NationStates Jolt Archive

Iuthia is a large nation, easily comparing to a nation the size of Russia and many forests of this nation have been stripped of their valuable resources and have become barren waste lands, however, much of the wilderness has yet to be searched and as Iuthia slowly expands to fit it’s peoples needs it finds itself delving deeper into the unknown rain forests of Umbar.

Recently reports have been handed to the Iuthian leadership stating that workers (loggers) are becoming increasingly worried about attacks on their equipment and themselves by what they are currently describing as “wild dogs”. No confirmed sightings of these dogs have been made but some people who claim to know about these sorts of things suggest that large wild dogs are involved.

This “situation” had been thrown aside with little additional assistance due to increasing problems with international issues; however recent events have forced the leadership’s hands. People are missing and only their buttons were found in this recent attack.

As such the Iuthian leadership is constructing a team of professionals to be able to deal with anything they should encounter while searching for these missing workers.

So far they have:

Ken Jenter – Biologist / Environmentalist
Helen Wyman – Animal Behaviourist
Jenson Kyleston – Wildlife Expert
Morrie Jones – Anthropologist

Escorted by a team of six Iuthian Commandoes with some experience within the jungle environment. However, they are looking for some outside help with more experience as both the experts and military personnel are somewhat… green, Iuthia hasn’t been in any wars for well over 100 years and wildlife means very little to Iuthia in general so we are hoping for some assistance… one way or the other they are going to find out what’s happening to their loggers.


OOC: Best I could do at 2.30am in the morning but basically I’m running a open (for the time being) role-play that will be something along the lines of predator-like environment where the party will likely be taking causalities, more or less depending on how they act. As such I suggest that if you want in on this thread (I’m going somewhere with it… though it will take a couple threads) then you maybe shouldn’t take anyone you will want for future RP, you chancing of dying in this thread are reasonably high.

That said, I don’t mind you using any race or any tech below year 2050 (near future, no uber scan equipment please) though I will not accept vampires because we will be moving in the day, not the night. Please state your general equipment as well, like guns and specialist stuff… the rest is assumed, bear in mind you will have to carry food and so on so not too much stuff please.

Current Nations Joining in on the Search:

Foolish Pesants *
Ilek-Vaad
Starblaydia
Cyberutopia
Sigma Octavus
Taiwan (not confirmed)
Aelosia
Indian Casino Operator

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Run by a friend with little access to the internet, so I'll RP his soldiers or seperate them into a group with those who want to take their time...

OOC: Why do I have the feeling Ents are involved?

OOC: Nope, while I must admit, that would be pretty cool, I don't intend on using anything out of Tolkien's LotR nor World of Darkness. This is something different.

OOC:Count Me In....

To assist our neighbours in their search of remaining jungles, The government of Foolish Pesants will assist by, sneding a 4 man Team of the average Foolish GI,consisting of:

Captain, Jim Hopper
Sargent, Jose Kushain
Comms, Ulbar Hosstein
Trooper, Rick Koffman

As For the team, well, they'll be carrying

Standard Foolish MkII Rifle
9mm Sidearm
Unobtanium Short sword
Medkit
A Locator Beacon
2 Frag Grenades each
Standard Pack(Food, Survival gear ect.)
(No body armour, Too bulky :( )

We hope that this will help in solving this problem:

Reilock Coratha

OOC: Sure, me and Ste came up with this one, it's one of our better idea's and we have a overall plan involved... lets just say that this is like a Iuthian R&D thread. Becuase it will have that sort of overall effect.

When I've got some time (I'm off tomorrow) I will get ready to get this thread moving, but works been a little more watchful of my usage as of late.

[INN - Special News Report]

A multi-national investigation begins today into the recent disapearances of logging personnel in the Umbar rain forrest. Logging has been halted as a result of these disapearances and equipment has been left behind by workers of the large corperation, Hacksaw Ltd.

As part of the investigation a team of wildlife experts has been sent in to examine evidence and search for the missing loggers with the aid of forces from both Foolish Pesants and our own Iuthian troops. Meanwhile crimescene investigators will look into the possiblity that environmentalist could be involved.

However, this is seen highly unlikely due to evidence of "large dog like creatures" seen by some of the retreating loggers. It can only be hoped that the missing personnel of Hacksaw Ltd. will still be alive when they are found.


In other news, tensions between Whispering Voices and the Iuthian Government are rising after recent events, tune in after the break to watch our in depth analysis of the political situation.

[Bump - I know it's an old thread, but this is a pet project I want to make sure I don't lose and I'm probably going to RP this later tonight.]

*tag*

Too tired to write a decent RP...

To: Operations Commander
From: Operations Medical Advisor
Subject: Check-up Results
Message:

Commander Falkner,

As requested I have compiled the medical check-up results for each soldier and civilian for "Operation: Hound Dog" and as far as medical science is concerned these people are completely fit for this operation and should have the stamina required for such a patrol through the fit forest of Umbar.

However, while the results of our own people have been satifactory we have noted that the results on the Foolish Pesant GI's seem to suggest genetic manipulation on a level we could not have imagined.

Their results, along with everyone elses are included in this attachment: [Attachment: R001] I have highlighted the areas of conciderable note in comparison to our own Commandoes.

As the results show the soldiers from Foolish Pesants are not only fit enough for the exercise, but they are well beyond expectations. Their eye-sight is perfect, their reflexs are astonishingly fast and thier stamina surpassed the test themselves. It is clear that these men are likely to be the result of a Genetic Engineering project in Foolish Pesants that is well beyond our own conventional methods, if I may I would like to request that our Diplomatic Corps starts inquiring into this technology and how deep the project goes in their nation.

However, I am happy to report that despite these astounding results these men are fully capable (on a medical level) for this operation.

Thanks,

Dr. Hans Groober
Iuthian Medical Corps.

Ilek-Vaad would like to offer assistance to our friends in Iuthia. Our Hunter and Twisted Serpent Armies are both wilderness specialist forces. It would be no problem to loan to you the use of one or two of them to aid in your reconaissance and exploratory mission. Please let us know if you do indeed require addirional assistance.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ilek-Vaad

Starblaydia wishes to send a small group of personnel to aid your forest inquiries. Our Group shall consist of:

Experts:
Jules De Brionne: Noted Biologist and TV Animal show Presenter
Albert 'Al' White: Nature Journalist/Photographer
Military:
Lieutenant Rhaerys Brax
Corporal Quinn Farlander

Both of these men are part of our Special Forces 'Venator' (Hunter) Group, these picked because of their jungle survival experience, carrying knives, pistols, light AUG-A1 rifles, flares, rations, tents etc.

OOC: Seeing as I'm going to start this either today or (more likely) tomorrow I would like to just warn you guys that any character put into this RP is running the very high risk of death... so if you have any problem with heavy losses then this isn't the RP for you.

I'll try to keep it realistic in the way an action film is realistic seeing as the story comes first... but I'll also give you chance to RP your own reactions to whats out there and reward interesting/inteligence RP... that said it's important to note that it's my thread my rules because I have a plot in mind which requires people to die but some to survive...

((Cool, high risk RP. I'm in.))

The archeology expert Calypso D'air wishes to embark on this journey with the Iuthian and other forgien explorers. She has a good reputation with the rest of the Scientific Committee, and is widely respected by the populace of our country. She fully realizes the great danger that goes hand in hand with this expedition, but will have to rely on the skills of the escorts in the case of a serious attack, as she has no specific military training. We dearly hope that Miss D'air will be accepted for this project.

The Scientific Committee
Doctor Dyan Pire
"Damn, I knew I should have labeled these flasks."

((Cool, high risk RP. I'm in.))

The archeology expert Calypso D'air wishes to embark on this journey with the Iuthian and other forgien explorers. She has a good reputation with the rest of the Scientific Committee, and is widely respected by the populace of our country. She fully realizes the great danger that goes hand in hand with this expedition, but will have to rely on the skills of the escorts in the case of a serious attack, as she has no specific military training. We dearly hope that Miss D'air will be accepted for this project.

The Scientific Committee
Doctor Dyan Pire
"Damn, I knew I should have labeled these flasks."

To: All nations volunteering assistance.
From: Central Command, Iuthia Prima, Iuthia
Subject: Operation Breifing
Message:

Respected leaders,

Firstly we would like to thank you all for offering our nation assistance in this matter, it warms our hearts to think to hear that others are willing to assist our forces in the search for the missing loggers and workers.

We send this E-mail to inform you of a briefing to be held tomorrow upon your arrivals into the nation of Iuthia. This briefing will take place to co-ordinate this search in the best way possible and our experts will be open to suggestions.

It will also allow use to totally number our foriegn forces and split the number into groups (as a single large group of 30 is not practical in a Jungle environment), your men coupled with our own will be conducting the main search at the advisement of those with expertise in the field. We will also be delagating leadership to those with the most experience in survival in such an environment.

Meanwhile additional forces have been mobilised to protect over industies in the area and we are assured that they should be safe from any further attacks from the wild. We are also conducting minor searchs on the more open areas near the edge of the forest, however no evidence has currently been found to suggest the condition or location of our missing people.

We hope that, if you are still willing, we will see your people there to advise our own... we have had mild experience with the environment but generally our people don't take interest in more academic matters concerning the forest and as such we have limited civilian expertise in this field.

Thanks for your offers of assistance, we hope to see you tomorrow.

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/iuthia.jpg

Foriegn Minister Mick Lakely, Iuthian Diplomatic Corps
Urbanites (http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/page=display_region/region=Urbanites)

Apply for an Embassy in Iuthia (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127023&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0)
OOC Information on Iuthia (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=109898&highlight=)

OOC: I will be closing this thread tomorrow at the IC briefing, which is taking place to confirm nations who want to join in... feal free to hop in on this (providing you have either neutral or good relations with Iuthia) but tomorrow is the last chance if anyone wants in.

We would like to send a research team.

Jake Griffon -Wildlife Behavior expert
Equipment:
Field study kit
Combat Knife

Max Barr -Planet Bioligist
Equipment:
Field study kit
Saw
Swiss Army Knife
Binoculars

Roman Ivanov -Survival Expert
Equipment:
Hatchet
Binoculars
Hunting rifle

Sgt. Mason Milut -SOET commando
Equipment:
Survival pack (MREs, blanket, change of clothes, Tarp, 40yds of nylon cord, Climbing gear, flashlight, GPS)
G36S Assault Rifle
SOCOM pistol
Flak Jacket
BDUs
Combat Knife
Multi-Use Goggles (Night-vision, thermal, sonar vision)

Pvt. Jennifer Reed -SOMI soldier
Equipment:
Survival pack (MREs, blanket, change of clothes, Tarp, 40yds of nylon cord, Climbing gear, flashlight, GPS)
M4A1 Assault rifle
Glock-17
BDUs
Combat Knife
Night-vision Goggles

Pvt. Keller Montague -SOMI soldier
Equipment:
Survival pack (MREs, blanket, change of clothes, Tarp, 40yds of nylon cord, Climbing gear, flashlight, GPS)
M4A1 Assault rifle
Glock-17
BDUs
Combat Knife
Night-vision Goggles
Radio Pack

Pvt. Jeremy Seraphic -SOMI soldier
Equipment:
Survival pack (MREs, blanket, change of clothes, Tarp, 40yds of nylon cord, Climbing gear, flashlight, GPS)
M4A1 Assault rifle
Glock-17
BDUs
Combat Knife
Night-vision Goggles

OOC: High risk? Meh, kill all of mine if needed :D The world could use a few less Steve Irwin-types :twisted:

IC:

The Government-chartered Gulfstream IV was in the air towards Iuthia, with four special passengers on board.

Lieutenant Rhaerys Brax, a large, determined man with a crew-cut and a permanently stern look, checked the action on his rifle. The clicking was unnerving for the two civilians

Al White, a chubby, balding photographer who made his name with pictures of tree monkeys, looked over at the Lieutenant.

"Do...um, do you have to do that, Mr Brax?" he asked, nervously

"Just keeping you safe, sir. Rabid Dogs or otherwise, we'll be in country in a different country."

"The el-tee doesn't take any risks, Mr White." said his corporal.

Corporal Quinn Farlander. A cheeky, shaven-headed soldier (because of his natural ginger tones) who had curled up in one of the large, comfy, leather chairs.

Jules De Brionne, sitting across from Quinn, was reading up on the natural features and creatures of Iuthia. Fair haired, barrel-chested and well built, he was the biggest star of SCBs 'Huge Nature Show'.

"So when do we get to zees 'Iuthia'" he asked, in his Gallic drawl.

"ETA fourteen-thirty hours, Sir" stated Lt. Brax

"That means in about three hours, Monsieur," Quinn explained with a grin

Al stood up and walked to the toilet. That Venator Lieutenant unnerved him even more than the weapons he knew they were carrying. Still, three hours on board, and who knew how many on the ground. He'd have to get used to it.

OOC: Too late to join?

OOC: Despite a poor connection, I've got enough time on my hands.....

My Kingdom for a Spellcheck!!

In silence they sat, each one checking their equipment for flaws that may hinder the coming operation. Each piece, a perfect example of engineering and craftsmanship was meticulously looked over by the expert eyes and checked off against a mental list. When they'd seen to all their equipment, one of the Soldiers, indistinguisable from the rest spoke up;

"Hey, Captin, why is it that whilst were one of the best teams in the World, we have to travel in this heap?"

As if on que, the pickup hit a bump in the road jolting all the Troops in the back.

"Well, if you must know", Replied the Captin

"It's because Someone forgot to schedule an International Flight Plan", glaring at the bemused Trooper.

"Oh, yeah...."

After which a few mutters of 'Idiot' and 'Cheeselicker' could be heard. Whilst non of them minded traveling in the pickup, it gave them somthing to talk about on the journey.

"Well were almost there now, Best Behaviour!"

"Yes Sir!" they choursed in response as the beaten vehicle approached the city limets.

A lone Marathon-A VTOL landed in Iuthia's main international air-port. The Lone jet also carried only one passenger and his equipment.

The tall white haired gentleman is dressed in an active camoflage longcoat, typical of the Retliatory Guard, with forest camo pants , bullet proof vest and packs. He carries an FN-Minami carbine with the usual 20mm under the barrel grenade launcher and tactical computer.

He approaches customs and hands over his papers identifying him as 'General Ilo Welsh of the 3rd Twisted Serpent Division, special attache to the Iutian Search Team' he calmly lays out everything for customs to inspect: 6 hunting knives, 1 bowie knife, 10 clips of extra ammunition (each with 200 caseless rounds) 2, tarps (rolled up) a coil of rope, first aid kit, compound bow with 20 broad head arrows, 4 canteens, unappetizing looking ration packs (enough for a week) , 1 'Rough-Guide' travel guide to Iuthia, 1 Columbia 'expedition' backpack, one pair of sunglasses, OFF Deep Woods insect repellant. He dosen't need a gps, night vision goggles and such, those are all built into his rifles tactical computer.

He then meets the car that the embassy has sent for him to join up with the rest of the team.

OOC: Iuthia, May I join with something like a lost character, this seems to be interesting. I'll lower my tech stuff, but nothing like an elf in the woods to feel in home.

Chief Howling Wolf would like to send five braves from the Adirondak Bark Eaters tribe. Although the jungles of Iuthia are different then the lush North American forests of Indian Casino Operator these five braves can survive in almost any woodland environment. They have recently returned from whale hunting in the Arctic using hand held harpoons and wooden skiffs. They are:

Sharp Antler; 25 years old
Angry Buffalo; 22 years old
Wily Bobcat; 31 years old
Three Legged Deer; 19 years old
Fiesty Wolverine; 38 years old
all carry:
Weapons: Compound bow and arrows/broadheads, .44 magnum Ruger Red Hawk 40 rounds ammo, survival knife
15 pounds of MREs "Borrowed" from ICO Navy
one man shelter,
Mess kit with high micron filter hand water pump.

Chief Howling Wolf personally attests to the forthrightness and expendability of these fine young men.

OOC: Heh, no pressure eh?

Ok, I'm closing the thread after this post, I think I have more then enough people to help and everyone who has posted on this thread is permitted to join... those who have not posted their characters should do so ASAP so we have an idea of what we have... feel free to telegram me if you have any issues you want to discuss outside of the thread, I'm also available one IRC #nationstates half of the time.

This will be my last OOC post and I'll limit it to quick ruling in the future. Oh, and sorry if this isn't accurate of a military organisation, I'm sticking to simple plot devicing and running the RP a bit like a film, so accuracy isn't too important and takes second place to good plot...

Edit: A quick additional note, like I said I'm not going to be too serious with this thread, however it needs to be said that while it's not serious it's not a joke either, so keep the jokes between the characters...

Slowly as the morning progressed the others arrived in their own transports. Those who were situated nearer to Iuthia arrived by land where as many arrived by air in various military craft of their own nations design. Overall the atmostphere was that of both excitement and concern... no word had be recieved regarding the currently searches on the outskirts of the Jungle, it would be down to the experts to find out what happened to these people...

Upon each nations troops/experts arriving at the Bowness Military Base given some time to rest, allowing everyone to arrive in their own time. Others were shown around if they weren't too tired but it wasn't too important as they wouldn't be staying for very long.

Once everyone had arrived they were given a couple hours to organise their materials before the briefing, they were also encouraged to have a medical prior to the briefing to make sure they can handle the environment they were going to be searching through. They knew they wouldn't be going out today as conditions would be more suitable tomorrow dawn so they could make the most of the sunny conditions through-out the day.


Operation "Hound Dog" Briefing - 16:04pm

Eventually everyone arrived at the designated briefing room, taking their places before the lights were dimmed for the projector. It was a reasonably large room concidering the number of people who would be working on this mission, the walls were decorated with various Iuthian military insignia, flags and the sort. Otherwise it seemed pretty standard, plastic chairs that seemed to be designed more for their durability then their comfort, tables with small lamps for each person attending all pointing towards the front where a podium stood on one side, out of the way of the projection. Currently behind the podium was a man dressed in the Iuthian military uniform with the rank of Commander

Once everyone settled down the uniformed man started the briefing, lights were dimmed with exception to the desk lamps which allowed the experts attending to read their notes.

"I would like to welcome you all again to Bowness Military Base here in Iuthia. I'm Commander Falkner and I'll be briefing you on the little information we have and the organisation we are hoping to implement...

"Should you have anything to add, to ask or to request after this briefing then feel free as we would like to utilise your combined expertise in this matter. Now let us begin."

The first projection was then displayed on the wall to the left of the Commanders podium, it showed an overheard picture of what could only be the outskirts of Umbar Rain Forest, there was a large area in the middle where there were tree stumps, presumably the area Hacksaw Limited had been logging.

"This here is the area this all began and the loggers were reported to have disapeared. We have conducted many searches of the area and while it is clear that something happened we don't have any diffinate ideas on what occured. However we can tell you that it seems that whatever did this was inteligent enough to loot the area of anything they couldn't get away with..."

The projection changed, now showing a picture of the logging site from the ground. At the front of the picture was the remains of a tracked vehicle that had been stripped down to the point it was hard to reckognise.

"As you can see, this bulldozer has been completely stripped of it's external panals, its catapillar tracks and even the dozer blade itself which easily weighs over a ton on it's own. It suggests that the loggers were attacked and looted... we haven't found any evidence of bodies so we can only assumed they have been captured or escaped into the forest."

The pictures cycled as he talked showing areas of interest which supported his speach. Finally it returned to the overheard picutre of the forrest, now with colored section to display the areas currently searched.

"Since then we have been securing all industries and residential areas near the forrest and making limited searchs in the forrest for clues of the loggers where abouts, however we have found little to suggest their current condition or location, we have got some limited information from some of the survivors of the event, only a few of them were able to give us desciptions of the creatures that have done this to them.

"They seem to agree that the creature looked wild, with faces like that of a feral dog, however they also agree that these creature were walking on two legs standing tall. Unfortunatly they didn't actually see much as they were not close and they ran at first sight...

"Your objectives are simply to use your combined expertise to succeed where we have failed, to either find the lost civilians or to find out what happened to us... this is not an assualt mission for the time being so if you find them being held by these creatures we want to know where they are to give you backup as you will be escorting civilians and their safety is paramount to the mission.

Any comments?"

"Correct me if I am wrong, monsieur," Jules De Brionne said, raising his hand, "But you are telling uz that beeg, unique, dog-like creatures zat walks upon eets hind legs are taking your loggers?"

...

Lieutenant Brax was making notes, deadly serious "And one or more of these things carried off a ton of 'Dozer?"

The commander had a little trouble with Jules's accent as he was more accustomed to the cleary spoken English he would get from soldier trying to make themselves understood, however he adjusted well enough to understand what the man meant.

"That was the report we got from eye witnesses and the few tracks we could trace suggested humaniod creatures wearing nothing on their feet, these prints seemed related to humans in shape but larger...otherwise there isn't much to go on.

The eye witnesses may not have been completely accurate seeing as they were quite shuck up by the experience and didn't hang around to get exact details... their imaginations may have added things too. So we can only go off the given information, needless to say we have never encountered anything like it before."


Then the commander politly answered the Lieutenant's question. Thoug-out the briefing Commander Falkner hadn't smirked once even while talking about "dog men" as some people may have described them.

"Well, we can't tell exactly how many of them carried that chunk of metal away as it has rained a couple times over the past few days, Umbar being a rain forrest and all, we're lucky to have even got any foot prints, however we know enough to say that the Dozer Blade among other parts of the vehicles have disapeared, we are assuming they have been taken or scavenged.

In the Crystal Forest, a week ago, somewhere in the Aelosian Craftworld...

"So, Do you want me to escort you to a trip in the outside world?", said the surprisingly rude female voice, from above the ground, certainly from one of the Crystal trees that formed part of the Craftworld's Hunting Ground. The man below, a simple elf dressed in a ridiculous Safari outfit, outdated and colorful, was expecting an answer, but he was clearly surprised of getting it even without asking a question.

"Miss...Miss Falenia. Is that you?", stuttered the man looking to the top of the amazing crystal trees. "I...I see you w..were in..nformed", continued the man, unable to find the woman, source of the voice.

"I am. I heard you were looking for me...Tell me. Are you really going to Iuthia?. To join that scientific research?", the voice said, ina very slow, clear and soft tone.

"So...Will you accept my offer?. All expenses covered and ten thousands Argentums. Your work will be guiding me and protecting me. You'll have the chance of hunting wild beasts and a lot of experience in real, primitive woods, like those ones you used to love in...", continued the man before being interrumpted.

"I know. Let's make it twelve thousands argentums. And I'll be in command, not you. Are you going to bring someone else?", said the female voice, clearly upset now. "And I've hunted wild beasts before, like the one you have just scared. You have a deal, Doc, just be sure that my conditions will be met".

Suddenly a shadow came down a tree, a slim, agile figure covered entirely in a camo cloak that seemed to blend with the bright surroundings of the crystals, and with a long, sinister looking rifle hanging from the back. "Now leave me alone, I'll find you in the docks. Don't worry, I'll find your shuttle. Iuthia...Who knows where is it exactly?, but a forest is a forest"
_____________________________________________________________

To: Central Command, Iuthia Prima.
From: Aelosian Office of Ancient Research and Investigation
Message:

After reading your offering, we will be delighted to give some assistance in the matter. Doctor Ceryan Paelisi, expert in Jungle environments, will attend, escorted by a qualified ranger, an armed officer. Their shuttle will arrive just before the briefing, so the Doctor could share his ideas with his Iuthian colleagues. With over a thousand years making researches about jungle and forest environments and their wildlife, the Doctor Paelisi is a real good authority in the issue, he had been in several strange and exotic places, his knowledge in that field are invaluable.

