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

[winscenario]

[ Jim is on the brink of panicking for a moment there. Bones is howling in pain, bleeding even more once they get him laid out properly, and if he thought the details on Bones's injury would help, well, he was wrong.

But he can't panic, not now. He has to summon all the focus and force he has as Captain, pushing down all the fears and worries, along with the suddenly vivid memory of Pike stretched out too, not much unlike Bones, burying all of that deep and approaching the entire situation with a degree of detachment instead.

With a sucked breath, he nods. ] Got it.

[ He takes the protoplaser, listening to the description of the injury, and waiting for the second or two it takes for Clara to clear the view for him. She does an excellent job at it, which is great considering Jim's lack of experience in these situations. He's had training, sure, but it never really prepares you for the real thing.

Especially when the person bleeding out happens to be your own husband. ]

Yes. I can do this, [ He shoots Clara a look. ] Just keep it clear for me.

[ He leans in just so, then starts working, his hands indeed very steady as he aims the protoplaser towards the wound to seal it shut. The first step in a long process of healing, but it's possibly the most important, as it'll at least stop Bones from dying in a matter of minutes or possibly even seconds. ]

[homeostatic]

( Bones keeps his eyes on the wrap's holoscreen, digesting the (backward) readout with a critical eye as Clara holds it carefully and Jim starts to work. Reluctant to have left the wound uncovered, even knowing he has to, Leonard drops his trembling hand over Jim's knee and squeezes tightly, anchoring himself to him. )

Slow passes, ( he confirms, just as Jim's doing exactly as he's supposed to, his work reflected in the holo: the torn blood vessels clot at last and begin to knit. Critical alerts start winking out on the screen, and for a second Leonard's breath hitches, nothing to do with the pain.

I'm not gonna die. ) That's it.

[winscenario]

[ No, Leonard's not gonna die, not if Jim has any say in it. And he's definitely not letting it happen, he's not going to let him down.

The work is precise, even if it lacks the skill and finesse of someone more experienced. Out on the field, though, it'll do; hopefully they won't be here much longer and Bones can get properly treated back on the station, but for now the main purpose is to keep him alive.

He lets out a deep, shaky breath of his own as the critical alerts start quieting down, allowing himself to close his eyes for a brief moment as he finishes closing the artery. He looks to Clara then. ]

We need to clean this up. See if I can stitch it up next.

[ He can't do much better than that; there's a good chance the wound will infect, but they have nothing to remedy that out here. He glances to Bones then, managing a weak smile. ]

Don't think you'd get rid of me that easy.

[bossily]

[She's holding the screen as steady as she can given the fact her hands are shaking even more after Leonard's breathing hitches. The critical alerts that flash make her want to cry, but she's got to hold it in. She has to be strong now, just like Jim is doing. So she gives a brief nod in response to getting their patient cleaned up, keeping the screen held steady in one hand while digging through the medkit to find the proper supplies to clean things up.

Thankfully, she's able to grab hold of some things, but the blood on her hands likely ruins the cleanliness of them. That's no matter now, they can worry about treating infection once they get back to the station.

For Clara, the matter of finding the orb so they can go back has been escalated to a critical situation. The sooner she can help get it done, the better.]

Nah, you're not going anywhere.

[It's spoken to Leonard, as she begins setting out the supplies for Jim to use for cleaning. As soon as her hand is empty, she reaches out to brush back Leonard's hair off his forehead. She's smiling in that way she does when she thinks it may be goodbye, a bittersweet but resilient gesture to show that everything's just fine. She and Jim, they've got this handled. Even if he's the one doing all of the work.]

We'll all be laughing about this in a month or so. Just you wait.

[Not that a critical, life threatening injury is anything to laugh about. But she's trying her best to be soothing and calm. And needs to say these things out loud for herself as well as for them.

