Tarran Smith "We should split up, but as little as possible, so we can cover this room more quickly and so we can flank enemies if they only attack one of our groups. First, someone close those doors so no one sneaks up behind. Dom, James, stay close. Ashley, lead your squad and Taric to the right, we'll go to the left. Make sure you don't aim your light in one direction for too long, don't let any potential ambushers get any opportunities. Don't go too far, either."
Frowning at the dark beyond the range of your light you exchange a brief couple of words with the leader of the other group, suggesting that you split the pair of lights up into two groups and come at the room in a pincer. She nods slowly, seeing the value of having a light source, and perhaps a hostage if things get rough.
Your Groups split in two, ready for whatever is coming.
Tarran Smith, Dominique Wakeman, James EvanGo down the right. Make sure to constantly patrol the light around. Also, get an SMG out and into my left hand.[/b]
"You sure, boss?" Dom asked nervously. It was true Taric was the only other guy with a light, but he was kind of a pencil-necked geek when it came down to it. If the other three were to turn on him - and she still wasn't sure they wouldn't yet - he wouldn't be able to fight them off. "Maybe you should hand me or James the light and keep Taric with you," she said. "But it's your call, if that's what you wanna do, then OK." She'd stated her opinion, that was all she could do. For now she stayed by Tarran's side, kneeling by a corpse to search it.
"I don't think they're hostile. If they wanted to kill us they might have done it already." James followed the plan Tarran made, pulling out his Renfield and loading it.
Your group waits on Dom searching one of the corpses before heading on. [Luck 6][Observation 4] Like all the others the corpse has rotted severely, breaking apart as you prod through its clothes with your pistol. Not much is left besides a powerful stench, jellied flesh, and... a couple metallic items in its pockets. A [Int 5] three inch long memory card as wide as your pinky, and couple of useless trinkets, scraps of metal with bits of torn cloth that used to be something nice once upon a time. Showing your find to Tarran you continue on with the group, Following Tarran while James postulates, of course you point out to him that so far the only 'they' were the corpses, rotten bodies aren't likely to cause trouble.
Your group moves forward, Tarran keeping the light moving to avoid unpleasant surprises in the dark. In the shine from your light you catch a bit of dull reflection, curious you investigate it. The shine turns out to be a pond, or what's left of one. The reservoir is less than half-full, and what's left is thick with scum. This explains why everything in here rotted instead of drying out. Around the lake is a thin path, it would have been quite pretty if the water was clear and the grass was green. And if it you know, lacked the corpses. Other than that you don't see anything interesting, bodies, dead trees, putrid water, just another day in paradise.
---
Ashley Fey, Taric Sizier"You know this silence is unnerving, i would almost be more comfortable if we were fighting, let's Not split up ok" Ashly and her men walk carefully through the garden, sticking with the others and on the lookout for anything that may shed some light on what happened here "Also unless the guys out there died of a different cause than the ones in here, i don't think it was dehydration"
"Ohhhh, Found a datapad, bit broken but nothing I can't fix" Pick it up and keep moving.
Taric fiddles with his new shiny while your group heads to the side opposite Tarran's group. After Ashley voices her skepticism of the dehydration analysis Jordan shrugs.
"Six one way, half-dozen another. These probably starved, same root cause. One had no water, and corpses to eat, so dehydration. This is a lot harder to tell for certain, rot obliterates a lot of the obvious wounding, still... " He trails off as you walk, looking at another of the bodies as you pass.
"If they lost power then they should have been able to get a signal to somewhere, hard to believe that the built a place with a chapel and a garden and it doesn't include a landing pad or a dedicated comms that runs on emergency power. Even if they couldn't get a signal out, couldn't take off, and couldn't restore emergency power they shouldn't have died like this... People would have walked if they had to, hell, they should have had the standard issue six month emergency supplies, and an S and R team should have checked this place out after a month of no signal. This makes no damn sense."Your group pauses as Taric sweeps his light over a patch of what seems to be graves, though caved in tops indicate their shallowness as well as the desiccation of their occupants. Behind them is just a low ditch, partially filled with old bodies and the off brown slime of liquefied flesh. Apparently people stopped bothering with burial some time after the first several started dying. [Intuition 3+1] Taric, being the only man to even consider diving into a ditch full of corpse and corpse slime, doesn't think there's going to be anything useful in the ditches or the graves. If you take the time to bury a man, even in the slightest degree, you're going to have the time to go through his pockets for anything useful. [Observation 3] You don't notice anything else, but you feel that you're missing something...
The Voice[Luck Roll 2] Tarran's radio crackles back on, the sudden noise in the grim silence makes everyone twitch for a weapon on reflex.
"I apologize for the interruption, we have been having an... internal discussion." The Voice is different now, tone, the way it shapes words, it now seems professional, almost detached. A sharp break from the insanity of your previous conversation.
"I apologize for not fostering the best relationship between us, things get difficult at times. You and your newest compatriots enjoying the scenery?" As it speaks you manage to resist the urge to whip around and look for something that's been watching you. Either it is very good at guesswork, or it knows that you picked up a few more people.
When you find whoever thinks it's a good idea to taunt you from the other end of a radio you're going to bash his head into a wall repeatedly. Or leave him alone with Taric for an hour.
(Dom Gets Item, Memory Chip)
Author
Topic: Deviation-22. The End of All Things. (Read 528321 times)