>>2980772
>>2980772
[2/2]

“Yeah, and there’s-“ Tierney blinks, looking around frightfully. She flinches when a bird flies overhead. “… I mean, there’s nothing trying to eat us right now.”

Burke looks at Tierney. “Babe, you’re gonna learn that something that wants to kill you normally isn’t going to want to be seen.” Tierney goes a little pale thinking about that. “Who knows what’s lying in those waters. Not to mention whatever drove off those Raptors is probably in here with us too.”

“Y- Yeah.” Nielson starts swiveling his head around like Tierney is, trying to get a sharp eye out for what’s around in the Swamp. “I mean, we gotta get out of this place you know. So, can we just decide?”

Graves nudges your helmet with her hand. “Daddy. You’re driving. You wanna get out and ask the Lizards for directions or something?”

> Get the Land Rover swimming across the waters and try to cut the shortest route possible to the hill.
> Keep to land when possible. It’ll be a little contentious and you may come to a point where there’s no land at all that the Land Rover can traverse, but it’ll be safe. Somewhat.
> “Maybe we should take this time to take a break, flex our legs, get some food in. Then we can decide.”
> Other

Leaving this up overnight. Will update once I get home from work tomorrow around 5 or 6PM EST.

Here's the archive for those of us just joining in: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=No+One+Gets+Left+Behind

>>2980779
>“Maybe we should take this time to take a break, flex our legs, get some food in. Then we can decide.”

>>2980794
Ditto
I'm sure glad about Papa Dragon's Origin Story Quest

>>2980779
>> “Maybe we should take this time to take a break, flex our legs, get some food in. Then we can decide.”
Decent idea. Maybe someone will bring up some more info

>>2980794
Supporting

>>2980779
>“Maybe we should take this time to take a break, flex our legs, get some food in. Then we can decide.”

File: tank comes with wifi.jpg (98 KB, 600x410)

98 KB JPG

>>2980779
> Other
blast the trees away with the cannon to make room, use tree bits noot on fire adter to strap onto out buggy. make makeshift propeller powered by drive train.

> “Maybe we should take this time to take a break, flex our legs, get some food in. Then we can decide.”

You all drop out of the Land Rover, except for Morrison and Tombs. Tombs kneels down by Morrison to check his injuries. “How is he?” you ask.

Morrison shakily holds up a thumbs up. “I’m fine. Sorta.”

Tombs gently pushes Morrison’s thumb down. “The wounds are healing but he needs at least a day or two to let the medigel set. Thankfully he didn’t lose too much blood.” You dread the word blood, because it makes you think back to the Miocorvus at the boneyard. Those things have a taste for human flesh now as far as you’re concerned. And if there’s anything hunting has taught you, human flesh apparently is the tops for some predators. “I can’t guarantee that he can walk right now either.”

“What!?” Morrison looks at him, worried.

Graves rolls her eyes, checking the map as she walks past. “He means now, dingus. Not forever. You can still walk fine once you heal as far as we know.” Morrison breathes a sigh of relief. “What. Did you think that your spine got split? Worried your dick isn’t going to work and your cat wife is gonna leave you for some big-dick spacer?” Morrison gives her the finger in response, grumbling quietly to himself. “At least he has all of his fingers.”

You take a look around and see Tierney and Nielson sitting in the shade next to the Land Rover. Nielson takes a huge swig of water from his canteen while Tierney leans up against the wheel hub, dazed from the heat probably. But where’s Burke? You turn to the left and see Burke examining a tree in the swamp. “Boo. Come look at this,” she asks you. You step up next to her and she points to the tree. The look on her face exposes a bit of fear, but only for a second. “What does that look like to you?”

It’s a purple splatter against the tree. Purple like the dead Raptors you encountered back in the bog.

The splatter is marked against the bark of the tree, in the shape of a sickle. Like the big toe claw on a Raptor foot.

“It’s purple.” You fold your arms, grimacing a bit. Couldn’t be. “You don’t think that’s a territory marker, do you?”

“The tree’s surrounded by water and my nose can pick up a hint of the smell just from here, imagine what the Lizards are smelling,” she remarks. “A much more visceral and visual reminder of one’s territory than just pissing and shitting on trees I guess.” The two of you go silent, looking at it. Not even flies are going near the mark. The two of you both know right now staring at it: you don’t belong here.

But well, it’s either here. Or it’s back in the open with the Lizards. Burke folds her arms. “I’ll be honest. I’m actually all for fording the waters if it gets us out of here faster. The longer we stay in this Swamp surrounded by bush and foliage with no cover…”

[1/2]

>>2982361
[2/2]

“I know,” you say. It won’t take long for any prospective predators to realize you might be a good snack. Even with plasma weaponry, that won’t stop them from at least trying at first.

“Ah!” Tierney! You and Burke swing around and start running back to her. You find Nielson and Tierney raising up plasma rifles at something to the north. Tombs as well gets on the gun. You feel a tremor in the ground. A footstep. Another tremor. A Rex? You and Burke raise your weapons while Graves moves to cover Morrison. The trees and bushes shake as something approaches closer and closer. Then it breaks cover.

“Wait!” yells Burke. “Don’t!” Tierney freezes up. Even if Burke hadn’t shouted that, she definitely wouldn’t have fired anyway. All of you lower your weapons when you see exactly what it is.

It was a massive hadrosaur. Its size was such that the top of your head would only just meet its belly. Its rough skin was colored dark shades of grey and green to match the environment. As it waded through the water, you can see its mouth chewing on something idly. It doesn’t even seem to recognize your presence as it starts turning westbound. More hadrosaurs break cover, wading themselves through the water while the juveniles swim alongside their parents. They were utterly massive, not as huge as the Rexes but you never thought something of that size could…

“What are they?” asks Nielson.

“Shantungosaurus,” says Burke. Tierney looks over at her, concerned. “Herbivores. Don’t go near them.”

“They’re huge.” Graves stands up in the bed of the Land Rover, in awe. The herd must have numbered around twenty from your count. Then you notice something.

On their hides were big purple marks. Just like the ones on the tree.

Burke sees it too. She nods to you.

> “Let’s get the Land Rover in the water. Now.”
> “Let’s get driving. Stick to land.”
> Other

>>2982368
>“Let’s get driving. Stick to land.”

>>2982368
>Let’s get the Land Rover in the water. Now.”

Almost earned us poacher's rights.

I don't suppose we've taken any trophies from the raptors. They'd probably be quite handy to have on display right now.

>>2982485
No trophies unfortunately.

>>2982368
>> “Let’s get driving. Stick to land.”
Damned if we do, damned if we don't.

>>2982491
When we kill the Rex, we need to take a trophy

> “Let’s get driving. Stick to land.”

“Let’s get driving,” you say. “Burke. Stick to land.” She nods, slinging her DMR. Everyone quickly moves back into the Land Rover. You take the passenger seat while Burke takes the wheel. A herd of massive herbivores is one thing. A herd of herbivores that is clearly marked? That’s asking for trouble. Back on Hopewell, rustlers would get jail time for stealing livestock. Here? Who knows what the natives are going to do if you’re even –near- their livestock. Burke starts driving the Land Rover gently and carefully over land. It involves having to turn away from the water. And in fact, turning way way around.

“Uh.” Graves checks the map again. “Why the hell are we going south?”

“Because that’s where the land is,” says Burke. “Unless you want to chop down these trees and build a bridge for me, darling. That’d be splendid!”

Nielson holds onto the side. “I mean, I could-“

“That was rhetorical, shut up,” says Burke. Nielson immediately shuts his mouth. You have to admit, the fact that you’re actively driving away from the Hill is a little worrying. But you’d rather brave being on dry land where it’s safe versus being in the water where there’s probably predators skulking around. Burke keeps the Land Rover at a steady marching pace, like a horse at a canter. But the ride itself is quite bumpy as the wheels struggle to gain clearance and traction on the slippery muddy ground beneath you.

…

…

After a few hours, you’ve managed to lose the Shantungosaurus herd. But a few hours out here is valuable. And unfortunately, a few hours of driving on whatever dry land there is has not gotten you any closer to Hill 47. Graves leans over to show you your progress. According to the map, you’ve driven south, then west, then north, then south again, then east, then north. Even you’re a little confused as to where the hell you are. But the point is that you’re not much closer to the Hill than you were two hours ago.

At the very least, you haven’t ran into any predators. Part of you is wondering where the hell the oh-so scary thing the Lizards are scared of is.

[1/2]

>>2982792
[2/2]

“This is getting us nowhere,” says Graves. “We should’ve made it to the hill by now.”

Burke says, “Like I said, unless you want a build a bridge across these lakes and ponds, that’d be lovely.”

You sigh, rubbing your eyes. The heat is starting to get at you too. Then a shadow passes you over. You blink, looking up quickly. Just leaves and branches silhouetted against the sky. The forest is still alive with the sound of critters so… Probably just your imagination. You hope at least.

Then you hear plasma fire. More people? Burke stops the Land Rover. You see brief flashes of blue in the foliage to the south along with some shouting. Definitely more people. Nielson stands up then fiddles with his radio. “Hello!? This is PFC Nielson at uh…” He snaps his fingers, asking for the map. Graves quickly hands it to him. “We’re at the following coordinates.”