Doctor Aeldwyn Hyral, Aelosian Central University.
_____________________________________________________________

With a roar, the black shuttle of the Aelosian navy came down in the landing pad near the point selected by the Iuthian goverment. After a while, the hatch in the left side of the black ship opened the gates, and only three lonely figures came out. One dressed in a black conservative suit, maybe the shortest and less atlethic elf an Iuthian would have ever seen. He was carrying a suitcase and a lot of leathery, heavy looking luggage. He was maybe the first elf with glasses, as elves were mostly free of sight affection, except in certain cases.

The two figures that followed the first elf were quite different from him. The first one was a tall, slim and muscular elf, dressed in a military uniform made of somekind of navy blue latex, with an silver armoured vest of some kind over it, carrying several slim bags carrying his own equipment. His features were sharp, and he was looking nervous, turning everywhere to note everything nearby. The last one was shorter and thinner, but didn't look less dangerous. She was a woman, sporting a camo cloak all over her slim body, entirely covered by some kind of black lycra, crossed in her back a big package, in her hands a pair of handbags. Her face resembled a hawk, her nose like a pointed peak, her mouth everytime showing a wry grin, her big, green eyes watching carefully her surroundings in a calmed manner. Although not a classical beauty, for sure she had a special attractive.

"I'm Doctor Paelisi, from Aelosia. And they are my companions. May I have the direction of the briefing for the forest exploration,. please. I think I'm being expected", said the little man in the suit to the landing pad personnel.

The five Indian braves arrived just before the briefing. How Chief Howling Wolf had found a DC3 that was airworthy was a feat in itself. The 36-hour trek with 6 refueling stops had worn on the young men. Fiesty Wolverine the oldest of the group seemed to be the least tired.

They filed into the briefing room and took seats way in the back, as they were almost the last ones in. They could barely keep their red-rimmed eyes open. They smelled of av-gas, hydraulic fluid, and stale cigarette smoke. The more the Commander talked the more excited the braves became. Their fatigue wore off quickly. They whispered among themselves "Bigfoot, we capture one of those and we will be heroes back home." "This will be better than killing a whale."

When the Commander asked if there was any questions, Three Legged Deer jumped up and waited for the man with the accent to ask his question and get his answer. Three Legged Deer then asked "Will we be allowed to capture any of these two legged creatures and if we do will we be allowed to take one back to our homeland?"

The Iuthian stood bemused for a moment as most of the elves in Iuthia were a little like Doctor Paelisi, albeit in better shape and without the glasses, but the other two from Aelosia were much taller then Iuthian elves (who were generally shorter humans with pointy features and better hand-eye co-ordination)... they seemed out of place, with exception to Dr. Paelisi.

"Right this way doctor, it should be starting in a couple minutes..."

(You arrive to catch the start of the briefing...)

Three Legged Deer then asked "Will we be allowed to capture any of these two legged creatures and if we do will we be allowed to take one back to our homeland?"

"Providing you don't slow down your group or endanger the mission then we have no qualms, however we feel you should wait until after you have completed your first objective before you attempted to carry any bodies around...

"On an additional note we will be splitting everyone into at least two teams depending on expertise and numbers as a single large group doesn't really work in a dense Jungle like Umbar and we are conducting a search... everyones input on this may help further once we have confirmed our exact number for this mission."

"Werewolves", whispered the Aelosian navy officer as he heard the words of the Iuthian commander. "Shhh, don't be so sure. Whatever did that, it was a group, not a lonely being. And werewolves are lone predators, they don't work in packs", said softly the Huntress. "I'll bet in some kind of cat warriors of some sort, maybe panthermen, or something like that", she said, without raising her tone, using Sindarin to hide the meaning of her words.

"I have a question", said the Doctor Paelisi, raising his hand as with the other hand he tried to clean the sweat of his forehead with a hankerchief, the fabric of it full of ink stains. "Did those beings used some kind of tools or weapons?. This is important because it marks the difference between Humanoids, and Beasts. I don't want to be rude or something, but I think that we'll need a different approch depending in if we're fighting a pest or an entire civilization", said the scientist, visibly nervous and looking something in his pockets.

"I would suspect of Dire bears or another animal if we're talking about beasts, but if you have some evidence regarding the fact I've spoken earlier, I'll start to think about some kind of savage humanoids. Hell, we could be speaking of savage orcs around here!, although I don't think the enviroment is favorable to greenskins. If you have something like an sketch, I could try to help you, if that doesn't bother you, of course", although his english was flawed and with a deep elven accent, the Doctor was clearly getting excited with the expectatives of the mission.

The three SOMI and the SOET sat next to their charges. They weren't too worried about the burly Russian, who had written a section on wilderness survival in their field manuals. The other two though. They were different.

The animal expert Jake leaned forward intently studying what he had seen. Strange behavior. Strange animals. He was slightly excited at the prospect of studying the habits of a new species, if that's what it was.

The SOET spoke up."So we have permission to blow the hell out of these things if they attack us?"

The commander listened carefully to the questions put forth by the Doctor before answering them in order:

"Well, concidering the little evidence we've got we've not got any proof confirming or denying these creatures have weapons, the eye witnesses are fairly shocked by their experience but they didn't specify how these creatures attacked, only that they attacked. Seeing as everything metal which can be moved has been taken we are assuming that whatever creature did this is most likely to be an inteligent life form... we haven't ever heard of bears taking parts from our machinery and we doubt any Iuthian could have scavenged the metal after the attack.

"This is why we have an anthropologist joining our search so that she may offer her guidience regarding any form of society you happen to come across. I suppose we could get an artist to draw the description given to them, but seems that they can't completely agree on all the details, we will give you anything more we have learn tomorrow morning before you set out..."

The commander then looked over to the men from Sigma Octavus...

"Now, it must be said that this is a military operation, not research. Your primary objective is to find out what happened to our civilians and rescue them if at all possible, if the resistance is too much we will take the co-ordinates and concentrate on getting you assistance.

"The safety of our experts is paramount, so should these creatures pose a threat you are permitted to shoot to kill. Don't try and capture one unless you are utterly confident you can do so without risking human loss and finally the attack against the loggers suggests they used ambush tactics, so be aware."

As the Foolish Commander sat listening to the brefing report, these 'Humanoids' were probably no diffrent from those of the jungles back home. Albeit, without throwing stars.

"Can we expect a Iuthian pickup within the jungle, or are we to escort the loggers to the edges?", from the look on his face, it was easy to see he didn't like the idea of trapsing through terrain filled with Humanoids with Civilians in tow.

"I could arrange for an extraction chopper for my team, but it wouldn't fit more than 8 people", concern thick in his voice.
"Oh, and we could penetrate the tree line with our chopper, you could easily follow in with your own."

The commander looked down at his notes...

"Well, we'll expect your search will start from the logging site in the hope that you may pick up something more from there along the decent into the jungle, however there are very limited areas within the jungle itself where a pick-up would be possible... seeing as it's a pretty thick canopy.

"However we expect that it is possible for our forces to create a clearing a small distance away from your position in an emgerancy, as I stated earlier the teams won't be too large so we expect that we could give a team a fast way out should they experience serious problems or complete the mission."

General Ilo asks no questions and seems to be much more intent on cleaning and sharpening his half dozen knives .

Sharp Antler looks over at the Aelosia delegation and whispers to Angry Buffalo "They are elves I'm telling you, first Bigfoot then this. We have to get pictures."

Angry Buffalo whispers back "We didn't bring any cameras, we'll have to buy some."

Fiesty Wolverine looks around and says "I have a better idea." He stands up and waits for a lull in the questioning and in a loud voice "Commander, will you be providing communications equipment so we can alert you to any incidents and allow the two teams to compare notes? Will you be providing any video or digital cameras; so if we spot these creatures we can transmit images back here for your evaluation?"

The Doctor just nodded as the Iuthian commando answered his questions. "I would like to know the anthropologist, then, just to compare notes and share knowledge about this mission, maybe we could find a common spot somewhere".

"Have you already tried to track them down?. I suppose we could have a chance of tracking them to their lair, but as we speak, the signal and prints are getting colder, and our chances of success are decreasing fast. And looking for a band of humanoids inside a big forest is an uneasy task if you can't find a lead", said the Huntress shaking her head, speaking in a less flawed english, yet in a very low tone.

"Every minute we spend talking is a waste of time. And each minute places more distance between the aggresors and us. I suppose you have planned to start the chase tomorrow morning. I think it's too late already. I would like to ask you permission to go to the site right after this meeting to begin to track them down. I would meet you in the morning there, to begin the little trip", said the Huntress, raising her head for the first time in the meeting to look at the Iuthian Commander in the eyes.

General Ilo inspected the blade on his nearly machete sized bowie knife, he didn't even look up as he commented

" Tracks or not, we won't find them,they'll find us. Semi-human or animal they don't attack larger groups with heavy equipment unless they're certain of winning. While we have more weapons we probably look much less threatening than loggers with heavy equipment."

He pauses and smiles pleasantly

"I'm positive they'll have no trouble finding us once we enter the jungle."

"Any equipment you did not bring with you, but feel you will require for the mission will be handed out within reason, anyone without communication equipment will be given some along with the appropriate channels we will be using on the day. I expect a camera isn't out of the question, once this briefing is over we will look into it."

He then listened to the Aelosians input, occasionally nodding at parts. He then pointed to a woman sitting up from with the half-dozen Iuthian Commandoes that would be taking part, she stood up understanding the commanders gesture...

"This is our Anthropologist, Morrie Jones... I'm sure she will help you with anything you ask. Meanwhile it must be said that in the time it's take to get our forces mobilised and enough protection for other industries and residents in the area any tracks that could have existed have most likely got cold a long time ago...

"As far as I'm aware the jungle isn't a good place for tracks after a couple of hours, many other more conventional creatures live there as well as the shifting weather paterns... it rains and it rains often, our own people couldn't find much in the way of tracks when we initially investigated the scene... we expect that any tracks left now arn't going anywhere soon as they would have been lost earlier otherwise.

Anyways, everyone has arrived here today and while I'm sure that some of you have the strength to leave now, many others who will be advising you will need rest and preparation. Conditions will be better tomorrow morning at dawn and you'll have a full day of light to work with."

Feeling content with this final question Commander Falkner straightened up again and continued.

"I won't detain you for any longer, if you want additional equipment having heard what you may be up against then Private Jones here will help you get what you need... meanwhile you are free to stick around and discuss things with one another or ask more questions, failing that you we have Private Izmail here who will show you around the base along with your quarters and the mess hall."


OOC: I'm going to be busy tomorrow day, but then again I will move along at the same pace as everyone in the thread... don't worry about not always being able to post as I'm not reliable either so take your time if you want to. I'll start the mission some time much later tomorrow or maybe even Sunday depending on what my friends are up to... so feel free to do things around the base...

((I'm sorry I haven't posted at all until now, though I won't be able to make an IC post until tomorrow, I'd just like to let it be known that I am still interested in this, and will post as soon as I can.))

OOC: Don't worry about it... we've all got real lives to live as well so I don't expect a post a day. I'll move the thread at a speed everyone is comfortable with if I can.

The Indians wander up to the supply tent and check out some comm gear keeping mental notes on all of the available frequencies and what group is assigned which ones. They talk the supply sergeant into a pair of digital cameras.

Wily Bobcat turns to Fiesty Wolverine and comments "Too bad my brother wasn't here he can track anything. Even if the trail is two days old in the rain he could track it."

Fiesty Wolverine replies "You are almost as good as your brother, if they get us close you will be able to track them."

Fiesty Wolverine goes on "We should try to get on the Aelosian team that Doctor Paelisi is just as eager as we are to get moving."

Sharp Antler adds "We could get some good pictures of the elves and sell them back home."

Wily Bobcat, most certainly the brightest of the little band of Indians chides the others "This is not going to be as easy as hunting rabbits, those "Bigfeet" took metal objects and carried off the dozer blade, by all estimations using no equipment that anyone could determine." He continues "If they have a forge or rudimentary blacksmith capabilities they could make formidable weapons."

Sharp Antler replies "Oh Wily Bobcat, you are always worrying, these are just some big apes collecting shiny objects. They took the dozer blade to make some altar to worship some God."

Wily Bobcat "I hope you are right but I feel these creatures are going to be dangerous. I don't care what these scientists say, shoot first, let them study cadavers."

General Ilo finished with his knives just as the briefing was finished. He gave everyone a very plesant smile and then went outside and found some comfortable place to relax until it is time to move out.

The Doctor Paelisi approached the Iuthian scientist after the meeting was over, a little bit nervous as he bowed a little in front of her. "A pleasure to meet you, Dr. Jones. I hope we could share several things about Jungle enviroments and exotic humanoid races", finally he extended his hand towards her, trying to be polite enough.

"I noted that the strange indians were looking a lot to us. I mean it's natural that you draw some attention, but I think they were looking at us as a whole", said the military elven officer to the Huntress as the gathering was over. "Maybe I should check them, there is a posibility that they despise elves or are up to soething. I want to prevent funny stuff happening around here"

"Better that way, we have enough problems with hunting a group of unknown humanoids through a thick jungle", said the Huntress, her icy stare running all over the room until she found the soldier in charge of the supplies. Private Jones, he said. "Soldier, I would like to have some water and a good, really good harness. Can you provide me of those things?", she said in a neutral tone, speaking like some kind of automaton.

The SOET and SOMI were checking and cleaning their weaponry and equipment. Jake was several feet away writing notes in a small notebook he had taken from his pocket. Max was stupidly trying to hit on Jennifer while she was cleaning her rifle. She wound back her fist and punched him without looking. He rubbed his chin and walked off, his pride hurt. Jeremy and Keller laughed at his back.

Roman was busy reading through a guide of plants found in Iuthia, memorizing which were deadly, which could be used for shelter and which were beneficial medically.

“Sure, just this way ma’am” Private Jones instructed. He was one of the Iuthian Commandoes who would be defending the Iuthian specialists on this mission, a young lad barely in his twenties by the look of him. His hair was short cut for practicality, it would have made him like the others had his hair not been ginger, it was something he got a lot of stick for but it didn’t really bother him, it was a tough unit.

Along the way out into the warm evening sky as Jones showed the way he was thinking about the Huntress he was escorting, he wasn’t sure what to make of her but she sure was attractive and nothing like the elves he knew at the base who were shorter and they seemed more delicate (though very agile) where as she was taller and had more body then her Iuthian sisters. She also seemed to be very focused and wasn’t much of a conversationalist.

Within a couple minutes they reached the armoury, which stored other vital equipment. Outside the two soldiers guarding the place gave Jones a nod of recognition and allowed them entry. “Here we are, I think the harnesses are over there.” he pointed towards the corner of the armoury where they lay.

To break the silence, Jones attempted to start a conversation. “So…err… I take it from your questions to the Commander that you are some kind of tracker, what do you make of this operation so far?” He tried to sound casual as though it was a professional question, however he wasn’t pulling it off very well.

-------------------------------------------------


Meanwhile Dr. Morrie Jones was getting to know Dr. Paelisi…

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too Dr. Paelisi.” She replied, blushing slightly. She then, a little slowly at first, shuck his hand like expected.

Morrie was born to be built like a librarian albeit it a young and reasonably fit librarian. Like all the other Iuthian’s she was in uniform, though looked out of place wearing it, she had worn it before many years ago during her compulsory service now she didn’t have the same right sort of stance for it. “I would be happy to discuss the Iuthian habitat with you Doctor, it’s going to be our your first time in one of Iuthia’s jungles tomorrow and I think it would be wise for use to revise the more natural problems we may face”.

She then smiled weakly and then opened the notes she brought with her, they wouldn’t have much time to cover much but she hoped they could cover what they would need to know.

-------------------------------------------------


During the night Roman learnt enough to know that Iuthia’s jungles, the ones which had been documented were much like the Amazon Rain Forrest with minor differences, some of the plants are different and some of the wildlife was a little more tame in some respects… either way he caught up with the information he needed to know regarding the more useful plants and those of which to avoid carefully. He also noted that Iuthia didn’t have large cat species and it’s wildlife was generally less danger then that of many other nations… with exception to this new creature.

The boys from Indian Casino Operator got all the equipment they needed, providing it doesn’t slow them down. As did the Aelosian Ranger.

-------------------------------------------------


The morning came and dawn awakened Iuthia slowly as the suns light trickled over the nation like honey in a lazy fashion. To the west the clouds were a light red hue, suggesting that indeed as was suggested in the name “Rain Forrest” showers would be coming later that day.

Most of the base was already awake, younger soldiers had already been woken up by their much hated drill sergeants and the more experienced men naturally woke up early for the days duties. The soldiers and specialists who were going on the search and rescue mission were awoken reasonably early, a little before dawn, in as politer manner as the Iuthians could muster. By dawn everyone was outside and standing fully kitted up, ready to be split into teams. The trucks were ready to take them to the site of the initial attack where they may start their descent into the jungle.

The group of 35 was split into two groups equalling 12 soldiers/warriors and 5 or 6 experts who are split depending on their field of expertise to allow both groups of have an expert in each field. Iuthian command felt it was important to keep the nations squads together so they split their own men to make sure the numbers were even. As for command it was determined that the Iuthian troops need not command the teams so the more experienced higher ranking team members were given the command [OOC: This can be changed, I’m not sure on this].

As they stand:

Squad One

General Ilo Welsh (Ilek Vaad)
Pvt. Jones (Iuthia)
Pvt. Goodson (Iuthia)
Pvt. Jenkov (Iuthia)
Sgt. Jacobs (Iuthia)
Sharp Antler (Indian Casino Operator)
Angry Buffalo (Indian Casino Operator)
Wily Bobcat (Indian Casino Operator)
Three Legged Deer (Indian Casino Operator)
Fiesty Wolverine (Indian Casino Operator)
Lieutenant Rhaerys Brax (Starblaydia)
Corporal Quinn Farlander (Starblaydia)
Jules De Brionne - Noted Biologist and TV Animal show Presenter (Starblaydia)
Albert 'Al' White - Nature Journalist/Photographer (Starblaydia)
Ken Jenter – Biologist / Environmentalist (Iuthia)
Helen Wyman – Animal Behaviourist (Iuthia)
Jenson Kyleston – Wildlife Expert (Iuthia)
Calypso D'air - Archaeology Expert (Cyberutopia)

Squad Two

Sgt. Mason Milut -SOET commando (Sigma Octavus)
Pvt. Izmael (Iuthia)
Pvt. Burton (Iuthia)
Pvt. Jennifer Reed -SOMI soldier (Sigma Octavus)
Pvt. Keller Montague -SOMI soldier (Sigma Octavus)
Pvt. Jeremy Seraphic -SOMI soldier (Sigma Octavus)
Ranger (Aelosia)
Armed Officer (Aelosia)
Captain, Jim Hopper (Foolish Pesants)
Sargent, Jose Kushain (Foolish Pesants)
Comms, Ulbar Hosstein (Foolish Pesants)
Trooper, Rick Koffman (Foolish Pesants)
Jake Griffon -Wildlife Behaviour expert (Sigma Octavus)
Max Barr -Planet Biologist (Sigma Octavus)
Roman Ivanov -Survival Expert (Sigma Octavus)
Doctor Ceryan Paelisi - Expert in Jungle Environments (Aelosia)
Morrie Jones – Anthropologist (Iuthia)


OOC Note: Ok, I’m not sure about this list, so please speak up if you have any suggestions…

OOC: it looks okay, except for all those helpless scientist types ;)

General Ilo immediately inspected his men. He looked pleased at the Iuthian soldiers and the Indian Casino Operator Commandos and looked much less pleased at the scientists and researchers.

He also briefly introduced himself

"Gentlemen, ladies, I am General Ilo Welsh of the 3rd Twisted Serpents Division of the Retaliatory Guard , Ilek-Vaad. The Twisted Serpents are a wilderness combat specialist army , like all Retaliatory Guard we receive 3 years of intensive combat training and survival training. I personally have had 12 years of combat training and 6 years of intensive survival training, I have served in the field in the Lumpen Republic, Syrique, Cyberjaya and Axackal. I have been a General for two years and served in the Retaliatory Guard for 23 years.

I am a professional as I assume all of you are. I expect us all to act as professionals, follow orders and do what needs to be done. If at any time any of you think that I have missed something, or if you have an idea, please do not keep it to yourselves. I would like every team members input , especially when we get involved in any critical situation.

Any questions?"

The Huntress took one of the harnesses, trying its resistance placing the blade of her long, silvery knife agaisnt it, applying some force. She looked satisfied with the results, although not exactly happy. Well, it looked like she was never happy.

As an answer to his question, she placed her knife where it belonged and turned to see him. "I suppose you're coming with us, no Jones?", she asked, and continued to talk without waiting for the answer. "I'm a hunter. I track down, find and kill preys to earn my living. Sometimes they're dangerous, sometimes not. But it's my job, and I like it. A lot, I should say, since I'm very good doing it. Some people call me ranger, scout or tracker, even mercenary, but those terms don't exactly suit me", she said, talking in a simple and emotionless tone, as talking with herself.

"Yet, if you ask me what are we doing around here. I would say we're making a big mistake. Something is rotten inside that forest, and I'm not quite sure if you people should awake what is hidden inside there. But it's kind of attractive to deal with something new and unknown, it brings more experience", she talked as she placed the harness around her waist. "And Cúdaedin is always here to help me. I haven't find a prey stilll capable of withstanding a direct hit from her. She's quite able of dealing with anything that can bleed", she ended the phrase with a grin, placing one of her gloved hands over the holder of her rifle in her back. As she moved her hand the camouflage cloak that covered her torso displaced a little to the left, showing a well honed and atlethic body just for a moment until she retired the hand again.
____________________________________________________________

The Doctor Paelisi started to talk to the woman, looking nervous and excited. "I suppose we could face a persistent rain and hostile bugs. Do you have any information if in that jungle we could face somekind of plague or disease like yellow fever or another tropical affection?", he asked, extracting a little notebook too and checking some careful written notes in golden elvish runes. "I'm worried about the more common natural and normal inhabitants of the jungle too. Is there a chance that we could face a dangerous animal, apart from the unknown danger that we're looking for?"

OOC: Should I move right away to the morning?. That's my only question, Anyway...

IC:

The Huntress came out of the barrack to check her equipment for the last time before leaving. She opened the little black suitcase she brought from the transport, containing a lot of pieces of metal, apparently without use. Quickly she started to assembly them, first producing a strange looking handgun, with three uncommon, round magazines. Then she picked up some kind of mask and placed it over her head, securing it with a bandage to her chin, without covering her face. She fixed a belt with several strange artifacts over her waist and a long, curved, and silver knife hanging from it, alongside with the Iuthian harness that Jones provided her last night. Finally she took another belt and fixed it across her body, from shoulder to hip, a belt with several pockets containing power cells and magazines.

Pulling out her elongated rifle out of its black leather "sheath" very carefully, she secured it to her back with another belt, throwing the special camouflage cloak all over her figure, placing the hood of it over her head, until her features were just a silouette shadowed by the green-black fabric. The effect was improved after she took a tube of black camo paint and applied some of it over her face, trying to conceal her pale skin a little more.

She took the rifle for a while, and loaded it introducing several long and slim silver needles, tipped with somekind of black and gleaming metal cover, in the back of the rifle. Then she pulled out a little battery out of one of the pockets in one of her belts and placed it in a compartment in the side of the weapon, which produced a strange, unnerving humming sound as she did so.

She looked around and found the captain of the aelosian navy walking out of his quarters, Captain Culiern is his name, she remembered. He was dressed with a gleaming blue full body armor, the typical mainstay of the aelosian navy, with the silver vest over his chest and a long white helmet carefully decorated over his head. That says a lot about our stealth capabilities, I'm taking a lot of effort to conceal myself and this guy is going to enter the forest looking like an exotic bird. Damn military officers, always trying to show how proud they are. Maybe that outfit comes with lights and sound too, she thought as a wry smile appeared on her face. At least he's well armed, he's going to need it when everything in that jungle try to hunt such a desirable looking prey she concluded after looking the heavy automatic rifle in his hand and the heavy handgun secured to his hip.

