MISSION: BAD COMPANY, PART 2

[ximilian]

● ● ● M I S S I O N   4 . 2

INTRO • THE DREAM DEFERRED • YOUR WAKE UP CALL • FYI

// INTRO. WELFORD BRANSON  

It is barely past twilight in Scorpion’s Bend, the twin suns having just set, taking their light with them — but the moons delay, and so darkness lingers over the town as Lan Xichen’s conversation with one Welford Branson comes to an abrupt end. At the same time, all around the town, the team will notice the town natives around them stilling — some freezing in the middle of a sentence, a man with a fork in the air, a woman mid-step on the street, some youngsters with their mouths open in laughter. All of them become statues in less than a heartbeat; still, eyes vacant, like everything that made them seem alive has been taken away.

And then — a reverberating sigh, echoing heavily in the ears of all the Orbers. What follows are words, spoken by a chorusing voice now familiar to most of the team —

“Well now you’ve done it.”

The orb’s echoing sound is filled with disappointment, even annoyance.

Some may see that amidst all the frozen townspeople, an old man runs, clawing at his thinning hair. Some of you may hear his words, muttered, desperate:

“I don't understand, I thought 'twas just a bad dream, everyone was fine, don't understand, what in the name of the Eight could've done somethin' like this —”

The disbelieving mumbles trail at his wake, making it clear he does not know what is going on at all — in fact, you may have a better idea as to what has happened than he does. But as you turn to follow him, open your mouth to yell at him to stop... everything around you shatters.

The lights in the buildings grow dim and break; the smell of food disappears; the horses in the stables simply fade away. You notice that if you were wearing or carrying something you bought while here, it too disappears, your clothes turning to those you had on upon arrival, all equipment shimmering away slowly.

But perhaps most importantly… the frozen statues of people crumble into ash right in front of you. It may fill the floors of the now-silent, dusty and worn-down houses, or it may blow away with the harsh desert wind — whichever it is, sans the team, the town of Scorpion’s Bend is now devoid of people.

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// PART I.THE DREAM DEFERRED  

The town that now surrounds the team is very different from the one it used to be — the houses are quiet, filled with sand and dust; doors broken, tables turned over, drawers open and mostly empty, aside from anything not valuable. The beds in Thornbush Inn are ragged, insects of various sizes skittering along the floors. The Saloon is dusty, furniture broken, and a lone piano stands in the corner, half its keys having crumbled away. The door to the Mayor’s office is ajar, a banging sound repeating as it hits the wall in time with the wind.

1.0   In the corners of the Sheriff’s office, the school and the church, the embera slither along, searching for food; owl-shrews hide from the Orbers on the streets, while feathered coyotes howl at the five moons now lending their light to see the town’s destruction better. The team may be the only living humanoids, but they are not the only living beings in the town anymore; in the absence of people, animals have made the town their home. And coexist they must, now, to survive the rapidly dropping temperature of the night that has fallen upon them.

2.0   The next morning, as the moons disappear underneath the horizon and let the two suns bring out their scorching rays once more, the team wakes up to the reality of having to survive Scorpion’s Bend… with very little supplies. So search the empty houses, for they still stand; the fire that has burned away the people has not touched the buildings… but they have not been immune to the passing of time, or the harsh weather in the desert. You may find clothing, basic equipment, pots and pans left on a now-cold stove; but no valuables, no money, no gems, no jewelry, no weapons.

But amidst your search through the town, remember that what you need, first and foremost, is to find water and something to eat — it will not be long until the suns are high in the sky, and some of you are already in desperate need of proper nourishment, without being left to endure the scorching temperatures the days on the planet of Badrock bring.

3.0   But should you want to brave the heat, you’ll find it is now possible to leave the town and venture out into the desert. Out there, the rock dragons search for prey, while bald vultures circle above your head in groups of three or four, their shrieks growing in volume the farther you walk. If you show weakness, any weakness, they strike — and the dragons, sensing their chance, are not far behind.

And when you least expect it, the ground underneath you trembles, like a small earthquake is approaching you… and then you see it: from the sand, a whale surges up, then another, and another, arcing through the air like suspended there, before the sand swallows them once more. Should you get too close, you too may be swallowed underneath the sand; unless you’re very, very careful, or have in your arsenal something else that may help you to deal with these near-immortal giants that have swam across the deserts for hundreds of thousands of years.

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// PART II.YOUR WAKE UP CALL  

Time passes at a snail’s pace without the comforts of the town you were used to. Scorpion’s Bend is now a wasteland you must survive, and it clearly isn’t easy. Some of you might question whether retrieving the orb is still an endeavour worth pursuing after all of this, but the rest of you know that it is. That you’ve come this far and you’re nearly there; you just need to band together and form a gameplan.

