Chapter V
Goodnight Urist!
"It ain't home..." Urist muttered as he entered the cave "But it will do."
Tired and weary, Urist laid down on the stone floor. It's the first time he laid down since he left the Desert Devil's hideout. He walked inside the cave, it was surprisingly narrow, but he managed to squeeze through if he turned sideways. Once he reached the end he saw a hole of some sort. Better go down it, be farther from the entrance.
He came down into a wider section of the cave. Jackpot! He can make a fire now! Laying down a few corpses that he had gathered along the way he readied his cleaver that he nabbed off of a villager. This was the life, living the dream, isolated away from everybody. Relying on nobody. Then he noticed the cave continued to go deeper. Shrugging his shoulders he deposited his bag and walked down the steep incline.
He entered an even bigger section of the cave. As he walked by he heard a small crunch. Looking down he saw a small crushed bone, probably from a cat, but it could have been just one of those large rats he's heard about.
Shrugging his shoulders he took two more confident steps before the wind shuttered over his hair.
Urist jumped what was that? He whirled around, and turned again. Then it hit him, something killed that cat. Whatever it was, it swooped downwards again. Urist stood still, breathing heavily as sweat wet his brow like a sponge on a stone table.
"Ya' know what?" Urist said to himself as he took two steps back. "I'm going to sleep outside." With that he ran, grabbing his backpack and the corpses on his way out.
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Urist sat in the hole, he used some turkey skin to make a makeshift cover. Silently he sat there threading the needle. He was never good at sewing. Even though he did it frequently in his childhood. His old worn out waterskin wouldn't hold enough water for the two more days he had to travel. Finally as the thread decided to go into the bone needle. He began using some groundhog skin
Not bad, he thought as he pulled out a cigar. He hadn't had one since he left home. But now, things were finally looking up.
Perhaps the poorly ventilated hole wasn't the
best place to light the cigar. Smoke erupted and quickly filled the small den. Urist didn't mind though, and slowly went to sleep as the sun went down.
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Urist never liked forests, to many places to hide. To many unseen enemies behind every tree and over every hill. It was always the trees. As he continued on his unmarked path he heard a distant snap. He stopped, frozen cold as his mind raced at what possibilities he could be facing. Cougar? Lion? Enraged Badger? Or Armok forbid, Wolves?
Finally after a short silence , a single swordsman in the unmistakeable Desert mask emerged from the underbrush.
Urist stood in shock as his hand went for his crossbow.
"I wouldn't do that..." Came a raspy feminine voice
Urist snapped around, seeing a pistol pointed at him.
Ducking behind the tree, he heard a shot crash against the branch.
Luck seemed to smile upon Urist a lot though, the swordsman charged towards him, but tripped over some tangled roots of a nearby willow tree. Gathering all his might, Urist ran back, and delivered one fatal shot to the head.
Grabbing the mans machete he darted off again, as another bullet blew a treetrunk apart. Sending splinters into the air. Fear replaced any courage he once had. A crossbow against a gun was like showing up to a racetrack with a scooter. Another bullet shot past him, his heart jumped, this man was getting better.
As he jumped over a hill, he laid flat against a shallow cliff. Praying to every god he knew as the Pistolman ran by, shooting at ghosts. Urist laid there for several hours, but eventually, he had to leave. He traveled away from the forests, vowing never to go back to that wasteland.
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Tired and about to collapse, Urist found a hill with a steep enough cliff that he could sleep under. That nagging voice came back, the one voice that said "At least light a fire or something" before he drifted off.
He was awakened, a loud screech filled the forest. Urist jolted awake and grabbed his machete and ran out of the cave. He saw several giant badgers run away, those things never retreat. What could they be possibly...
Urist's face turned cold, what is that...
He walked up to it and nudged the still lump... It was some sort of imp, a winged huminoid with fangs the size of a small knife. Urist had never seen anything like it. As the burnt red eyes remained still, Urist ran from the beast.
-----
Even though the clouds covered the night sky he made it to a small hamlet, hopefully they haven't learned about his previous actions. With a leather mat blanket hastily sewn with one of his skins drenched over his head. He ran out of the rain and into a dry hut.
The leather jacket, the cigar in hand armed to the teeth and possibly more. All pointed at him. He had stumbled upon Warlord domain. Breathing out as the man lowered his pistol he walked over to the door and locked it.
"Name's Alabaster." He said offering a hand "Glad to see your one of us, and not." He looked out the door. "Them..."
Urist grabbed the man, still puffing from the run "There's something out there!" He yelled as fast as he could
"Slow down bullseye." He said waving a hand "Now what's going on?"
"Fantastic!?" Urist yelled waving his arms frantically "There was a monstrosity out there! And that's 'Fantastic'?"
The man sat in the corner "Yeah, we know. Everyone knows, nobody wants to admit it but they know. It's the night you see, it hides things. Those zombies aren't the worst of it you see. When this entire thing happened, there were 'prototypes'." Urist nodded his head, partly because he was tired, partly because he never like history "Aye, your tired. Listen, I'll cut to the chase. We could use more saps like you. Tell you what, you can sleep here for the night, but you gotta do somethin' for us." Urist looked up "Just a small favor. We'll start you out small...
"Pest control?" Urist said holding up his crossbow "You're armed better then I am."
Raising an eyebrow the Warlord cracked a smile "Well then, taking off a bigger bite aye? I like that, try this one...
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:::QUESTIONS:::
So what'll it be?
A. Go for the Cougar*
B. Go for the Night Creature
C. Ask again all mighty 8-ball [edit : to clarify, ask for another quest.]
D. Other?
*Cougars (and other predatory felines) are a lot more powerful in Corrosion, they get enraged super easily, it won't be as easy to fight as it sounds.
Author
Topic: The First Corrosion Community Adventure! (Read 16070 times)