And when the doctor came out, she barely could hold her laugh. Here comes another show. I just hope that the humans will show better judgement, or we will look as a parade. The scientist was dressed in the same outdated beige safari outfit, with a round, human looking hat. She rolled her eyes as she saw the heavy, red bags that the guy was carrying around, and how he tried to pass a purple hankerchief over his forehead to dry the sweat over his skin, achieving only to drop his hat to the floor. This is going to be a long, long trip, she thought as she finally made some signals to the officer and to the scientist to follow her to the gathering point.

The Indians woke before dawn, rolled up their sparse but waterproof bed rolls and went out to greet the sun. Wily Bobcat walked over to where he had purposely put foot prints and had walked through the underbrush. He studied what effects time and the light rain had done to the tracks. He estimated about 12 hours had passed since he had laid them down and carefully noted the differences. He looked over any places the other members of his squad had walked the previous day and committed that to memory.

Fiesty Wolverine committed every operational communication frequency to memory as did Sharp Antler. The two other Indians were studying the other members of Squad One trying to evaluate strengths and weaknesses. They sat down waiting while General Ilo Welsh was gathering up the team. Each one was carefully inspecting the broadheads on their arrows, the nocks, the strings on the bows and their knives. Any blemish was taken care of and the edges re-honed to razor sharpness.

Wily Bobcat noticed the Aelosian Ranger in the very effective camouflage. She seemed to walk on air there was almost no indications she had passed this way. He was impressed. Without being too obvious he walked over to where she had been standing and examined the ground. It was only after a long study did he see her footsteps. This was perfection, he would strive to emulate this.

Wily Bobcat sat back down with his compatriots and did a complete tear down of his pistol, cleaning it and putting it carefully back together.

When General Welsh stepped up to address the group the Indians all stood and carefully listened. Success or failure of a mission was always due in part to the leader. They wanted to know this one better.

When the General asked if there was any questions the Indians were quiet, the serious business had started. Time for foolishness had ended.

General Ilo waited silently for questions, as he did he paused to put on his spartan style helmet and his longcoat, both are bright white, in contrast to his camo-green clothes and vest. He then carefully plugs in a cord to his helmet, and then a cord from inside his jacket and up his sleeve into his rifle's tactical computer.

"Well, we better get moving then"

He says as he powers up his tactical computer, as he does so the rough texture of his coat and helmet quickly begin to take on the hue and colours of his surroundings, the bright white becoming a shifting camoflage.

Since they are in no danger as of yet, he slides back the top panel of his rifle, exposing the ultra-high density solar panels keeping his computer and accessories charged.

OOC: Bad news.....I'm grounded for an unknown amount of time. The only times I will be able to get on will be when I convince my dad to let me on for a short while......like right now. I'm not dropping out, I'm just saying I probably won't be able to do very much till about the middle of next week. I'll try to post.

As the Foolish Troopers assembled, it quickly became apparent that Trooper Rick Koffman had been sampling the more freely avaliable substances of Iuthia. He swayed and staggerd around the Parade area like a drunken Ninja, taking the time out to vomit once in a while.

The Foolish Troopers quckly caught up with their comrade and frisked him for non-issued materials. Which they quickly found.

"TROOPER!!", the Captins voice boomed

"Hey Captin!"

"How much have you taken, Koffman?"

"Not too much yeah? Just a couple of bags of stuff from a Pharmacy"

"Idiot", Hopper sighed. He knew that this couldn't go unpunished despite the Mission.

"Alright, Ulbar, hold him upside down. Jose, punch the hell out of his stomach"

On hearing this command the Foolish Troopers went about it with astounding efficincy. After 10 or so minuites, they droped Rick uncerimoniouly to the floor.

"Up"

As he did so, the Captin pulled his pisol and shot the drugged up trooper in the leg.

"Get him cleaned up, I want to be able to leave in 20"

"Yes, Sir" the chorused as they led Rick away

OOC: Bad news.....I'm grounded for an unknown amount of time. The only times I will be able to get on will be when I convince my dad to let me on for a short while......like right now. I'm not dropping out, I'm just saying I probably won't be able to do very much till about the middle of next week. I'll try to post.

OOC: Don't worry about it, I'll keep your characters at the back for the time being, knowing me I'll take my time because I'm lazy...

The Indians gathered up in some sort of order behind General Welsh, Three Legged Deer was admiring the General's Camo gear. He commented to Wily Wolverine "I would like something like that, think how easy it would be to sneak up on these "Bigfoot" creatures"

Wily Wolverine responds "That is some fancy gear alright but, remember we are in a jungle, things have a tendency to fail in the jungle no matter how well constructed. Things break usually just when you need it the most. The less complex something is the less parts to break."

Wily Wolverine went up to General Welsh, introduced the Indians and volunteered to put them on point in a rotating duty cycle. He went on to explain that all of them were experienced woodsmen and that Wily Bobcat was an excellent tracker. He described Angry Buffalo as an amateur botanist with practical knowledge of poisonous plants as well as edible. The Iuthian jungle is very different to the Indian lands but he should be able to identify most of the very poisonous plants by family structure. Of course the best thing to do is observe the local wildlife especially the primates if they eat it, it should be ok for the expedition.

OOC: are we in the jungle yet? if we aren't just inseert all of this in athe appropriate place ;)

General Ilo Listened as Wily Wolverine spoke, setting his tactical computer to thermographic and eyeing the screen as he moved forward. As Wily Wolverine finished he gave orders

"Right, Angry Buffalo and Private Jones on point, Wily Wolverine I want you and Privates Goodson and Jenkov and Sharp Antler to fan out behind them, everybody stay in sight.

Three Legged Deer, Mr. White Leftenat Brax and Seargent Jacobs, with me behind the second line. Mr. White, put on your telephoto lens, when my thermographic imager catches something, I want you to get a look at it.

Behind us I want Wily Bobcat and Corporal Farlander to escort our other 'experts', keep at least within five yards of me, but not too close please.

If we see something, radio me, don't yell, don't shout, all you lads move along nice and easy, no machetes, no loud noises, nice and easy."

He points as he orders making sure everyone forms as he wishes setting a staggered formation where everyone has someone back and to the right of them , about 10-15 yards apart (except those in the very back) . He also sets his comm to the groups frequency and sets a channel for all of them.

They notice quickly that General Ilo is watching all of them like a hawk, his comm is in his helmet and if anyone is moving to fast or stops to poke around with something they quickly get a soft calm voice over their walkie talkies "Not so fast now, it's not a race keep us all in sight lad." or a "I'm sure that plant is very interesting, it's not what we're after move it along."

He also verbally contacts his point men every 10 minutes like clockwork, even if he can see them. He moves along carefully sweeping his FN-Minami side to side slowly keeping an eye on the thermographic display.

The aelosian ranger looked at Wily Wolverine as he spoke, from head to toe, and nodded.

"You're right, everything too complex has a low chance of survival in an hostile environment as the jungle. First wise thing I hear since I arrived here", she said to the indian, using her usual emotionless tone. "Too bad we're in different teams, I would like to have someone who knows the basics about jungle enviroments".

[Because I've posted alot and some people don't want to always read alot I should note this is in reply to Aelosia and it's the night before were we are at...]

The young private listened to the huntress's reply with interest, making a point of not interupting her but instead watching her carefully. Not only was she a very attractive women who probably worked out more then he did, but she was also putting alot of attention into her equipment, placing each tool somewhere on her person... he was both enthalled and impressed by her proffesionalism.

Her equipment itself looked foriegn to Private Jones, but he'd heard that the Aelosians were advanced in comparison to most Iuthian technology, the guns themselves were a little like the Hunteress, they were beautiful delicate but clearly they were instruments of death. The same went for the knife, clearly it was a brilliantly crafted knife, something you could display but he could sense that this weapon wasn't for looking at and was as efficient at killing as it was beautiful...

Her actually reply itself confirmed what his eyes were telling him. She didn't sound too interested in her job, despite the fact that Jones himself found the idea of a real mercenary interesting in a odd way. She didn't; it was nothing more then a fact to her, something to state and be done with it. See wasn't really in a conversation with the private, but simply directing a responce at him without all the personal crap that got in the way.

While many men find the idea of a "femme fatal" appealing they clearly had never met someone who really fit the decription. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful, but her professional non-personal approach was unsettling. While Jones would have flirted with almost any woman in this situation he didn't do so now as he wasn't sure that the worst he could get would be just a slap...

The Aelosian finished her careful perparation, as well as her conversation. Quickly Jones pulled himself together and replayed the words said to him for an appropriate responce.

"I'm sure that our teams will be more then capable of responding to a threat, especially with so many specialist soldiers and experts like yourself." He gave a weak smile as some form of consolation for his comment before continuing. "Anyways, I better show you to the barracks, we'll be waking up pretty early tomorrow."

He signalled the way and gave the guards a nod on the way out. Along the way, now walking through the serene crimson red sunset towards the west of the base. The colors made the military gray of the base less boring for a change. "Nice rifle by the way..." was the best thing he could come up with before finally reaching the barracks.

"Well, this is it. I'll probably see you tomorrow. Goodnight." He made his goodbyes, which wasn't too hard with the hunter who wasn't interested in keeping him from leaving. He then went to his own barracks further down the base to have a cold shower.

----------------------------------


Dr. Morrie Jones tried to explain as much as she could to the Aelosian doctor, once or twice avoiding eye contact in a bashful manner. She explained that on the whole Iuthia wasn't too bad for dangerous wildlife, they didn't have large cats like tigers and lions and while many plants were poisonous they didn't have anything too powerful with exception to very rare leaves which were often colored as a warning. Most of the wildlife didn't have to worry about large predators so they didn't need powerful poisons, or at least nothing powerful enough to kill a man in minutes.

She also explained that Iuthia's interest in wildlife was limited... she is top in her field because her field isn't very large in Iuthia, the forrests were often just resources to be used, Umbar hadn't had much study as it was less forgiving then some of the other safer and more accessable jungles. With time the two went over the Doctors questions, soon coming the conclusion that while it was naturally dangerous in the first place simply knowing about the normal threats would be enough to protect from them.

Though-out the evening it became more evident that Morrie was a confident woman when talking about her specialist subjects... but otherwise she is a bashful woman who occasionally tried too hard at being polite.

It was getting late, close to around 9:30pm before she decided that she had said enough. "I'm going to have to get some sleep for tomorrow Doctor, early morning and all. Goodnight." she waited for the goodbyes then quietly left to her own quarters.


Both of these posts concern the night before, just so I can close things I left with Aelosia. Next post will be back in the present.

Wow the last post makes sense if you put it inbetween Aelosia's other two posts... now back to work. Sorry I've delayed this a bit, I like to get a run up some times but now I've got the right frame of mind.

Ilek-Vaad, don't worry about it, like you said we can organise it in a bit but I will just assume your intructions are getting reading for when you arrive, it will also be the reference I will be using for the formation of your group (though it's moot point really, it just has to sound about right, accuracy is nice but not required).

The Iuthian's listened to the generals commands carefully, making sure to listen to the mans every word. They were used to commands, the Commandoes were still in the military and as such they lived on these sorts of orders, where as the "experts" were now remembering their compulsory service that they had each attended in their young adulthood, now they relived those memories in their simple jungle camo gear.

Each Commando looked like most of the others, their camouflage had been applied carefully enough to look reasonably natural and their gear was well packed and prepared. They had alot of training for this sort of situation and they were mildly excited by the idea of real action, though they kept a proffessional manner... afterall they were ment to be well disaplined.

As for the Iuthian experts... they two were dressed in the common BDU jungle camo gear, their gear had been packed for them and they were each equipped with a pistol for protection, they have trained with pistol use in the past but it had been too long for the military to trust them with automatic weapons. They didn't bother with camouflage face paint as it was doubted that they had the stealth for it to be too effective, and they wouldn't know how to apply it anyways.


So everyone was ready, listening to their squad leaders giving their instructions, carefully noting important details. Sgt. Mason, the second squad leader from Sigma Octavus, gave a similar set of intructions as given by General Ilo, making sure that the experts would be protected while still being able to function as a effective unit, though it was clear that some of them would stick out like sore thumbs, though he doubted that they would be very quiet either.

I am thinking that because Sigma Octavus cannot keep up with the thread I may allow someone else to take his place as leader of squad two, preferably someone who knows a bit about squad tactics but it isn't required (as this is a RP closer to movie accuracy then real life). I can either RP them myself, allow someone to RP his men, or change the leadership of this squad altogether... I'm open to suggestions.


Now, completely ready the two teams were loaded into military transport trucks to be dropped off at the attack location, from the start of the mission they are working together with the evidence at hand and may split up as tracks demand, or possibly stay near one another depending on circumstance.

Within twenty-five minutes they reached their destination; it wasn't anything like a true jungle at this point, the woods were open and many trees had been felled for the logging industry... it resembled something more like a normal forrest, where the trees weren't really competing for the sunlight so much and it hadn't grown as dense as the real thing. With the near by collection of tree stumps it turned out to be a fairly large clearing which opened up until it wasn't forrest anymore, from above it would look like someone bit a chunk out of the edge of the forrest.

The sparse woods on the edge of the treeline allowed for maybe a bit of cover, but you could see a reasonable distance before too many trees bloked line of site.

Scattered around the site was evidence of the logging work done, aside from the stumps and fell trees there was the large remains of the bulldozer, it appeared that the only parts taken were the removable parts on the exterior and occasionally some of the exterior was taken... however the inside was more vandalised then looted, the steering wheel didn't seem to interest the beasts but it wasn't where it should be, it lay on the ground.

This will have to do for now, feel free to search and I've reply with what you find, even if it's nothing. I have better details for the actual jungle but this is on the edge... so it's not really too threatening. If I missed something give me a shout and I'll edit...

Once they reached the spot, the huntress quickly grab her backpack and directed to one of the few nearby trees and climbed it, with awesome speed and agility taking into account the weight of her entire equipment. After a minute, however, she was well positioned in the upper branches of the tree, maintaining a relative balance as she tried to prepare her rifle.

The officer just looked around, standing right behind the Doctor Paelisi, that was blatantly trying to stay nearby the Iuthian scientist, seeking to start a conversation with her. He was looking more focused on that little issue than in the mission, fact that seemed to disturb the disciplined elven officer.

General Ilo now at the attack point , gives his commands for the squads formation << Insert previous post here>>

He watched as the Aelosian Huntress scaled the tree and then nodded to his men, moving them directly into the jungle asap.

He looked to the other squad leader "Stay in touch, we'll head straight in and then perhaps north and east depending on what we find. If you head the other way we can cover alot more ground, we'll have a better chance of finding something." he emphasized 'something'

He nodded up to Angry Buffalo and Private Jones "let's move, stay sharp"

Angry Buffalo moved to the left of Private Jones and began to work his way forward. He wondered if the ranger was going to move from tree to tree. The jungle wasn't much of a challenge at this point and he moved effortlessly and silently. The military types weren't nearly as quiet. Their mode seemed to be to plow through the underbrush hoping to scare something up. Angry Buffalo did notice their clothing didn't make any noise as the tangle of growth swished past the soldiers. Nice stuff. He noted. He moved the earpiece out of his ear but positioned close enough to hear the commands and comments. He wanted to be able to hear everything in the jungle.

He was sure the General would put a stop to all the chatter on the comm links soon. There was a lot of comments from the scientists, about this plant and that insect. He only heard from the rest of the Indians when they were called upon to report. He wasn't nearly as good a tracker as Wily Bobcat but he was sure there wasn't much here to see. He nocked an arrow into his bow leaving a small leather cover on the broadhead. He didn't want to slice his leg while walking. The cover would protect him but would be easily sliced through in an emergency close in shot. He was taking in the sounds of the jungle. Noting which animals called out in alarm when the party passed them by.

Angry Buffalo could hear Wily Bobcat urging the scientists to keep moving, there would be more time to examine plants, animals, and insects later. He could hear the exasperation in Bobcat's voice and they had just started. This is going to be an interesting trek.

[ooc: apologies for not posting at all lately, it seems girlfriends are more demanding than NS threads.... anyway]

Brax took up his position just behind and to the side of General Ilo Welsh, he decided that he liked the man's no-nonsense style, that he was worthy of respect. With his assault rifle held at his hip, he pointed at the ground, silent and alert to any signs of life in the jungle. He knew his role would initially be to keep tabs on Albert White, perhaps even take command of the Gamblers-Anonymous Savages that were so eager to go round sniffing things. He half-expected them to go and mark a tree-trunk like a dog at any moment. he was ready, so he thought, for anything that the General and his high-tech equipment would ask of him.

"A please would have been nice," Al thought as he screwed the long lens onto his camera, "What am I, a papperazo?" he kept his grumbling to a minimum, perhaps that Ilo fellow would do something nasty to him. He shuddered to think, but snapped a few photos of the area and its vandalisation for his own scrapbook. Besides, he had memory sticks to spare for his digicam.

Quinn was, as always, cheeky and light-hearted. with his rifle slung over his shoulder and his hands practically in his pockets, he seemed for all the world like a kid in greens. Underneath this laid-back exterior, however, was a mind that never stopped, scanning the treeline, making sure where the experts were and generally keeping tabs on the situation. He liked to joke with the experts, make them feel at ease with the stone-cold killer they'd assumed he was, asking pertinent questions about the flora and fauna around them. He was paying special attention to Wily Bobcat, who seemed especially in tune with the woods around them. Everything Quinn did was designed to give him a better understanding of his environment and the situations that could unfold.

Jules De Brionne, on the other hand, was being a complete ass. He'd been politely warned by General Welsh on not a few occasions, to both speed up and slow down. He was acting like a celebrity, which he wasn't really. Even in Starblaydia his ratings were dropping, so getting a scoop on these dog-men would be a real coup and pull the ratings back in. He just had to make sure he found them first.

As the Foolish Troopers took stock of the scene the First squad was already moving into the Jungle. The Troops themselves wore a standard green/brown military flak armour designed to double as camoflague. Not the most stylish of uniforms but effective enough when in Jungle environs.

"Scooby Doo" stated Captin Hopper. With that the rest of his squad spread out in what appeared to be a standard search pattern, with Jose checking the bulldozer, Ulbar seeming to look for tracks and Rick Scouting the treeline for traps. Though with his limp he decided to merly find heigher ground and look for traps from there.

This seems too easy thought Hopper to himself. Surely, they'd have trapped the area. They had to know we were coming, can they really be this sloppy? He mused.

General Ilo quite politely, but sternly (with the sound of his FN-Minimi chambering a round in the backgropund) ordered everyone to keep as quite as possible

"Let's keep the chatter to a minimum, keep the comm lines clear so I can hear my point men if they see anything. Mr. De Brionne could you please try and keep up? "

He kept moving, letting his point men set the pace, constantly sweeping the jungle with thermographic scope as he moved, noting the differences between the background heat and humidity to to the heat given off by the men ahead of him, he noted and investigated any unusual hotspots................

OOC: I know the map of Iuthia has broken from the first page, so it’s hard to tell but I think I should note that you are currently at the east side of the forest, so heading north east after going into the forest from the west will inevitable lead out again… as such I am editing to assume “north west”. Sorry I didn’t make this clear earlier.

At the site prior to the separation of the two squads…

“Stay in touch, we'll head straight in and then perhaps north and east depending on what we find. If you head the other way we can cover a lot more ground, we'll have a better chance of finding something.” General Welsh informed Sgt. Mulit, leader of squad two. He simple nodded a reply and turned back to his own “men”.

Sgt. Mulit then instructed the squad: “You heard the General; squad one are going ahead to start a search in towards the North West region of the forest unless they encounter something to suggest otherwise. To cover more ground we will be searching towards the South West region after we have examined this site for an possible tracks or leads as to their whereabouts as some of our squad suggested, we’ll stay for twenty then make our move into the forest.”

Squad Two

The Aelosian ranger climbed up the tree at an astonishing speed, performing feats of acrobatics akin to an expert performer. The tree itself a fine example of the large competitive nature of the jungle as it had broken the canopy above the others providing an excellent view into the horizon ahead… however the horizon didn’t offer much insight into what lay ahead as the canopies of the rain forest gave the impression of yet another surface above the jungle floor, the thick greenery was a testament to the constant battle for sunlight that was thought all the time by the native fauna… no smoke columns could be seen at this distance… if they existed they most have been some distance out as the light wind would disperse them to the point where they would not be visible unless near by. However she could watch the first squad make its way into the jungle, slowly disappearing into the growing density of the jungle ahead.

The troopers from Foolish Pesants sweeped the area for traps and tracks with no doubt their superior genetically enhanced eye-sight would assist them in their search, however no traps were found and the only tracks that remained (as far as they could tell from the brief search) were those as smaller animals which had passed recently… nothing large enough to suggest anything more sinister.

After watching the troopers search the area for traps, Morrie Jones made an observation. “I doubt we are going to find traps in a area they have already looted… it wouldn’t make any sense. They most probably hit this place and took what they could, perhaps concealing their prints as they left. Traps would be a waste here.” She looked out to the Doctor, who was standing near her at the time. “Would you agree Dr. Paelisi? A second opinion would be welcome as I’m no ancient military expert…”


Squad One

As they descended deeper into the jungle surrounded General and his men. It wasn’t nice, interesting, open jungle, such as leopard-skin-clad heroes might swing through, but serious, real jungle, jungle that towered up like solid slabs of greenness, thorned and barbed, jungle in which every representative of the vegetable kingdom had really rolled up its bark and got down to the strenuous business of outgrowing all competitors. The soil was hardly soil at all, but dead plants on the way to composthood; water dripped from leaf to leaf, insects whined in the humid spore-laden air and there was the terrible breathless silences made by the motors of photosynthesis running flat out. Any yodelling hero who tried to swing through that lot might just as well take his chances with a bean-slicer.

So far Angry Buffalo hadn’t noticed any tracks to suggest recent movement through this part of the forest, but he knew that the conditions were hardly suitable and the chances were unlikely given the amount of cover provided. To be honest he wasn’t concentrating on the task, only being able to catch a glance at the ground as the squad pressed on into the jungle. The sounds of the jungle seemed to keeping to the norm, nothing alarming if you weren’t scared of monkeys…

However he was certainly right on one thing, many of the Iuthian Commandoes were not as careful as the Indians, who moved carefully with precision, the Iuthians were trying not to make much noise but they were not as experienced at stealth in an environment where most of the undergrowth wasn’t conveniently out of the way. That said the experts being escorted were just as loud, if not more so… untrained and less disciplined they were.

So far there was nothing noteworthy as the squad made it’s way deeper into the bowels of Umbar.

OOC: Okay, I'm back. Gotta read up, and I'll post. I lost my spot as leader of second squad, right? I can post on a regular basis now.

OOC: Okay, I'm back. Gotta read up, and I'll post. I lost my spot as leader of second squad, right? I can post on a regular basis now.

OOC: No, you've not lost your spot as leader of the second squad, I've not actually taken it away from you, I just RPed Sgt. Mason Mulit just in case you did come back... your the leader because by the looks of things your leader is the most experienced in the squad and is used to command in such an environment... I also guessed you may want to come back because this isn't going too fast... so heres a summary for anyone a little lost:

Squad One has set out towards the west (directly into the jungle) and then to the North west. Currently they have seen no sign of trouble.

Meanwhile Squad Two has remained at the site of the attack, the Aelosian Ranger is up a tree with her sniper rifle and some of the men are searching the area for traps and tracks.

The leader of Squad One has recomended that the two squads take different direction to cover more ground, you are still in contact with eachover via radio, however Squad One has been ordered to keep the chatter down to the minimum...