As the suns begin to set over the horizon on yet another grueling day of scorching heat and rough, dry sand in the ghost town of Scorpion’s Bend, you might begin to hear a distant thunder that has nothing to do with an oncoming desert storm or otherwise. It rattles at the already weakened structures of the old Saloon and the General Store, bits of broken glass and debris vibrating with the raucous sound of clattering hooves, feet, and paws. And as the sound of the invasion grows louder – you’ll hear the unmistakable manic howling and bellowing in accompaniment: these are the Bouldersnakes that some of you have already heard much of.

4.0   The Bouldersnakes are not a group to be taken lightly, and have garnered the fearsome reputation that they now hold for a reason. Kicking up dust, they arrive like a cloud of chaos in different sizes, shapes, and forms. Some have the ability to shrink and grow in size to match their opponents in physical size and weight. Other Bouldersnakes are agile and quick; and others yet are superhumanly strong and robust – either way, they make for formidable opponents when you, yourself, have been weakened from weeks of a lack of proper nutrition and sleep. The individual members of the Bouldersnakes are like a band of bloodthirsty brothers: from all walks of life and all colours and creeds, with a severe and mean streak to them, who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.

What goals, you ask? Should you listen carefully, their leader, riding a winged lizard-like creature, shouts to their underlings:

“Find it! This is where it told us to come to. We missed it last time, but no more! I don't care what we have to do, we're getting our hands on that thing!”

As it so happens, you are not the only crew in search of that elusive orb; the Bouldersnakes have been tracking down the whereabouts of this mysterious and all-powerful object themselves, burning through towns – quite literally – to get it. News that Scorpion’s Bend has seen a resurgence of life and might still be the resting place of the orb has the bandits seeking out the town again. Their first round through Scorpion's Bend about a year ago had them coming up empty-handed (save for a few bits and baubles), but this time they are determined to find what they've come here to find. Though if there’s anything left here to salvage... they’ll ransack as they please.

Whether you confront them head-on or they catch you in hiding, they won’t easily back down from a fight. It will be best to keep your distance if you can manage it, and hope that they’ll pass you by. But the Bouldersnakes have their weaknesses too: once maimed, they still bleed, and none of them are immortal, though they are notoriously difficult to kill based on their talents alone... and when they carry weapons, too, well — those not accustomed to battles may find it best to hide. And even for those with fighting experience under your belt, teaming up with your fellow Orbers and combining your shared skills will be your best chance at survival.

5.0   By the time the suns have disappeared and the moons have risen, the Bouldersnakes invasion will make the bandit attack from the other night seem like a childish tussle. The Bouldersnakes don’t play nice and have adapted to the harsh lands as ruthless survivors. They arrive like a wave, many equipped with weapons: guns, sabers, pistols and small knives. A few others have engineered their own specially crafted weapons made of metal and magic (in the shape of guns, blow-torches, and blades) that wield a special element harnessed from mined ore called ‘pulsefire’. It is this pulsefire, glowing a deep blue (like the hottest colour of flame), that has the capability to destroy all living beings and allows the bandits to systematically ravage unsuspecting towns down to ash, reap its benefits (either for the town’s riches and wealth, or and especially: for any supply of ore), and then leave without a trace.

The best way to fight against pulsefire is to acquire weapons of pulsefire of your own and best a Bouldersnake before they best you. (Think high stakes, noon-time duels of the pistol.) Of course, this is a very risky and very dangerous affair as one shot by pulsefire could mean your untimely demise and the element itself isn't easy to put out either, so it might be best to work in teams to strategically disarm and swipe a pulsefire weapon to use before they manage to overwhelm you.

NOTE:   If your character is alive, your character will be vulnerable to the effects of pulsefire. Unliving things such as buildings and infrastructure will not be affected. Pulsefire has a slow spread-rate over unliving things, but its effects on the living are instant. Once in contact with the element, pulsefire quickly consumes the living body and spirit until it is turned to ash. Putting pulsefire out over unliving things is relatively easy, but once pulsefire has touched the living, there's little to no chance of making it out in one piece.

All through this, you must still remember your goal — it is not to stay in Scorpion's Bend, or even fight the Bouldersnakes, but to find the orb... and that means finding Welford Branson. How will you convince him to give you the orb, when all signs point to him not even knowing what it is, or what it has done? That is what you must decide... if you survive the Bouldersnakes in one piece, of course.

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F Y I

• The events in this log take place ICly right after the end of the NPC thread.

• The voting for how to get the orb is now open! Please head HERE to submit your idea for how the team should proceed to get the orb, or +1 others’ ideas.