As he reads off the coordinates, you and Burke stand up in your seats, waiting. “Who do you think that is?” you ask.

“I don’t know,” says Burke.

“Anyone read?” asks Nielson. Nielson gets nothing but static on his head. “Damn it! I can’t reach them!”

> “Stay here. I’ll go meet with them.”
> “Drive over to them. Drive casual too, I don’t want them getting startled by our entrance.”
> Shout out to them. They can’t be that far away.
> Other

>>2982795
>“Drive over to them. Drive casual too, I don’t want them getting startled by our entrance.”

>>2982795
>> “Drive over to them. Drive casual too, I don’t want them getting startled by our entrance.”

>>2982807
Ditto

>>2982795
> “Drive over to them. Drive casual too, I don’t want them getting startled by our entrance.”
Welcome back QM!

> “Drive over to them. Drive casual too, I don’t want them getting startled by our entrance.”

“Drive over to them, Burke.” She gets the Land Rover in gear. That makes you quickly add, “Drive casual. I don’t want them getting scared by our entrance. Last thing we need is to get shot up by some trigger happy soldiers after what we’ve been through.”

Graves snorts, sneering. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Burke drives the Land Rover closer to where she heard the plasma shots. You steel yourself for the reveal. Another survivor? Maybe a group of survivors? It’s certainly stopped by now. Hopefully that means they aren’t dead. Still, you won’t suddenly drop your guard around them. Considering how Tombs is like and what happened to him, you have to suspect that maybe something is off.

After all, they did survive this long. Something must’ve clicked for them. Whether it was killing everything in sight or being lucky, you don’t know. What you do know is that they’re there, and there’s safety in numbers.

After a few minutes drive, the Land Rover breaks through the brush and appears. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your fire! Friendlies!”

Before the Land Rover now were six soldiers. Two of them were crouched on the ground facing the west now looking at you. They were heavy weapons specialists carrying the Type 66 Phased Plasma Pulse Cannon, a man and a woman, the man wearing a patrol cap with a tactical monocle and the woman a helmet with the words “FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY” written across it. Another heavy weapons specialist as well was facing the east looking at you, a man with a Type 23H V-CAW with a backpack tank and his face. A bloodied gauze wrap covered his bare left arm.

Another heavy weapons specialist as well was carrying a Carbine along with the weapon half of a Tri-barreled Type 68 Tri-Gun, with a combat engineer carrying his tripod. The weapons specialist was a woman as well, wearing a scarf over the lower half of her face and some goggles over her eyes while the combat engineer was another man wearing an engineer’s version of the standard helmet with the welding mask attachment. He had quite the nasty burn scar running across his cheek and nose, and he was carrying large power packs for the Tri-Gun as well.

But standing in front of your Land Rover was a shocked looking man, carrying nothing but a pistol in hand. Judging by the pips on his helmet, he was an Officer, a Lieutenant in fact. “O- Oh.” He looks up in surprise. “Well. Friendlies. That’s- that’s nice to see.”

[1/2]

>>2983075
[2/2]

You stand up. “Sir.” You nod to him.

He looks back, then nods to you. “Lieutenant Harrell. Weapons Platoon, G Company, 2nd with the 60th.”

“Weapons?” asks Nielson. “They’re a Weapons platoon?”

“Was,” says the engineer. “We’re all that’s left.” Harrell glares back at him, quickly shutting him up. The engineer looks down, clearly not intending to talk much more than that. That’s not a great sign.

Lieutenant Harrell walks up to your Land Rover then says, “I’m glad you men managed to secure a Land Rover. Will make getting to Hill 47 an easy treat. We’ve been walking quite a ways, had a few run-ins with the Lizards as well.” He smiles, grinning a bit. “Don’t suppose I could take your seat, Private?”

“Hold on, hold on.” Morrison sits up, looking at Lieutenant Harrell. “We can’t fit everybody on the Land Rover.”

“I don’t intend to, we’ve been walking for a while and my feet are killing me,” says Lieutenant Harrell.

> “Respectfully, sir. How about you introduce your men first?”
> “By all means.”
> “What were you guys shooting at anyway?"
> Other

>>2983078
> “Respectfully, sir. How about you introduce your men first?”
> “What were you guys shooting at anyway?"
We can switch places with the lieutenant, not the rest. The rest will be walking.

>>2983078
>“Respectfully, sir. How about you introduce your men first?”
>“What were you guys shooting at anyway?"

>>2983122
Ditto

>>2983122
Sure

>>2983122
Supporting.

We really need a brevet promotion...

>>2983273
Got a bad feeling about this LT though

>>2983302
Tell me about it.
As much as I hate to say it, I think we should have our guns trained on him and everyone else in this group until we can trust them not to leave us behind.

>>2983078
> “By all means.”
> “We can’t unload the wounded though.”

Asking to switch off after having hiked all the way there isn’t unreasonable, and I’d rather not start shit if we don’t have to.

>>2983329
To add to this, while the lieutenant could cause trouble, I fear it less being because maliciousness and more because of incompetence (due to inexperience and a 90 day training period) or stress (I mean Jesus he just watched 90% of his unit get wiped out and probably eaten, officers have killed themselves for far better outcomes than that.)

> “Respectfully, sir. How about you introduce your men first?”
> “What were you guys shooting at anyway?”

“Respectfully, sir. I’d like you to introduce your men as well.” Lieutenant Harrell blinks, then turns to his platoon. They all look at him, expectant.

Lieutenant Harrell sighs, then motions to you. “Go ahead.”

The engineer starts off. “Corporal Joffrey. Demolitions and engineering.”

The girl with the tri-gun nods. “PFC Stoakes, weapons. Tri-gun spec.”

The man with the flamethrower pats his chest, resting his hands on his flamethrower. “PFC Godwin, weapons. V-CAW.”

The two weapons specs then introduce themselves as well. The man points to himself with his thumb, grinning. “PFC Bakker.”

“PFC Horner.” Horner grins as well, patting her Plasma Cannon lovingly. “Gotta say, y’all are a sight for sore eyes. I didn’t think we’d run into any other survivors round these parts.”

“Yeah.” Joffrey looks around, standing up as he walks up to the Land Rover. “Had a lot of run-ins with Raptors on the walk here. Wasn’t pretty. Not to mention those Stenos.” He points two fingers at his brain then fires. “Pow. You know?”

Burke nods, understanding. “I know.”

“Gotta ask, Lieutenant, what were you shooting at anyway?” you ask.

Lieutenant Harrell points to some bushes. “We saw something moving in the bushes. And I put a couple of rounds in it. Thought it might’ve been a Raptor scout of some kind.” You and Burke drop dismount to investigate what it is. While that happens, Graves dismounts too.

“Alright, idiots.” Graves places her hands on her belt. “I wanna see your feet. If you’ve been walking as far as I think you have, I wanna make sure you guys’ feet are in tip top shape.”

Bakker nudges Horner, snickering. “You hear that, Horner? She wants to see your pretty little feet!”

“No. She wants to indulge in your creepy-ass foot fetish ya damn nag!” Horner nudges Bakker back, their exo-rigs jostling as they keep their cannons pointed upwards.

You and Burke walk up to the bush where the Lieutenant says he shot the creature then pull the foliage away. Lying there was a dead sauropod, no more than the size of a person, possibly a juvenile. It’s dead, two shots to the neck and several shots to the belly. Definitely bled out judging from the leaking blood and the pale skin. Burke recoils, a little surprised. At least this one wasn’t marked. A shadow falls over then flies past. You look up once more. Burke too, looking around. “I’m not the only one seeing that, right?” you ask.

“No,” says Burke. “Something’s following us from the air.” She walks up to the Lieutenant. In the background you see Graves examine Joffrey’s feet first. “Lieutenant, congratulations. You shot a completely harmless sauropod to death. Maybe they’ll give you a medal.” Lieutenant Harrel’s face hardens up a bit at that, clearly not amused. “Now listen, we better get moving.” She points upwards. “Something’s following us.” The group goes silent.

[1/2]

>>2983367
[2/2]

“Well, shit!” Horner leans back, apparently more annoyed than frightened.

“We gotta get outta here then!” Stoakes stands up, pointing to the Land Rover. “We can load up on the Land Rover and we can get outta here.”

“Well we can’t all fit on the Land Rover,” says Godwin. “If something’s following us, they’ll catch us!”

“Nonsense, nonsense!” Lieutenant Harrell takes a breath. “Let’s just-… everyone just think, okay?” The squad all looks at Harrell. Tierney and Nielson too look down at him, wondering. “Now.” He points to you. “You men, fall in with me. When I’m not here, Joffrey’s in charge. I’ll get us to Hill 47 in no time, we meet with Sergeant Cope too. Alright?”

Nielson blinks, then he speaks up. “Uh, sir. Begging your pardon.” Lieutenant Harrell looks at Nielson, still unamused. “But this man saved my life. And Morrison’s. And Graves’ and Tombs’ as well. He’s got us through thick and thin. He’s a fighter.”