The control is now yours, feel free to take your time, there is no real time limit here.

OOC: Thanks

-tag here for post-

Wily Bobcat moves up along-side Quinn and covers his comm mike with his hand and whispers to Quinn "See that tangle of twigs, brush and dried leaves, about 3 meters high." He points to what seems at first glance to be just that, a tangle of fallen debris in a banyan-like tree, but upon closer inspection it is too carefully placed to be natural.

Almost at the same time Angry Buffalo stepped into a clear lane where he could see clearly for 15 meters to the left and right. He puts his arm out and stops Private Jones and carefully steps back out of the clear view line. In the hardwood forests of home this would be a normal random spacing of the trees. It was common to find a view like this and it could be used to your advantage while hunting. In the thick underbrush of the jungle it was not random. He says into the comm link "General we have something here."

Upon hearing Angry Buffalo the other Indians stopped and blended into the underbrush waiting for General Welsh to deploy them.

General Ilo immediately orders everyone to stop, and remain quiet. He quickly and silently moves up to where Wily Bobcat is, motioning for Angry Buffalo to follow him.

He comes up silently next to Wily Bobcat and quickly scans the brush that Wily Bobcat is looking at with his thermographic imager, gingerly moving towards it as he does, motioning for his point men to follow.

The Sergeant looked around the clearing. There was nothing here of much use. Those things had hauled off alot of stuff from the looks of the ruined camp. He shouldered his rifle and pulled up his Multi-Use Goggles (MUG). Looking through the MUG, he saw nothing but the Ranger in the trees. He switched to heat vision. Nothing out of the ordinary. Switching through every vision mode he had, he was finally assured there was nothing there. Still, he lowered his rifle.

The SOMI walked around the camp, keeping an eye on the specialists with them in second squad. These people took precedent. The Foolish troops looked like they could handle themselves in a fight.

The Aelosian looked down, and finally realized how useless was her attempt to survey the area from there. She was more useful down there, with the rest of the squad. After all, she wasn't exactly trusting in the capabilities of the navy officer to protect that clumsy doctor, and that was her job right now. If that Doctor would be torn to ribbons by anything in that jungle, she would be responsible...and she wouldn't get her reward.

She climbed down in the same way as she climbed, using her agility to display security and not a possible show with nasty consequences. Once she touched the ground she looked around, and walked until she reached the rest of her squad position.

The Doctor nodded, eager to show the woman how he was willing to support her guessings. "Yes, yes, yes. I suppose if they're that wild, they're nomadic enough to not return to the same place, pursuing the available food and resources that they would find", he said, smiling broadly. "But each time I think about it, I'm quite more convinced that we could be facing some kind of forest orcs, more savage than their Ardan cousins, and more primitive if that is possible..."

Suddenly the sound of a weapon being prepared to fire distracted them. "They can return anytime, if that the case. The orc behaviour is random, and they don't follow any rule. But the Lady is right about those traps I don't think they would lose time to return here to see what happened, and they look like moving too fast to be the trap type...", said the Navy Officer, the owner of the cocked rifle, as he looked at the surroudings with the help of the thermal visor of his helmet.

"No traps here. They're too smart for that", interrumpted the ranger as she reached their spot. "And they won't return here. It makes no sense at all. They want food and resources, and right now the food and resources are moving in their direction, looking for them, to be more precise, so the traps are largely unnecessary", she said, her face covered with the hood of the robe as she walked forward, prepared to enter the most thick part of the jungle.

As the Foolish Troopers finished their observations of the area they quickly re-assembled near the truck.

"Area clear, Sir. This place hasn't seen any recent activity, nor does it seem like a usual hunting ground. Nothing out of the ordinary.", stated the group Sergeant.

"Perhaps, but you know the drill. We are to assume that we're being monitored and our path to be blocked, any lenacy in our meathods will get us killed." He looked around critically, noting how easily the Elf got around the tree. She Was an Elf, right? "Ok set up a comms relay here, I want clear signals. No choppy 'Arrgh, they in the Crackle! Oh i'm dead action', understand?"

On that, the troops began to set up a small piece of machenery no bigger than a football, covered in a cheap looking plastic case. Which they immediatly dug a hole for and buried, before anyone could get a better look.

OOC: The board is telling me i was the last to post but the thread doesn't agree, so i'll re-post.

Quinn looked at the pile of jungle junk, almost not noticing it at first. Finally he realised the significance it might hold and swung his stubby rifle from his shoulder and turned round slowly, looking at the trees around them for anything untoward. 'No one ever looks up in the movies at times like this,' he though to himself. 'Unless they're about to get killed...'

Slowly, almost forcing himself to, Quinn looked up at the canpoy aabove them.

Brax had tapped Albert on the shoulder. "Document this, please." he said, his firm voice suggested that the 'please' was just there to unnerve Al as little as possible, and Al sarted taking pictures of the area and the mound.

Wily Bobcat poked the mound with the tip of his broadhead, the leather protector long removed. At first glance there seemed to be nothing inside but he knew the composting action of the heap of vegetable mass could mask any heat signature General Ilo was seeking with the the thermographic imager. This little bit of poking of course stirred up the scientists and they began to crowd around Wily Bobcat, Quinn and the General. They wanted to do a controlled archeological type dig right now. They became even more excited when they noticed some small animal bones mixed in the mound.

OOC: It's a good thing you bumped this, I got distracted by realife for a bit. I'll post shortly.

Squad One

The thermographic imager simply viewed the entire brush as the same warm sticky color as the rest of the vegitation around this place, occasionally, if the general was to use the imager, he would pick up small contacts which would then be checked out and determined to be natural wildlife; anything from monkeys to small rodents and birds.

Even now as the entire troop watched the motionless mound the jungles sounds were ever present, the calls of birds marking out their territories and impressing their mates, the playful howling of monkeys in the high up canopy... but then again, who said these things would disturb the natural sounds of the forest?

Never-the-less the mound didn't move, even as it was inspected. A couple of the Iuthian Commandoes strafed around the sides of it to get a different angle, but it soon became clear that it's dimensions couldn't hold something which was described to be "7 foot tall". Still, the experts may want to check it.


Squad Two

Private Izmael approached Sergeant Mason to report. Like many of the other Iuthian soldiers their skin was mildly tanned due to the warm climate of Iuthia and like many of the others he was a relatively tall man at 6'2". His camo had been aplied as well as any rookie soldier would have done, while it was good enough to work it can a little too much effort put into it... unfortunately Iuthia rarely ever got the chance to blood its soldiers in real combat, even thougth the training was extensive.

"Sir, we have checked the surrounding areas for traps and tracks and we have yet to find anything. Though no one has spoken to the Aelosian Hunter since she climbed up that tree... so I wouldn't know if she found anything." Many of the Iuthian soldiers looked a little wet behind the ears... as suggested they didn't get enough real experience and the idea of real combat was giving them different reactions. Some were eager and others were nervous, none of them would break however due to their extensive training and mild hypno-therapy. Never the less it showed.

Meanwhile Morrie continued her conversation with the Doctor and the Ranger, who had now joined them to report her findings. Morrie, like the Commandoes was wearing Jungle BDU and even sporting her own backpack with equipment, she had a small Berreta sized pistol holstered on one side but otherwise remained unarmed... the look didn't suit her librarian physique and she had retained a meak outlook.

"I don't even know if they are particularly smart... though nature will probably ensure they are cunning, as the less cunning ones would surely die out. But I suppose it's safer to assume they are intelligent. Otherwise we may be surpised in a nasty way." She stated generally to the two elves (actually all three elves were present as the bright blue armoured Aelosian couldn't be forgoten, but he wasn't part of the conversation).

"Are we done here Doctor Paelisi?"

Geral Ilo started circling the mound , moving slowly out and away from it, still scanning with his tactical computer, his eyes fixed on the screen, but he still seemed perfectly able to see where he was stepping and waht everyone else was doing.

"Let's fan out from here in a circular pattern , see if there is anything associated with this mound, Let the experts take the mound apart howerver they see fit. Whatever made it had to leave some trace of itself around here."

The five Indians spread out trying to stay ahead of the regular soldiers to see the forest floor unspoiled. About 250 yards from the mound, Feisty Wolverine spots something interesting. He knows General Ilo didn't want anyone this far away but Feisty Wolverine was trying to get ahead of the couple of scientists stomping around, apparently there wasn't enough room for them back at the mound so they were trying to find something on their own.

Feisty Wolverine on the comm link "General, you and Wily Bobcat need to come over here and look at this." What he had spotted was about 1/3 of a very large footprint, humanoid at first glance. He needed Bobcat to help determine the age of the print. Wily Bobcat was of course chomping at the bit to take a look, he was disciplined enough to wait until the General invited him.

Sharp Antler was trying to determine if there was a way to the mound that would lend itself to an instinctive pathway. Against his better judgement (he hated heights) Antler climbed up a nearby tree. His years in the forest studying the habits of game and other animals allowed him to spot a natural corridor leading to the mound. Wolverine was right in the middle of this passageway. The patterns of the trees and underbrush indicated a slight incline just past Wolverine. That is enough of this tree. thought Antler, he was getting down. He heard Wolverine's call on the comm link and was very curious.

OOC: Iuthia I am assuming you will provide the bad guys when the time arises.

OOC: Iuthia I am assuming you will provide the bad guys when the time arises.
OOC: Yes, but in this instance it's unlikely seeing as these creatures have certain qualities which limit them...

The idea was to give you a chance to get into the jungle and settle into the environment... I didn't think anywould would actually try and start an encounter without me giving them reason to think they are in trouble...

You notice that I'm providing you with answers and environment when you check things out? The reason being that you don't know what they will try and do, how they will attack... some suggestions have been made, but on the whole little information is known.

I commend your effort to try and move the thread along, I know I've not been as posting as much as I should... but it's not how the creatures act.

I don't mind the occasional bit of evidence found, it's just that I get confused if too much is assumed and it's incorrect.

OOC: so, is there a foot print or not? Don't confuse General Ilo, he'll start shooting!! ;)

Jenson Kyleston carefully approached the mound with some of the other experts, the fact that some of the soldiers were still covering it was no comfort to him... his job as Wild Life expert was normally alot more dull, but recently it had alot of dangerous possibilities.

Still, the mound was both still and silent as he approached, it looked a little like a lair for some animal, like the Indian had suggested it had been contructed for living in, though the remains suggested the creature that built it was long dead...

Jenson got closer still, his heart now pounding... he hadn't felt like this since he dealt with a particularly large contrictor which had escaped into the streets of Iuthia Prima. Bearly a foot away, Jenson knelt down to look into the small enterance on one side... it looked empy, which helped to calm Jenson down a little, though he still felt the blood rushing through his system. A small mechanism could be seen, however even Jenson could work this one out.

"General Welsh!" He half-shouted half-spoke the generals name out. Now he was excited, he had found something if some interesting implications. "It... looks like some kind of simple snare for a small animal, I've seen hunters use these before, they are easy to make and can be quite effective." His voice was fast, though it had calmed down enough to be back to normal volume.

Jenson stood up to allow the access, he wasn't going to touch it himself.


Meanwhile, it seemed that Feisty Wolverine had found himself a reasonable print in a small patch of uncovered ground, the imprint seemed fresh, like it could have been made in the last couple of hours, never the less it seemed to match the clawed humanoid feet in the casting shown at the breifing.

In the distance the jungle monkies could be heard making a racket, though monkeys always seemed to make alot of noise these little fellows seemed to be trying to win an award and it could be reckoned that they were about 400 or more yards out in the dense jungle, less out of visual range.

Like other areas of the jungle this area had limited lighting and vison, the trees were dense and the canopy only allowed a small amount of sunshine to break though, in those places plants often grew taking what little engery they could. Fiesty Wolverine could see the path back up towards the mound and the path itself seemed to be less overgrown then some of the others, where the path was he could almost see all the way back to the mound, however other locations give him about 50 vision before too many trees blocked his sight.

In all the time he was checking the foot print the monkeys hadn't stopped making such a loud noise, though a coulpe of the noise-makers seemed further away.

Slowly, almost forcing himself to, Quinn looked up at the canopy above them.

As Quinn looks up he sees the thick growth of the trees, standing like tall natural pillar reaching up into a thick mass of green speckled with light trying to brighten up the undergrowth. The occasion bit of wildlife can be seen, though normal more spactular then colorful birds, everything else seems to be taking refuge from the group which has disturbed the jungle a little.

General Ilo was looking over Feisty Wolverine's shoulder when Jensen nearly shouted. He moved quickly back to the mound motioning for everyone to stay still , he rounded the trees where the mound was his FN-Minimi leveled for a quick shot.

He frowned at the startled Jensen "What did I say about shouting? Use your comm please." He looked up and around at the icreased racket of the monkeys "Well, anyone who didn't know we were here does now."

He then crouched by Jensen as pointed to where Fiesty Wolverine was still guarding the print Mr. Jenter, er Dr. Jenter? Mr. Wolverine has found a print, go have a look, thank you."

He then set down his rifle and removed his longest knife out of the half dozen he carried and reached into the mound, disarming the snare. He then carefully sifted through it, probing it with his knife, exposing everything inside of it carefully.

"Seargent Jacobs , is there anyone who would be trapping or hunting round these parts?" he questioned as he worked.

****Blast!****

Slowly, almost forcing himself to, Quinn looked up at the canopy above them.

As Quinn looks up he sees the thick growth of the trees, standing like tall natural pillar reaching up into a thick mass of green speckled with light trying to brighten up the undergrowth. The occasion bit of wildlife can be seen, though normal more spactular then colorful birds, everything else seems to be taking refuge from the group which has disturbed the jungle a little.

The snare hadn't been set off before General Welsh disarmed it, but the assumption behind it's perpose was that the lair would make an good home for another creature of it's kind, food wasn't used as bait as whatever set it must of assumed that the trap wouldn't need it, but it's still odd that food wasn't used as extra incentive.

The Sergeant continued to watch his patch while replying on the comms, he did listen unlike some of the experts who lost themselves in the excitement. He reported across the Comms in a calm voice. "Not that I'm aware of Sir, some of the local villagers may occasionally lay down traps near the outskirts, but the logging operation was a couple miles away from the nearest village and we're too deep into the forrest for any sane villager to hunt, it's too easy to get lost in this deep."

OOC: Edited above post to include the missing fact I forgot about the footprint.

Meanwhile Morrie continued her conversation with the Doctor and the Ranger, who had now joined them to report her findings. Morrie, like the Commandoes was wearing Jungle BDU and even sporting her own backpack with equipment, she had a small Berreta sized pistol holstered on one side but otherwise remained unarmed... the look didn't suit her librarian physique and she had retained a meak outlook.

"I don't even know if they are particularly smart... though nature will probably ensure they are cunning, as the less cunning ones would surely die out. But I suppose it's safer to assume they are intelligent. Otherwise we may be surpised in a nasty way." She stated generally to the two elves (actually all three elves were present as the bright blue armoured Aelosian couldn't be forgoten, but he wasn't part of the conversation).

"Are we done here Doctor Paelisi?"

"Yes, it looks like we're done here. You're a fantastic researcher, Doctor, and it's a pleasure to share knowledge with such well prepared scientist", said the happy looking aelosian scientist to Morrie as she finished her explanation. He smiled a little and surveyed the surroundings a little, covering his eyes with the palm of his hand.

The Huntress just placed her hand inside her hood, as slapping her forehead a little, and shook her head from side to side looking at the pair of scientists. "I'll make a little watching on my own, ok?. I won't leave too far, please Doctor Paelisi, (she said those words mimicking the tone of Morrie), tell the leader of this expedition, whoever he is, that I'll leave on my own for a while. I'll keep the channel 4970 open for any messages. After all, I'm not doing anything here", she said before turning around, and after turning on the camouflage system of her cloak, making her almost invisible as the fabric started to mimic the colors of the surrounding jungle, dissapearing in the deep vegetation ahead.

Using the low branches of the trees as supporting points, she started to jump slowly but with good balance from branch to branch, her silouette just a single shadow covering the light from time to time, just a slight glimpse of motion.

Sharp Antler was studying the chattering monkeys, trying to discern what type of call they were using. He hadn't been in this country long enough to be able to tell if it was a "predator snake, predator big cat" or if they were just irritated.

He hoped it wasn't a tiger, he hated big cats. He couldn't remember if during the briefing if was mentioned that large predatory cats lived in the jungle. He reached down and patted the .44 magnum just in case.

Sharp Antler was wondering if those monkeys tasted any good. The General and the scientists might frown on him skewering dinner just at the moment. He was going to ask the General if it was ok as soon as things quieted down. The footprint and the snare had the small party all stirred up. The little dik-dik like deer would probably be fine too, but he hadn't seen any since the monkeys started yammering.

Sharp Antler felt something was up. He whistled a quiet bird call alerting the other Indians. It meant Be alert unknown danger.

Hopper stood back to inspect his work, the ground clearly looked like they just dug it up and the mound rised out of the ground enough to be visible from a few hundred yards.
Good he thought to himself.

"Time to get moving, we didn't come here for a picnic" he announced in a voice loud enough for all to hear. "Ok, headsets. Set to relay frequency; 14.192. Sweep all other frequencys every 10 minuites, staggered."
Glancing suspiciously he whispered to his troops,"Avoid Activation unless absolutly necesarry, we could be here for quite a while, I don't want anyone losing it."

The headsets looked like the kind you'd see callcentre staff use, only these are solid metal and attach soley over the right ear. They don't look too solid, though standard practice is to beat them against a rock before use, evidently.

The monkeys cries in the distance were now moving further away, presumably shattering from the area they start to make a racket, people who studied the calls of the jungle could recognise the call as "Predator" though they would have to be experienced in Iuthia's jungle in order to get any more information, every jungle is different and even monkies are not unversally the same. Sharp Antler was in the best position, being closest to the racket being made, though it was still moving away from his as the monkies no doubt ran from their antagonist.

In the distance between the dense trees and overgrown bushes movement could be seen, specifically what it was Sharp Antler couldn't be sure as the thick coverage blocked most of his sight. Never the less his eyes tracked the movement before it disapeared behind the coverage... he reckoned it was some distance away, maybe about 80ft away.

---------------------

Meanwhile Jenson was still poking around in the lair, though he only spent another minute before he had finished examining it. Then a birdcall was heard and the Indian's of the group seemed to prick their ears upon hearing it. Jenson, being ignorant, dismissed it as wildlife, despite evidence on the contary.

"Well, it's probably most likely that someone, possibly even the creatures we are searching for has set this in order to make an easy catch. Another animal would concider this lair to be quite a nice new home. Placing a snare here suggests hunters with some knowledge of the nature around here." Jenson thought about this for a moment, before continuing to ask one of the Indians about the footprint reported a minute ago.

"err... Feisty Wolverine? Did that print match the impression and weight distribution of the example we had at base?" It had, but Jenson wasn't sure. "I think it's probable that they have been hunting near here recently..."

Jenson needn't have stated this though, it was pretty clear to most of the squad that this could be the case, Jenson was just confirming it further.

---------------------

Sergeant Mason mentally noted down the channel which the huntress gave to him and told and then left her to her our vices. He would get the squad moving in a minute anyways as they returned from their studies.

The Huntress was quite some distance away from the first Squad, but she was aware of most of the findings like the snare and the footprint, however she was on the outskirts of the jungle and it would take her a few minutes to make her way into deeper parts, for the time being everything seemed like the many other jungles she has encountered.


OOC: Sorry Aesolia, I couldn't really see much I could give you for the time being seeing as you are towards the edge of the jungle, though my heads hurting from the heat so I'll try and add more later or talk to you later to work something out.

Sergeant Mason gathered the scientists together and recapped them and the rookie soldiers as to the formation for the squad, they were to make their own way into the jungle, due North West.

One the whole it seemed that after a small period of looking at the site they were now more interested in making fresh discoveries, eager to find more then just evidence of their passing, but perhaps even encounter them.

Never the less they team now moved one into the jungle, the soldiers being reasonably quiet in their movements, the experts made more noise as they fumbled around the overgrown plants and hanging vines that inhabited the jungle.

------------------------


Slowly the Ranger made her way from low branch to low branch with the same finesse as that of creatures akin to the jungles canopy, her grace was such that the trees viberation as she lept from tree to tree seemed to be from other creatures, it wasn't always perfect but most of the time the wildlife wouldn't even notice her.

Her progress was astounding and she had made her way quite deep into the jungle by this time, leaving the squad behind perhaps twenty minutes ago, occasionally stopping to get her bearing and listen to the sounds of the jungle.

Up until now they were what she would expect, however the buzzing sounds of the native wildlife shuck to the distant roar of machinegun fire. Birds quickly flew away from the sounds and monkies ran. A couple birds passed very close in there attempt to escape the unusual sound, they didn't know what it was but change wasn't good.

A quick look at her compass proved her worse suspicions, it was North East of her position, the diraction the first team was meant to be covering...


OOC: Time notification - The First Team is currently running at present time as one of the indians notices movement, the Second Team is around about the same time as the first, though perhaps not up to date and the Ranger is (you guessed it) slightly ahead of the others, go no reports of gunfire will be given to the other teams from her until they react to their own encounters, though this doesn't mean she can't RP, it's just assumed that everyone will know when the gunfire happens... it's just "bait" to move this thread again.

Squad One

Sharp Antler was carefully watching the movement in the woods, he raised the compound bow up to be able to shoot. As he did this the hair on the back of his neck began to rise as did the hair on his arms. Something big and dangerous was nearing.

He assessed the situation and decided that even though the bow with 65+pounds of pull cranked in, could kill anything short of a cape buffalo, rhino or elephant. It would take time to expire. The broadhead was designed to cut essential organs, blood vessels necesssary muscles, but it took time for the target to die. If this was a big cat it could still maul Sharp Antler seriously before it died.

Sharp Antler clipped the broadhead back into its holder and slung the bow over his shoulder. He pulled out the .44 magnum, flipped off the safety and cocked the hammer. Ever so slowly and without a sound he moved to where a large tree protected most of his body.

With barely a whisper Sharp Antler alerted the other members of the party via the comm link. He told the General to have his troops ready something big was moving towards the center of the party. Right where the scientists were babbling on about the mound and trap.

The remaining Indians already alerted, heard more than watched Sharp Antler put the bow away and draw and cock the huge pistol. They did likewise, preparing for the worst.

General Ilo quietly and quickly moved up to Sharp Antler's side, whispering into his comm as he did "Everyone quiet, and stay still , hold your positions." He raised his FN-Minimi , pointing it directly at the movement, thermal imager still on, he selected 'target' on the screen to get the tactical computer to lock onto and follow whatever it was.

He silently took a position behind a tree slightly behind and to the right of Sharp Antler, making sure he had a clean field of vision. He clicked the 'full-auto' selectotr and waited to see what was coming.

He was confident that the Minimi's5.56mmx45mm steel core rounds would shred whatever it was before it got to Sharp Antler, and just in case, he also switched on his under the barrel 20mm grenade launcher.

He whispered soothingly into the comm "Nothing to worry about, just stay quiet and still......."

OOC: Quick note Ilek Vaad, "The five Indians spread out trying to stay ahead of the regular soldiers to see the forest floor unspoiled." many of your squad are spread out still as they made an effort to find more away from the stomping soldiers, as such only one of them saw this movement and reported it via comms, you will have the direction of the movement but you won't actually have line of sight from where Sharp Antler is, though you have moved so you'll be closer then the others.

Aelosia, as of this post you are at the same time period as the rest of the RP.

The movement passed from Sharp Antler's line of sight as more thick overgrowth blocked his view, he only caught a glimmer of the beast but many of the squad had already made the same conclusion.

The next few seconds were silent as everyone remained still, the jungle had no such conciderations however, even after the squad had disturbed many of the creatures the forrest buzzed with some of the more subtle background noises...