While Jim works at preparing the area for stitches, she dips back into the medkit to pull out the proper supplies for a good suturing. She easily finds the little packaged kit, pulling out the needle drivers and forceps. There's a needle and thread in there too, and she works to prepare passing the thread through that needle. When it's all nice and ready, she sets aside the screen so both she and Jim can see, and slides over to hold the tools they'll need moving forward. ]

[aurable]

Leonard...Leonard —

[ Just as Megatron begs him off, does Drift really sees the extent of the damage one stray shot could havoc. The corners of his vision bleed to white as he hovers like the canopy of a weeping willow. Watching Clara and the others scramble just to keep a few arteries from pumping in the wrong direction.

At the mouth of the valley, where they huddled at the end of the backstreet between the wreckage of the inn and general store, the familiar hum of a weapon cut through. Just at the end of the alley as the lone, enterprising Bouldersnake with a pulsefire file drawn and pointed squarely and Clara and the rest.

— Worse yet, he matched him inch for inch.

Drift pressed his hands into the shadow-cooled, and tightly packed dirt under the shadows of the old buildings and roared. With the pivotal motion gained on all fours, Drift launched himself off his heels. One sword was drawn as he wildly threw his free hand out to grab the 'Snake by the throat. Snapping, growling, and corraling the Snake into an abandoned corral Drift threw all his weight into the assault before sinking his teeth into an exposed neck. Ripping out tender flesh before calling back, ]

Finn—! You go south. Get them out of here!

[hatejakku]

[ Finn had confidence in Megatron's expertise and the other's skills in remaining calm under pressure. More than that, he had a job to do that didn't allow him to hover or glance back in worry, even when McCoy cried out from being lifted to the tank. They'll handle it. He knew that.

He had the northwest corner of the tank covered when the whine of a pulsefire weapon sounded from behind, forcing adrenaline and no small amount of panic to kick in. But no sooner than he lifted his gun for the kill, Drift-... Well. Ripped the man's throat out. With his teeth.

And Finn thought he was being excessive for choking someone a few hours ago.

It did do one thing, aside from remove that particular threat: Scare the hell out of any Bouldersnakes who just saw that. Many of them began to scatter except for some who were brave, stupid, or just didn't even notice. It still helped, though.

He turned south, quickly picking off two stragglers. ]

I'll clear a path!

[ The 'hurry' is implied, but Finn also figures they're going as fast as they can. Either way, he starts moving, trying to keep what ground they've managed to gain in the chaos somewhat secure. He's just one man but he only has to hold it until they're done. ]

[homeostatic]

Wasn't tryin'.

( For a second he manages the tiniest smile, brimming with tremulous, exhausted relief.

And then all hell breaks loose.

Drift's roar reignites the powder keg of adrenaline in Leonard's newly-healed veins. The flinch is instinctive, a spasmodic flail that turns into attempting to shove himself in any direction via the bracing angle of Jim's knee, weak as a kitten and getting utterly nowhere for his efforts. )

Lord have mercy--

[winscenario]

[ It's hard not to get distracted by the commotion, his eyes lifting away from his work, trying to figure out what the hell's even happening anymore. It's a messy, gruesome scene, but Jim's attention doesn't linger for long, not when Leonard's suddenly moving again, flinching and then practically slumping against him. ]

Leonard! Stop moving, right now. Stop— just lie down and stay still.

[ Making sure Bones hasn't somehow made the injury worse all over again, he whips his head around, yelling out. ]

He can't move right now! We're still not done, [ He pauses, breathing heavily. He wouldn't encourage Drift to keep fighting right now, not when he's clearly affected by all this, but it's not like they have any other options right now. ] Can you hold them off a little longer?

[flickerandfade]

Doctor McCoy. The situation is under control.

[ Carefully, Megatron sets the medical tricorder on the deck of the tank next to Jim. The holoform glances between Jim and Clara. ]

I think you have the situation in hand. If you'll excuse me, I'll get us out of here--

[ And the holoform winks out of existence with a fizzle of fading light. Beneath them, the engine of the tank roars and the vehicle lurches into motion, hurrying down the dusty street away from the encroaching Bouldersnakes. ]