“I don’t doubt that,” says Harrell. “I’d be happy to have him as a subordinate.” Graves glares at the Lieutenant, clearly not impressed. “Look. I’ve gotten us here this far. And-… And by God, I’ll get us to that hill too. Just, would you please just fall in line?” He pauses, taking a breath. “I’ve had

> “Sir, I’d be able to assist you in leading.”
> “Alright. We’ll fall in.”
> “Sir. I’ve led these people all the way here too. I think I deserve a little more credit.”
> Other

Gotta go sleep now. I'll be back in the morning with fresh updates. Thanks for coming round, hope you're enjoying yourselves. Leave your votes here.

>>2983369
Oops forgot to finish the LT's dialogue.

> "I've had an unimaginable time getting us here. And I'd rather not have issues with who's in charge when I am wearing the Officer's pips here."

>>2983302
god i can see it now

>"You are out of line trooper"
>"Graves help the Lt into the rover, looks like he shot himself in the foot"
>"What?"
>*pew*
>AAAAAAHH
>He also tripped on a rock and knocked himself unconscious"

>>2983369
“Sir, I’d be able to assist you in leading.”

>>2983369
>> Other
I don't much care for dick measuring contests, especially when lives are involved. I also don't give a damn for rank anymore. We are all going to get to the hill, in one piece. There does not need to be a leader, but if there is, I choose the man that didn't lose nearly his entire platoon. Now, LT, do you wanna ride on the rover, or hoof it with me?

>>2983386
Yeah that sounds good to me.

>>2983386
Yeah no, way too antagonistic.

Given the remaining soldiers haven’t ‘accidentally’ shot the LT, it must mean his orders are average at worst, which we can live with.

>“Alright sir, I’ll assist you. I’ll lead my squad under your command.”

File: loaded up rover.jpg (3.47 MB, 4224x2596)

3.47 MB JPG

>>2983383
We only do this if there ends up being a problem.

Load up wounded, some can rest on the hood and hang off the sides.

>>2983369
> “Sir, I’d be able to assist you in leading.”
>>2983429
More or less this.

>>2983369
> “Alright. We’ll fall in.”
This is not the time for this, and we don’t have any real reason to disagree with him. He’s an officer, in this situation he is in charge, and challenging him on that openly makes us the one causing problems. If he starts making poor choices we take him aside and engage in the time honored tradition of the “come to Jesus moment”. But you don’t do that in front a group of soldier, half of whom don’t know you. The only real mark against him this far is that his platoon was decimated, but so was every other unit that landed. And the fact that he is even here means he wasn’t one of the ones who abandoned their men and made straight for orbit. He may be shit, he may be great, or he might be inconsequential. At the moment though, I haven’t seen any cause to trust or distrust him, so I say follow the regs.

>>2983457
> “Sir, I’d be able to assist you in leading.”
also, we gotta move asap
Not only is something following us in the air, but
>possibly a juvenile
where's the mother?

>>2983369
> “Sir, I’d be able to assist you in leading.”

>>2983369
>> “Alright. We’ll fall in.”
I agree with this guy right here >>2983457

We can challenge his authority in the future if he starts going full retard and shows himself to be an incompetent.

>>2983457
Supporting b/c of your effort post.

>>2983457
I don't know anon, this guy has incompetence written all over it. He's an officer, and we know about those kinds of guys, he's shooting at basically nothing, giving his position away, and the first thing he wanted to do was hop on our rover

furthermore, I dont see a reason for us to respect the chain of command atm

>>2984359
He's done what we've done, which is get people through, alive and not evidently hating his guts. He's also apparently done it without transport; he couldn't just drive away from rustling in the grass. His subordinates are more than equipped to give him an "accident in the field," while all he's got is a pistol. Seems to point to him being the man for his job.

Now, whether protag would be better at it is another question, but as someone else has said, you don't try that without knowing the sentiments of his men.

Him demanding a spot in the rover's a poor first impression, but it would have been his prerogative before things went to hell, no question. Chalk it up to him not knowing his newly hard-bitten audience.

>>2984374
I don't care about not being in the lead, even though we have obviously shown we can do it. I'm more worried about what happens when this guy gives a shitty order. Do we override it? Ignore it? It seems submitting to a chain of command we already know is faulty is dangerous

Yeah yeah I know this guy might not be bad, but I don't like leaving the possibility open

>>2984379
Effectiveness of the command chain is irrelevant to what we need to do. If we want command, or to figure out if such is even necessary, our only option here is to test the waters. If Lt's got any loyalty from his men, they're far better equipped to gun us down if we, say, threaten him or try to drive off. We're stuck with these guys. So we acquiesce for now and see how many we can get on our side, or if we even need to.

Hell, if Graves and Burke prove too spicy for Lt, we might just end up retaining leadership of our own folks.

>>2984379
>>2984406
Officers set general objectives and goals, NCOs figure out how to do it and pass on those orders.

So long as hes not micromanaging and just telling us "we need to get to hill 47 head that way" we can do the rest a with minimal conflict.

We can take a little leeway and be creative in interpreting orders if we must.

> Let’s just do some combination of both because I can’t tell who won

“We’ll fall in, sir.” You motion to your people on the Land Rover and over to Graves. “I can help lead my team.” Lieutenant Harrell leans on the Land Rover, sighing. “Sir.”

He shakes his head. “Fine.” He motions to Tierney and Nielson, grimacing a bit as he turns to his own squad. “Just, don’t do anything rash. Last thing we need is issues about chain of command, -Private-.” Fair enough. He looks to his men. “Anyone want to protest?” Nothing but silence. Horner and Bakker snicker a little, glancing down. “Bakker. Horner. Something you’d like to share with the class?”

Bakker rubs his nose, shaking his head quickly. “No, sir!”

“Fine.” Lieutenant Harrell climbs into the passenger seat of the Land Rover. He points to Burke. “You. You drive.”

Burke rests her hands on her DMR, then says, “Politely, sir. I’ll walk.” She nods to Nielson. “Drive, Nielson.” Nielson is quiet for a few seconds, then he climbs into the driver’s seat. Harrell glares a bit at Nielson, but simply rests back in his seat. She turns to Graves. “Hey, frakface. Any of them wounded?”

Graves lets her shoulders slack, glaring at Burke. “I have a name.”

“Sorry, cum dumpster, are any of them wounded?”

Graves rolls her eyes. “Besides their feet, they’re fine. I’d suggest Stoakes and Godwin get on the Land Rover though. They’re developing blisters.”

Lieutenant Harrell points to them. “Godwin, Stoakes. Come on.” With sighs of relief, they quickly move to get into the back. They hang their feet off the edge as they sit on the sides. “Rest of you, move ahead of us and screen us. We’ll cover your rear.”

“Right on, right on!” Horner gives a toothy grin as she stands up. Bakker as well steps up and follows behind her. Truth be told, a lot of big guns are going to be a big help getting through this swamp. Joffrey glances at you, nervous as he steps past you. You’ll take a walk you suppose. Maybe get the legs moving. Horner smacks Godwin’s leg. “Hehe! Meals on wheels, am I right!?”

Stoakes and Godwin do not look amused by that.

>>2984447
[2/2]

...

…

The march through the Swamp is getting to everyone walking. There were only so many water purification tabs in their C-Rations and while there’s plenty of water around, not a drop of it is safe to drink. Swamp water tends to stay still, which means it tends to gather germs, bacteria, rubbish, and animal shit all the same. Not exactly a milkshake back home. You walk with Corporal Joffrey and Graves while Burke brings up the rear with Bakker and Horner. You hear some footsteps behind you, then see Tierney drop out of the back and march up to you all. Joffrey leans back, blinking. “Sick and tired of sitting?”

“I just felt guilty sitting around, that’s all,” Tierney mutters.

You adjust the sling on your carbine. “So what’s the deal with you all? How’d you manage to survive so long?”

Joffrey takes a drink of water, clearly sweltering in the heat. “Wasn’t easy. There were twenty of us to start with for one thing. Most of our vehicles got cracked by Rexes. I tried to tell Harrell to abandon the heavy weapons but he insisted we take them with us on the haul. That tri-gun and the heavy V-CAW are the only things left.”

Tierney frowns a bit. “Is Harrell a…”

Joffrey gives a good long look at Tierney, silencing her. He says, “Look, we gotta obey chain of command, okay? I think most Officers would shoot themselves just being in this situation. I respect that he’s here at least.”

“What about Stoakes and Godwin?” you ask.

“Well, Stoakes was part of a three man team, tripod, herself, and an ammo bitch,” he remarks. “But now I gotta carry both the tripod and the ammo.”

“Dead?” you ask.

He shrugs. “Dunno. Jaynes and Pulaski ended up going with Corporal Baker. We ran into a Boneyard and Corporal Baker with two other guys. Harrell insisted we go around but Baker wanted to cut straight through to save time. Haven’t seen any of them since. Hope they made it.”

> “They didn't. Trust me."
> “For our sake, I hope Harrell knows what he’s doing.”
> “You guys know if you were followed?”
> Other

>>2984450
They're dead Jim.

Well Baker is for sure.

Did we get Bakers dogtags?

Wait was the dead guys on a stakes the raptor set part of their team?

>>2984460
You're in possession of Corporal T. Baker's dogtags.

The dead guys on the stakes tho are different people from a different group.

>>2984450
>“They didn't. Trust me."

>>2984450
>> Other
Give them the dogtags.
"We barely made it out of the boneyard ourselves."

