Ch. 6 Dark Heart of the Swamp

[Tori]

"Martin, I' ain't got not tangoes nearby. You sure they're around?" Tori's head canted slightly; her voice no louder than a murmur lost in the seabreeze blowing across the peninsula. She didn't smell him using any psionics, like presence sense, either, and wasn't sure what he was talking about. She engaged her thermals to scan just in case.

"Shep, keepin' the boat stashed mebbe be tha best idea. We need to be quiet, since we're all up in Indian country, but..." and she shot a glare at Janxi. "I'm pro'lly still tha best point man yew got, so again, permission to take point? Should we let Martin show us tha way?"

Still nervous about nearby rats, she faded into the vegetation and continued searching for trouble, before getting told to move out and at what position.


Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Detect mines/traps [dice=100] needs 45
Prowl [dice=100] needs 85

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76
Perception: [dice=20]
[rand=62812576387045467154741628240003404360699626859393658138159291]

[Renekin Skywalker]

Martin conitnued into the bush, the rifle over his shoulders, forming a visible "T" from the rear, but very little profile from the side. He was moving left and right around trees, as opposed to just twisting to go through them.

His pace had slowed, too, to navigate without hitting anything.

"We learned a long time ago to take it as a given." Martin answered. "And if it isn't rats, then it's something bigger and scarier. And some of those even our Nike can't see. So we use our wits more than our sensors."

[Mierin]

Sam nods in greeting at martin and says "Good to meet you." She returns Tim's hug and smirks, "I won't if you won't." Sam looks over at Shep and says, in regards to what he said about Eve. "Agreed." When they start out, she says quietly, "Martin, show us the way, if you please. Tori, take point." Sam then follows the others once they start to move, keeping an eye out for these rats Martin had mentioned.

perception [dice=20]
detect ambush [dice=100], pass
detect concealment [dice=100], fail[rand=647888857084362841953472676247760989343019345732955578704454791]

[Janxi]

"We knew we was in Indian country when me, T, Sneaker and Shep did tha shake 'n bake on a half dozen rats, and we ain't had no trouble findin' 'em or anything else nasty in this here swamp. But if yew gots some baddies in shootin' range, yew go on and sing out if we ain't seen em yet." She didn't know why Martin was warning of immediate danger if nothing was within range. Probably just assumed they didn't know the ways of the swamp yet.

The massive cat took one look at Rex before she started the mission and gave him a high five. "Look out for them squishies, alright? Get some!"

With helmet on and rifle in hand, she followed Tori at a loose interval. She kept her senses about her and followed her smaller shagcat partner. Tori was great on point, but she did worry about her taking a hit and leaving the team without a corpsman. She also knew that attitude probably pissed Tori off, which was always fun. Lil Cat was great on point, but better with her heavy firepower partner near in her wake.

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]/ 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]/58
Locate sound [dice=100] / 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] / 76

Camouflaged
Prowl [dice=100]/75
Land Navigation [dice=100]/60
Tracking [dice=100]/60 (for any sign of rats)[rand=426249113708332965584615025331341979504228400712603792935118064433]

[Tori]

"Aye, Six, I'm on point." Tori moved out with the very tip of her tail tipping from side to side. She was back on point.

(Same rolls as above)

[lwcoyote]

"Out this way theres too many gnolls and shallows to make a boat worthwhile.. " Nike murmurs as she moves to follow the rest; prefering to take the last spot in the formation, the coyote keeps her CP-40 at the ready, dialed to burst fire. A quick check to the e-clip readout assures her that she has sufficient charge left before having to switch it up.

As she glides across the terrain, the mutant canine takes a quick glance back towards what was home, then gives herself a shake, to focus on the present.

Perception [dice=20]
Prowl [dice=100] / 51
Detect Ambush [dice=100] / 40
Sense Evil (3 ISP)
Sense Magic (2 ISP)
[rand=43667202987854261874673193058680278350150656368268346368452153221]

[dakota]

As they moved out, Rex gave Janxi a thumbs up in return. Jin approached, and with a few awkward hand signals, finally made it clear he was going with Tim's group.

twenty minutes into the trek, Nike knew Shep wasn't happy with giving up the rear position to her, but he had fallen in between Janxi and the coyote dog boy. Something grabbed her attention directly ahead of the squad, something evil.

