fact that the humans were all too content to stand around discussing the matter of the agent and the axe. Laughable. The memory of the small sliver of power gnawed at the demon's mind just as the demon had gnawed on the rotten flesh of those constructs. The group had to press on.

"Detective, I dare thou to doth better. Priest, arise, thou sullies thy vestments in filth. The taste of the curs' dead flesh makes it gross in sense that they art naught but - as thou says - 'constructs'. All, following the Foundation agent may not be right notion but we must continue onward yonder if we art to catch this beast." Eligos announced, "Unless, one of us is in league with the villain, and this useless chatter is a vain attempt to delay us. We wot all of thy faces, except one..."

It was a dangerous suggestion but something had to be done to end the lull.

 

[hiei82]

[HEADING=2]Sewers[/HEADING]

"We came into this Boston Underground tracking a Type-II or possibly Type-III Demon, and it appears you've killed one of these Cabalite's colleagues judging by that axe." Hugh said. Taking the statement in step, he cocked an eyebrow and replied. "Is that where the axe came from? I was wondering about that. I figured it was the pet of some kind of binder but I didn't want to jump to conclusions; it's highly unscientific."

After saying this, he started to make his way further into the sewers; not caring if the others followed him. Now that he knew they weren't a clear and present threat, he didn't really care. If they became a threat, he'd deal with it then. He placed his hands into the pockets of his lab coat and made his way deeper, following the "tracks" of his prey as best he could.

 

[DarkRawen]

"Unless, one of us is in league with the villain, and this useless chatter is a vain attempt to delay us. We wot all of thy faces, except one..."

Rain glanced at the sword, then at the detective. That's who Eligos was referring to, right? The man was a bit suspicious, that he had to admit, covering most of his face like that. However, Eligos also had a point in that they should start moving, and thus, Rain started walking again.

"We shouldn't waste more time," he said, though, he moved at a slow pace. He'd speed up once the others did the same. "We can talk while we're walking, or simply not at all."

"Is that where the axe came from? I was wondering about that. I figured it was the pet of some kind of binder but I didn't want to jump to conclusions; it's highly unscientific."

It made sense, the binder part at least. She hadn't appeared fully human, rather accustomed to the dark, very tall for a woman, and fast. However, he also was sure she was not connected to the Cabal.

Cabal has shared the knowledge of binding. We're no longer the only ones capable of that.

He reminded himself. However, having been the one to say that they shouldn't waste time, he kept quiet, it could wait.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

So that added the possibility of another agent in this game. Worse, if it wasn't Cabel, it most likely meant the binder was an independent. The moron might be trying to bind the entity.

This uncooperative agent was forcing a choice on the group, follow or stay away. Jackson didn't like either option, but felt he couldn't afford to let this guy out of his sight again. He picked up the spotter from behind the group, and put away the SMG.

Jackson pulled out the XM500 and started to follow the Foundation agent.

"Prepare for a trap," Jackson whispered to the others as he went forward.

 

[IFS]

"Detective, I dare thou to doth better."

"Hmrph, save your sharpness for the demons," Randall replied "you're dull enough as is."

The agent mentioned that the axe might have belonged to the pet of a binder, which could be bad news. The others seemed to think the demons were constructs of a sort, and Randall didn't see much reason to dispute that but that meant there had to be a constructor. Even if the binder was on their side, or had been, Randall didn't much care for the idea of such magic and pitting two wielders of it against each other seemed a formula for more collateral damage than he cared for.

Of course the sword also brought up the notion that one of them might be a traitor, though Randall didn't feel that he knew any of them enough to warrant trust or mistrust at the moment. I'm durable enough to handle a stab in the back, and no sense fighting each other when there's demons to deal with.

"Prepare for a trap,"

Randall chuckled at this statement from the soldier, "I hope you prepared for traps long ago, we need to keep eyes on the backs of our heads in a place like this," he replied, then wrinkled his nose in disgust of their surroundings "hell I'd gladly trade my nose for an extra pair about now."

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

"I hope you prepared for traps long ago, we need to keep eyes on the backs of our heads in a place like this. Hell I'd gladly trade my nose for an extra pair about now."

Jackson stopped as Randall said this. He had been prepared to start shooting at everyone the second the sword started talking. These guys were getting on Jackson's nerves, although signs of annoyance were repressed and hidden by his suit and gas mask.

"What did you think I was doing when I was the one watching your backs during that entire walk?"

He continued forward after the agent.

 

[Drummodino]

"We should follow the foundation agent, he might know something we don't. No point in letting him get himself killed, besides he seems to know where he's going in this rat maze better than any of us do."

Adrian nodded as Randall stepped up to him. It wasn't much of a plan but it was better than standing around dawdling, giving the monsters an opportunity to ambush them. Before they could move off however, Eligos spoke up.

"...Unless, one of us is in league with the villain, and this useless chatter is a vain attempt to delay us. We wot all of thy faces, except one..."

"Hmrph, save your sharpness for the demons, you're dull enough as is." came the reply from Randall, causing Adrian to let out a low chuckle.

