Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

[Termite]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Spoiler

Raith - HP = 56, PP = 38, EP = 38, Status = Fine
Kali'Zhira - HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 30/38, Status = Radiance (Perc)

With Kalesi so close she managed to hear Raith's rather contemptuous remark, and when Kali spoke with the same level of disdain the woman looked genuinely upset. For a few moments she tried to find the right words to counter the attack on their honor, but the fight in her eyes gradually drained away until the two cat-women were left with an utterly defeated looking soul. "We truly are worthless, then..."

Those words hung in the air, and though her steps slowed enough for her sisters to catch up they immediately started rushing forward and each took one of Kalesi's arms. "The caravan is lost, our purpose lost with it, and father... He... He was..." The sisters nearly collapsed, their bodies visibly straining to keep the woman between them on her feet. "We still live. That counts for something, right?" "Yes, we owe these women our lives."

For a few seconds it looked like nothing said would rouse the crestfallen woman, but eventually a change could be seen. "We...we are in debt...aren't we?" As Kalesi rose she still looked a bit morose, but there was a hint of determination. "Yes, we owe you our lives, and father taught us to always pay our debts. We may not be able to do much, but if all we can do is serve as bait then we shall until we finally part ways." The other two girls were rather surprised by this development, and though they obviously didn't approve they didn't raise any sort of protest. "If there is anything we can do please let us know."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Raith came to a halt when the girl sunk to her knees, a frown creasing her nearly invisible face. Gradually, she eased the magic out of her tattoos, making herself visible. Seeing Kalesi ready to collapse between her sisters, Raith sighed quietly and very nearly intervened, but her sisters managed to bring her out of her stupor. Frowning, Raith said with a degree of genuine contempt; "Worthless? Are you a corpse?" She eyed the girl for a moment, "As near as I can see, you still draw breath. That means that you aren't worthless. You still have an opportunity to make yourself useful. Don't do it just to repay Kali and I, do it because you want to, because you owe a debt to the aliens as well.... They've destroyed everything that any of us have ever known or cared for. Make them pay appropriately for it."

She paused for a moment, and then asked; "What purpose? I didn't have time to look much at the contents of your caravan, what were you bringing into the desert?"

 

[Termite]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

"We were bringing ourselves." It was a rather odd answer, but after a small pause Kalesi decided to fill in the obvious blanks. "Father wanted to leave the caravan he built to his son, but Fate gave him three daughters instead. You probably know the rules when it comes to inheritance." Those rules? Men get everything, women get jack. The desert tribes were never the most forward-thinking individuals. "But he still loved us. We were his little angels, and he wanted to make sure we were cared for. So he struck a deal with a small sultan to the South. Once we came of age and had been properly trained we could enter into his service as part of his harem. We met him once, and though he had money he wasn't as pompous as some of the other nobles we'd seen. We were actually looking forward to it..." The other two nodded along at appropriate times, but there was something that said they weren't as eager as their sister. "...but that probably won't happen now."

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

With Kalesi slowing and dropping down to despair, Kali initially sighs once more under her breath in exasperation. About to speak out about being so needlessly dramatic, the mentioned loss of their father however, struck her with a small jolt of sympathy and stopped her words. She allowed herself to remember that these three had presumably just gone through a highly traumatic event. She didn't mean to behave so coldly to their plight. It was simply that she had detached herself from such things as much as possible. It made her path far easier to bear.

Seeming distracted for just a second, she instead allows Raith to simultaneously lay into and perhaps motivate the trio as she did. It was a philosopy that Kali could relate to and agree with. Don't get sad, get even. The women of Anudor would be far better off learning how to fire a gun or wield a spear, than how to pamper wealthy sultans and princes who thus far had proven rather incapable of working to oppose the alien threat.