With Martin guiding Tori's point position, they had snaked trew the swamp with ease until Tori caught a faint wisp of smoke up ahead. the scent carried on the breeze until Janxi and Nike could smell it. It wasn't the light smoke of a cooking fire, more like that of burning plastics.

Through a break in the canopy, Sam caught sight of a column of black smoke ahead of them.

[Tori]

From the point, Tori gestured for everyone to stop. Her signs revealed no targets, though she seemed to take a moment to listen. She continued her stalk toward the fire, gesturing for others to follow slowly. She feared they were too late to help the outlying residents, but hoped they could catch up with the rats responsible and inflict some justice. She pulled her rifle to a ready position, looking for any sign of rats.

Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Detect mines/traps [dice=100] needs 45
Prowl [dice=100] needs 85
Camouflaged

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76
Perception: [dice=20][rand=1339098097150204230948816106819854380910825905220639042665717417678]

[Renekin Skywalker]

Martin, noting Tori's sign, paused and took up cover. All he gave were the 2 clicks.

He wasn't using his powers.

And he waited.

[lwcoyote]

Nike utters a very low growl at the sense of evil, but keeps quiet otherwise; the scent of burning plastic, however, gets her hackles up further. Fearing the worst, she readies her CP-40 as they drew closer to the column of smoke, ears perked and nose lifting slightly, trying to seek out their enemies however she can!

Detect Ambush [dice=100] / 40
Detect Concealment [dice=100] / 29
Sense Supernatural Beings [dice=100] / 66
Perception [dice=20][rand=593250268597860177392150207994889358791096203417547296315333814]

[Janxi]

Janxi watched Tori cut low, and followed her lead. Then, as the little cat moved in, she advanced behind her. After a search and destroy, she knew SOP was to get as far away from the smoke as possible. The jaglion also knew a hasty exit was a sloppy exit. As Tori led the way, she looked for tracks to follow and to kill.

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]/ 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]/58
Locate sound [dice=100] / 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] / 76

Camouflaged
Prowl [dice=100]/75
Land Navigation [dice=100]/60
Tracking [dice=100]/60

[rand=0659468080449988635342239248417127392434904146891603237926423602]

[dakota]

Tori knew her mistake when she felt the twig snap beneath her foot. There were suddenly voices up ahead on the path around a bend.

" Wha was that?"
"I dunno"
" Go look"
"You go look. You heard it first"
"Fine lets go look then"

The squad then heard movement coming along the trail.

[Tori]

Tori was smart enough NOT to enunciate the word she was thinking, but anyone ESPing her would have heard it loud and clear. It rhymed with duck.

The little cat immediately moved off the trail went to cover with a good vantage of the approaching voices. Vegetation was her friend and she used it to give her camouflaged form extra room to hide. She watched and waited for the approaching figures. The fishing cat was low to the ground and almost prone, like a housecat stalking a mouse. Her ears perked up and she waited, completely without movement or without so much as a breath. Leave it to a cat to turn a failed stalk into bait for an ambush.

Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Detect mines/traps [dice=100] needs 45
Prowl [dice=100] needs 85
Camouflaged

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76
Perception: [dice=20]

Init [dice=20]+7[rand=3384593033976573444332625518737495478023772956945665971675599903]

[Janxi]

Janxi winced as the stick broke beneath her partner's foot, and found vegetation to hide in from the sounds of the approaching voices.

Part of her would be relieved if humans came out, but the marine in her soul would be disappointed if she could not kill some rats. For now, she watched and waited, ready to zip some rodent asses.

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]/ 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]/58
Locate sound [dice=100] / 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] / 76

Camouflaged
Prowl [dice=100]/75
Land Navigation [dice=100]/60
Tracking [dice=100]

Initiative: [dice=20+6]
Perception [dice=20][rand=9068640123411792571984744821619250340950540611237787290345557925]

[Renekin Skywalker]

Martin didn't react to the branch breaking. Not visibly, anways. He had already paused, to wait.

As he heard the voices, he listened to them (does he know them?), and he looked for people that may be more silent.

Otherwise, he was still waiting.

Perception: [dice=20][rand=513167407240846498290755530082219468421069856652899476134992792]