> “They didn’t. Trust me.”
> Other

You hand him Baker’s dogtags. “We barely made it out of the boneyard ourselves. Trust me, they didn’t.” Joffrey almost pauses in step, staring, as if you had just trampled on whatever hope he had left. He shakes his head, gently nudging your hand back to yourself. Keep the dogtags then. You place them back in your belt pouch. “Unfortunately I didn’t recover Jaynes or Pulaski’s dogtags. And considering what happened to us…” You look back at the Land Rover, thinking on Morrison and everyone else. “I think Lieutenant Harrell made the right choice.”

Joffrey nods. “I’m glad to know that.” He sighs, pinching his nose a little. “What exactly was in those bones anyway?”

“Miocorvus,” you explain. “Big crows. Trampled right through their territory.”

“Figures.” Joffrey grits his teeth, grumbling a bit. “Seems like everything on this damn planet is trying to kill us.”

“We don’t belong here,” Tierney says in response to that. “We can breathe the air but we don’t belong here.”

“Just because we don’t belong doesn’t mean we can’t do anything about it.” Joffrey gently taps Tierney’s helmet, making her flinch reflexively. “Trust me. Once we extract, we’ll be back and we’ll make this planet ours in no time.”

As you talk, Tombs examines Stoakes and Godwin’s feet before applying a little bit of medigel. “That tickles,” Stoakes says quietly. Tombs grunts, not particularly interested in conversation. Stoakes glances at Godwin, who shrugs in confusion. She looks over at Graves. “Uh. Is Tombs here not a talker?”

Graves looks back and says, “He’s been through a lot, give him some time.” Stoakes nods, confused a little.

[1/2]

>>2984655
[2/2]

You stop, forcing the little convoy to a stop as well. Lieutenant Harrell stands up in the seat. “What’s the hold up?” He steps out, walking up to you all. You point ahead.

Before you now was a huge lake of water. Dotted among the waters are trees with massive semi-circular sail-like roots jutting up out of the lake. The water is still, a murky brown with no clarity to it. But what’s more is that the lake seemed to go on for quite a while in the direction towards Hill 47. Then you point to the sides. The lake seems to go on in both directions as well. “Well. Alright.” Lieutenant Harrell glances around. “We’ll cross.”

“Sir.” Burke grabs her sling, furrowing her brow. “Do you even know how deep that water is?”

“It’s definitely not deep enough for those trees,” he remarks. “Why, should we build a raft or something?”

“Sir, we’ve been sticking to dry land because we can’t see in the water. There may be predators or something hiding in the water,” she explains. You see a shadow pass over her for a second before again disappearing. “Now, I’m not against crossing but we don’t know how deep that water is.”

Lieutenant Harrell pauses, then looks to you. “Machetes. We’ll build a raft. The Land Rover can swim.” He claps his hand. “Alright, everyone. Get to work. I’ll get to scoping us out a path through the water as well.” He takes his binoculars out from his belt then starts looking ahead.

Burke takes you, Joffrey, Tierney, and Graves aside. “Build a raft?”

“I got some rope,” says Joffrey. “We can tie something down. And I’ve built boats before that’s for sure.”

“I don’t like it,” says Burke. “It’s one thing for shallow water but that water is not shallow. And on rafts? We won’t have much avenue to escape if something ambushes us.”

> “The Lieutenant said rafts. Let’s build a raft.”
> “Burke, maybe you and I can scout a safe path around.”
> “I’ll talk to the Lieutenant, see what he thinks.”
> Other

>>2984660
>> “Burke, maybe you and I can scout a safe path around.”
I'll clear it with the LT first, but having all the eggs in one basket is never a good idea, no matter who you are

Worst case scenario, Burke can scout it out and we can say she is just "difficult"

>>2984660

> “The Lieutenant said rafts. Let’s build a raft.”
We can probably look for an alternate path while cutting.

>>2984695
>Supporting. Our role is literally "scout" after all.

>>2984695
Scouting about never hurts, we could also check for enemies in the area

>>2984695
Supporting

>>2984660
>> “Burke, maybe you and I can scout a safe path around.”

> “Burke, maybe you and I can scout a safe path around.”

“Maybe you and I can scout a safe path around, Burke. I’ll go clear it with the LT.” Burke nods, watching you walk. There’s another thing regarding using a raft that you don’t like, it means putting a lot of people in a small space with no cover. Never a great idea. And Burke is right too, the only way to escape danger on a raft would either be to paddle (not fast) or to swim (potentially drown). Neither is particularly desirable. You walk on over to Lieutenant Harrell. “Lieutenant.” He turns to you, putting his binoculars down. “I figure me and Burke can go around and scout a safer path around.”

“Around? Why?” he asks.

You shrug. “Well, sir. Burke doesn’t feel comfortable just rafting through the waters. It exposes us. And we don’t exactly have a spare outboard motor either for the raft, we’d have to paddle. That’d make us slow too.”

“Well, the time lost going around this swamp is going to expose us too,” he says. “We’re close to the Hill, Private. Just this little burst of speed is going to get us that much closer to safety. Go ahead and tell Burke to stay put and work on the raft.”

Well. Okay then. You nod, then turn back to Burke, who has already set off without you. Ah. You jog past Joffrey, Bakker, Horner, and Nielson working on getting branches and logs down for the raft. “Burke!” you call out to her. She stops, turning to you. She’s probably already heard everything. “Listen-“

She holds a hand up. “I won’t go far. Just down there a ways, then I’ll come back,” she explains. Fair enough. She gently smacks your chest however. “Do me a favor though. Save me a spot on the raft when it’s finished.” You see Stoakes and Godwin walk up to the water, with Tombs supervising their stride as they go. “Way I see it, if either goes down, I’d rather be on the raft than on the Land Rover.”

“Why’s that?” you ask.

“The Land Rover sinks,” she remarks, before turning off and away.

Well. She’s not wrong you suppose.

Godwin crosses his arms. “Those roots are pretty weird looking.” He’s referring to the massive roots of the swamp trees, which seem more like semi-circular sails than roots.

“Probably to catch oxygen,” says Graves as she walks past. “Like a sail catching wind, you know?”

Stoakes snorts. “Never seen plant life like that. Wonder if there’s any predators using them for cover.”

> Help with the Raft.
> Go walk with Burke. Maybe she’ll need some help.
> Talk to someone (Who?)
> Other

>>2985223
> Go walk with Burke. Maybe she’ll need some help.
We'll hear shit, but someone shouldnt just wander off into uncharted territory

>>2985223
>> Go walk with Burke. Maybe she’ll need some help.

>>2985223
>> Go walk with Burke. Maybe she’ll need some help.
We should prepare some excuse. "Sorry LT, thought we saw some bushes moving. Coulda been sauropods, eh?"

>>2985298
>Ditto
Stay in pairs

>>2985223
>> Go walk with Burke. Maybe she’ll need some help.

> Go walk with Burke. Maybe she’ll need some help.

You jog to catch up with Burke, away from the group. “Burke!” She slows up to allow you to catch up. You look past to see the Lieutenant still peering around on his binoculars, inattentive to the fact that you and Burke are going anyway. She simply ignores him, keeping her eyes forward it seems. Problem with authority perhaps? “Look, you can’t travel alone, you know.”

“I’d prefer to in most circumstances,” she states. She looks at you, squinting a bit. “We won’t walk far anyway. I don’t want to raise a fuss back there with the group. You don’t happen to see any shallow crossings do you?”

“Nah.” At a glance at least. Normally you could use reeds and tall grass sticking out of the water to estimate depth but it’s just water all throughout here. It’s probably quite deep. “You know, I noticed you’ve been questioning his orders.”

“I only did it like twice,” she says. “Besides, it’s not like chain of command matters anymore anyway.”

“What do you mean?” you ask.

She stops, looking at you with a very stern expression. “We’re stuck on a planet with man eating Lizards with no way to contact the Navy and with limited resources. The fact that there’s an Officer down here alive –at all- is a miracle in of itself. But it doesn’t mean I get to take orders from him. What matters is our own survival down here, not who gives the orders and who takes them.” You stare at her, curiously. An interesting perspective that’s for sure. “I mean, I’d sooner respect the fact that you’re in charge than him that’s for sure.”

“It’s not because you think he’s incompetent, is it?” you ask.

“I don’t think, I know,” she says. You roll your eyes. “Hey, don’t roll your eyes at me. That’s a fact. He should know it’s dangerous to cross out in the open. Sure, he’s here now with his troops. That doesn’t mean the fact that they haven’t fragged him means he’s actually competent. Some people crave having someone order them around, gives them purpose. Hell, I bet if you asked Tierney for a blowjob, she’d do it purely because she respects that you’re in charge.” Yeah, no. Let’s not. She shakes her head, continuing to walk. “And I respect that you’re in charge too.”

“Oh?” You walk up next to her. She glares a little at you. Okay, not going to press that topic. “Well, I suppose so.”

> “A chain of command is important though. If we make it up and he does too, he could make our lives heaven or hell depending on how he views us.”
> “I think you’re right though. Down here, what matters is experience and grit, not the pips.”
> “Burke, I’d rather we just focus on the task at hand anyway.”
> Other

>>2985599
>> “A chain of command is important though. If we make it up and he does too, he could make our lives heaven or hell depending on how he views us.”
Not to mention what could happen if we both possibly made it off planet. In terms of a military debriefing and a trial.