"If one of our number decides to turn on us sword then I'm sure the rest of us can deal with them easily. I'm sure you'd relish the chance to feed on some human flesh wouldn't you? Anyway, lets be off. Time's wasting."

Adrian strode forward alongside the military man, Eligos held at the ready.

 

[hiei82]

[HEADING=2]Sewers:[/HEADING]

As the group began to follow the strange Foundation man and observe the way he followed "tracks" in the sewer system, it became somewhat easier to make out a pattern. While the dog-things tracks were - and had been - everywhere and in every direction, the density of tracks headed in one direction were greater than other directions. While this wasn't an exact science, it started directing them east and south.

The further the intrepid band moved this way however, the more the dog-things seemed to grow uneasy and frenzied. It took nearly 2 hours of walking and tracking, but by then a new sensation had made itself known; a sound. It was a sort of loud rushing sound mixed with a loud blaring racket over top. As they grew closer, the sound became more clear and a new smell began to replace the odor of the sewer. The odor was that of smog and the sound was clearly that of traffic on some distant, unseen, highway.

They had little time to consider the revelation as, frenzied as they were, the dog-things charged in, en-mass, with reckless abandon; desperate to kill the creatures who got in their way.

Spoiler: OOC

@All: There are as many of the dog-things as you'd like coming from every passage. Full-disclosure, this the scene I try to put in all games for players to go all out without worrying about disrupting the plot. Have fun describing all the ways you plan on putting these demon-dogs out of their misery.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

The dogs finally decided to attack the group in a mass attack from everywhere. Jackson didn't know if the Foundation Agent led them into a trap, or if they were getting to close and the creatures were getting desperate. He didn't want to engage the masses coming from the main tunnels, since most of the group was melee fighters. Jackson quickly moved to the mouth of one of the smaller tunnels, and raised his rifle.

"I WILL TAKE CARE OF THIS TUNNEL, COVER MY BACK!" Jackson yelled to the group. He fired the XM500. The heavy .50 round smashed into the lead dog's skull, pulverizing the head. The bullet continued through the body, out the other end, smashing into the chest of the next dog, tearing organs and bones. The bullet still continued forward, cutting limbs from two other dogs, before embedding into the sewer wall.

Jackson turned his aim to another hell-hound.

 

[DarkRawen]

Rain, having been close to the front of the group, didn't pay much attention to the ongoing conversations, though he still heard them every time he took a break from shutting them out. They'd been walking for a long while already, and he was tired, though not that tired physically, as the slow pace had caused him to change the werewolf boots back to normal. Tired of the seemingly endless sewer system, tired of the smell and darkness, and, most of all, tired of people. While he understood the need for them to be working together, and while he sort of did want to get along with people, they were neither working together, nor getting along. It was just insults thrown back and forth by now, he'd be better off alone like this.

And we're not even finding anything.

It was so...

Annoying? Useless?

He wasn't sure, but the emotion closes would probably be sadness or disappointment. Sure, he certainly didn't expect a lot to happen, or for the people outside Cabal to be as competent as them, but this wasn't even that. It was just hostility, bitterness, and negative feelings that had no real place on a hunt. At least anger or sadness could motivate someone to do something. The emotions didn't reflect well on Rain either, his chest felt heavy, and he had to keep himself from just plainly leaving to go on his own.

Then, finally, sounds were heard. It wasn't much, at first, but it was something, anything. If the sound and smell was to be trusted, they were close to, or even directly underneath a busy road, cars were driving back and forth. However, another sound quickly followed, that of beasts running towards them. He didn't know how many there were, but certainly enough to be a decent fight for the whole group.

"I WILL TAKE CARE OF THIS TUNNEL, COVER MY BACK!"

Though Rain didn't respond in words, he nodded, and stepped into the tunnel that was the left of the one the soldier had stepped into. He activated the boots again, and ran forth, raising his sword. The first dog were almost sliced in half -most of the force doing so had been its own speed- and then, he stepped in close to another beast, thrusting the large sword into it's neck and twisting it. The demon dog was quickly slain, and fell to the ground, lifeless. Another took Rain by surprise by jumping over its dead brethren, and, barely managing to get his sword out of the corpse, Rain resorted to holding the sword high and stepping away, dodging the beast's heavy limbs as he cut through its stomach.

That was close.

At least he was mostly unharmed, though, being almost directly underneath the stomach, he'd manage to get... well, insides all over him.

Ew. First sewer, and now this.

Even he had his limits to how much icky things he could take being covered in. At least it wouldn't stick to his clothes.

Regardless, what's my next target?

He asked himself as he was examining the nearby beasts, though he quickly decided on one of them.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

+ Father Daughtry +​

As the group bickered amongst each other and followed the Foundation agent, Shaun kept to himself and his thoughts. Despite the fact that each of them had the same goal, the methods and ideologies made them a rather disparate group. And if he really thought about it, it didn't make much sense. They were there to kill these demons and keep them from driving humanity to the brink.