Facing the low spirited girl and her sisters again, she speaks with a slightly more sympathetic tone, even if the words weren't really any more comforting. "I didn't mean that I want you to head out as bait for me. I meant that these days, unless you carry a weapon and know how to use it, you are bait, whether you like it or not. You can still try to make your way to this sultan if you wish, but I imagine he already has plenty of women, to be honest. Either way, I'm willing to help see you out of this mess, and have no interest in letting grey skins or scalies carry you away again. I assume it's a mutual interest."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Raith frowned darkly, knowing the inheritance laws in her culture all too well. Not that she would ever have inherited anything of course, being a slave she hadn't been able to own any property. No, the thing that truly bothered her was the attitude of the three, so seemingly happy to be subservient even though their chains were broken by the actions of the invaders. In a way, Raith was grateful to the aliens for freeing her from a life of servitude, though she would personally have preferred to have lived her freedom in a world less filled with things trying to kill her. Still, she enjoyed hunting and killing them enough to say that her life had at least marginally improved since their coming, and was detached enough emotionally after her upbringing that her lack of empathy for the lives destroyed by the aliens didn't overly bother her. With her thoughts going to that dark place, Raith fell into a brooding silence and allowed Kali to speak for her, not saying anything even after the faux-catgirl had backed up her estimation of the three girl's futures.

 

[Termite]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Spoiler

Raith - HP = 56, PP = 38, EP = 38, Status = Fine
Kali'Zhira - HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 30/38, Status = Radiance (Perc)

"I've never shown any aptitude for any martial art. My sisters showed potential for magic and powers of the spirit, but they've never been cultivated. Even if they were I'd still be as useless as I am now. I have no way to pay back the invaders the debt I owe them." This was a rather odd thing to say. Usually any person could show at least some skill with a weapon, and even the dimmest of men can be taught small cantrips that could help him survive, but for someone to be completely useless in a battle was a bit of a rarity. But it wasn't unheard of. Some people were just born to be subservient. "But you are correct, I do not wish to be carried off again."

There was a bit of a lull in the conversation that followed, and that lull extended a few hours in relative silence. The sisters themselves only spoke sparingly to each other, and though they all still stuck together Kalesi seemed to be slightly separated from the other two. But after a few more minutes she turned her head to the South and started watching something in the distance. "Is that a bird?" Her eyes were trained on a small speck flitting across the sky, and though its path took it nowhere near the small band Kali could make out a rather unnatural shape in the air. What appeared to be a small ray was simply zipping back and forth through the air, and as it was watched it started to do little barrel rolls and loops as it climbed higher and higher. And once it reached a certain height it dove. Its wings tucked close to its body, the thing looked like it was about to fly itself directly into the sand, but just before impact it opened up and fly back into the air. A small cloud rose from the ground, and the little ray appeared to be dancing around this before the sand finally settled. And then it started climbing once again.

As odd as that behavior was the two snipers knew one thing. This was an alien. It was in league with the invaders, and though these creatures were quite rare out in the Anudor lands they could still be seen stalking the lands. But they never ventured far from an open source of water, or at least not from a decent piece of shade. The fact that it was flying so eagerly meant that it was entertaining itself, so the group had yet to be spotted. But that could change. All it would take is a glance or a larger loop in its flight to spot the women, and after that...well, that was anyone's guess.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Raith vanished from sight once again as the conversation came to an end, not bothering to respond to the one sister's complaints one way or another. Self pity was simply something that she didn't have the time or even capacity to try and understand, not after everything she'd been through without even batting an eyelash. Holding her heavy rifle in both hands, Raith returned to the rear of the group and slunk along silently, right up until they spotted the skyray flitting about in the air. "We'll make a sniper out of you yet," Raith said quietly as she too spotted the small, flying alien.