Gonna have to pause updates for a little bit. I'll be back tonight in a couple of hours for one more updates. Discuss things among yourselves.

>>2985599
> Other
Shoot at one of the trees with jeep cannon and see if they sink or wobble.

>>2985599
>“I think you’re right though. Down here, what matters is experience and grit, not the pips.”

>>2985774
Ha, wouldn't it be a trip, if the trees had sail-like roots because they drift with the wind?

>>2985599
>”A chain of command is important though. If we make it up and he does too, he could make our lives heaven or hell depending on how he views us.”

Also, we don’t know the soldiers who came with him - and they don’t know us.

If we’re stuck in a firefight, having conflicting sets of orders is a quick way for us all to get killed.

The chain of command is a bitch at the best of times, but it exists for a reason. Let’s at least give this LT a chance.

>>2985599
> “A chain of command is important though. If we make it up and he does too, he could make our lives heaven or hell depending on how he views us.”

all these npcs following the guy who is waving around so many red flags, even the ingame npcs are reacting to it.

Still following the npc officer tho, this will end extremely well for you.

>>2986004
Welcome to literally every organization at some point or other. The situation's nothing special. >>2985887 puts it best.

>>2985599
> “A chain of command is important though. If we make it up and he does too, he could make our lives heaven or hell depending on how he views us.”
We could probably just leave if it doesn't work out anyway.

>>2985599
>> “I think you’re right though. Down here, what matters is experience and grit, not the pips.”

>>2986128
I mean you're right, doesn't mean we have to agree with it in private. Also, I disagree with how the chain of command prompt puts it. It implies he has any real power over us

> “A chain of command is important though. If we make it up and he does too, he could make our lives heaven or hell depending on how he views us.”

“Chain of command is important, Burke. And think of it this way, if we make it up and he does too, he could make or break us depending on how he thinks of us.”

“If he makes it up,” Burke calmly remarks. Is she implying something? She shakes her head a little, clearly not happy at the prospect of having to work under a Lieutenant now. “Listen.” She turns to you once more. “I have enough respect for you to listen to what you have to say. You’ve proven yourself competent to me. He hasn’t proven himself to me though. Neither have any of his guys. We don’t know any of them. We don’t know what they can do.”

“Well.” You shrug. “Best get to know them then.” She huffs, rubbing her hands a little at that. “What. Shy?”

“Funny.” She glances to the side down the bank of the lake. “Well. We better get back. Don’t want to make his majesty worried about losing us.” She starts walking back. You follow her as well. “By the way. I saw the way Stoakes was looking at Tombs. I think someone’s smitten.”

“You think so?” you ask.

“Seems kind of weird. I don’t see Tombs as exactly boyfriend material. Plus, not exactly the best time to go looking for one anyway,” she states. She pauses when she glances out into the water. You look out too. A few bubbles pop and burst on the surface. Something’s breathing down there. “I still got a bad feeling about that swamp.” The two of you walk back to the site and find that the industrious efforts of the team have came up with a raft made of bark, logs, and big branches lying around. Joffrey and Nielson have lashed them all together with rope. The two of them launch it onto the water.

Lieutenant Harrell moves up to the Land Rover, pointing to Joffrey. “Joffrey, you take Stoakes, Godwin, and Graves. I’ll keep Tombs, Nielson, and have Bakker and Horner here on the Land Rover.”

Morrison sits up, flinching at his wounds while Tombs checks in on him. “We’re crossing the swamp?”

“It’s faster that way,” says Godwin. “I don’t mind.”

[1/2]

>>2987014
>>2987014
[2/2]

Horner pouts, puffing her cheeks out. “And here I thought I was gonna get to go for a swim.”

“In what?” asks Bakker with a grin. “Were you thinking of skinny dipping or something?”

Horner snorts, giving a very delightful smile to Bakker. “Maaaaybe. Shame I didn’t bring my bikini.” You pause, then glance at Godwin and point to Bakker and Horner.

Godwin shrugs. “Yeah, those two are-… I would keep your distance.” He leans close, whispering to you. “I’d sooner trust someone who’s scared versus someone who ain’t. Feel me?” Definitely.

Burke slings her DMR, walking up to Lieutenant Harrell. “Sir. Saw some bubbles popping up on the surface. Could be something below the water like a predator or something. Are you sure you still want to cross the swamp?”

“Yes, I am dead sure,” he says. “We won’t even be that long anyway.” He climbs on into the passenger seat. Burke sighs, getting onto the raft. Right, where do you fit in then?

> Get onto the raft with Burke, Joffrey, Godwin, Stoakes, and Graves.
> Get onto the Land Rover with Harrell, Nielson, Tierney, Morrison, Tombs, Bakker, and Horner.
> Other

That's it for tonight. I'll be back in the morning after a good night's sleep. Sorry for the pause, had some things to do. But I hope you're enjoying yourself. See you soon.

Remember to leave your votes in overnight.

WE GOTTA GET OUTTA THIS PLACE, IF IT'S THE LAST THING WE EVER DO

>>2987019
>Get onto the Land Rover with Harrell, Nielson, Tierney, Morrison, Tombs, Bakker, and Horner.

>>2987019
Fuck I'm not sure about which one to go on, the Raft means predators but the Jeep means possible sinkage. I guess I'll go with
>Jeep
Also, I'm betting that what we're facing is either the Titanaboa, those massive Crocodiles, or the Crocodiles with long ass legs

>>2987019
>> Get onto the Land Rover with Harrell, Nielson, Tierney, Morrison, Tombs, Bakker, and Horner.


ALL THE CHILDREN ARE INSANE
WAITING FOR THE SUMMER RAIN

>>2987019
>> Get onto the raft with Burke, Joffrey, Godwin, Stoakes, and Graves.

So what's gonna happen when we get to the hill and everyone is fucking dead

>>2987019
>Get onto the Land Rover with Harrell, Nielson, Tierney, Morrison, Tombs, Bakker, and Horner.

>>2987120
>implying Cope made it to the hill in the first place

>>2987019
> Other
Grab all the grenades from the others and use em as depth charges.

>>2987019
> Get onto the Land Rover with Harrell, Nielson, Tierney, Morrison, Tombs, Bakker, and Horner.

We got this

>>2987233
Also chop down extra wood for repairs and makeshift life rafts

>>2987242
life vests/ "floating devices". Not rafts

>>2987287
but then they can get launched at your head and knock you unconscious.

> Get onto the Land Rover with Harrell, Nielson, Tierney, Morrison, Tombs, Bakker, and Horner.

You climb up into the back of the Land Rover, just as the other group casts off the raft into the water. Nielson activates amphibious mode on the Land Rover, then slowly takes her into the water. Tierney holds onto the turret, bracing while Horner and Bakker ride along the sides. The water splashes over the hood for a second before settling out around and floating below the sides over the tires. The Land Rover slowly starts floating forward, with the engine roaring to keep her going at a steady pace. You look over at the raft group.

Burke gives a thumbs up at you as Stoakes, Godwin, Joffrey, and Graves get paddling with pieces of bark and their rifle stocks. “Keep close,” says Lieutenant Harrell. “I don’t want them drifting too far.”

“Yes sir.” Nielson keeps his hands on the wheel, nervously looking around. The buzzing of bugs and chirping of birds above you is drowned out by the water displacing around the Land Rover. Bakker and Horner keep a watchful eye around as Tierney keeps the Land Rover’s plasma cannon pointed upwards at anything that might come from above. Tombs keeps himself close to Morrison, in case a quick exit is needed. Hopefully it won’t be.

You look around yourself, trying to keep calm. Your father used to say that fish could hear everything when you went fishing. You never really believed him. After all, how can fish hear things from underwater? You look around at all the roots, chewing on the inside of your cheek in anticipation. No one wants to say anything. What can they say? You’re crossing a swamp in the open with no cover and no ability to displace quickly.

With Burke and the raft group on your left, you decide to keep watch on the right. You sigh, looking at one of the sail roots. It suddenly parts away from the tree.

Wait.

You lean back, staring at it. It slowly sinks into the water, with only the very tips of the big sail cutting straight through like a knife. Like a shark, it starts creeping towards the Land Rover. What the hell… Wait. No. No!

> “Nielson, cut the engine!” The engine noise is probably fooling it into thinking you’re prey.
> Start shooting at it, scare it off, whatever it is!
> Remain calm. Call it out. Don’t do anything rash.
> Other

>>2988447
>> Remain calm. Call it out. Don’t do anything rash.
lets see what happens first

>>2988447
>> Remain calm. Call it out. Don’t do anything rash.

>>2988447
>> Remain calm. Call it out. Don’t do anything rash.

>>2988447
>Remain calm. Call it out. Don’t do anything rash.

>>2988447
>> Remain calm. Call it out. Don’t do anything rash.
The problem isn't us doing anything rash because we're the MC and have god like nerves but the goddamn LT

> Remain calm. Call it out. Don’t do anything rash.

“Something in the water!” you shout. Bakker and Horner quickly shift to face it with their plasma cannons. You bring your carbine up as well, aiming at it too. Harrell quickly slinks towards the driver’s seat, aiming his pistol down at the water too. The creature, whatever it is, slowly steams towards the Land Rover.