But then, some seemed to prefer methods that even he found hard to accept. He didn't subscribe to the mindset of fighting evil with it's own weapons. And he certainly didn't believe that ends justified the means. After all, just because the demons they fought were stronger than them didn't mean then had to sacrifice what made them human to beat them.

And then again, one couldn't say that it was anything but human to argue and bicker like this, he thought with a wry smirk.

His thoughts were interrupted however as the sounds of more demon hounds echoed throughout the sewers, causing him to clutch at his spear more firmly. The soldier immediately took to a tunnel and opened up with his massive rifle, calling for help.

"I WILL TAKE CARE OF THIS TUNNEL, COVER MY BACK!"

"Hugh, it's time we showed these beasts the grace of our God." Shaun told him as he made his way to the soldier and turned so that they were almost back-to-back. Then he planted his spear point-first into the ground and held out his rosary-wrapped hand.

"Holy Father who art in heaven, in the name of Christ Almighty protect us, for we wage war against the Legions of the Damned for your glory and honor. Keep those who have forsaken you at bay and deliver us from evil, for we are your humble servants!" he shouted as white light began to glow from his rosary, slowly forming a shield between both them and the hellhounds.

"I'll hold as long as I can. Send these unholy bastards straight back to Hell!" he told the soldier.

 

[IFS]

"What did you think I was doing when I was the one watching your backs during that entire walk?"

And here I thought you were a soldier, not some whining dog. Randall thought to himself, so far he was rather unimpressed with the man who had managed to do little other than point out the obvious, though he supposed the soldier had proven decent enough in a fight already. The others agreed with his suggestion though and they followed the foundation agent through the sewers. Time dragged on as they moved through the twisting passages, the tracks growing more numerous before and the smells and sounds shifting. Cars? Hmm, where in the city are we under- what was that? The train of thought was interrupted by the onslaught of hounds, there was no more time for thinking only action.

"I'll hold as long as I can. Send these unholy bastards straight back to Hell!"

Randall flinched away from the light, right stay clear of that, he thought moving towards another tunnel while shielding his eyes with one hand his other raising the pistol. He emptied it as he moved, unloading the seven round clip of .50 rounds into the demons, dropping several of them. As soon as the light was to his back his hand dove for the next clip reloading his gun in one smooth motion and continuing to fire. Another hound charged through the corpses of its pack and dove at him teeth glinting viciously, he clubbed it down with the butt of his pistol and followed up with a powerful left hook, leaving it stunned long enough to empty three rounds into its head. There seemed no end to them though, and his weapon's rate of fire simply couldn't hold back the tide for long.

"Feel free to pitch in over here," he yelled, grinning wildly he didn't get adrenaline rushes these days, but sometimes it seemed that he came fairly close "Plenty to go around!"

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

The shot passed through several of the beasts. The over penetration of the .50 BMG rounds actually didn't guarantee kills, the beasts kept trying to move forward even with their guts hanging out or limbs blasted off, although the dogs seem entirely willing to trample the wounded just to move forward.

Jackson turned towards a new target, sight lined up, looking down, straight at the face of the wounded woman, ready to-

HE blinked, shook his head, seeing the dog that was actually there, in his sight.

And very, VERY close. Jackson fired straight down it's mouth, blasting through it's digestive tract before continuing through several more hounds. The brief pause had allowed one of the pack too almost be at the entrance. And Jackson's magazine was empty. He reached for the knife.

"Holy Father who art in heaven, in the name of Christ Almighty protect us, for we wage war against the Legions of the Damned for your glory and honor. Keep those who have forsaken you at bay and deliver us from evil, for we are your humble servants!"

The hound rebounded against the field. The rest was briefly blinded and slowed by the Blessing.

"I'll hold as long as I can. Send these unholy bastards straight back to Hell!"

Jackson quickly reloaded the XM500, "Understood."

He blasted the nearest dog in the torso, nearly cutting the beast in half. He turned back to the rest of the pack, firing with renewed vigor.

 

[Redryhno]

Nothing of note happened

 

[Drummodino]

It appeared that they were headed in the right direction if the renewed assault of the hellhounds was anything to go by. As his companions moved to meat the beasts head on, Adrian held himself back for a moment waiting to see where he would be most needed. The Templars and Jackson were handling themselves well, working together efficiently to hold back the tide. Rain seemed to be managing fine for the moment, so Adrian stepped up alongside Randall as he punched a dog in the face and finished it off with his over-sized pistol.

"Not bad Detective. Now let me show you what I can do!"

Charging towards one of the oncoming beasts, Adrian dodged to the side and cleaved the creature in two, Souldrinker trailing disgusting blood and gore. Without hesitating he lunged to meet the next one, separating it's head from the rest of it's body. He could feel the battle rage building inside of him, his demonic skin tingling with energy. Moving faster than any man his size ought to be able to, he leaped backwards as two more jumped at him jaws clicking together on nothing but air. Letting out a roar of fury he slashed through one before smashing the second with a powerful kick.

Breathing heavily Adrian jumped back out of Randall's line of fire, sword still held in front of him. "Let's finish these mutts you louts! We must be getting close to the source!"