It looked almost like it was... Playing. Raith's unseen features scrunched into a look of confusion, having never bothered to observe the aliens when they weren't traveling, fighting, or enjoying their captives before. Remaining low despite the fact that it wasn't really necessary; she was practically invisible with her enchanted tattoos after all, Raith observed it for a long moment before quietly whispering; "Take it out, or try to go around?" It might not be able to spot her, and Kali was fairly adept at stealth even without magic, but Raith knew that the three girls they'd rescued stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the barren desert surface. They could be spotted any second, and Raith slowly leveled her rifle in the direction of the creature and took a bead on it, waiting for the other sniper to make a decision.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

"I've no martial training either, but anyone can use a gun. Before everything went to hell, I never saw this rifle or my magic as anything more than a hobby. I was studying so that I might be a scholar like my father. But maths and poetry won't drive out invaders, so things change." Kali replies to Kalesi, putting away her water skin and moving to try and get the group going at a steady pace once again. "Come on, forget that stuff for now. One foot in front of the other. Wobbling around will only make you thirsty, and moping can be done in the shade."

When the skyray was spotted, Kali had taken her place scouting at the front of the group. Stopping and back tracking a little she takes to watching the strange creature also. "Hmm. Well spotted. Hold up, get down a bit." she says whilst raising her rifle to view the alien through the scope. "I've seen these ones before, but always stayed hidden. I don't know if we can here though. Seems better to shoot it down in case it becomes a problem." She replies to Raith, checking her rifle habitually. "Let's fire at it in turn." she says then pulling out a single denari, "Flip for first shot? I call tails."

Making a low toss behind the dune back to one of the sisters to call. With that, she'd ready herself to make a shot. If they needed to get closer, one of them could probably slink out a bit further to do so, in which she'd make use of her invisibility for a while.

Normal sniper routine of 'Deadly Aim' (Full 10 points trade), 'Called Shot' and 'Far Shot'

 

[Termite]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

With the coin flipping toward them the group steps away from each other long enough to watch the thing flop onto the sand. And strangely enough it actually lands on its side. At least for a second or two. Though its end did bury itself just enough to stay upright it was still leaning, so after a couple of seconds it eventually falls and lands on a proper face. "Heads."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Raith raised a surprised eyebrow when Kali revealed that she had no martial training either. The girl was at least as skilled as she was, and that she had only used her talents for the rifle and magic for recreational purposes before the aliens invaded was a surprise to say the least. Regardless, she could only agree with her assessment of the human's state of mind, but she didn't bother to make that opinion known.

Later, when Kali decided that they ought to kill the flying alien Raith nodded, "Agreed." The contest on who would get to shoot it only caused Raith to smile slightly, and she nodded her ascent, "I'm fine with heads." When the coin flip came up, she grinned and readjusted her aim, dropping to a crouch while remaining hidden. The creature wasn't aware of her, but the shot would still be difficult at this range, so she took careful aim, leading it slightly and feeling for any wind before she squeezed the trigger.

Spoiler

With Deadly Aim, +76 attack and 4d10 + 30 damage. She has far shot, so ranged increment penalties are halved. She is also sneak attacking.

 

[Termite]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Spoiler

Raith - HP = 56, PP = 38, EP = 38, Status = Fine
Kali'Zhira - HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 30/38, Status = Radiance (Perc)

Rolls

Spoiler

Even at max range the Skyray never had a chance

Perception (Raith): Rolled a 4
Perception (Kali): Rolled a 4

The creature continued to flutter randomly through the air, and with its random movements taking it from side to side Raith was unable to find a good shot. But then it started to dive. All the fluttering ended, and it simply plummeted to the ground in a straight line that gave the sniper the perfect chance to lead her target. A split second later the trigger was pulled, and though they could see no change or hear any cry the body of the flier simply crashed into the sands and did not rise once again.

But the crack of the rifle still echoes through the dunes, and though nothing rose immediately at the call there was a certain change in the air. It felt like something that had been utterly relaxed was now on high alert, and soon enough it would start moving about to investigate whatever had made that god-awful noise. "I think we should start moving..."