Then swims underneath it. The Land Rover jumps from the water displacing over the massive beast. Something like that shouldn’t be able to swim that fast! Harrell yells out to them. “Set up the Tri-Gun!”

Joffrey places down the tripod on the raft, then Stoakes drops the tri-gun down and locks it onto the tripod. She takes the spade grips and points it down into the water, ready. It circles around the raft, shunting them around for a brief minute before turning back around and again moving back towards the Land Rover. The engine noise probably got its attention. It probably thinks the engine is an animal moving through the water. The water foams as it starts rising up out of the water, the sail becoming a massive fan of spines on its back.

It rams straight into the Land Rover. Everyone holds on as it starts pushing the Land Rover to the right, tilting it aside. You see a few C-Ration cans dump out of the bed along with some power packs from the impact. No one is concerned except for holding on.

Harrell screams, quickly firing his pistol into the water at the beast. “Kill it! Kill it!” he shouts. Horner and Bakker quickly fire their plasma cannons into the water at the beast.

“No!” you scream. “Sto-“

The beast breaks the water surface with a mighty roar, flipping the Land Rover. The sound of plasma fire is suddenly replaced by water rushing into your ears. You can’t see anything. Everything is a blur of murky mudwater. You’re sinking. Shit, you’re sinking.

> Drop weight, anything to get floating.
> Reach out for something, anything.
> Swim sideways, try and reach the ground first.
> Other

>>2988636
>> Drop weight, anything to get floating.

>>2988636
>> Drop weight, anything to get floating.

>>2988636
>Drop weight, anything to get floating.

>>2988636
>> Drop weight, anything to get floating.
How far are we from either shore?

> Drop weight, anything to get floating.

You shut your eyes, trying not to swallow water as you start undoing every bit of armor on your body. First your chestplate, then your shoulder pads, then your your satchel as well. Gotta see if you can save your carbine too. You try to sling around yourself as you try to push yourself up. Come on, swim up. Some water shoots up your nose as you try to breathe. No, damn it! You breathe out through your nose, expelling water and air as you swim up. Get up, get up!

You break the surface. You cough and gag up water as you try to float. You’ve lost most of your armor and all your spare ammo and grenades and whatever C-Rations you were carrying, but at least you have your carbine and machete. You look around and see Bakker and Horner floating and bobbing up on the water too. Nielson as well. Harrell grabs Nielson’s hand, helping him to float. Tombs, where’s Tombs!? “Tombs!” you scream. “Tierney-“

A roar silences you as you realize just what attacked your Land Rover. It’s not big enough to breach the surface entirely, but the fact that you can see the head, the body, it’s massive back-sail, and its tail just coming up over the waterline tells you everything about it’s size. With a long crocodilian head and razor sharp teeth, it bites down on the Land Rover’s tire, making air squeal as it expels out from the rubber. The beast keeps biting down on the tire, holding the Land Rover in place with its arms.

> SPINOSAURUS
> A massive apex predator native to the swamps of Acheron. Spinosaurus is a relatively solitary creature, generally keeping to itself. The massive sail on its back is part of the creature’s spine, and its purpose includes thermoregulation, display, and camouflage when submerged against the swampy undergrowth.

“T-… Tierney!” you scream. Tierney bursts out of the water, coughing. Oh thank God! You hold out your hand. “Gimme your hand!” She blinks water out of her eyes, struggling to swim over to you. She too has shed her armor in favor of trying to float. Where’s Tombs!? Morrison!? Goddamn it!

Burke and company bring the raft around. “Get on! Get on!” She pulls the raft around while everyone else keeps their barrels pointed at the Spinosaurus. Harrell and Nielson quickly swim their way over.

You can't be more than halfway across. But... come on!

> Get to the raft.
> No, that’s way too many people on one raft. You’ll swim for it.
> Tombs and Morrison haven’t surface. Go down for them.
> Other

>>2989059
>> Tombs and Morrison haven’t surface. Go down for them.
>Ask if they've got any spare grenades to hand over to you.

Tombs is useful, and Morrisons felinid wife is too hilarious to let him die. The hope is if they have grenades we can use it against the creature as suggested earlier by another poster.

>>2989059
>> Tombs and Morrison haven’t surface. Go down for them.
>Ask if they've got any spare grenades to hand over to you.

The machete isn't too good for stabbing, I assume we have a knife on us?

>>2989106
>>2989106
Yep, you also got a combat knife.

>>2989059
>Tombs and Morrison haven’t surface. Go down for them.

>>2989106
Supporting
Let's kill a killer krok boys

>>2989127
Alright, lets see if we can grab a nade and lets go gator hunting

>>2989059
>Tombs and Morrison haven’t surface. Go down for them.

> Tombs and Morrison haven’t surface. Go down for them.

“Go! Go!” You wave Tierney out to the raft. She pants, trying to hold onto you. “No! Go! To the raft!” You make her let go of you, then dive down. You can barely see anything in this mire. Thank goodness they have swim class in school. You kick yourself down and find all your supplies uselessly sinking into the water. You see the silhouettes of Morrison and Tombs down on the bottom. Tombs tries desperately to cut Morrison free of his armor that’s weighing him down. You keep swimming down to them and grab Morrison’s shoulders. Tombs grabs Morrison’s hands. Alright, come on, surface. Surface!

The two of you breach the water, coughing and panting and gasping for breath. “Hold onto me!” shouts Tombs. He wraps Morrison’s arms around his neck.

“Oh my God, Tombs! I’m making you my kid’s godfather!” Morrison shouts. Morrison is too wounded to swim by himself. “Thank you, so much! Oh God!”

“Over here!” Burke shouts out to you guys as they bring Bakker and Horner onto the raft, sans Plasma cannons and their rigs for carrying them.

“Stoakes! Waste that thing!” Harrell shouts. Stoakes readies the Tri-Gun and fires. A flurry of plasma starts pelting the Spinosaurus, shredding its sail with little holes and burning its thick hide with hot plasma. The Spinosaurus lets go of the Land Rover, letting it sink to the bottom as it turns around. Goddamn it! No! The Spinosaurus dives once more into the water.

“Tombs! Grenade!” you shout. He tosses one to you. You grab the pin with your teeth and pull. The spoon flies free. You toss it at the Spinosaurus. It sinks through the water and explodes, sending up a wave that forces the raft away. Bubbles rise and foam all around you as the Spinosaurus apparently ducks away.

“Swim!” shrieks Tierney as she holds onto the raft. “Swim for it!” You and Tombs start swimming. You’re the last few men in the water. Harrell and Stoakes keep peppering the water. Graves and Nielson join into with their rifles, firing away.

>>2989511
[2/2]

You see another wake forming. It’s the Spinosaurus again! It’s coming back for the raft! “Godwin! Flames! Do it!” Godwin pushes past Harrell and puts the nozzle down. He fires a jet of flame into the water, sending steam and fire up into the swamp. The Spinosaurus surfaces again, roaring as everyone tries to put it down with plasma fire. It spins around and swipes the raft, sending it near capsizing away. Shit!

The Spinosaurus dives once more, disappearing out of sight. The group continues pelting the water with plasma. Tierney holds onto the edge of the raft, as there’s no more room to spare. “Come on!” she screams to you. “Before it comes back!” Tombs paddles over to the raft, finding inhuman speed to do so even with Morrison on his back. You trail behind. Tierney grabs Tombs’ hand, then helps Morrison onto the raft. You notice it dipping ever so slightly into the water. Too many people are getting on. Damn it!

“It’s coming back!” screams Godwin. You manage to make it to the raft.

“Grenades!” you shout. “Use your grenades!” Bakker and Horner start throwing grenades into the water. They explode and burst water up into the air. The Spinosaurus surfaces again, its skin burnt and bruised from the explosions. The Raft gets thrown back, almost whacking you before you grab onto Tierney’s hand. It roars, nearly deafening you all. Stoakes fires plasma shots into its mouth, stopping it and making it recoil and keep its hands up in defense.

One shot finds its eye, making it scream and splash the water. Nielson falls ass first into the water, almost flipping over before grabbing the raft and keeping himself up.

“This thing won’t die!” screams Harrell.

> “Paddle for your lives! We gotta get outta here!”
> “Use everything we’ve got! Grenades, guns, everything!”
> Other

>>2989517
>“Paddle for your lives! We gotta get outta here!”

>>2989517
> “Paddle for your lives! We gotta get outta here!”
>Use weapons if it gets close/tries to go after us.

Killing it would be great, being able to salvage our sunken supplies. But we've got to get to safety first, fight it on our terms not in the water.

>>2989517
>> “Use everything we’ve got! Grenades, guns, everything!”
We'll fucking jump on the thing if we have to

Sink our knife into it's belly

>>2989582
>>2989517
Forgot to add
>Grab Nielson and pull him up.

Don't want our mechanic falling into the water again in the panic.

>>2989517
>Paddle for your lives! We gotta get outta here
gtfo

>>2989517
> “Use everything we’ve got! Grenades, guns, everything!”
I don’t think we can outrun this thing.

>>2989069
The other person also suggested shooting the dam things from land.

> “Use everything we’ve got! Grenades, guns, everything!”
Anyone feeling like we can pull a Beowulf?

>>2989517
>> “Use everything we’ve got! Grenades, guns, everything!”

