Event | Turtle Dive | January 20 - 23 | Underwater zombies crave your briiiiiines

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all PCs
Date: January 20th - 23rd
Location: All Sectors
Situation: Tu Vishan continues swimming along the ocean floor after his monumental dive, but it turns out there are a whole bunch of undead that want in on the party!
Warnings/Rating: Underwater situations, violence, potential gore; to be updated as noted.

>See the comments of this post for various situations and areas available for tagging.
>Each header will be set for a date and/or area.
>Feel free to start your own header for specific situations.
>The Palace subplot will be run in a separate log.
>Refer to the two OOC posts for further details. 01 | 02

Comments

[cmdreffingshepard]

Nice to meet you. [It's a sort of polite, meaningless thing, but she does sort of mean it, or would, if they didn't have civilians to worry about, and zombies.

She's itching to pull one of her guns again, but while the shotgun at least has more stopping power, she's more interested in keeping this guy as a (temporary) ally. He's smart, at least - quick and calm under fire, which is more than she can say for most civvies.

Another burst of blue energy knocks a couple of the husks away, and she ushers everyone forward.]

[cowled]

[Bruce nods in response to that but says nothing for the time being, casting his awareness out as far as he can. He's familiar enough with this city that he knows its noises, can pinpoint echoes and differentiate between the casual working din of an urban sprawl and the more sinister aspects thereof.

Working from the back of the crowd, he could theoretically slip away. Alternately, his communicator is in his pocket. Reinforcements are the literal press of a button away. And if he needed Clark--

Well, he could always yell for him. In the meantime, Bruce is hardly helpless. He has four thermite capsules sewn into the lining of his cuffs, enough to dispose of a baker's dozen of these creatures if he used them right, judged the circumstances exactly. There's a tripwire hidden in his belt, smoke pellets (ineffectual against these creatures, but they could provide him cover if he needed to fight) and a several ounces of explosives in the heel of one of his shoes. It's an inert material until properly primed, but he has a vial of the primer in his left breast pocket.

Shepard is the name of Miranda's commanding officer, and she wouldn't follow anyone less than worth it. So although Bruce doesn't like the idea of relying on someone else, he allots her a certain level of competency in all necessary contingency plans.

One of the kedan - just a child - stumbles, and Bruce stops to scoop her into his arms. There are six jiangshi behind them at a distance of three hundred meters. Seven-- no, eight ahead of them.

He hopes Shepard is as good as Miranda's faith.]

Your biotics. What can you do?

[cmdreffingshepard]

[He's definitely better-equipped than Shepard at this point - her armor and shielding is intact, but aside from her shotgun and pistol, it's just her and her biotics.

She keeps her eyes peeled - and sees the same numbers. She points the civvies to the cover of a nearby shop. It's been a while since she's put herself so much to the test - on one hand, it feels good. On the other, she's going to crash - hard - whenever this is over. Or maybe before it's over, but hopefully not.

She gives Wayne a look - he's smart, that's for sure, smarter than the average civvie. She judges the distance, then hurls a shockwave at the group coming up behind them - all but one are knocked aside, buying them some time.]

Basically, that. I can charge if I need to, get close to hit them with more power. Killed a few that way, but it's risky.

[cowled]

[He frowns slightly as she directs the kedan to take cover-- there's too many of them to sacrifice mobility for a showdown in the middle of the street. As a soldier's decision, it's practical. As a survivor's...

He surveys the building briefly - it's home to a restaurant and a small boutique, the proprietors live on the third and highest floor. Three ways in. Through the building, the external fire escape and the roof access.

Is it safe? No. Too many variables. The building construction is one of the older styles in Keeliai, thin walls and low ceilings. They'd be swarmed and overwhelmed by a sufficient number of enemies.

But standing here and fighting? While his hands are all but tied?

He shifts from one foot to another, tugs on a pair of gloves he had tucked into his pocket. Cross-woven silk - they look elegant and fancy but the lining is reinforced and stiffened across the palms and knuckles. It won't protect him if he miscalculates a blow and cuts his hand on the teeth of one of these creatures, but it'll at least minimize the chance of that happening. The only other thing he has on him is a flask of alcohol.]