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Kali casts a nod to Raith upon the successful shot, and then another nod of agreeance to Zuni. Or was it Pushra? Didn't matter right now either way. She couldn't quite place the reason for the uneasy feeling that had washed over, but relocating after a shot was second nature anyway. Getting herself back up from her spot against the dune, she scans the horizon once more and resumes their previous pace across the sands.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Raith reflexively began the lengthy process of reloading the complicated, hand crafted rifle while she watched the skyray plummet towards the ground, tracking it in case she had missed. She watched it for a moment, but a frown was present on the sniper's face as the foreboding presence pushed aside any sense of accomplishment. 'That doesn't seem good... Maybe we should have gone around.' she thought inwardly, and then said aloud; "I couldn't agree more. You all feel that right? I feel that... Like something very upset is watching you, and ready to give you a spanking for doing something naughty."

Though the joke was said lightly, if her face had been visible all would have seen the strained frown that Raith currently held, and she added; "Maybe we ought to divert around this area a little bit, hrm? And keep low and out of sight..." Of course, wherever they started going Raith would follow, but she would begin to edge slightly away from the group, never more than twenty or thirty feet, but providing for enough distance that she might be spared should an attack meant to catch all of them come. While the others watched the sky, Raith was watching the sands carefully, trying her best to keep her reloading as quiet as she possibly could.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Turning as Raith speaks Kali pauses so to make sure Raith didn't have to speak up to be heard. "You, felt that too? Uh... yeah, ok then. Agreed." She replies, trying to speak no louder than necessary.

 

[Termite]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Spoiler

Raith - HP = 56, PP = 38, EP = 38, Status = Fine
Kali'Zhira - HP = 53, PP = 41, EP = 30/38, Status = Radiance (Perc)

Rolls

Spoiler

Perception (Raith): Rolled 17
Stealth (Raith): Rolled 11

Perception (Kali): Rolled 1
Stealth (Kali): Rolled 2

Raith - Sniper Rifle reload count: 2

None of the women lingered once everyone decided to seek some shelter, but after a few seconds everyone was forced to hide. At first the sands near the skyray had started shifting as if some sink hole was opening and swallowing that little section of the desert, but a sudden explosion thundered and kicked a large cloud into the air. The cloud immediately started to spiral around itself, a small twister settling over the ground and reaching up only a mere 50 feet, but there was a sense that something was sitting within that storm.

Fortunately Raith's eyes proved to be quite sharp. There were only a few small gaps in the storm to make anything out, and after enough of them had passed the sniper realized that an Elder Lord had appeared. These were the officers of the alien forces, the generals that commanded even the hulking brutes, and it was now inspecting the small body it held in a hand. Following that it started searching the landscape, and though little could be found it suddenly raised a nearly skeletal arm and pointed over where Raith had taken her shot. The storm died down at that point, the Elder disappearing into the sands once more, and for a moment all was calm.

Then the sands started shifting once again, and after a bit of struggling a trio of lizards barely popped their heads into the air before going invisible. They were impossible to track, at least at this distance while their camouflage was active, but they were obviously moving closer. Soon enough they would find the party's tracks, and then it would only be a matter of time before they found their prize.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

'Shit....' Raith thought to herself as the center of the massive sandstorm turned out to be exactly what she had hoped that it wouldn't be; an elder lord. Of course, she referred to them more often as "floating squid men" in order to degrade their dignity and the fear that sighting such a being naturally brought up in anyone that had fought the aliens for any extended period. Possessed of superhuman endurance, alien intelligence, and - as it had just demonstrated quite clearly - powerful magics; they were the greatest threat that the aliens had to offer. Raith had killed one, once, and it had taken a great deal of luck and a well placed explosive on her part in order to do it.

She saw it through the sand twister that it created, saw it point towards where they had been only a short while earlier, and then it dropped down into the sands and out of sight once more. Even so, Raith knew in her heart that it wasn't gone for good, and that the time left to them had just become VERY short. The three hunters that popped out of the sands only confirmed her suspicions, and she started reloading her rifle somewhat more frantically as the lizards vanished from sight. She didn't need to see them to know where they would be going, and it was only a matter of time until they found their tracks.