>>2989517
>“Use everything we’ve got! Grenades, guns, everything!”
>Grab Nielson and pull him up

> “Use everything we’ve got! Grenades, guns, everything!”

“Nielson!” You grab his collar and pull him onto the raft.

He grins, happily shaking in joy. “Th- thanks, buddy! I owe ya!”

“Use everything we’ve got!” you say. “Grenades, guns, everything!” Stoakes continues the fire from her Tri-gun, spraying the head of the Spinosaurus with caustic burning plasma while everyone else aims for the sail and for the body. The Spinosaurus raises its hands up to cover it’s remaining eye, crying out in pain as it starts to rear up, revealing it’s true height to you all.

“The belly, hit the belly!” screams Burke. The softer colored belly exposes itself to you. You all fire on it, burning a few holes in it from the sheer amount of firepower you’re putting down on it. The Spinosaurus screams again, stepping back before suddenly whipping around and smashing its tail into the raft. Everyone goes flying into the water again. You’re only smacked by a piece of log. It dives into the water again, the wake shooting away from you all. That doesn’t comfort you one bit.

You grab onto a floating log, coughing up more water. Tierney grabs onto the same log, as does Godwin, who’s struggling to keep afloat with his flamethrower tank on his back. Everyone treads water, gasping for breath. The only thing left now is your lives and whatever weapons you’re carrying. “Swim!” screams Lieutenant Harrell. “Swim for the shore!” Everyone starts paddling and swimming for the nearest bank. The three of you get swimming too, with Tierney panting hard and heavy as she tries to push herself.

“Calm down,” you say. “Don’t tire yourself out, you’re not out of the water yet!” Tierney grits her teeth, whimpering as she holds onto the log for support. Godwin pats her back, trying to comfort her.

Harrell makes it to the other bank first, crawling up onto the muddy ground, soaking wet. Burke, Nielson, and Graves make it next. Tombs comes next, carrying an unconscious and passed out Morrison on his back. Stoakes rolls over onto her back, panting heavily and almost throwing up. Horner and Bakker walk out, completely devoid of their equipment save for their BDUs, their knives, and their pistols. Joffrey is next, kneeling down on the ground, sputtering and coughing water onto the ground.

Finally, you, Tierney, and Godwin make it. Godwin collapses onto his side, groaning in exhaustion. Everyone is soaking wet, almost all of your supplies are gone, and there’s still an angry Spinosaurus running around and about with only one eye. Tierney holds onto a nearby tree, and then immediately proceeds to vomit onto the ground. The sight of his immediately prompts Stoakes to vomit too into the water.

Well. You made it.

[1/2]

>>2990100
>>2990100
[2/2]

Lieutenant Harrell blinks, shivering wet and hugging himself. “O-… Okay. Um. Let’s-“ Burke stands up and grabs her DMR before advancing up to him. You quickly interpose yourself between her and him. She walks around you then goes to take her camo poncho off and dry herself down. “We made it. That’s wh- what matters.” He stands up, then points to an exhausted Nielson. “Nielson. Uh. Prep this area. I say we set up camp for the day and move out tomorrow.”

“You want to set up camp now!?” screams Graves. “We didn’t even kill it! That frakking thing could still be out there!”

“Only reason it’s gone is because we put up a fight!” Nielson shouts. “But if it could see us now…”

“And we don’t even have anything that can put a hole in it now!” says Godwin. “My frakking flamethrower only pissed it off! Only the Tri-gun, that DAB, and maybe that AMP we had in the back of the Land Rover could, but all of them are at the bottom of the swamp! Lieutenant, we-”

“I- I know, but we’re all tired and soaking wet! We just got our asses kicked by a Lizard the size of a building that didn’t even have any frakking guns on it! Now I’m a goddamn Lieutenant here! If I wanted people to protest my decisions, I’d have gone into office work!” Lieutenant Harrell shouts. “Now I’m in command here! And I say, we set up camp. –NOW!-“ The entire group is quiet, only the sounds of their heavy breathing being any kind of protest. He looks at everyone in an absolute fury. “Goddamn it! We’re better than this! Can’t I ask that one of you frakking kills it when I order you to kill it!?”

> “You want it dead. I’ll make it dead by tonight.”
> “Sir. Calm down. We’re lucky to be alive.”
> “Sir, you’re out of line. We did our best.”
> Other

>>2990106
>> Other
Punch him in the fucking face. Then tell him he's relieved of command.

>>2990106
>> “You want it dead. I’ll make it dead by tonight.”
But we're not making camp. We don't have the supplies to make it through the night. You need to make it to the camp, while I make sure that thing doesn't follow you

This basically puts us in command and makes us look like the good guy

>>2990116
kinda like this though, I don't think the LT deserves it tho

>>2990106
>"Sir, I suggest you get some rest. We'll take care of it."
>Check our inventory, what do we have left. Ammo, medicine, ect.
>Talk with our crew, see if they have any additional information on that creature.

Take stock and figure out where we can go from here. Punching the officer is pointless, more likely to alienate the new additions. We also need more info on the creature, how it sees movement, ect. Then we can work on a trap. Hoping that Graves and Burke will be able to provide some more information and sort out the others.

>>2990106
>“You want it dead. I’ll make it dead by tonight.”

>>2990160
Combination of this plus
>"You want it dead. I'll make it dead by tonight."

>>2990116
Do this.
Sick of this dumb shit, cuz players are too cucked to stand up and risk dealing with him afterwards. We're lucky qm wasn't too harsh and killed any of our guys.

>>2990160
>Seconding

Let's see what's left to camp with, sans reckless promises about this 'saur. State everyone's in, no one's going to steal that march on us except maybe Burke.

>>2990254
It was too soon. It's becoming less soon.

>>2990151
It's not a matter of 'deserving' it's a matter of his bad decision-making cost us the Land Rover, a lot of gear, and nearly got a lot of us killed. It's a miracle nobody died.

>>2990344
And punching him in the face and declaring ourselves King of the Hill doesn't solve that.

There's more than one way to subvert him. Showing ourselves as competent and someone that the group can look to for guidance is better since it doesn't risk open conflict within our group.

>>2990344
I agree absolutely man but >>2990392 has a good point

Now may not be the place for an usurp of power. Wait till we get to the hill

> “You want it dead. I’ll make it dead by tonight.”
> Other

“You want it dead?” you ask. “I’ll make it dead by tonight.” Lieutenant Harrell stares at you, completely dumbstruck. “Look. Sure, we didn’t kill it. But we were sure as hell making it bleed. And if it bleeds, we can kill it.” Everyone looks at you, you’ve garnered their attention now. “Best thing we can do right now is take stock too. Whatever we have left. What didn’t go over into the water. And make sure we dry ourselves out too. We’ll catch a cold or something.” You sling your carbine, taking a deep breath.

Graves glances at everyone, then at a dumbfounded Lieutenant Harrell. “Alright. Everyone check yourselves for any leeches or parasites I guess. If you’re wounded, let us know. Let me take stock.” Burke looks at you, a neutral expression on her face. Godwin and Stoakes push themselves up, grumbling as Joffrey checks himself as well.

Horner wrings her jacket sleeve of water. “Goddamn, I am so wet right now.”

“Don’t tease me,” Bakker says, winking at her. Horner gently kicks him in response, snickering.

…

…

Graves and Tierney did the inventory check. It did not look good.

- You had two carbines to go around now. One for yourself, the other for Tombs. Both fully loaded.
- Two rifles, one for Nielson, another for Graves. Both fully loaded.
- One frag grenade.
- Two C-Rations.
- Pistols for everyone with full charge.
- Nearly all the medical supplies went into the swamp. Tombs had to dump what he was carrying to get Morrison out. And what Graves carried wasn’t a whole lot. Three jars of medigel, two shots of InstAid, three tourniquets, and a gauze roll, a shot of Pain-Stop, and a shot of Adren-O-Line. And that’s it. She too had to dump stuff in order to get floating.
- Burke had managed to save her DMR.
- Godwin’s Flamethrower still functions as well. Enough for three minutes of use.
- Joffrey managed to save two of his bricks of plastic explosives, along with the equipment to arm them.
- And finally, there were only three spare powerpacks.

>>2990577
>>2990577
[2/2]

…

“That’s not great,” you mutter.

Graves sighs. “Well excuse me. The last time I sucked Santa Claus’ dick, all I got was some coal in my stocking and a stern talking to from the principal. I can’t fucking magic more equipment out of the blue.” While everyone takes a ten minute breather, you and Graves discuss the situation in private. Tombs keeps Morrison in check, making sure to sanitize his open wounds if there were any. Lieutenant Harrell sits down on a log, face in his hands while Joffrey stands guard over him. “Listen. We’re so close to the Hill. If we hoof it now, we could make it there by nightfall.”

“I’m not so sure.” Burke steps up, holding her DMR.

“Well, excuse me!” Graves holds her hands up mockingly, glaring at Burke. “I actually like believing in our chances sometimes. It helps me think we might actually have a chance out here.”

Burke nudges you. “That Spinosaurus is still out there. It has our scent. We’re in it’s territory. If we stick around, we’re not going to last another fight. Someone could die. And if we leave and don't kill it, we might turn this entire Swamp into it's perceived territory. It'll keep hunting us until we prove we're too hardcore to be eaten or its dead.” Right. She turns to Graves. “If I were you, I would not try to walk around these swamps at night. I hate to say it, but the Lieutenant might have a point. We’ve been in this territory for too long to not have gone unnoticed. Whatever owns the Swamp is going to want us out fairly quickly. We can’t waste time.”