Another glimmer of a figure passed the opening ahead of Sharp Antler, but with the dense jungle competing for sunlight the view was somewhat limited, only adding to the tension.

A faint noise could now be heard behind the Indian, he was aware that General Ilo was aproaching but with his own attempts to remain silent the movments were not silent, the Indian turned quietly to quickly see what the sound was only to have his suspicions confirmed, General Ilo signalled for him to remain silent. *

The two of them turned to the clearing for a moment, then Sharp Antler started to assume where about the first figure would be had it continued moving, looking for another chance to see the creature which looked to be around 50ft away.

General Ilo checked his thermal imager, it's field of view was limited ** and with the heat and humidity of the place it's use was limited... however it didn't fail in picking up a large blob of heat passing the opening.
-------------------------------------

Further back in around the squad, the experts held their position like scared rodents, not moving a single muscle in the hope of remaining perfectly still and not ruining their orders.

The squad on the whole was pretty spread out, with the Indians taking their various positions much further out and the General moving towards the sighting, only the more standard soldiers remained around the trap, both Iuthian and Starblaydian soldiers remained to keep the experts safe.

They too were carefully remaining still, however they were more prepared to change position to stay ready and they knew how to do so without making a racket. They kept a pretty good watch over there area, which was all the better when the creature homed in on the area...
---------------------

Now both Sharp Antler and General Ilo heard slow off-beat footsteps moving towards them, not directly on but heading slowly towards the trap site... both of them came to the same conclusion at the same time, perhaps these things heard the experts shouts from earlier...

General Ilo, pointing his gun towards the sound of the footsteps could now make out a faint glow outline from his guns vision, perhaps 30ft away. It the outline was taller then it is wide, though the thick growth of the bushes and the heat of the jungle smudged the image, it was just big and gettinf closer... perhaps it would pass them, but were they ready to take that chance?
---------------------------

Back at the sight of the trappings the bushes towards the area they came from (South West) suddenly came alive, stealth was no longer an issue as the creatures charged. In the distance, both the Indians and the general heard the gunfire as the Iuthians and (presumably) the Starblaydians let rip...

---------------------------
* The general may be very good at stealth, but complete silence in such an environment is immossible, as such it's possible to hear something close up, as in several feet.

** Or it is now...

OOC: Dangit! I told everyone to stay in sight! Bad indians,bad! ;)

*yeah, I mean as quiet as possible

** the thermal imager has a very long range, but yes, blobs of heat is all it pretty much picks, but even in the hot jungle , warm blooded bodies show up pretty good.

General Ilo motioned for Sharpened Antler to follow him as he fell in a safe distance behind the creature as passed........as soon as the gunfire started, General Ilo stated calmly into his comm "Feisty Wolverine , Wily Bobcat, stay in place. Jensen, what are you shooting at, we're coming in behind it.........."

He then quickened his pace, but didn't run, he didn't want to startle anyone into shooting him.........

Sharp Antler followed the General and using the occational glimpses of the thing moving through the underbrush, and the motion of the underbrush itself, kept a mental image of where it was. He knew Feisty Wolverine and Wily Bobcat could take care of themselves. He was worried that the group protecting the scientists had opened fire with little explanation. That was usually a sign of desperation.

Sharp Antler had proved his manhood the traditional way, taking down a male buffalo with a hand carved bow using knapped flint arrowheads all completed by himself. He wound up going to the kill too soon and the buffalo got up and went after him. He had to use a flint knife to finish the job. He found he much prefered a .44 magnum. Whatever this creature was it didn't seem to be in any hurry to get to the center of the fray.

Quinn's heartrate was beginning to drop back down as he'd seen nothing in the tree-tops. Damn those action-horror movies, he thought to himself, I'd half expected something to jump down on top of me. And why the hell have those Indians run off like that? They're either very brave or very stupid.

His sigh of relief at there being no danger in above them had been rather audible, and he was shot a look of disdain by his Lieutenant.

Brax had his rifle shouldered with the barrel pointed at the ground. He was trying to keep one eye on the mound, a couple on the scientists, one on the General, half-a-dozen on the Indians and now Farlander was getting edgy.

He turned around slowly. As he faced North-East something moved behind him. In an instant he whirled and dropped to one knee, bringing his weapon up. WIthout a moment to hesitate he opened fire, short bursts into the oncoming... things?

Quinn followed suit, reacting slower than his Lieutenant. He squeezed off a few rounds. Brax was calmly but forcefully screaming into his comm.

"General! Incoming! South-west of mound."

OOC: Yes, we are letting rip

With the ever growing tension of the hunt and the slow progress of the day, the Iuthians snapped as the thick overgrowth of the jungle rustled like a rhino charging through long grass, as they turned to face the sounds they were up close and personal with the very beings they saught out.

Running at them, emerging from the dense mess of greens were huge hulking creatures with hyena like heads, each with a short mane of fur and a muzzle full of sharp teath. The monsters wore armour which could only be described as a mixture of anything they could find, from sheets of industrial metal crudely cut and hammered to the skins of other animals which were hard to reckognise at a glance.

Worse still was what they were holding, crude melee weapons made from stone, metal, anything the creatures could hoard and sharpen to make axes, clubs and daggers... the fact they were probably blunt only made them look more menacing as they held them high, ready to strike.

Even though many of the Iuthian had never fired live ammo at living beings before, they sure as hell fired now... but the shear terror of the encounter led to barely controlled bursts of hot lead at the horror that now ran at them, they had been taught to fire at people taking cover, but this was madness.

The group as one fired at the onslaught of the hyena-men, no one was sure of how many of these beasts were running at them through the cover, but with each hyena-man being taller then any of the soldiers it would be hard to make such an assesment but it sure as hell looked like alot.

The charge was met with a wall of bullets, each soldier now firing their fully automatic weapons into the monsters; the hyena-man up front went down as many of the squad marked it for death first, it made it a couple feet before it fell down to the ground with a heavy thud as it was peppered with high calibre rounds.

Several creatures followed the first a few feat behind, now ignoring his body, the fire of the squad was split among them as they ran forward towards the group, behind these were several more in a wider formation, as they appeared the others were only just stumbling forwards as the heavy fire of the combined team ripped through their armour, clearly not designed against high cablibre weaponry... however, these creatures proved resiliant as they ran forward, still running as rounds ripped through their flesh before a couple steps after they stumbled and fell to the ground in tatters.

Many of the creatures died this way, however the sparse formation that was running had the advantage of cover from their now falling companions and they seemed aware that something wasn't right as others fell... some broke off from the charge, splitting off into the jungle again barking as they went, others who were getting close to the group continued on as the distance from the thick cover to the group was short.

A couple broke through as others were falling to the ground, one of which was severly injured in the arm and now held it's bone/wood axe in the other arm as the other was limp, it ran into Private Jenkov who was desperately trying to reload and failed to notice the hulking beast. The two of them were slightly off from the main group and many of the others had their own problems to deal with.

The creature finally reached him and swung its crude axe into his left arm, knocking him to the ground leaving a deep wound in his arm, it now pulled it's axe up again preparing for another strike.

Meanwhile the other had simply flanked around the line of fire as it's group fell to the onslaught of hot lead, now it re-emerged at the left of the main group and charged swinging a crude stone/wood axe wildly into the group, glancing Quinn and embedding it into Sargeant Jacobs neck.

All other creatures had either died or fled at this point, the number of corpses unknowns as the chaos continued face-to-face.
-------------------------------------

The blob of heat came more defined as a humaniod shape as the General and the Indian approached, other heat contacts could be made out, perhaps a group of anything between 3-7 as the imagers perception was limited... however now as they just started to get a true line of sight the gunfire continued to roar in the distance, clearly it wasn't just a scare and the reply from Brax which followed only further confirmed this fact...

At this moment the General got a reasonable line of sight on the group, he could make out two of the beasts slowly stalking into position as they closed in on the group... Sharp Antler was right, they weren't in a hurry, they each had crude bows made from wood and it wasn't hard to guess what their intentions were.

#tagged...

General Ilo motioned to Sharp Antler to move round his right side. The General switched his tactical computer to normal view and his rifle to single shot, he carefully took aim at the head of each creature he could see and carefully dispatched them one at a time, moving each time he shot to confuse them.

His FN-Minimi made a loud echoing crack with each shot, it's muzzle was equipped with a flash suppressor and the chemical propellant left no smoke. He shot, moved and wound his way towards the others, talking softly into his comm.

"Nice and easy now lads, just sort them out, no need to panic, just sort them out lads. Give ground to them, keep at range if you can....."

He did just that, closing in on the beasts but never closing more than fifty feet, making sure he had time to pick them off if they charged, he kept talking quietly.

"Take it easy lads, I'm right behind them, I've got the ones you can't see , take it careful..."

He tried to inject some calm into the situation, even though he was certain that some of the boys were already panicked.

He then whispered his location to the remaining indians "Come in behind me lads, nice and slow, I don't want any suprises "

Brax had barely stopped firing. Two cloudy-green plastic magazines lay on the floor at his feet, though he could not remember reloading during the firefight.

All of the monsters in font of him were dead or dying, then he heard a scream of pain off to his right. He span around and saw one of the dog-creatures standing above the prone body of one of the Iuthians, its cruel weapon raised high, ready to strike. Brax pulled the trigger four times, three deadly-accurate bullets smashing into the torso and head of the creature, followed by the sickening 'click' of an empty magazine.

The creature was falling but behind him there was more trouble, Farlander had cried out to him.

"El-teeee!"

Brax whirled for not the first time and saw two men on the floor and a rampaging creature between them. His first instinct was to shoot but he had no weapon handy. He thought for a few precious moments and threw his rifle at the creature, getting its attention. In his other hand he had pulled the pin on a Flashbang grenade. He taunted the creature as it strode towards him.

Brax was over-counting with the grenade, he had to make this work. He was cut short by the multi-cracking of a Starblaydi AUG-A1. The beast's flesh exploded as it was peppered with high velocity rounds.

Brax looked across and saw the lowly photographer, Al White, with Farlander's weapon. He'd emptied the entire remaining magaine into the last beast.

Brax was about to smile until he realised the grenade was still in his hand.

"Ged-down!" he yelled, throwing the grenade as far into the air as he could. It exploded with a loud bang and the incandescent light that dis-orientated so.

He hadn't realised that It would either scare things away or bring things closer.

Tagihed

Sharp Antler, as soon as he had been able to spot the size and character of the "Dog Men" as he called them, began to describe them to the other Indians on the comm link. He was midway through this when the sounds of gunfire erupted from the main camp. The general was giving directions, calming everyone and cooly shooting the slower moving beasts. The crack-crack of the military weapons was everywhere. As soon as Sharp Antler had a clear shot between the makeshift armor of the "Dog Men" he let loose a shot from the .44 magnum. The unmistakable Whoom vice the crack of the rifles let the other Indians know one of them was shooting.

From the activity in the center of the camp and snippets of conversations on the comm link, those that weren't shouts, led Fiesty Wolverine to conclude the attack was over and any "Dog Men" were trying to sneak away. He said a simple "Watch for stragglers" over the comm link, as he said this he spotted exactly what Sharp Antler had described earlier. Finding his target he fired the .44 magnum.

There was a loud bang and a brilliant flash of light. Because he was turned away from the flash Fiesty Wolverine wasn't affected. Angry Buffalo wasn't as lucky. He received the full effects of the flash and was temporarily blinded. His luck had completly run out as a wounded "Dog Man" crashed into him. With a horribly sounding howl the "Dog Man" attacked Angry Buffalo with teeth, and a club embedded with huge thorns.

Angry Buffalo was no pushover, he had been sent to his aunt's house in New York City as a teen and had been in many street fights before he returned to the pastoral life in the protected plains of Indian Casino Operator. He was getting a horrible mauling until he managed to get his survival knife to bear. Finding any flesh, Angry Buffalo sliced, he managed to find the throat of the beast and cut almost through the entire neck.

That is the way Wily Bobcat found them, man and beast both dead. He was proud of Angry Buffalo's bravery. He fought the way of his ancestors and would be welcome at the Great Spirit's Teepee.

The navy officer finally reacted quickly when the Hyena-man appeared in the clearing, and stood in front in the pair of scientist, pulling out a pair of twin neddle action guns from the hip holsters near his belt.

The Doctor was just paralyzed, looking at the humanoid beasts that were running around and attaking the armed soldiers. His eyes were wide open, as a pair of clear dishes reflecting the sun, as his mouth was halfopened too in surprise, finally realizing what were they facing.

Gnolls!. Gnolls!. We're dead, we're inside a jungle filled with Gnolls!. They're going to hunt us down one by one, we can't compete with them in their own field. Inside a jungle, you can't hunt down them. They're going to rend us apart, we all are going to die, eaten alive by these beasts!

"RUN!, RUN!, run for your lives now!", was the only sound that finally came out of his mouth, as he grabbed the Iuthian scientist by the arm and tried to run in the opposite way of the incoming Gnolls, absolute fear and panic painted in his face.

Nothing more than a big dog. After all it can bleed, and if that it can bleed, it can die. Worst things walk the universe, thought the Navy Officer, as inside his full helmet his features created a half smile, readying his pistols for the oncoming attack, aiming at the first Gnoll as he defended his current position. Of course that I only have three clips of ammo, and they seem to die after suffering a good amount of punishment. But anyway if Eru decided that I must die today and pour my blood into this ground then so be it!

As she heard the gunfire, the Huntress stopped her race through the thick forest, and turned around trying to distinguish exactly the current position of the apparent encounter. Now I don't need stealth, I just need speed, let's pray to Örome that I can arrive before everything is over. She turned back, and began to move through the branches towards the sound, closing her eyes to concetrate as she went back all the way she had gained through the jungle, advancing almost as fast as a whisper through the deep vegetation, her cloak floating behind her as both her arms and feet transported her at an unearthly velocity.

**New forum bump!**

bump!

Ilek-Vaad - The dog men didn't have a chance as the General carefully took position and fired a single round accurately into the group before changing his position again and firing again. This maximised the use of his flash suppressor as the short loud sound with a lack of flare didn't help them pick up his position...

When the General fired his first round that one of the beasts heads it managed to take a chunk out of it's head, removing an eye along with it. The creature instantly fell back away from the General from the sheer power of the weapon... however one of the creatures picked up on the fact that something was firing at the group and barked a command.

"Nrrk'tek [Rowl] gnrf!" and they each ran for cover, though clear not fast enough before the General took another out with his high powered machine gun, this time shooting for the chest for a sure hit in a vital area. It lunged to the ground and continued to struggle a little, though it was clearly out of action.

It looked like most of them didn't just stop at cover, but continued to run further into the under growth until their heat signitures could no long be seen. The two remain however were easy pickings for the General as he could pick them out from the bushes without even needing a visual... he continued to shoot one in the head again, being at liberty to do so and the other in the arm and then the chest as it attempted to run out of cover in a general away direction.

The echoes of the shots died down and the jungle returned to an eerie silence.


Squad One - Main Group - In the distance the squad could hear the loud single rounds from the general in a clear, almost comforting manner. After which only the distant sounds of the jungle being disturbed by the fleeing beasts could be heard before silence struck.

After a tense few seconds of the soldiers watching the area for any more attackers the clicking sounds of a Assault Rifle being reloaded could be heard as Private Goodson, one of the Iuthian Commandoes inserted a new clip into his weapon. The attack was his first real action in the Iuthian military, he was about 29 and one of the older members of his squad, he'd been in the military for over eight years now and some in the Iuthian army would call him a "veteran" though it wasn't very fitting because they he, along with his team and most the Iuthian military, had never seen real combat.

Private Jones, who had now recovered from the flash bang released earlier, was now checking the men who had falled in the area... it didn't take much medical expertise to know that Sgt. Jacobs was dead, he didn't respond to anything and it looked like the blow to his neck had broken it pretty bad.

Meanwhile, Private Jenkov had taken a vicous injury to the arm during the melee. It wasn't life threatening, but it was a serious injury to the mans left arm. Jones started to patch it up, his face a painting of misery and anger, he reported to the General the situation with the team now quietly as not to wake up the jungle again, his voice was cold as though he had long lost his innocence.

"General Welsh, we have secured the perimeter and we are assessing our losses. The sarge... he's dead, General. Nothing I can do for him except a good burial. Private Jones's arm is messed up pretty bad, though it's not life threatening he probably won't have much use in it." The man sighed... he'd grown up more in the last few minutes more then he had in his entire life.

OOC: looks like I logged on at exactly the right moment ;)

IC:

General Ilo moved slowly back into the clearing keeping his Minimi up and scanning the undergrowth for movement.

"Everyone, let's move nice and slow back to the clearing, get a head count and get a closer look at what we're up against. I'm not seeing any more heat signatures so I think we're in the clear for the moment, but don't let your guard down. Jones, if you have any body bags let's get the Seargent into one quickly, I've only got one baody bag, and that's for me."

He slid quietly into the clearing and took a look around at the dead and wounded, noting that most of the dead he could see were in the opposition, but the kill ratio wasn't good.

He patted Jones on the shoulder and looked at Jenkov's arm

"Maybe we better stitch that up, we don't want it to get infected. " He paused and looked over at the experts " Is everyone okay? You all had better have drink and take a few deep breaths, we'll need to move as soon as possible, they might be coming back with friends, let's not make it easy to find us."

He then began to methodically move about the 'gnolls' bodies and photograph them with his tactical computer, getting good close ups of every bit of the animal's external features, it always made him upset when some one trotted out hazy bigfoot photos, so he was meticulous in gathering photographic evidence.

To: Whoever in charge of Iuthia
From: Environmental Activist Michelle Laci

I am terribly disgusted that your country is losing oxygen & creating wastelands. It is horrible that this has happened, and your country can almost suffucate because of this. This is a horrible job that you've done, and you can fix it. Immediately order a 'state of emergency' and make sure that environmental associations and a federal environmental organization (like EPA). You can destroy wastelands, and plant lush trees & plants. You can create new habitats for animals like turtles, bears, fish, and more. Larogera & the Shattantanium Region is willing to provide new animals and new habitat ideas. Please take this in mind and telegram Larogera via telegram or right here in case you need help. We are hoping that this problem will be solved.

---Good Day---

"I'm on it sir. The lad replied.

Jones had already pulled out his medi-kit and was making a reasonable effort to sew up Jenkov's arm with the sterile tools provided. Jenkov gritted his teeth and tried not to make too much noise as the job was done. While the Iuthian's were green as hell, they were given alot of training to make up for the complete lack of experience, it wasn't an entirely clean job but it was good field medic work.

Meanwhile the experts miled around a little, some of them being so bold as to look at the bodies of the dead, others taking a chance to have a breath and calm down... while the Iuthian Soldiers were handling it and putting a brave face on the situation despite losses, a couple of the experts were visably distraught at the situation.

Helen Wyman, the Iuthian Animal Behaviourist was still sitting by a tree sobbing away. Goodson had made sure she was ok at least physically, but because he was now putting Sgt. Jacobs body in a body bag he was not able to confort her for the time being.

Helen was a little like Morrie Jones from squad two in that she didn't look like she belonged in the BDU jungle camo she was given along with the rest of the Iuthian experts. Unlike Morrie however she had her long red hair tied in a bun and didn't have an glasses... like most Iuthians she is tanned and she kept in shape, though not to military standard, it's just habit from her service years like with many of the others.

Ken Jenter the Iuthian Biologist had been sick and was now clearing himself up. He was visably shaken but otherwise he looked nothing more then little scared.

Jenson Kyleston, the Iuthian Wildlife Expert wasn't so disturbed and had gathered the courage to look around at the dog peoples bodies, taking notes and the occasional picture. After a short search he turned to the General to speak.

"We had better find somewhere else to camp tonight, this place will attract the wildlife as they come for a easy meal."

OOC: Of all the places and times to post a environmental complaint about my nations practices you've chosen to do it in a closed thread during the end of what has been a rather successful combat sequence between the characters helping my nation.

Please, in the future create a thread or something instead of breaking up my RP during the end of a combat seen while I'm putting my dead characters in boby bags. It spoils the mood a little. However, I will suffer it for now if only to give you my IC responce.

To: Environmental Activist Michelle Laci, Larogera
From: Central Command, Iuthia Prima, Iuthia
Subject: re: Eco-ranting
Message:

Dear Ms Laci,

We would like to note that we ourselves are disgusted at your lack of respect for the missing persons of our logging companies and that chosing this moment in time to bring up such an issue is quite frankly insulting the loved ones of those missing workers, who on the whole are not entirely responsible for the environmental damage you harp on about in your communication.

These men and women work in a job which pays them well and offers great benefits, if they do not do their jobs then someone else would have and they are doing what is best for their families. We have been logging our forests and mining reasources for some time, as the demands of an entire nation of 3 billion peolpe are many... however to have gone this long and still have so much forest land in Iuthia is a tribute to our own self preservation.

While we do log large numbers of trees, we make up for a certain percentage by planting more ourselves so that we have more trees to log in the future. This percentage started very low, however as demand has risen so has our awareness of such issues... it should be noted that Iuthia has had many different leaders over it long history, each with their own veiws. The woods are much less then they used to be partly because of our own lack of attention in the past, but they are still there and quite frankly we have improved vastly. The reduction rate is now minimal and we have almost no power plants working on fossil fuels anymore, prefering Nuclear Power and the up coming Fusion Power.

While your concerns have been noted, we can't help but feel that there are better times for this issue and that you could have at least showed some respect for the lost workers, regardless of their jobs.

Never the less we will continue our way of doing things regardless,

Thanks,

Environmental Minister Ben Hamstone, Iuthian Diplomatic Corps

Sergeant Quinn Farlander had his arm bandaged by Al White, the photographer. It had taken a nasty, nasty blow from the crude weapon, and was probably broken. Quinn wouldn't be lifting anything with his left arm any time soon. Thankfully he was right-handed.

"That was some shooting, Mister White." said the Lieutenant, Rhaerys Brax, as he came over to check on his man.

"I... I don't know what came over me," the chubby nature snapper said timidly.

"That Frenchman sure disappeared sharpish, el-tee." said Quinn, brightening up.

"I don't know where he's gone," admitted Brax, "perhaps those dog-men got him."

"Let's hope so."

"Stow it, Farlander."

"Yessir."

General Ilo stood in the center of the clearing as he nodded to Mr. Kyleston

"Alright, let's get moving, everyone who can't see me get into line of sight, sitting here just makes us targets..." he also had his comm on so everyone in the group could hear him " You've all got two minutes to pick up your things and move it, don't make me shoot the stragglers."

The last part may or may not have been a joke, he did flash a smile as he said it, but the tone of his voice remained firm.

He then set the timer on the tactical computer to 2 minutes..........

Fiesty Wolverine asked General Ilo on the comm link if they could burn Wily Bobcat to send his spirit to the Great Spirit. He further explained that a large explosion would work just as well. The other Indians re-loaded their 44 magnums, checked their bows and took the remainder of time to study the "Dog-men" looking for weaknesses trying to determine the best way to kill them. Sharp Antler took many pictures for posterity.

Three Legged Deer took a few photos of the throat of the dead "Dog-man" where Wily Bobcat almost decapitated the beast. Wily Bobcat's family would be pleased to learn he had died in battle with one of nature's beasts. Songs would be sung about Wily Bobcat.

Fiesty Wolverine also asked the General where he wanted the remainder of the Indians posted.

Sharp Antler spoke quietly to Private Jones "Your men were brave, it is not easy to face death."

By now the Indians recognized the cool-headed, competent leadership of General Ilo, they were ready and willing to follow him into battle. "A True Chieftain" was whispered among them.

To: Ben Hamstone, Environmental Minister, Iuthia
From: Michelle Laci
Subject: Re: Environmental Issues....