• The conclusion of the mission and the return to the station will be posted on February 13.

• If you have questions about anything in this log, please direct them HERE.

• And finally, your soundtrack for this log: ♪ ♪ ♪

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Comments

[bossily]

[That's definitely his voice. Even with it feeling like her head and ears are stuffed with cotton, she'd know his voice. She quickly hobbles along, wobbling and stumbling toward where she thinks the sound of the voice had come from.

It's when she rounds past a tall watering trough for the horses that are no longer there that she sees him. She knows Kovacs is capable of violence, knows the sort of world he comes from. But seeing him the way he is now, covered in blood and quite literally bashing someone's face in, startles her. But maybe she's not seeing things right, she thinks, because she certainly is still dizzy.]

Takeshi?

[She calls out to him, trying to get him to stop. out of the corner of her eye she spots movement, one of the more avian looking bouldersnakes rapidly approaching. Clara knows she is no condition to attempt to focus on magic, that it's likely going to knock her out completely. But she still has to try. She focuses on the charter magic that Sabriel has taught her, seeking out the mark that immobilizes a target.

The spell is cast and the birdlike alien is bound in place, seemingly confused by the way he's fussing. She isn't able to hold him for long, her energy levels depleted. Hopefully she's given him enough time. It's as she drops to her knees that she calls out once again, a warning.]

Tak! On your right, watch out!

[kovach]

[ for a moment, he can't even hear clara call out to him, the anger evoked through the forceful blows from his fists, stained crimson from blood that's not only the alien's but his own, skin tearing at his knuckles where he only hits harder even as the ache builds in his muscles.

but then her voice finally reaches him, his eyes lifting up to see the bandit that's frozen in place. the one below his weight is out of commission, if not dead then likely to be if he doesn't get any aid. most importantly, no longer a threat. so he climbs up to his feet, pulling the gun from his holster and holding it up, singlehandedly.

in all the lessons he'd given to clara, he'd never demonstrated his skill quite like this, eyes fierce with their hardened focus as he begins to pulls the trigger, bullets striking the bouldersnake in the forehead, again and again. if it were a human, the single bullet would be enough, but he's learned not to take chances with these. he shoots as he walks with quickened step directly to the bandit, kept in stasis by clara's spell, and when kovacs reaches him, he gives him a harsh kick to knock him down to the ground. ]

[bossily]

Tak?

[It's difficult for her to focus on anything right now, but he's a force of nature that makes it impossible for her to look away. She takes in the hard, rageful look in his eyes. And flinches with each shot of his gun. She's never seen him like this before. Violence is something that has been a part of him since he was a child.

And right now, even when she could be afraid of him, she isn't. She sees the boy behind the man, even if she isn't sure she's welcome to do so any longer. Her feet are moving before she really realizes it, shuffling and hobbling her way over to him. The amount of blood pouring out of the busted open spot above her eyebrow is ignored, and she drops a blood soaked hand away from the wound as she edges in closer.

Tears are falling, mixing with the blood that's covering her face. Despite the gun still in his hand, despite the look of murder in his eyes, she goes to him. And as soon as she's in close enough she launches herself forward, collapsing against him. Her arms wrap around him as tight as they possibly can, and she lets out a shaky breath she didn't realize she had been holding until that moment.]

They weren't very nice.

[She's referring, of course, to the Bouldersnakes that attacked and injured her. Clara's in shock at the moment, her words coming out numb and detached. The injury's enough to put her in that state, but the fact she actually tried shooting and hurting one of the bandits has sent her over the edge. She's so in over her head out here in this fight that she's terrified. He'll feel as much with the way she's trembling like a leaf caught in the wind up against him, a choked sob muffled by the way she presses her face against his chest.]

[kovach]

[ he doesn't think about the image he paints, about the violence of the man standing here tonight, soaked in blood and drawing more. kovacs already knows who he is, from the moment he lifted that gun at twelve years old and shot his father in the neck. the day after that, his stack was placed into the body of a man to be turned into a killer — no, not turned into, but simply trained in what he had already embodied, a magnet for violence and death. it never mattered if it pulled the trigger or not.

somewhere quell's voice calls out, This is what you do, love. Stride across the centuries and death follows, churning in your wake.

but when he turns away from the latest corpse in his count, it isn't quell's ghost he sees, instead seeing clara suddenly in front of him, surprised to see her so close, so willing, the feral craze of his eyes softening to light shock when her arms embrace him, pulling him down to her.

all at once, the sound of war quiets and he thinks he could hear her heart beat. the fight in him stills if only for a moment as he remembers what he's been fighting for, why this deal matters so much.