I saw a movie once -- can your munition cartridges be broken down and used as a combustion source independently of their shells?

lalala pulling this out of my ass

[cmdreffingshepard]

[It's hardly a perfect plan, but it's really the best she's got, given the circumstances and the number of civilians they're currently herding.]

We can cut through and get out the other side before they have a chance to regroup - [She gives him another Look at his statement, because what even?]

Are you sure you saw that in a vid? [She has so few thermal clips, she's reluctant to use one, and anyway -] You have to have an accelerant.

[cowled]

There's no rear exit in this building. Though I suppose we could make one.

[He says that with a faint air of apology.]

Hm? Yes, of course-- Rambo, I think. The one where he cauterizes a wound with a--

[He's really just rambling as part of his cover identity.]

Sorry, I'm-- I talk when I'm nervous. Bad habit. Forget I said anything. Into the building?

[cmdreffingshepard]

No rear exit? What kind of planet is this? [She mutters it to herself, but herds them all inside anyway. Shepard is nothing if not good at improvising with limited knowledge and resources. She hurls another shockwave out, knocking the zombies back, then concentrates some of her biotic energy to create a barrier outside the door they just came in.

It won't hold for too long, but she hopes it'll delay them a few minutes at least.]

[cowled]

It's less a planet, more a turtle, actually -- at least that's all we've really been permitted to explore, if you ignore that brief stint in the mainland.

[Bruce sets down the little kedan girl he'd been carrying, fumbles around, finds one of the oil lamps and tries to light it with the clumsy strike of a match. He drops it, reaches down to reclaim it while twisting his heel just so-- he palms the explosives he has hidden there and straightens to properly light the lamp. The kedan are silent, terrified, crowded into one corner. It makes them an easier target, but somehow he doesn't think telling them that will actually help.

If he primes the explosives, throws the oil lamp at it, it'll bring the entire shopfront down. Enough to trap the jiangshi.]

I don't suppose you could... make one? I'm not really one for property damage.

[cmdreffingshepard]

An explosive? [She sighs, and stares at her thermal clips. Does she really want to waste precious heat sinks for that?

But of course, in the end, it's the only answer - saving civilians is worth using up some of her ammo.

She pulls her gun, and gives Bruce an apologetic look - she has to fire it, to get it hot enough - three shots of her pistol at a wall that looks like it's cement, then pops it out, dropping it on the floor below a window - a structural weak spot - well away from the huddled, fearful kedan.]

Matches?

[cowled]

[He tosses the box of matches - all but two, which he conceals in his palm with a bit of sleight of hand - in a clumsy underhand. As soon as she turns away, he'll work his own magic.]

[cmdreffingshepard]

[The match - well, if she were back home, she'd have a lot better equipment to use, so it's just not as good as she wishes it could be, but it definitely opens a hole.

Of course, the zombies will hear it and come running, too.]

[cowled]

[Except, oops! Guess the explosion destabilized the structural integrity of the building because the front of the store - well away from Bruce and Shepard and the kedan - collapses shortly thereafter. Gosh what a weird coincidence. Bruce is coughing in the sudden flood of plaster dust.]

Oh my god, what happened? Was that you? You could have warned us!

[He actually sounds a little freaked out this time, albeit it's the sort of 'freaked out' of someone working ever-so-diligently to try and contain it.]

[cmdreffingshepard]

[She studies him carefully, almost as though suspicious, though she does buy his story. Then she glances at the - well the bigger hole than expected, and shakes her head.]

Must've caught a load-bearing wall. Come on, let's get these people to the safe house.

[cowled]

[He is all innocence, Shepard. But he nods, still coughing and waving his hand in front of his face as he fumbles for the silk handkerchief in his pocket to cover his mouth.]

R-right.

[AND THEN HE WAS USHERING THE KEDAN OUTSIDE and what is his life he doesn't like today and cannot wait until he can sneak away to get his suit.]