We would like to note that we ourselves are disgusted at your lack of respect for the missing persons of our logging companies and that chosing this moment in time to bring up such an issue is quite frankly insulting the loved ones of those missing workers, who on the whole are not entirely responsible for the environmental damage you harp on about in your communication.

These men and women work in a job which pays them well and offers great benefits, if they do not do their jobs then someone else would have and they are doing what is best for their families. We have been logging our forests and mining reasources for some time, as the demands of an entire nation of 3 billion peolpe are many... however to have gone this long and still have so much forest land in Iuthia is a tribute to our own self preservation.

While we do log large numbers of trees, we make up for a certain percentage by planting more ourselves so that we have more trees to log in the future. This percentage started very low, however as demand has risen so has our awareness of such issues... it should be noted that Iuthia has had many different leaders over it long history, each with their own veiws. The woods are much less then they used to be partly because of our own lack of attention in the past, but they are still there and quite frankly we have improved vastly. The reduction rate is now minimal and we have almost no power plants working on fossil fuels anymore, prefering Nuclear Power and the up coming Fusion Power.

While your concerns have been noted, we can't help but feel that there are better times for this issue and that you could have at least showed some respect for the lost workers, regardless of their jobs.

Mr. Hamstone, in our last letter, we explained to you that we were to provide men and women, and environmental help to your country. We are hoping that you will accept this. We are sorry that we didn't note out on the missing workers, but I think we need to move on, and provide more environment for more of your citizens. I understand that you have missing workers, but would you put revitalizing the environment on halt for a few missing workers when your whole 3.078 billion population might run out of oxygen if trees aren't planted in every place possible??? Please do consider this.

Thank you, and good day....

General Ilo replies to Fiesty Wolverine "If you can safely and adequately do it in two minutes, then go ahead." Something like that would draw attention he thought to himself, but let them come back here, while we're moving somewhere else.

He then began moving about making sure everyone was in fact getting ready, not hysterical and not missing. He then paused and retrieved his 'rubble-claws' large cramp-on like covers for his boots, normally used when climbing, as he clamped them on he started talking.

"Okay, we move out in single file, I don't care who's up front and who's in back, just as long as the non-coms are in the middle." he pauses as he sets the last clamp "Now, I'm going to be leaving big, deep tracks with my claws on, please look down as you walk and do your best to step in my tracks. After an hour or two quick march I'm going to peel off and double back to make tracks away from where the rest of you will go to make camp. Hopefully my nice big tracks will keep our friends occupied."

He pauses again for a few seconds "At least if they find me, I'll keep them occupied.At the very least we can puzzle them a bit."

He stands and looks at everyone again "Any questions? No? Let's move." He actually doesen't give time for questions and sets off.

Fiesty Wolverine stuffs two incendary grenades "borrowed" from the warehouse at the beginning of the adventure, under Wily Bobcat. They begin to burn like the fires of Hell.

The Indians spread out two on the left two on the right and moved quietly and quickly into the woods. The General was moving fast and the civilians were struggling to keep up. Sharp Antler, then Three Legged Deer fell in with the struggling group to help them along, encouraging them, showing them how to move in the underbrush without getting snapped in the face with twigs.

Fiesty Wolverine noticed the soldiers had a much more purposeful air about them. They now understood the reason they were here and knew they were needed for the protection of the civilians.

Gunfire........ and now Fire........ They must have taken a few losses, I wouldn't want somthing eating my friends, dead or not. Either way, this area would soon be crawling with un-friendlies, we best be somewhere else. These were the thoughts of Jim Hopper after hearing the encounter in the Jungle. They had been stood here too long, admiring the scenery wasn't why they were here. Time to move.

"OK. Ulbar with me. Close quarter setup, I'll cover with rifle fire. Same setup for you two, keep it close, no mistakes."

He sighed inwardly, his men wouldn't make mistakes, he knew that. The others, thats what worried him. The Jungle was like a second home to him and it took no prisoners. Oh well, at least it would be an interesting trip, he just hoped the rest of the squad will follow suit.

"Expect mass resistance from all corners, do Not let yourself get surpried! Right lets move out!" He stated in a brash, overloud voice to all and sundery.

The Foolish Troopers quickly changed weapons as they formed up into the stated teams, and began walking calmly towards the Jungles edge.

Colonel Ilo set a quick pace, but he kept his eye and slowed up when he saw that anyone behind him was lagging. He was extra careful to leave as distinct a track as possible, his rubble-claws left definite tracks that would be easy for any man, dog-man or other to follow.

After a 2 hour march he finally stopped and as everyone stopped, gasping for breath and quite stunned that he had gone at such a pace for so long, he turned and gave them part two of his plan.

"Okay, I want all of you to keep heading straight on in this direction, move carefully and see if you can't be quiet and leave as few marks of your passing as possible. " He paused and tucked into an energy bar and drank some water "Sharp Antler you're in charge while I'm gone, I'll stay in contact."

Ilo noticed the looks on everyone's face when he mentioned 'while I'm gone' he sighed and explained more in detail.

Pointing deeper into the jungle he says "I'm heading that way. I'm going to cause a ruckus and leave a trail for our muppet friends and get them to chase me. I want you to continue on until night fall and set up camp, I'll contact you at nightfall." here he pauses , rolls up a sleeve and stabs his arm with one of his knives. "Now then tomorrow, I want you to head in the direction that the dog-men retreated to, hopefully they will lead you back to the lumberjacks, I will do the same after I've eliminated as many of them as possible."

He pauses again and smiles

"Don't worry about me, I'm not afraid of dying,can't be too bad millions of people do it every day!"

with that he tears off into the jungle, his arm leaving a steady drip of blood, hopefully his carelessness, pace and bleeding will lead the dog-men after him, hopefully they are pack nimals and will follow the obvious weak break-away from the 'herd'.

The Iuthian saluted the general as he made his way off as a lure for the beasts, leaving the team to go off and make camp for the night.

(Note I'll add more later, I'm a little out of it for now and I want you to know I'm still paying attention. I've just still got the head cold.)

OOC: Do what I do and take like 8 Advil cold and sinus and chase with a Johnny Walker Black Label and soda! That will clear you right up, but it does make you drowsy..........

Sharp Antler, directs the Indians with hand signals and then over the comm link tells the group to get moving. Angry Buffalo and Fiesty Wolverine take the point and Three Legged Deer brings up the rear. He is covering tracks, fixing broken twigs, and making sure nothing is getting dropped.

They are moving much slower than when the General was leading them but the focus now was stealth. Sharp Antler drops back to discuss the camping arrangements with each of the military still with the group. It looks like cold food as the scent of heated food goes much further and is a lot stronger. He knows the civilians won't like this at all but he will explain at the campsite the choice may be to fight off the dog-men.

After about three hours he can tell the scientists cannot go further. He judges that he has about two hours of daylight left. There are no rock outcrops to camp next to. It will have to be in the forest. He stays away from streams to prevent the stream noise from masking other sounds.

He finds a stand of very large trees and starts setting up camp. He puts out double guards, it is harder on the duty cycle but less chance of someone falling asleep. The Indians quickly chop stakes, sharpen them and place them between the trees surrounding the campsite. He hopes General Ilo's boots are tough.

The stakes aren't there to kill but to warn the party if anyone tries to get close. Sharp Antler hopes these dog-men can't climb trees. He really needs that elf who easily climbed into the canopy.


OOC: This will probably be my last post for a little over a week, I'm going camping in Canada. Ilek-Vaad - Iuthia do what you want with the Indians please try to save one so I can still RP :)

*Bump* I'd post more, but I don't want to take this thread over?

*Bump* I'd post more, but I don't want to take this thread over?

OOC: I know, give me time and I'm sorry this is being dragged so much... it's one of the harder threads for me to post in. But I'll never just drop it, I want to finish it as part of the results are going to be used later for other projects.

OOC: Well, I mainly meant OTHERS, we haven't seen in a while ;)

As night fell General Ilo stopped. He paused, bandageing his arm and looking up into the trees until he spotted a suitably thick limb. He removed his rope from his pack (never shifting his feet) and tied a lumpy knot in the end and hurled it up over the branch and coaxed the knot down to where he was after it had looped over the branch. He then paused, untied the knot, looped the end and pulled it up, then placed his foot into the loop. By pulling on the one end he them pulled himself up into the branch.

His pursuers would now have a pair of tracks that ended abrubtly and led nowhere. He settled back into the crotch of the tree, drank some water, ate a powerbar or two and camoflaged himself expertly. He then sat and waited, to see who showed up to puzzle at his dead end, and it would be a dead end.

He also opened his comm and contacted Sharp Antler " Okay, it looks like everything is going okay. Hopefully I'll be swarmed her shortly after nightfall. When you hear me shooting, just try and ignore it."

He was cautiously optimistic that the dog-men would come after him, he was looking forward to it.


OOC: I won't let it die! ;)

Sharp Antler hoped the General knew what he was doing. He calculated that if the dog men attacked they would attack from downwind. He set the military forces to work in creating "Lanes of Attack" where the dog men would find easier going to move towards the camp. To the sides of these lanes he set traps and sharpened stakes. Some of the General's men had some claymore mines and these were set up behind the camp to catch any dog men trying to come from upwind.

The "Lanes of Attack" were constructed to look like normal pathways to the camp but allowed the defending forces to set up a murderous crossfire without endangering the defenders nor the scientific expedition.

Sharp Antler had done his best the rest was up to fate.

Night came and it was the moment of truth for the science teams as the nocturnal animals woke up and the jungle emitted a different sound from the day. In the distance the dog men had had a chance to regroup and consider their options; they had a distinct advantage in the night, they didn’t need light to see in the dark and they could track just as well as they could normally. The reformed hunting party had new additions from the main tribe, making up for their numbers as these creatures liked to outnumber their opponents… there were many of them in the group, several dozen perhaps, including a larger hyena man who wore pieces of the scavenged metals from the logging sight as armour.

The largest hyena-man barked orders at the others before turning to a smaller hyena-man who was only 7ft tall; almost a foot shorter then his rowdy companions. The big leader growled some remarks at the shorter creature who in turn bared his teeth and then submitted to him, taking the front position. This one was the smartest in the tribe, he’s the one who set the most intricate traps and followed the faintest tracks. Walking in front of the others he led them to the area where the others had fallen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Team two carefully prepared for night, making sure that their soldiers took shifts to sleep and act as guard. Meanwhile the Aelosian Ranger had returned and had a short conversation with the Aelosian Naval Officer, they were to take turns guarding the professor during the night as they only needed several hours of sleep each to be fully rested, the Ranger slept first because of she had been roaming the forest through the trees all day.

Meanwhile the Sigma and Iuthian marines took their turns in almost the same manner, paranoid due to the losses in the other team. The scientists and experts were allowed to sleep throughout the night without pause; they wouldn’t be much good at this hour in any case.

The night started fairly slowly, the sounds in the background disturbed some of the teams sleep and there were howls in the far distance, suggesting serious trouble. However a trained ear placed them far away and to more natural animals… skill it caused unease in the team. The first shift was without incident. Complaining slightly, the soldiers changed places and the tired got their rest. The ranger swapped positions with the Naval Officer without comment before clambering up a tree gracefully and taking position. She elven hearing would help her this night and her experience could distinguish between natural and unnatural… so far it seemed normal.

However, much to the scientists delight, an hour into the shift the forest became silent… some of the more experienced soldiers took discomfort in this and the rangers concentrated hard to listen to the sounds that weren’t being made.

A rush of footsteps could be heard in the distance, before she could alert everyone to their presence another sound could be heard as the not too distant undergrowth rustled loudly… the Rangers view was obscured by the sheer amount of foliage blocking her line of sight, however it was clear to her that it was made from around 100ft away…

The forest returned to silence, but it didn’t matter, the soldiers were alerted now and the Iuthians prepared their weapons and took cover, waiting for a line of sight, waiting for a clear course of action… some of those sleeping were being awakened but there may not be time for that as the bundled stealth attempt alerted them to the presence of what they feared the most.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group of hyena-men finally arrived at the sight only three hours from when they set off. The sight was still littered with dead bodies of their fallen tribesmen, but by now a lot of them have been scavenged by the other wildlife of the jungle which made a point of scatting as the hyena-men arrived. It wasn’t much of a pretty sight and what’s more it seemed like the people who killed them had cleaned up their bodies carefully. The group of creatures looking at the battlefield didn’t bother with any romantic gestures of remorse; the decision was simple.

The group split up, taking a body each where they could, they feasted on the remains of their own dead tribesmen… they didn’t waste any of the meat if they could and many of them argued over select pieces. Before long they were finished… the remains were little more then bones tattered with the poorest remains of flesh. Normally they would be more thorough but the night had a bigger hunt in store as the latest threat to the tribe had entered the area.

The smaller hyena-man didn’t get as much of the good stuff as the others bullied him away from the select parts… before he could finish getting his fill the leader pulled him violently from his food and snapped at him in order for him to start his work.

Carefully following the ground, he started to follow the tracks, taking the group to the area where the general had decided to split the group. Due to the obvious tracks heading one way and the lesser well hidden tracking going the other, the group split with the leader following the clearest tracks towards the general with the larger force…

Meanwhile the others; just over a dozen, followed the small hyena-man to allow him to investigate the better hidden tracker properly.

General Ilo could hear them coming, even with their petty attempts to keep quiet. He couldn't guess their number exactly due to the fact that there were many, but at least he guessed that much... it was hard for the force to keep quiet with such a large group, though they did try.

Even with his heat vison in place; the woods proved to be messing with his equipment as the large amount of cover ment that the creatures walking towards him often had trees oscuring the heat imagers sensory input. Never the less it wasn't long before he got visable heat images on his screen.


OOC: Imporant question; does your computerised equipment (asuming you are using it) emit any light and if not how are you reading it.


Meanwhile, further away where the Indians were camped out the night became eerily quiet... the few experienced members of the group who wear awake would notice the last of animal sounds; others may even link it to the same quiet they had before the previous attack. However, there was no sound; no footsteps or rustling, just the faint distant sounds of the jungle.

Sharp Antler's skin was tingling, something was up and he didn't like it. The sounds of the jungle were quieting down not picking up through the night. As quietly as he could he woke the rest of the Indians and they began to wake the soldiers not already on watch.

The heat sensing equipment the soldiers carried were no longer working but one pair of night vision goggles were still working. Sharp Antler posted the man with the goggles onto the small platform they had hastily constructed during the evening. It was only about 4 and 1/2 feet off the ground but it did provide a better prospective along the "Lanes of Attack". Sharp Antler wished he had brought enough claymore mines to ring the camp.

Sharp Antler had placed sharpened poles in each tent. If the dog-men attacked the tent by jumping on the tent he would be "Dog-man on a stick".

Wily Wolverine picked up the sounds of something moving towards them in a slow methodical manner. He knew where their trail was and whoever was moving towards them was following that trail. He was impressed with the abilities of the tracker but suspected there was some non-human qualities helping the tracker. He thought In a different time, different place he would like to meet this tracker and compare notes but he knew this was a deadly enemy and most likely one of them would have to die.

The Indians were alert, they were prepared to use the 44 magnums with hollow point ammo. The soldiers had spent their free time in the evening cleaning their weapons. They too were well prepared, and now that they had seen the enemy, knew they died (albiet after taking massive damage) they were confident they could handle the situation.

Quinn had been having trouble keeping up on the two-hour march that the General had forced them on. His left arm hurt like hell, where the wickedly-blunt weapon of one of those huge dog-men had probably broken his lower arm, never mind the open wound. He'd refused the pain- and reaction-numbing drugs, assuming he would grin and bear it so as to be more useful. That, on the other hand, meant every step moved his arm and the pain flared up again.

The photographer, Al White, had helped him along, though. He'd bravely mown down one of the creatures while both Quinn and the Liuetenant were standing by helpless. The Lieutenant still seemed to resent the General giving command to Sharp-Antler, though if you don't speak up, people tend not to think you're there.

Quinn looked around the camp again. The night-vision goggles her had been given were rather cool, and he could certainly see more than anyone else from atop his perch. He was only at waist-height to the dogmen up here, but he had the best view and field of fire. Luckily he could still hold his rifle, and the kick wasn't too bad on the AUG-1 anyway.

Down below, Al White had been given a pistol by Lieutenant Brax. If he could shoot a rifle and camera that well, a pistol wouldn't be too difficult, especially as it was the standard H&K sidearm that Starblaydi forces used.

Quinn had that "quiet. too quiet" feeling again. Though they had prepared well, there were always holes in any defence, particularly in the open like this. He looked around for his officer but couldn't see him. Brax was always stealthy, after all, damn him.

The smaller hyena-man took care while making the approach towards the camp, he started out down wind of the tracks and he could now literally smell the fear coming from the creatures up ahead. However, unlike the other idiots in his group he had noticed simple traps along the way and had just managed to stop one of them from driving his foot into a well hidden spike. This prey was smarter then the others…

His companions made their way as best they could towards the camp from downwind as they had been taught, taking care now to watch for the traps the smaller dog-man had pointed out to them… meanwhile the tracker made his way around the traps, flanking the camp carefully. Unlike his group, which would undoubtedly be heard once they got close enough, the tracker was more dexterous and cautious then his fellows. Two of the smarter dog-men followed him, trusting his instincts while the others made their way up the natural path. With patience that his fellow tribesmen didn’t have, he waited for the others to make their sounds.

---------

The quiet of the camp was becoming deafening as the distant creatures were the only ones making a sound now. The soldiers, now awake, were holding their breath and looking into the thick undergrowth for movement… some of them had activated their torches on their weapons to try and further into the mess, looking up and looking around for any sign of attack. Without these torches they wouldn’t be able to see as the lush canopy above obscured most the light which could illuminate the forest… they wouldn’t have even touched their torches had they not been so sure these things would attack and probably be able to operate better in such conditions. Now all was quiet for a few moments now that all the Indians and Starblaydians had positioned themselves to look around, most of them towards the well constructed “lane of attack”.

The Indians noted to everyone that there certainly was something heading towards them up the path, but their concentration on these steps couldn’t distinguish the few that separated to the left flank and just stopped. It wasn’t long before the inevitable happened. With the quiet footsteps getting louder the Indians placed them at maybe 50ft or so away from Quinn’s position…

Quinn saw movement in the goggles one of them entered line of sight.

OOC: the tactical computer screen on the General's rifle does emit light, it can be dimmed and has a hood so it's not terribly obvious, especially if he make an attempt to hide it.

General Ilo was a light sleeper, just like all of the Twisted Serpent. He had dozed off several times, but woke up within minutes from the jungle sounds. The sounds gradually lessened and that brought him fully awake, no noise in a jungle made him more edgy than the normal racket.

He shifted his position ever so carefully to avoid making noises and then began to sweep the general area with his thermal imager. He gave extra close attention to the spot where his tracks ended and the base of his tree, he was nearly 15ft up and would have a shot or two at anything that scrambled up after him, hopefully.

He quietly continued to sweep the jungle, looking for any large, hot, bipedal object, he wouldn't shoot at the first one, but wait until he spotted a few, and then pick them off. He felt calm, and confident now that he was on his own. He would have felt much better if there were a few more Twisted Serpents in the trees near his, but beggars can't be choosers................

The silence had broken and the general could hear the heat signatures walking towards his position now… they weren’t making a very good effort at all to cover the sound of their walking and it wasn’t long before the general could make out just over half a dozen of them with more heat signatures approaching which were making it hard to count the total numbers. This much was clear though… it was a large group. A moment later the General could make out a dozen of them closing within 50ft of where he left his tracks end… some of them were even making growling noises at one another. They were restless.

Ilo grinned, he could sense they were uneasy, he was about to make them even more so. He thumbed his rate selector and set it to semi-auto. He then began squeezing off single shots at the heat signatures, but in a very odd manner.

He began by targeting the dog-men that were the furthest away. The loud report from his Minimi would cause confusion at first, he watched them scatter as he began picking them off, in a minute, they would realize where he was and then rush his tree. He paused between shots tom watch those nearest him and as soon as they made a move for where he was, he'd switch to full-auto and let them have it.

He was having much more than he should be, but he was always an exceptional planner and he loved when things worked out like he planned.

As the general opened fire the group quickly scattered into the surrounding undergrowth the majority of them taking cover from the hail of death which had taken out a few of them already. The experienced hyena-men had already bolted to the sides; one or two of them ran away from where they came, they knew the power of mans weapons now and they didn’t want to end up like those follow tribesmen whom they had eaten without remorse.

Confusion caused some of the less experienced dog-men to panic, making them easy pray for the General, the others took advantage of this to get distance and cover.

Understanding that the attack had come from one of the black sticks they had seen before, the majority of the group took cover, growling instructions to one another in their loud harsh voices, however they were still taking causalities from the accurate fire from General Ilo. However, it didn’t take long for the more experienced ones to realise that there wasn’t actually as many of the black sticks as last time… just a very loud weapon. Which was fortunate; they could figure the position of the weapon from the sound it was making, though the sound itself was hurting their ears a little.

The Generals plan was working for a while, a few of them charged the tree they reckoned held the man… but none of them made it as the General cut them down with volley after volley of high calibre machinegun fire. However the more experienced tribesmen watched this as they prepared their crude but efficient bows, had anyone noted one of these from earlier they would have noted that the pull of such a weapon was pretty strong, possibly due to the sheer strength of the creatures. Combined with stone tipped weapons they proved to be as lethal as any gun. From their positions of cover, the remaining hyena-men, just under a dozen, started to fire their bows at the loud tree.

General Ilo hummed as he carefully and methodically put his plan into action and he was pleased by the results. Several charges against his tree had left more enemy dead than he had hoped, he thought for sure he could kill them all given a few more charges.

But then they stopped and backed off, he peered through his tactical computer about to switch back to semi-auto when he heard several loud whirs, and then sucessive thunks!

"Oh, yeah, feck, they have bows." he cursed himself out loud, he could tell that they still couldn't see him because of the volleys just being aimed at the tree. He kept firing where he could see them poking out to fire their bows. Each time he shot the arrows came closer and closer until one finally struck him.

General Ilo sat for a minute with a perplexed look on his face as the arrow caught him right under ther arm, it had shredded his coat and lodged nicely into his vest and possibly his side, he was certain that it had broken a rib at least.

"Of all the dumb luck!" he changed position in the tree and pulled the crude arrow out and tossed it down, he then shouted out at the dog-men "OKAY FIDO, TIME FOR PLAN B!"

With that he turned again and began emptying his grenade launcher into the surrounding jungle, only aiming it minimally, the 20mm anti-personnel grenades didn't have to be dead on. After five or six shots , he used his rope pulley to quickly drop back down out of the tree , where he immediately hit the ground and emptied the rest of his clip and slapped in another and a second clip for his grenade launcher.

He then jumped up. fired the grenade laucher and FN-Minimi simultaneously as he dodged in and out of the trees.

Oddly enough the group had only lost a couple as the general accurately popped them off during careful bow use, others had flesh wounds but carefully used what cover they could, firing once and taking cover again to reload.

Now the general had finally been hit, the group had finally got his position exactly… before one of them had a chance to pull their bow string the General fired his grenade launcher into the jungle at the position he last saw a dog-man hiding.

Ka-boom

In the distance birds flew off in all directions are the jungle awoke to the sound of the 20mm anti-personal grenade. There wouldn’t be much left of the poor bastard for the others to consume later. The majority of the group scattered and ran before the next round was fired, injuring on of the fleeing hyena-men.

The rest of the rounds simply messed up the area further, some trees had fallen and made the terrain a little tougher for the escaping creatures, but their strength and speed combined allowed them to leap over what they could and climb the rest quickly.