Tell me what I gotta do to save Clara Oswald.

she trembles against his chest, his own arms stiff before his fingers loosen, the gun dropping from his grasp. barely even thinking about it, he wraps himself around her, arm across her back, the other bringing his blood-stained fingers to her hair to tuck her in to his collar. whatever arguments they've had in the past, all the declarations he'd made to keep her at a distance, trying to distinguish between what they were and what they could be to one another — none of it matters. ]

I got you. [ he whispers to the top of her hair as he cradles her close, an echo to the words he'd said to her on their first night together, the first night he loved her, the first night he knew he'd do anything to keep her safe.

with the bandits dead on the ground, their blood on his hands, he doesn't regret the violence, not if it keeps her alive. ]

[bossily]

[He says those words, and she hears them clearly, even with the way her heart is pounding and there's still a steady ringing in her ears. Those words serve to break her further, her arms tightening around him as she tries to hide the fact she's crying on him. Unlike previous times, these tears aren't because of sadness or fear. She's feeling an overwhelming sense of relief and happiness that he's even in a place he can say those words to her. She really had thought he hated her. That he would only speak to her when it came to mission business. That she had lost him forever.

But he's here, he's hugging her. He's speaking three of the most important words she's ever been told, knowing the weight they carry for the both of them. ]

I know.

[Her words echo that first night, sentiment no less strong even now that things are different. It might've been too soon to say them weeks ago. But now she's able to without any hesitation or immediate remorse.]

And I have you too.

[Not that he needs her to, but she's there. They're safe. Nothing's immediately attacking them. Her arms are around him, her tears mixing with the blood that's on her shirt thanks to her steadily bleeding head injury. Her head turns, cheek pressing against him. Her trembling is lessening, but isn't gone completely. It makes her feel weak, but he's someone she doesn't mind letting see the vulnerability behind the bravado. You can't hide from someone that you love, not when you've shown them exactly who you are when everything else is stripped away.]

Might've gotten blood on you though.

[As if that's the most pressing issue they're dealing with at the moment. ]

[kovach]

[ there's nothing he needs to say more than those words to signal to her the truth of what he's attempted to hide, the way he's tried to pretend that she hadn't mattered as much as she really did, as if he could possibly fool her somehow into believing it to be true. but the way he holds her suggests that months apart hasn't changed them, that when it comes to it, he'll be here to keep her safe, he'll hold her through the terrors that come for her, no matter the risk.

despite everything they've been through these months, and the secrets he's still hiding out of necessity, it feels almost like a weight lifted off of him for him to at least assure her of this.

he doesn't let her go for as long as she's clutching onto him, letting her sob for as much as she needs to, even if there's a part of him that's still trying to remain alert, to be cautious of anymore threats coming out to attack them. but while the coast is clear for the time being, he doesn't intend to move until she does. ]

I don't care. [ not about blood stains. not that he needs to tell her that. ] But are you hurt?

[bossily]

[The immense relief she feels when he doesn't pull right away is a weight lifted off her shoulders. A part of her wants to bring up the things she said, and how he couldn't possibly care if he actually thought those things. But his actions and the wild look in his eyes speak the truth plain enough, and she's not in the mood to play games.

That sort of chat can come at another time. Right now, she soaks up his comfort and the fact she hasn't lost him forever.

When he speaks she does eventually pull back, head tipping to look up at him.]

I hit the wall pretty hard.

[And her head is still steadily bleeding. She brings her fingers up to touch at warm blood and frowns. She genuinely has no idea if she's hurt or not, with the way her body is in shock. There's still a dull ringing in her ears, and her balance feels off. But she's sure she'll be just fine.]

I'm gonna assume it's normal to feel disoriented after that.

[kovach]

[ the relief in seeing her alive can only be enough for so long before he realizes there's more to worry about than just life or death, especially if her bleeding is any indication that she's not necessarily out of dangerous waters just yet. ]

Shit.

[ he mutters, drawing back so he can take a better look at it, bringing up his own fingers to check the state of the wound. ]

Not a concussion, is it? [ exterior wound is one thing, but if it knocked her out too hard, that wouldn't be a good sign. ] Let's get you inside somewhere so we can sit you down.

[bossily]

[All she can do is shrug in response to his question about a concussion. How is she supposed to know if she has one?]

My ears are still ringing. [She tells him instead, reaching up to rub at her ear.] And everything sounds like its in an echo chamber. I'm dizzy and fuzzy headed but not drowsy. That's a good sign, I wager.

[Her fingers curl around his wrist, giving her an anchor to hold onto as she tries leading the way. The only issue is, she's dazed and isn't sure where to go, especially since it feels like every single inch of the town is under attack.]

I'll follow. It's okay. [He doesn't have to worry about her doing anything stupid. Not right now.]