Raith upped her pace, knowing that keeping watch was less important now that they had already effectively been made, and came up next to Kali. "We need to hurry - there was an elder lord in that twister, one of the alien commanders! There are at least three hunters on our trail now, and unless we find some sort of cover or come up with a plan, we're all as good as dead!" she hissed frantically into the faux catgirl's ear, and even as she said it Raith's eyes glanced around for something, anything, that they might be able to use to set up an ambush. The three hunters weren't the problem, they would be easy enough to deal with given that they knew from which direction they were probably going to come. It was the elder lord that had Raith worried, as only a concerted effort between the two snipers might have a decent chance to bring the greater alien down before it overwhelmed them in Raith's mind.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

"A what?" Kali replies instantly with a look of concern, but holding her tongue to listen. "Frell it all." she mutters under her breath. She'd never fought or shot at one of these before, and her natural reaction would be to slip invisible and high tail it away until the situation was in her favour again. But with the hapless trio in tow, that wouldn't be remotely possible. The scenario here didn't sit well with her at all. "Um um um... ok! Zuni and uh, girls, all of you double time that way." she says hurriedly addressing the sisters and indicating a loose direction that was quite simply away from the approaching danger. Any extra distance they could get would help, if even only a little. She turns back to Raith with a not entirely certain look that seemed to be seeking for guidance, "Should we try to hit this elder thing first? I've never shot at one before."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

"An elder lord!" Raith surprised, both slightly frantic and quite annoyed that Kali hadn't heard the official term for the alien leaders. "One of the floating things that blasted apart our cities, the ones that command the other aliens! There will be hunters on our tails shortly, but when we try to deal with them that thing will know right where we are!"

Following beside Kali, Raith glanced back towards the place where the most dangerous alien had dropped beneath the sands as she directs their three charges, suddenly a great deal more dead weight than they had been only moments ago. When Kali went to her for advice, Raith had to bite back a trace of annoyance as she replied; "They're extremely durable, and if we give it time to prepare for us we won't even be able to hit it. Anything less than an instant kill and we'll probably end up as its playthings. Our best bet would be to avoid it, but we can't do that without leaving these three to die or taking out the three hunters that it just sent after us without catching its attention. That means no shooting. I can bring down one of 'em, if I'm lucky and can take it by surprise, but there are three of them."

She fretted for a moment, her movements across the sand taking on an almost dance-like pattern as Raith hopped from foot to foot rather than walk normally, but then she turned towards the direction from which the hunters were coming and scowled. "Maybe if we both take out one of them at the same time, their lord will think that there's only one of us. Then one can take these three elsewhere while the other takes out the last hunter and tries to slip away...." Raith trailed off, the sound of frustration that she let out indicating just how little she thought of her own idea. She cast her gaze around in search of terrain that might offer an alternative to her admittedly terrible plan. A tower, a building, a mound of stone... Anything other than winding sand dunes in which they might be able to make a stand of some sort. "You've got magic... Can you make illusions?" she asked suddenly, trying to think of something.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

Seeing Raith's reaction made is quite clear just how severe the situation was, with Kali's look of concern growing to match. The mention of "playthings" particularly unsettling. Checking her rifle habitually, she listens to the following potential plans and tries to quickly run such a scenario through her head, though without being familiar with the abilities of an Elder Lord she is unable to really judge it. "Gah, well I'll do whatever you suggest. I've no better ide... huh? Illusions? Y-yes I can, though normally just to hide in." She strained to think of how else she might be able to use a good illusion in this terrain. Whether or not she'd be able to pull off one of her more advanced illusion spells in the heat of the moment was another question also.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Guerilla Warfare (Tassadar and Unknown Squid) GMed by Termite

"Good," Raith said, wracking her brain for some form of plan. At that point, she needed to get a better view of the terrain, and thus waited for an opportunity to split off, cloaking herself fully once more, and then moved cautiously to the very top of the nearest sand dune in order to survey their surroundings. If all they had to work with was more sand, she would hurry back down and whisper to Kali, "Could you make an illusion of a sand dune for us to hide in, and our tracks moving around it? They wouldn't have to go far, just far enough that we'd be able to figure out where the hunters are and take them out."