One of the tougher dog-men, injured in blasts, continued to fire from his position… the rest of them with exception to the odd couple had fled or been killed in the blast. But this one, with his near perfect night vision continued his attack. Another of the dog-men cowered; deafened by the blasts and bleeding seriously. The final one hid carefully behind cover, the larger leader of the pack.

The generals grenade launcher ran out of ammo… after all, he couldn’t carry much given his need for stealth in the previous encounters and his modified FN-Minimi was undoubtedly taking up a lot of his load. The tube was of little use now and his machine-gun would need reloading soon.

Another arrow had damaged the sight on his weapon, he would now need to use his skill to find these creatures in the darkness of the forest… the only sound that could be heard of the panicked jungle was those of the injured hyena-mans pain.

With the creature in his sights, Quinn opened fire at the head of the group. The killing began.

They were around twenty metres away as he pulled the trigger, talking into his comm.

"Sector Two, twenty metres... less. Let loose on 'em everyone."

He had a few confirmations from the troops around him, he was the 'eye in the sky', after all. The bullets from his rifle began tearing into the leading creatures as he fired in short, controlled bursts. He had hoped to not waste any ammo, as changing the clip would be a lesson in why painkillers are a useful tools for society.

-----------------------

Al jumped at the sound of Sergeant Farlander's weapon, nearly dropping the bulky pistol the friendly soldier had given him. He cocked it, as per instructions, not daring to point it in the direction of anyone around him.

The General was seriously perturbed, both by the howls of pain in the air and the fact that someone was still shooting arrows at him. Having used up his second and final clip of grenades , he was fairly certain that he had routed most of the dog men.

He now scurried quickly behind a large tree as another arrow whizzed by him, far to close for comfort. His tactical computer was acting wonky from a hit it took so he turned it off , he paused and held his breath, he atempted to tune out the sounds of the wounded dog man and listen just for ther movement. He took out his biggest survival knife and held it in his left hand, he latched the safety on his rifle and put it down, he crouched quietly, listening and began to move as slowly and stealthily as possible to try and circle behind the remaining bowman...............he could be much quieter now with just his knife.

Back at the camp, shots were being fired at the approaching group as Quinn opened fire, making a point of controlling his bursts. Some of the soldiers followed suit and fired into the darkness where Quinn had started his ambush. He had already taken down two of the large hulking beasts before some of them scatted into the near by cover.

Roars of pain echoed around the area as one of two of them stepped into the well placed trapped lay by the Indians… they probably wouldn’t be serious injuries but they gave the soldiers something to home in on and better yet the dog-men would be slowed down.

The loud crack of a high calibre pistol sounded near Quinn as the Indians took their time to get certain hits when they could… so far the ambush had been perfect.

However, the few silent dog men took the loud noises as the sounds they were waiting for and used the cover of the sound to make their movements along the flank, the smaller one used his strength and agility to climb the near by trees and take position with his bow… he had spent a lot of time crafting this bow himself and with his near perfect night vision he aimed carefully at one of the shining torches.

Towards the back of the camp, one of the Iuthian sentries screamed loudly as he had been hit in the leg. An arrow long then his arm embedded into his BDU pants… the pain was unbearable; it had gone straight though shattering the bone. The experts carefully took cover as best they could from the possibility of sniper fire while the other soldiers looked for targets.

Only two of the dog-men remained who were willing to see this thing through to it's conclusion, they knew they had this warrior cornered now and they could smell his blood dripping from his body. The others had been intimidated by this mans lack of fear; they couldn't smell it in the air like they expected from such prey and the fact the man had killed a great number of them convinced them to run. Some would concider the last two either brave or foolish... but the prize for this one would be great.

The pack leader kept still as possible, knowing that the others haste had killed them. He watched carefully, looking for where the man was hiding... the burning smell of flesh in the air made it hard to track him and his scent was strongest around the tree he had sat in for hours. Scent wouldn't be much use until the smoke died down... but he was an experienced hunter, he would find the man soon enough.

Meanwhile, one of his stronger tribesmen had pinned him down using his bow... the leader could smell his follow tribesmans fear for this man and knew his instinct would normally have been to have run himself. But the pride burned inside him, perhaps this bowman would make a challenge for leadership in time.

The hyena-man with the bow changed weapons to his crude axe, the blade made from crudely cut and sharpened metal stolen from the logging site and blackened using fire... he made a viliant effort to find the man using his scent and his dark vision, but the man had hidden himself well and the smoke was messing with his sense of smell.

Slowly he followed the strongest lead he could find from the tree and tried to find him while remaining alert... slowy he made his way closer.

General Ilo moved silently and stealthily as possible around in a circular motion to where the last arrow had come from. After several agonizingly long minutes he could see the bowman, and proceeeded to get directly behind the bowman.

The hyena man with the bow was intently staing ahead, at where the General had been, his bow tensed and ready for a shot, quickly, efficently and in a practiced manner General Ilo slid forward and slipped his knife under the hyena-man's raised shoulder where he was gripping the bow string. It was a simple thing to lean in, slip the knife right under the raised shoulder and between the spread ribs, the 12" knife cleanly puncturing the lung.

The hyena-man could only gurgle as his lungs filled with blood and deflated, he was out of breath almost instantly and floundered backwards, but General Ilo slipped away as the hyena-man gurgled and floundered and drown in his own blood.

Unfortunately the arrow the bowman was holding twanged weakly off, and the hyena chief was easily alerted to General Ilo's attack and location, Ilo didn't even know that he was being stalked , he thought the bowman would finish accounts. He paused half crouched by a tree wiping off his knife............

OOC: I hope you don't mind the bow man getting killed but I think it gives a perfect mano y mano scene for Ilo and the hyena chief!

OOC: Well, I set it up so it would be that way, I expected you would continued to role-play in the same manner and I don't mind it so much... only a wish you would pay attention at times. After all, I did note that the bowman had in fact changed to his axe...

No worries though, aside from some incorrect assumptions you have pretty much ended up in the finale as I had hoped. You may also note that during the times you took liberties with their deaths I took liberties with your equipment which was proving to be a concern. Again; no worries... just don’t RP the death of the chieftain.

Taken by surprised; the hyena-bowman was ambushed by the General in a swift, clean move, taking out the creatures lungs. The Generals guess at the creature’s anatomy had placed the knife between its strong toughened ribs. Now the creature died gurgling as it slumped forward. The General stepped aside and watched the 8ft creature fall with a solid thump.

However, the loud noise alerted the leader who could now see the man standing alone in the opening… forsaking his axe the large 9ft creature charged empty handed to take on lone man, snarling as he went. It is at this moment that the creatures speed and strength would become apparent as it ran the short distance towards him.

While the creature had nothing in it’s hands it still wore the armour it had crafted itself from the parts it had savaged from the logging site, they couldn’t make this kind of metal in his tribe and it proved to be very hard to cut.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/Iuthia/Characters/GNOLL.jpg
Concept Picture of Hyena-men...

OOC Note to Aelosia: Your group hasn't had a chance to RP yet so the post for you to react to is still this one (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=7070213&postcount=136). Don't worry about the action in that group... you will have plenty of your own to deal with in your part of the jungle.

Team listings: [Link] (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=6324223&postcount=48)

Fiesty Wolverine heard one of the Iuthian sentries screaming loudly from the back of the camp. "Crap, there are some behind us." He called into the comm link. Three Legged Deer turned to face the rear of the camp and responded "We need an equalizer back here."

Fiesty Wolverine knew where the claymore anti-personnel mines were and they weren't close enough to the screaming sentry. The only thing he had was an extra incendary grenade he hadn't used on Wily Bobcat. Estimating where the attack came from he tossed the grenade in that general direction. One second later that area of the jungle erupted in intense flames. Two Hyena-men were briefly outlined in the flames and both Fiesty Wolverine and Three Legged Deer fired. The huge 44 magnum bullets found their target unfortunately both Indians shot at the same Hyena-man. The other one ducked out of sight.

Fiesty Wolverine heard a third Hyena-man moving just before he opened fire. The fire grenade was cleverly thrown to push the Hyena men either towards the claymore mines or into a more open area. He whispered into the comm link "Quinn we need a couple of your men back here."

With the camp like a circle the "Lanes of Attack" were at 6 and 7 o'clock, the flames were at 3 o'clock and spreading towards 2 o'clock. The flames did illuminate some of the defenders but lit up the 7 o'clock lane like street lights. Sharp Antler and Angry Buffalo were picking targets of opportunity and rapidly thinning the ranks of attackers. They didn't have to be too accurate as the 44 magnum would destroy arm, leg or whatever it hit. Even if it hit the makeshift armor the force of the bullet would knock the Hyena-man down, usually into a sharpened spike trap.

In the distance they heard the General's grenade attack.

Colonel Ilo was smiling as he wiped his knife clean. He heard a snarl, and turned seeing the giant hyena man charging through the brush headlong at him, at suprising speed.

"Oh shit!" was all he was able to mange as he crouched and received the creatures charge. He did his best to drop down and trip the creature up as he simultaneously stabbed upward with his knife looking to get under armor.

He rolled with creatures charge at least hoping to get it off balance so that he could buy a second to try and find an opening in it's armor to stab...............

The tracker hyena-man had so far remained undetected; hiding in the trees he had managed to keep a good position and used the tree as both cover and camouflage. The dog-men who flanked with him hadn’t been as lucky as the prey had illuminated the area cleverly and taken out one of the smarter ones as the other ducked into better cover away from the fire. The fire itself was near the trackers tree and was making it a little harder to see the majority of the camp… his position has given him a good view of the rear of the camp but now he could only make out a few feet around the man he just injured as a cunning lure for the others. This prey didn’t leave their wounded as proven by the fact they didn’t leave them behind. It wasn’t long before the inevitable happened.

Ken Jenter, Iuthia’s Biologist / Environmentalist went leaned over to tend to the Private Goodson’s leg wound as the man was clearly in pain, however the moment he reached the body to comfort the soldier an arrow flew into the Biologists chest; taken out by the hidden tracker the arrow dived through his vital organs and remained embedded in his chest… he didn’t scream, he just fell.

The other experts now made an even better effort to conceal themselves, knowing a sniper had finally got one of the team experts and not one of the soldiers. Everything became even more real for them knowing truly that it wasn’t just the soldiers who could die.

In the bushes ahead, various cries would occasionally come from a hyena man falling for a trap or stepping on a claymore… the scene became more chaotic with each passing minute as the fire spread black smoke from the damp fuel burning and the flashes from various weapon fire and grenade attacks. The attackers wouldn’t tolerate this much longer as it was becoming too costly… never the less one of the flankers broke through into the back, already bleeding severely from fire of the Private Jones’s automatic weapon. Before long the two of them fought for their lives, though Private Jones proved to be agile enough to duck and sidestep the creatures wild axe swings… but he himself couldn’t reach his knife during his evasive action, it wouldn’t be long before he made a mistake.

The chieftain was too experienced to fall for such a cheap trick such as being tripped and simply leapt over the man and turned quickly to meet him, knowing full well that the man would try and stab him in the back with his knife. He was right of course as the general made a valiant effort to finish the fight quickly the hyena-man simply dodged the blow with side step followed immediately with a rake… the chieftain may look like an animal but he certainly didn’t think like one.

General Ilo was a bit suprised by the hyena chief's leap , he crouched and slashed at his back, but the chief dodged that too and raked at him a pawed, clawed hand. Intead of dodging the rake he simply put up his knife to meet it, even when striking he kept his knife close to his body in case a quick defence was needed.

The powerful blow knocked his knife away, sending it flying and him reeling backwards a step or two, but now the hyena chief had something a bit worse than a thorn in his paw. As he staggered back he drew his 2nd and 3rd knives, still having three more variously arranged on his person.

The General was in pain now from his previous injuries and now having to fight hand to hand as well. He stood dead still and locked eyes with the hyena chief, a knife in each hand, one held out and one kept close his body.

He grimaced at the hyena chief and awaited his next move , calmly making small talk,

"You must think you're the smart one then? Well, I have a news flash for you, the smart ones already ran."

He guessed the hyena couldn't understand him, but he still nursed hopes of remaining calm and spooking him, far better if this last one ran just like rest.

<Quinn we need a couple of your men back here.>

Had the situation been less tense, Quinn would have found time to crack a smile. As it was, the young Sergeant simply slotted another Magazine into his rifle and spoke into his comm:

"Hey, El-tee, you hear that?"

Not only was Lieutenant Brax a damn good solider and Quinn's senior officer, but the two Starblaydi soliders currently engaged in shooting at eight-feet tall dogmen mutant things were the only Starblaydi military men in the whole of Iuthia.

<I hear you, Quinn. Wolverine: Brax on way.>

Quinn slammed the clip into the rifle, instantly regretting the fact he used his left arm, which sent a lance of pain shooting from his wrist to his elbow. He gritted his teeth and fired some more.

The Generals parry was gave the Chieftain something to think about as the knife cut his palm, leaving a light wound. The General had drew first blood but it was little more then a flesh wound which the tall hyena-man could ignore. The knife was on the floor and the General had quickly drawn a couple more… perhaps the Chieftain had been hasty in dropping his axe with this one, but it didn’t put him off. The man started to speak some babble at the dog-man… probably some form of challenge, however he wasn’t about to give him the chance to finish it.

Taking hold of a stray branch, the Chieftain lunged at the General mid-sentence, again with his supernatural speed and strength… he doubted the man would have enough time to pull off anything snazzy and the distraction provided should be enough to keep him from responding well with his weapons. He simply used his reach advantage to bludgeon the man, if he parried all the better.

General Ilo wasn't all that suprised by the branch swining but the speed of it didn't leave him any room for fancy moves, he backpedeled as fast as he could from the first blow and then as the hyena chief wound up for a second swing, General Ilo ran.

The hyena chief wound up his swing and General Ilo ducked off and to the left, putting some trees between him and the hyena chief, he then made a bee-line for the tree he left his rifle behind. He knew the hyena man was faster, but the hyena man didn't know where his was headed and he did, he hoped the hyena would take a second to get his bearings. General Ilo didn't look back either .

'Whether I'm looking or not, if he catches me it won't be good!'

He thought as he busted around the trees and dived for his Minimi, he made a dive to land on it and then roll over as he got his hands on , he knew he'd have to roll and fire quick if he had any chance at all!


OOC: is this the end of General Ilo? DUN-DUN,DUUUUUUUUN!! ;)

SQUAD TWO

It was getting dark as the Foolish Troopers returned to the initial staging area. They had swept as much jungle as they could in the few hours they had before nightfall, but to no avail. They had encountered nothing; all the tracks they found were dead ends. There was evidence of Humanoid activity in the area with a variety of traps and snares being hidden to catch animals though none showed sign of recent use. The tracks seemed fresher but lead nowhere ending in a small clearing with a small hill in the center. They hadn’t climbed the trees and there were no additional tracks in the surrounding area, just disappeared.

The radio scans hadn’t picked up anything other than the occasional message fragments from squad one. From what the squad could make out they were doing just fine, suffering only minor injuries whilst reducing enemy numbers significantly. Aside from that, no other messages were detected from either the humanoids or the hostages. It was a lot to hope for but it was worth checking.

He hoped that the others in Squad two had made more progress, maybe fortified the area a little. They’d have to wait for daylight to move for the non combat personnel; no doubt something bad would happen to them if they went wandering through a trap infested jungle in the darkness. Though between the noises of all the fighting and the camps fire more humanoids would come into this part of the jungle. It was something they were going to be prepared for.

Fiesty Wolverine muttering about international teams, dog-men, putting Sharp Antler in charge, wanting to get back to the simple Indian life, holstered his 44 Magnum and pulled out the bow. He snuck back into the woods towards where he estimated the sniping archer was hidden. The flames were sputtering out with small blazes here and there. The acrid smell of gunpowder was everywhere, combined with the smoldering flora it made a eye watering stench.

He spotted a patch of hyena-man hiding behind a large tree trunk. This one didn't have a bow but lets see how the hunter likes to be hunted. Thought Fiesty Wolverine. With that he sent a razor sharp broadhead arrow to the patch of exposed flesh. He quickly and quietly moved once again to be able to spot the sniper.

Sharp Antler now out of ammo was going to use the bow, but spots a crudely made battle axe. He picks it up finding it surprisingly balanced but covered in blood. He wipes the handle off and using techniques learned in tomahawk competitions he wades into the fray a blur of sharp blades.

The General ducked the Chieftains crude attack and bolted for it; his manoeuvrability was pretty good considering night sky was obscured by the tall thick canopy of the jungle; what little light he could see with would only offer him a several feet of vision and nothing excellent at that. Unluckily for the man the vision modes on his weapon had long ago been busted by the heavy impact... though the weapons reliability hadn't been hindered by the arrow, just the electronics themselves.

Surprised by the move, the Chieftain made an odd laughing sound like the noise one would hear from a hyena in the wildlife before slowly following the man with his superior night vision, optimising what little light there was to give him almost normal vision in the darkness of the jungle at night.

He didn’t immediately run after the man, but instead took his time to get his fallen tribesmen’s bow and quiver, he had the advantage of sight in the jungle and he didn’t even need to see the man… he could smell him once again.

Taking cover and moving slowly with stealth, the Chieftain renewed the hunt for this heroic man.

As the Tracker carefully took aim to finish off the wounded solider he used as bait; Feisty Wolverine’s arrow hit him in the side, causing a small cry from the smaller hyena-man as he fumbled his shot, missing the group entirely. The Indian couldn’t make out the facial expression of the creatures as the darkness obscured most of the figure… but as he reloaded and changed position the Track had followed suit and changed it’s own place carefully… as the chaos below reached it’s climax the two were now in a dangerous sniper battle of wits.

Meanwhile, down below amongst the fray; Sharp Antler came to Private Jones’s rescue, delivering a swift blow to the back of the hyena-man’s head. Allowing Private Jones to rest as the creature was no long flailing wildly at him with it’s crude axe… unfortunately he didn’t move out of the way in time for avoid the falling beasts body and became trapped under it’s heavy carcass.

Lieutenant Brax and Sergeant Quinn carefully started to clean up any straddlers that may appear, but the attack from the front seemed to have halted as the few remaining Hyena-men that were not blown up, shot or otherwise axed in the head were fleeing the area as fast as they could… it was clear that while these creatures were huge brutes; they preferred what seemed to be overwhelming odds in their favour.

Fiesty Wolverine had spent his entire life in the woods. He had seen the tremendous amout of damage an animal could sustain and still escape. This Hyena-man obviously had an animal heritage but was smart enough to ambush the camp, wound a man as bait for his sniping and use a bow and arrow accurately. Fiesty Wolverine suspected this was the one that had tracked the party to this camp. He wished he knew something about poison it would have been helpful.

Fiesty Wolverine would have suspected a wounded animal to try to elude the hunter and escape. Only his namesake, the wolverine, would go on the attack if wounded. This is what he expected the Hyena-man to do, go on the offensive. He thought on how he would ambush someone like himself, spotted a likely hiding space for an ambush and worked out how to ambush the "Tracker" as he began to think of him.

It was slow and tedious moving through the woods listening for any signs that he had miscalculated. Fiesty Wolverine inched his way around the spot he figured the hyena-man would move to. Fiesty Wolverine was careful to stay down wind, he could even smell the Tracker, not in the way a dog could identify individual animals, nor place him accurately as a dog or cat could but enough to know that Tracker was up wind. Fiesty Wolverine didn't know what the hyena-man thought but suspected he was worried about the scent of blood, maybe as a trap or as a surefire indicator of his position.

Fiesty Wolverine was close enough to the Tracker's original position to see blood but it was too dark to see if it was a serious wound or a minor cut. The sounds of the battle were quieting down. Fiesty Wolverine strained to hear the Tracker's breathing. Animals didn't seem to realize hunters could hear their labored breathing, but Tracker was probably smart enough to know about that. Fiesty Wolverine knew if Tracker tried to control his panting while in pain that occasionally an uncontrollable gasp would give him away. He was waiting for that moment.

The Tracker had to make a quick choice now as his friend fled either fled the scene or died trying; would he stay and fight the man who had spotted him or should he flee in the hope of escaping? The choice didn’t take long to make, he wasn’t about to try and fight the prey outnumbered and injured. What’s more their weapons were more deadly and their men were clearly skilled… the odds were stacked against him and that wasn’t how his people fought. They could regroup later but right now he needed to get out of here.

His injury was little more then awkward flesh wound; but it slowed him down and bled, leaving a trail which would betray his presence… he doubted this prey had the same sense of smell that his kind had; though it mean he wouldn’t use streams to mask his scent. Making the clear choice to flee the hyena-man made his way through the trees… his strength helped him greatly for climbing about and he was more dexterous then his follow tribesmen so getting around was easier for him high above… but it was slower then it would be on the ground and he had to be careful not to betray his position. Thankfully the conditions of the night would help him as he had much better vision for this visability.

With time he hoped he had evaded the prey; an odd twist of fate he never really considered as it wasn’t in his nature…
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Meanwhile back at the camp, all was quite again as the predators retreated into the dense dark jungle and the site slowly returned to normality.

However, the cost had been fairly high; another soldier had been severly injured and a civilian had been killed outright. Meanwhile, Private Jones lay under a dead dog-man trying to push the brute off himself.

Inwardly, Rhaerys Brax was amused by the sight of a dead dog-man lying on top of the struggling Iuthian soldier. He walked over to the pair and looked down.

"You need some help under there, Private?"

"Geddisfuggin'fingoffme!" came the rather muffled reply, probably with a mouthful of hyena hair.

Brax grabbed an arm and heaved. With all the muscle on them, these things were bloody heavy when limp. Eventually the combined efforts of the two men hauled the hulking beast off the young private, allowing him to stand.

"Where were you, Lieutenant?" Jones asked, with more than a hint of suspicion.

"Not giving these things tango lessons like you were, evidently." Brax snorted at the dissent, understandable but still out of line. "Sergeant Farlander?"

Quinn slid off the four-foot high ledge and trotted over to his Lieutenant. He was moving more comfortably now his arm had been put in a makeshift sling.

"Do a head count, then a body count. I last saw Sharp Antler taking names with an axe, for crying out loud. Where's he gone, and the other two?"

Quinn nodded and walked off, attempting to figure out who was dead and who was alive.

General Ilo was amazed that he wasn't wearing the hyena-chief as a cape as he dove for his rifle , rolled and pointed it back up at.......nothing.

He was quickly back on his feet, determined that hand-to-hand combat should be avoided. He moved quickly and quietly until he found a tree with no branches lower than ten feet. He then took a knife, drove it in horizontally at about neck heigh, and used it to give himself a leg up into the tree.

Once in his new tree he very carefully maneuvered in the branches until he was in a position where he was covered as good as possible from below and had a clear sight of his own tracks, he hadn't hidden them and he wanted the hyena man to follow them just within sight so that he could shoot him. He then stayed as silent as possible, he wanted the hyena-man to forced to follow the tracks to as close to the tree as possible.

He paused, flipped two latches on his rifle and removed the tactical computer so that he could use the iron sights, he also switched the selector to full-auto, he wasn't going to leave this to just one shot.

He then waited and hoped that the hyena man would come into the clear, if not General Ilo was contented to spend the night in the tree, it wouldn't be the first time.

OOC: of course I have to get the smart tenacious one ;) Run away damn you!

Sharp Antler worked his way back into the camp. He had a grim look on his blood spattered face, the crude homemake battle-axe was covered in blood and fur. He made his way to LT Brax, "Do you think they will regroup? It looks like all that could, left in a hurry."

Fiesty Wolverine was still in stalk mode and found a place where the wounded Hyena-man had climbed a tree! More amazing information about these creatures. Was this something every Hyena-man was capable of or was it just Tracker?

The more Fiesty Wolverine saw of Tracker the more he wanted to meet him. Hopefully not on the field of battle.

