Chapter 4: Godless Prophets and the Migrant Flora (IC)

Feeling a bit more refreshed, he moves towards the next set of stairs and most likely andother set of bodies.

With nothing left to do here. Bazin exits the building and looks for another lead.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Bazin searched around the building hoping to find any signs of where the attacker/butchers went.
No luck, nothing so obvious as a bloody footprint nor as inconspicuous as a funny smell in a certain direction.....

Bazin finds a ton of bloody footprints and tracks given their abundance. But, as he already saw prevously, there is an area on the second floor that looks out to the building across the alley. The same building Bazin had seen movement in earlier; the same one that had the dumpster outside where he found is shock maul.

Bazin heads across the alley, in much the same ready stance as he had done previously.

Spoiler:

Bazin rounds the corner of the alleyway. 50 or so meters ahead of him, once again, was the main thoroughfare. There was movement up there too - lots of movement - but no one seemed to notice him at all as he stuck to the shadows. To his right, across the alley, is the dumpster in which he found the shock maul. Aside from his monoknife, it was the only weapon he carried.

Just to the left of that dumpster was the small area of chainlink fencing with what Bazin previously thought was a generator unit connected to the building with all the movement. That building also had a door that faced the alley.

Bazin could continue forward into the main thoroughfare; he could cross the alley to check out the generator; he could cross the alley to check out the door to the hab unit; or he could check out the manhole in the middle of the alley and see where that leads. Although that last option would no doubt make more noise than the others.

Bazin opted to go with the hab unit. He stalks across the alleyway and towards the open door.

He kept a white knuckle grip on the shock maul. It was the only thing he had to defend himself, and his flak armor had been torn to shreds, it was practically useless now.

He wondered if those mutants had Newt up ahead where all the commotion was.

If they hurt her he would die tearing them all down.

A quick check shows that the door was unlocked.

He opens the door slowly. The first sign he looked for was internal light, or the sound of movement.

He hoped for neither.

Once the door was open, he creeped inside....

It was dark inside. The bottom floor of this building was some sort of workspace. Bazin had opened the door into a dark room. It was a kitchen/meeting area of sorts, but no one was in here now. It led into the building, with doors leading to shoddy offices and conference rooms. There were windows just above waist height that allowed one to look inside... or out. This building was different than the ramshackle stores and sewers Bazin had seen. Whenever this level of Port Wander had been constructed, it was clear that this building was constructed with it. Somehow integral and needed, but to what purpose Bazin had no idea. Years of repair and use were evident everywhere one looked though. It had been some time since it had a proper caring for.

He knew that there were two floors above him. He remembered the second floor having the most activity, but he didn't quite consider himself lucky because he could hear voices from this floor...

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Bazin tried to listen for the source of the voices, possible numbers, state of readiness, ect. The voices were coming from the right-two of them.

No Choice. Its do or die. Tor, I'll probobly see you by the end of this day....

He holds the maul and begins moving down the short hallway towards the voices. His thumb hovered over the activation stud, ready to turn the concussion field on mid swing.....

Spoiler:

Bazin makes it past two sets of offices to a small wall that cuts the hallway in half (Bazin is crouched just past Room 20). It is made from plaster up to about waist height where it turns into glass that runs up to the ceiling.

Bazin sees the shadow cast of at least two figures up ahead (talking in the hallways that cuts left just after Room 19). As he gets into position, he notices that they stop talking to one another. His fatigue must have made him less stealthy than he thought. The shadows turn. They haven't seen him yet, but it was clear they were moving to investigate the source of the sound.

No stopping it now, he activates the concussion field and charges forwards, ready to hit whatever mutant jumped in front of him.

Round 0 - Surprise

Bazin moves forward hoping to catch the enemy by surprise, and he definitely does that. Two mutants stand in front of him, both armed with short barreled autoguns attached to their torsos with tactical straps.

The creature he meets doesn't have time to even put up its arms as Bazin swings straight for its head and connects with a resounding CRACK. A surge of power rushes into the creature's head, but the shock maul slides off the skull before it can really stagger it. The force of the blow does, however, knock the mutant to the ground.*

Round 1

BAZIN

+++
Bazin - 12
Mutant 1 - 12; in melee w/Bazin; prone, 5 damage
Mutant 2 - 10

*I made a change to the weapon's Concussive Quality since it and Shocking do the same shit as far as stunning people. Rather than making the creature test toughness TWICE to be stunned, it will only test toughness for shocking. The concussive still works, though, as it knocked him prone since damage was more than Strength bonus

Bazin didnt stop with just one hit. He swung again with all his frantic determination.

"Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?" he yells as he misses, hitting the permacrete floor in an explosive microcosm.

Spoiler:

Round 1 Continued

The mutant on the ground strikes upward, hoping to catch the crazed intruder with the barrel of its autogun. The barrel shoots out at Bazin's leg...

...Bazin cannot get out of the way. The force of the blow cuts deep into the leg, grinding against bone and tearing ligaments apart. The serrated flash suppressor of the barrel literally pushes in and out of Bazin's leg just above the knee, creating a horrendous wound. Bazin falls to the floor in bloody agony.

Critical 7 Leg:

The mutant not in melee with Bazin lifts his short barreled autogun at the prone Breacher, and holds down the trigger... luckily for Baz, just as he starts to squeeze, his right foot slips in the puddle of blood and the weapon is jerked up. A full auto burst sprays into the walls, tearing apart drywall and glass.

+++
Bazin - 12; 7 critical damage - leg, blood loss, 4 fatigue.
Mutant 1 - 12; in melee w/Bazin; prone, 5 damage
Mutant 2 - 10

*I made a change to the weapon's Concussive Quality since it and Shocking do the same shit as far as stunning people. Rather than making the creature test toughness TWICE to be stunned, it will only test toughness for shocking. The concussive still works, though, as it knocked him prone since damage was more than Strength bonus

Round 2

Bazin begins to feel the loss of blood acutely... his time for this world is not long now...

Spoiler:

Bazin felt something snap in his leg and the sudden heat took his breath away. He fell in slow motion to the permacrete, and there he saw his vision.

He saw it all in stark reality, but it wasn't real, it couldn't be. They were mutants, they should be burning in hell, and they were!
The saw it without hearing it, Their foul mouths were open in agonizing screams. Their purplish-blue skin became so hot it was melting as the flames licked up their bodies.
The mutant-wicks lit up the hallway, which itself was also transported to hell.

They thrashed in slow motion-liquid flame slung off his arms like soap suds and bathed even the flame with more fire. The first one slumps against the wall, motionless now. The fire drags the wick to the floor. The lifeless body fights the pull of inevitability, but succumbs in the end.
He didn't have to look to know the other mutant didn't escape hell.

He lay there in the inferno, no pain, no sounds. He couldnt move. It was only then he realized what happened....
They didn't just hit his leg, they hit one of the canisters he had just taken. It was a cannister of pressurized cooking liquid. It had sprayed everything, including his attackers, with liquid fire.
He tried to laugh, but the exhalation was without sound, only a thin cloud of ashes that must've once been his lungs.
His eyes closed, or started to melt, he wasn't too sure. All he knew was that his vision was going dark.



And there he died, alone, burning to ash in the calmness of a flame-wreathed hallway.
He would see Toreth soon, and that comforted him more than anything....