Angry Buffalo and Three Legged Deer were studying the arrows that had wounded the Iuthian Sentry and killed the scientist. They were crudely made but balanced and straight where they should be. Remarkable for a dog-like beast. They began a good sized campfire, tending wounds was going to take the rest of the night.

The General had managed quite admirably to make his way up a tree in the dark environments as his eyes grew accustomed to the dark environment over times. His memory had served him well for his weapon, but he noted its bullet count was a little low from the heavy fire fight previously. Still… one bullet would do the trick; he only had to kill one of those bastards now.

His line of sight was terrible with thick darkness impeding his vision… even though he could make out a few of the trees adjacent to his position. The situation was dire as these things had already proven themselves to be quite good at seeing in the dark and the smoke caused from the grenade volleys previously was dissipating. The fact the chieftain hadn’t chased him suggested some amount of control… perhaps it was being intentionally cruel to him, but he couldn’t be sure, he was a soldier, not a wildlife expert.

To his left he heard a crack of twigs followed by some movement… tracking the sounds he prepared to fire his gun just in front of it. He couldn’t see a thing and it had the advantage with its superior senses, taking it out before it got close would be ideal and he had enough ammo for a few short bursts. Following its sounds he fired, the sound booming in the silence.

The roar of pain was his satisfaction, but the movement hadn’t stopped… the next burst thudded against a tree he hadn’t seen. It was time now to conserve ammo, the creature would have to get close in any case as it didn’t have a ranged weapon… did it?

It was with that thought an arrow stuck him in the side; knocking him from the tree… he couldn’t even discern its direction of origin as the weapon was near silent in it’s primitive state, you wouldn’t see a flare as it had no explosives and the sound would be little more then a whoosh of flowing air.

It wasn’t long before both the shock and the fall bought upon the dark tunnel of un-consciousness.

------------

A little later the general stirred… light was blinding him, perhaps the rumours of heaven were true. But was heaven meant to be this damp? He could also smell something… wet dog perhaps? It wasn’t long before he could place the smell as he pried his eyes open through sheer will and curiosity alone. The chieftain was standing in a clearing next to a body of water, tending to it’s own wounds from the battle the night before.

The general quickly found he didn’t have the energy to move much, checking for the weapons hid around his body the most obvious and easiest to reach had been removed… he couldn’t move enough to get check the rest as his two wounds, both with broken arrows keeping them closed, sapped his strength.

The creature looked over to him as if to consider the mans position. The fact he was still alive and now conscious was a monument to his stamina, but he was a broken man, physically at least. While neither of his wounds were fatal they were too much of a hindrance for him to do anything and in the presence of such a large beast it wouldn’t take much for it to deliver the coup de grace. The creature turned its head slightly, thinking about the man before making the horrible laughing sound which only hyena’s could make. Perhaps it was mocking him, or perhaps it found his strength to be amusing. What ever the case the Chieftain finished what he was doing before hoisting the General back over its shoulders like a prize. Walking in a direction the General couldn’t discern for the moment, he noticed that his radio hadn’t been removed… luck perhaps but this creature couldn’t possibility understand what it was.

((note… you have no immediate weapons, anything resembling a gun, grenade and certainly any combat weapon was either removed because it looked interest or destroyed in examination, sorry if I made a few assumptions in the above.))

OOC: I also forgot earlier that the General had a side arm, I should've shot the bastard when he was swinging that branch :P

The hyena-chief's shoulder was not comfortable, but it was more comfortable than the arrows lodged in him. He decided to lay as still as possible and see where he was being taken and more importantly, why.

He was relieved that his com was still intact and he slowly reached up and touched the button, one message may help, if anyone else had survived.

"This is General Ilo, I've been captured, over."

He was rewarded with his talkativeness by a viscous blow fromthe hyena-chief, surely the creature didn't know he had a radio, but he still didn't want his quarry making any more sounds that might attract attention.

General Ilo squinted at the blow "I don't know what cereal you had for breakfast, but it sure as hell didn't make you happy." he growled laconically.

Another sharp blow followed that statement as well. The General left his com open, first so that no one could tak back, and alert the hyena-chief with strange disembodied voices and two it might help give a clue as to where he is.

For now he relaxed and was along for the ride. Being Lassean and a Paulican, he was taught from birth that the physical world and the pain and suffering in it were illusion. He closed his eyes and focused on silently losing touch with his physical self and ignoring the pain, that after all, didn't actually exist. It may not exist, but it sure hurt like hell, but he felt spirtitually better anyhow.

Falenia turned over the branch she was resting, guarding the camp in the middle of her shift, with a swift movement her feet spinning to balance the weight of her slim body over the unstable surface, the rifle she was holding in front of her now resting softly over her back hanging there with the help of a shoulder strap, both the acute elven hearing and the penetrating eyes of the sindarin, capable of piercing the night almost as well as they could see the surroundings in a normal day.

As silent as a panther stalking its prey from the height of a tree, Falenia finally reached her backpack with one hand, pulling out from the bag two different objects. the first one was a pencil sized metallic needle, with a silvery glow that was covered quickly by the hand of the ranger before the moonlight could reflect on the polished surface and show her position. the second one was a strange and archaic object that looked like a normal, actual gun, but with a wider barrel and a more simple design. Sliding the gun into the space between her belt and her belly, finally Falenia opened a compartment at the side of her rifle, and placed the strange mithril crafted needle inside the gun, a soft "click" signaling that the piece was in the right place.

Moving her shoulders, she held the rifle again in front of her, surveying the jungle around the camp with the help of the magnifying sight her rifle possesed. She remembered how many different bodies of strange and dangerous beasts the needles fired from that rifle had pierced in the past. And no matter what could happens, it would do the same in the near future.

The ranger had hunted in dozens of different environments, most of them thick forests or complex and lost jungles, and she knew what the noise and then the silence around the campanent meant. A big predator, or an entire pack of them were stalking a prey. The wildlife in the jungles usually was making all kind of noises all the time, one of the most annoying facts of any tropical like rainforest, but when everything fell quiet, Falenia was sure that something was approaching their position, something that was feared by all the inhabitants of that part of the jungle.

Let me take a good look at you, let me find what you are, she said inside her mind as the scope of her rifle slowly examined the bushes and trees around the camp. Maybe it, or they, was or were here just out of curiosity, so it wasn't time for a general alert, but should anything move in the range of her vision, for sure she was ready to take care of it.

Looking down the sights of her rifle, Falenia saw a spot of movement to the east as a bush shuck slightly… it wasn’t long before the elf, with her superior vision, could see a couple of large dog-men walking through the thick undergrowth, maybe a little over 70 ft away. Before she could train a shot the line of sight was lost, the jungle thick with trees and fauna made it hard to see at a distance.

Following the suspected route of the creatures she just saw, another noise came from the west. Not wanting to be flanked she quickly spun to see what it was… 60ft away another small group holding what could be bows were walking towards the camp. Had the group not heard their bungling attempts to be quiet they would have been severely ambushed, but now the elf could here their movements… there were a few of them coming from various locations, perhaps they had followed the tracks of the science team who couldn’t cover themselves well, or perhaps they used scent. What ever the case the group was closing in on the camp…

Falenia had her pick of targets in the area as she could make there silhouetted bodies out, some holding plates of metal which could be shields and weapons, others going lighter with long sticks which could be bows… numbers were hard to tell as even her elven senses, keen as they are, could not pick out ever detail. But she knew that she had spotted them before they knew she was looking… she had the upper hand for the moment.

The fire was welcoming to the entire first team. The constant scares of the hyena-men and the explosions and smoke had shuck up the majority of the group. The loss of the poor Ken Jenter, an Iuthian biologist had seriously disturbed Helen Wyman, the group’s animal behaviourist. The man had been quite keen to join in this mission and had continued on even after Sgt. Jacobs death earlier in the day… his loss was on the top of the expert’s minds, but they avoided his death in conversation as Three Legged Deer patched up Private Goodson’s leg which had been broken quite severely, the man would have to make do with a splint that the Indian have cleverly constructed for him.

“These aren’t animals… I think that much is clear to all of us.” Helen stated, forcing the conversation to take her mind from the nights violent and losses. “They are savages with their own intelligence and methods. I’m out of my depth…” she sighed.

“I think we all are Helen” Jenson stated, trying to comfort the woman. She was fairly meek but like the majority of Iuthians she was in reasonable shape and took care of herself. Still, she didn’t look like she belongs in a pair of BDUs, she looked like she belonged in a lab. “But we should consider that without the efforts of these brave men we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

The man looked around; he himself wasn’t particularly well built, Jenson Kyleston, an Iuthian wildlife expert, was a lanky man with dark hair. He hasn’t been as disturbed as his comrade but he was showing deep remorse. The BDUs he was wearing made him look out of place and his enthusiastically camouflaged face had run a little with the sweat and tears of action.

“We must be close now… we can’t turn back, we would just loose more people and we won’t achieve anything. If only for the memories of the fallen we should get to the bottom of this and do what we can…” Then, all of a sudden something occurred to him. “The General! If these creatures found us even after all our efforts to conceal ourselves then I can’t fathom what’s happened to the man… ”

The timing was essential, and even as the natural instinct of Falenia was to fire the punching blow of her rifle against the chest of the first leading bipedal hyena, she fought back to think about the situation for a second. She could fire to one of the hyenas easily, but that would achieve nothing if they were coming in heavy numbers as it was shown by the scope of her rifle.

She also had the duty to protect the good for nothing scientist, after all, it was her job, even as she realized that the Navy officer was better suited for that kind of duty than herself. Without having the sizeable amount of humans resting down there in the camp fighting alongside her, everything was lost, and all of them would be hyena food in no time.

Reaching the strangely shaped gun hanging from her belt, she aimed at the group of hyena men armed with what was looking as strange and primitive bows, and with a half smile she pressed the trigger...

The delayed flare proyectile raced through the air, the gun not making any sound than a deep "thump", and turned into a flash of light when it fell right in front of the advancing Gnolls, filling with a bluish light the surroundings of the ambushing party, emitting a hissing sound spinning in the ground amongst the high grass and dense bushes. Falenia knew the flare served for several different purposes, and although harmless, it was more effective than the payload of a machine gun given the cirscumstances.

First, it helped to raise the alarm in the camp, if the soldiers weren't awake with the clumsy try of an ambush by the Gnolls. Also it pinpointed the main incursion point, and it would call the attention of a smart officer. She remembered that most of the human soldiers weren't as capable as her to see in the pitch darkness of the jungle, so the light of the flare would help them to aim and pick their possible targets. Finally, she was sure that the eerie light and sound of the flare for sure was capable of scaring the primitive Gnolls for a bit, at least helping her and the rest of the group to gain some precious time to organize an effective defense of the perimeter, her mind recalling once she scared away a wild water troll due to the effective use of those flares.

Once she was sure the flare had fallen in the right place, she placed the flare gun again in her belt and started to climb the tree a little bit more, changing her position so it couldn't be guessed easily by the wild beasts. It took just a little jump and some balancing to reach a nice branch, wide enough to support her weight, some meters higher than her former position.

Fixing the rifle again over her shoulder, she looked through her scope to see how the feral ambush was faring...

As the others slept Jim watched and patrolled the area, keeping a keen lookout for the reported Humanoids. It was a nice night, the moon in the sky obscured by passing clouds, the sounds of the jungle filling the air. Despite the relaxing atmosphere, Jim knew that even now they could be attacked without warning, leaving no room for mistake. With this in mind, he continued his patrol of the camp site, keeping his rifle trained and the shadow filled boundary into the Jungle. As the night progressed the usual Jungle sounds began to die away, leaving only silence and a sense of foreboding.

As any Foolish Pesants Citizen could tell you “A quiet Jungle is one filled with Ninja’s” the Nations national animal with a penchant for sharp bladed instruments of death. Whilst Iuthia didn’t suffer the problem of Flaming Ninja’s, a quiet Jungle is always a dangerous one. Never one to take chances, Jim readied a flare and continued his patrol of the camps perimeter.

The silence was broken by the sound of movement coming from the Jungles edge on other side of the camp. Sensing no other danger, Jim trained his rifle towards the sound and continued on his patrol. As the flare filled the surrounding area with blue light, the source of the silence became apparent, a Humanoid assault.

Quickly assessing the situation, Jim picked out and threw his flare towards the second group of attackers, the bright red signal flare illuminating the bow wielding monsters. As the flare left his hand, Jim opened fire on the advancing Humanoids, charging forwards to protect the main encampment.

“Squad! Delta formation, two to two!” he shouted drawing his sword as he did so.

Hopefully those flares would stun them enough for me to get in position, I doubt it. he thought.

The approaching creatures scattered when the flare fired up and lit them up as clear as day... however, only a few of them made it to cover as the few Iuthian sentries the camp had opened fire with their fully automatic weapons. The Foolishpesents helped to take down any that the Iuthian missed, they also helped by adding to the confusion with more flares towards the main group.

Meanwhile the Aelosian ranger made her way further up the tree, the hyena-men hadn't seen her so far due to her careful movements, now they wouldn't notice her movements because they were confused at the bright light at their feet, as for the group flanking the camp they two were delayed as they lost their concentration from the bright flare of light coming from the other group.

The ambush was discovered and quickly the remaining hyena-men from the lit up group went their seperate ways, stumbling towards the encampments through any cover they could find, unlike their fallen brothers they had not lost too much of their sight from the sudden flare of light and didn't delay in getting away from it.

The flanking group, still in the dark cover a little distance away from the camp took a moment to recover from the confusion.

For majority of the journey the General was in and out of consciousness, trying to ignore the wounds was having some effect, though it return for his efforts he wasn't quite with it, the affect was like being drunk but without the fun. He ached but it didn't matter so much.

He could feel each elevation and bump in the ground as the chieftain carried him over the rough terrain to god-knows where. Thankfully he was in a comfortable position as he was belly down over the Hyena-man's shoulder, his legs being held at the front and his upper body limply hanging down the cheif's back. The smell wasn't too good, but given the General's condition it was hardly the most important worry.

It was no longer night and according to the generals timesense it was probably late morning. The trees were getting a little more sparce and the ground was getting a little more flat.

The scene changed even more as some of the trees were actually felled and he could now here something, it sounded like more of the Hyena creatures speaking their infernal language. The general could now smell cooking meat and he concluded they must be getting closer to an encampment... however the ground being the best thing he could see looked like it was walked over often.

Finally, he was dropped onto the ground surrounded by other Hyena men who then talked over him, one of them pointing. Some of them were wearing armour, others which were a little shorter were wearing some odd primative clothing. A couple of the shorter ones lifted him and took him off to a primative hut where they then force fed him some liquid, soon after sleep came...

OOC: they drugged him? How shameful! I guess I can't post til he wakes up?

Sending her rifle across her back again, the ranger decided to reach the higher branches of the tree before grabbing her weapon again and surveying with the scope for the flanking group.

She was aware of the psychological effect of her weapon, and was going to use it at its best now, the effect maximized amongst beasts, animals and primitive beings like the Gnolls that were trying to raid the encampment. Gnolls..., she stopped for a moment to think, she was facing creatures that, in Aelosia, were nothing more than creatures from old tales. Fixing the crosshair, the primitive aiming system that she used to take full advantage of her skill over the more advanced and technological autoaiming devices of most of the aelosian marksmen and markswomen, she went for the left side of the chest of the first Gnoll heading the flanking group.

Rail guns, they were called by the humans. Hwestior, killing air blow, the aelosian called those rifles. As the ranger squeezed the trigger, the sharp and slim needle-like projectile left the barrel of the gun with a swift whisper, howling with a distinctive, scary sound through the air looking for its intended target, reaching terminal velocity in nanoseconds...

As the sniper changed position again, and prepared to take out some of the flanking ranged troops, the rest of the encampment was in chaos... none of the Gnolls were able to get close to the group as they started to split up and fled, the few that advanced were mowed down by the superiour firepower of the combined forces of Iuthia, Foolish Pesents and Aelosia's man, guarding the Doctor.

As the other group of Gnoll, only half a dozen remaining, continued to flank, the entire emcampment heard a sudden CRACK sound being made from seemingly all directions at once. It was bad enough hearing a sniper rifle going off, it was a completely new experience to the Gnolls to hear a round fired off by a rail gun at velocities which smashed the sound barrier. There was no flare, just a small sonic boom followed by a brief silence which was soon replaced by gunfire from the encampment.

The flanking Gnolls paniced... it wasn't the sort of sound one heard in the jungle, gunfire was bad enough but one of their group had simply been flung to the ground from the force of the ground. It wasn't dead, though it whimpered as the round had simply kept going and made a relatively neat hole in it's chest, puncturing a lung and shattering several ribs... it wouldn't be doing anything at least. The majority of them started to flee, however sniper would probably take another go before they all escaped.

All the Iuthian's present recognised the crack as the sound of a highpowered rail gun, a weapon commonly made in Iuthia, however others may still be a little confused.

(OOC: Sorry Ilek Vaad, I wanted to get the second group to katch up a little)

OOC: no problem.

Beneath the hood, the female elven warrior smiled. It was the desired effect indeed, even more than one aelosian platoon would had been deeply affected after watching that super speeded slug cutting down one f their men and sending him through the air. She hoped that the Gnolls would see it as the use of some kind of wicked magic.

Fixing the crosshair again trying to place it over the next target, one of the fleeing Gnolls. The bigger the better, she thought, reasoning that if the legends were true, Gnolls had a society order similar to that of the Orcs, so the I'm a the biggest, so I am the boss rule was for sure applied in their group. More than just to bring down the beasts, she was interested in create a psycological effect upon the attackers, a effect to endure so they would shake if they ever think in approaching the encampment again.

Picking the right target, a big Gnoll with mottled skin and lumbering arms, she thought in less then a second, to hit a special spot in the anatomy of the beast to freak the primitive feral humanoids even more. Smiling a bit, she finally aimed at the middle of the neck, the point were it was less thick and powerful.

Taking into account the kind of firepower she was using, it wasn't specially hard to behead the target in a precise shot right through the neck, so she squeezed the trigger after precising the target and exhaling the air in her lungs. I'm eager to see the faces of those Gnolls after the thundering sound leave one of them without head in less than a second.

While the huntress was aiming, many of the Gnolls were now fleeing, already the will to fight had been lost along with the initiative. The Foolish Pesant soldiers were cleaning up where they could and targets were running out for the Sniper as the jungle was filled with growth and limited vision to little more the 75ft at the best of times.

However it didn't take long for her to pick out a suitable target; fleeing away from her and a little distance from the others, the large hyena man lept and ran through the think undergrowth. With another loud CRACK, the creature fell, it's head went off with the round into the cover and out of sight. The body of the creature slumped to the ground, blood pouring from the clean cut neck wound.

Several of the creatures had escaped into the jungle, running often in totally different directions fleeing with in a panic fuelled retreat. The camp was clear with little to no injuries incured by the troop. The only targets were pretty impossible to hit with several trees inbetween them and the others and getting well out of the line of sight.

The group had successfully stopped an attack.

With the night time attack now at an end, it was much easier for the groups to track and hunt their pray, which had made a somewhat hasty retreat in their last encounters. Many of the prints being followed by the Indians were now fresh, some even stained with the dark red of the nights blood bath... even with the scientists in tow following these tracks at a reasonable safe rate had gotten much more simple as the experts had learnt their lessons and were beginning to behave correctly for their evironment.

Meanwhile, the other team was having similar luck with the hasty reteat of the hyena men the night before as the Aelosian huntress easily picked up the trail which was slowly and surely bringing the two teams closer together, the signals of their radios were much clearer now that they were in such close proximity.

Occasionally each of the groups would pick up evidence of something close to a feeding frenzy, though nothing solid remained the tracks and blood stains clearly positioned many of the hyena-men competing with one another for the best meat of a heavy carcass. At first what kind of carcass was impossible to tell due to the fact that no remains were left with exception to some of the blood and the heavy indentation in the ground. However it soon became clear as the experts worked at around the area, often with a tracker who had gotten used to the wildlife of the forrest, that this was one of the spot in which these beasts fed from the remains of one of their own, perhaps an injured member of their group who was slowing them down.

Continuing on, the troup groups were now almost side by side, closing in on a single location which many had estimated as the creatures camp... it was coming to mid afternoon when the Aelosian Ranger had to split from her party and leave them to wait behind as she scouted ahead. The other group was a little distance away getting closer to their position, however the Aelosian had already made observation that they were getting closer to the camp sight, so close that it would be to dangerous to take the group in at this time.

So, alone and in full confidence, she left the soldier to defend the experts and continued on into the twilight of the undergrowth...

Meanwhile, General Ilo himself was just about coming around from his last encounter with the beast which had carried him. The drug they had given him was still in effect, albeit he was concious but hardly at any strength to do much other then lie there and attempt to focus his vision...

The image started as a hazy mixture of brown and bright orange, perhaps from some form of torch or similar on the opposite wall. He couldn't feel any bedding around him and felt as though he was resting on bedding... not the most hygienic place to be but better then the jungle.

However, the most confusing thing he saw in the corner of his eye was what looked to be the pink blur that could be some kind of person... but surely there weren't any humans around here? Was he hallucinating?

Slowly, his focus came to him as he turned to look at the face, which was now forming into what looked to be a womans face, occasionally smeared with mud and her hair roughly cut short, presumably for simplicity in keeping it in order.

"No... don't try to get up, you're still weak from your wounds." She said softly, making sure he lay on his makeshift bed. "Just rest and get strong again... you need to be strong again, or they will kill you like they killed the others."

General Ilo squinted at the woman, but didn't try to move more than that.

"I think I made them angry. Well I made one of them angry, the rest I killed." He grinned "How many of them are there around here? "

He did then move a bit to determine what weapons he still had, he knew his rifle was gone, but checked for his sidearm and his other two knives. He'd imagined that the hyena-men would take everything he had, but he checked just as well.

"Were you with the loggers? I'm General Ilo of the Twisted Serpent Retaliatory Guard, me and my team are here to rescue you."

He laid back as he said that, savouring the irony.

"I'm... Eva." the woman replied, looking away slightly as though ashamed. "I was never with the loggers... heck, I was there protesting against the whole thing, we hated one another from the start..."

With that she turned around and wiped away a tear, taking a moment to compose herself again. Pretty much all of the generals weapons had been removed and the top half of his camo had been removed, presumably to treat his wounds. In the corner the rest of his clothes lay, on top of which lay his inactive micro radio... Eva caught his look.

"Things like that don't interest them, they can't imagine it being used as a weapons and the material isn't useful to them... it's just junk to them. I couldn't work out how to operate it, my phone doesn't work out here anyways so I wouldn't know if it would do any good."

Now fully composed Eva turned back to the General, smiling weakly. "To answer you're question, there are a lot of them, I couldn't really say how many as they all seem to look the same and I don't see them all at once. Though I've not seen as many of them recently... I imagine thats you're work...

"The others, the loggers... they were forced into labour, those which couldn't keep up would be eaten if the creatures were hungy... they worked out when I was tending to one of the weaker ones that I'm pretty good with medicene so they have me working here making sure the others can work knowing full well that I would do my best to keep them strong... knowing the alternative... even I don't hate them that much."

Eva sighed... then looked directly at the General. "But help is coming right? We won't be here for much longer..."

General Ilo closed his eyes and relaxed as best he could.

"Well, technically there should be someone coming for us. There are two teams in the woods right now, but unfortunately they probably don't know where we are. My radion has a satellite link, so if the canopy isn't too thick we should be able to contact my group. If it isn't broken, and the battery is probably dead, It has a solar panel for re-charging if we can get it into direct sunlight for a few hours."

He turned back to Eva " Did you hear any gunfire previous to them bringing me here? If you did we may still be fairly close to where the other groups are. We've got some good trackers and they may already be following my trail here."

He smiled confidantly "Don't worry Eva, I'll think of something, I always do."