“What do you propose then?” you ask.

She pauses for a few seconds, thinking. Graves nudges Burke. “He asked you a question, Pocahontas.” Burke glares at her. “Just saying.”

Burke sighs. “We may have to fortify a good place for the night. And settle down until we can move in the morning when it’s safer.”

> “You can do that. I’m hunting a Spinosaurus.”
> “Well, let’s get cracking then. We’ll go find a nice defensible spot.”
> “Forget that. If we stay in one place, we’re not going to make it. They have to move now.”
> Other

>>2990584
>“You can do that. I’m hunting a Spinosaurus.”

>>2990584
>> “Forget that. If we stay in one place, we’re not going to make it. They have to move now.”
We dont have ammo or food. God forbid if something attacks us in the night. `This is a rock and a hard place situation, but we need to get the fuck away from this lake.

> “You can do that. I’m hunting a Spinosaurus.”
If there's been one thing I'm good at, it's been hunting down some big fuckers. Hopefully I can get it to hunt me while you guys head to the hill. You'll need to haul ass, because if we're caught in the middle of no where in the dark, we're fucked

>>2990584
>> “You can do that. I’m hunting a Spinosaurus.”
>> “Well, let’s get cracking then. We’ll go find a nice defensible spot.”
Mix of these two. It's likely not going to leave us alone. We need to set a trap, possibly one with explosives. Any chance we can make some improv ones out of our spare ammo?

Also did some googling of the spinosaurus and they're pretty scary. Huge, able to travel on land and in water. On the bright side it's blind in one eye and we've wounded it.

>>2990584
>>2990695
We pretty much have to kill it now that we've lost the rover, luckily we still have those explosives.

File: 1388389654279.gif (643 KB, 547x691)

643 KB GIF

>>2990695
> Someone is doing lite research on dinosaurs because of me.

>>2990695
Supporting

>>2990695
I'll support the guy.

> “You can do that. I’m hunting a Spinosaurus.”
> “Well, let’s get cracking then. We’ll go find a nice defensible spot.”

“We find a place to fortify, then we get cracking on hunting that Spino. Best thing we can probably do at this point is try and trap it with what explosives we have left. And maybe improve some out of our spare powerpacks.”

“You want to use our last remaining ammo to kill a giant Lizard?” asks Graves firmly. You nod. If at all possible anyway. Graves sighs, rubbing her nose in frustration. “See, I would’ve never thought of that. This is why I leave the hunting and the mass murder to you. You somehow make it work.” She looks at Burke. “I’ll get everyone sorted and ready to move.”

“What about Lieutenant Harrell?” asks Burke, curious.

Graves folds her arms. “Right now, we have a wounded man, everyone is soaking wet in dirty water, a few people have even ingested some of it, and if night comes and it’s cold, we’re going to be freezing our asses off. I think in this situation, a medic outranks the Officer.” She nudges Burke, then points to him. “So little Squaw, have fun hunting the beast with Mister Derring-do over here.” She walks on over to the group.

Burke glares at Graves, then turns to you. “I really frakking hate her. Have I mentioned that?” You shrug. Seemed obvious. “Anyway, you’re not hunting that Spino alone. I’ll help you out. First thing’s first, we gotta track it and see where it went. We can’t just lay a trap in one spot, we only have enough explosives for maybe one trap. If we can lure it where we want it.” She slams her fist into her palm, nodding. “Bingo.”

“Understood,” you say. “But first, let’s find a place nearby for these people to rest then we can get moving.” She nods, understanding.

“Wait.” She reaches into her satchel then pulls out a spare camo poncho. She hands it off to you. “Managed to save this and the other one too. You’ll need it. Helps you blend in.” You take it, then nod to her. It’s wet. But, you won’t refuse even the slightest edge up on the Lizards. “And hey, look at this way. We got a free shower.”

“A free shower in some animal’s shit.”

She snorts. “Means we no longer smell like meals then.” She gets moving first, grabbing her DMR and readying it.

Hmph. You take a whiff of yourself and recoil. You’d rather smell like a meal right about now.

That's it for this weekend. I'll try to be up this coming weekend too but if something comes up, I shall post it in either here or the /qtg/. Hope you're enjoying yourselves and thanks for playing this weekend. See you there.

Go ahead and discuss best dinosaurs or best soldiers or best laid plans or whatever.

>>2991092
Alright, one of us has to be bait
Can't think of another way to do it
Also, what's up with the thing in the sky?

>>2990712
Does anyone have that thread about /k/ hunting dinosaurs?

>>2991111
Its a bird.

And we can use the group at bait.

Thanks for the thread! awesome as usual, and the inner conflict of dethroning an authority you've been taught to trust vs having confidence in your own skills and leadership is a hard one.

One thing I've been thinking about, since the commander declared that every-man-for-hisself thing, we could say that the lieutenant is only as worthy of command as his leadership skills have proven (shit), we should assume command.

>>2991915
Im pretty pissed I missed this thread, I really fucking wanted to punch the LT.
Fucking ruined everything we were working for and lost 14 men while we saved everyone we fuckin' met, what an asswipe.

>>2992400
Let's not compare him and us too closely. We've had nowhere to go but up and been lucky on rolls against things that probably would have eaten us on any other roll.

That said, command's about one notch-counting contest from being ours. There's an order to these things.

Update when?

>>2999465
>>2999465
Tonight. Then I sleep and start updates when I get home.

The sun was starting to set by the time you found a little bit of shelter in the swamp. It was like those ruins you found back in the woods about a day or two ago, except much more elaborate. These stone bricks were covered in moss and grime, but were sturdy and solidly built. Given the piles of bricks next to the water this set of ruins is next to, this must’ve been part of a much larger building before disuse and high maintenance eventually caused the rest of the building to collapse, leaving only this three-walled room that was about six meters wide and six meters across, with the south wall being broken down to the point where it was just wasn’t a wall. “Ruins, ruins, ruins.” Godwin mutters to himself as he takes his jacket off, looking around at it all. “I didn’t think Lizards were smart enough to even build brick walls anyway.”

“They’re smart enough to build railguns, I think brick must come with the territory,” Burke responds as she takes her jacket off as well. Everyone began settling into the cozy little abode. In the northwest corner, Joffrey and Nielson took stock of what was left while Graves and Tombs tended to Morrison in the northeast corner. Horner and Bakker take watch at the southern wall, peering out to make sure nothing was approaching from that end.

Tierney meanwhile sits herself down at a wall, hugging her legs. Stoakes approaches her, kneeling down beside her. “You cold, honey?” Tierney looks at her, then nods a little. Stoakes unzips her own jacket then starts beating and flapping the swamp water out of it before resting it around Tierney’s shoulders. Tierney looks up at her, surprised and a little confused. Stoakes pulls the scarf off of her face so it rests around her neck, revealing a dirty freckled face beneath those goggles. She smiles at Tierney. “Chin up. Maybe if we’re lucky, there’ll be a nice bath at Hill 47. We can indulge ourselves a little.” She gently slaps Tierney’s arm with her hand.

“Y-… Yeah.” Tierney smiles back at Stoakes, clutching at her jacket. “Um, thank you.” Stoakes nods, sitting down next to her.

You walk up to Burke and Joffrey while Nielson looks over the remaining power packs to make sure they’re not too damp. Joffrey looks at you, folding his arms. “Burke filled me in. Apparently you’re actually serious about hunting that thing?”

“It’s not going to leave us alone unless we leave its territory,” you remark. “These walls are only going to keep out the breeze at best.” You look past Joffrey and see Lieutenant Harrell pacing around the north wall, muttering quietly to himself indistinctly. “Look, we’ll probably need your explosives too.”

[1/2]

>>3000264
[2/2]

“My bricks?” he asks. “You’re not thinking of just running up to that thing and sticking them onto its leg are you?” That was not an idea until he just suggested it. He folds his arms, a very grim look of skepticism creasing his face. “Look. I was skeptical enough of the idea of making camp for the night out here. But we barely have anything left that can take that thing down.”

“If we’re smart, we can do it,” Burke replies. “We’re both hunters, we’ve hunted things that’ve hunted humans before back home. A Spinosaurus won’t be too difficult. And it obviously won’t be hard to miss. A giant apex predator like that means it’s probably the only one for kloms. We kill it, we probably make this Swamp a little safer to traverse.” Solid reasoning.

“Yeah but…” Joffrey rubs his chin, sighing.

“Hey, Daddy!” Graves calls to you. You nod to Burke and Joffrey, then run on over. Graves kneels down next to Morrison while Tombs places the third camo poncho over him. His satchel provides a pillow for Morrison to rest his head on. The first thing you notice is that Morrison’s eyes are shut, and he seems quite limp. Graves glances down for a second, before saying, “Look. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Morrison’s developing a fever. Tombs and I have played the guessing game and we’re hoping it’s just a fever.”

“And if it’s not?” you ask.

“It’s an infection,” Graves says. Oh. Shit. “Probably from when Morrison got dunked in the swamp water. It’s not exactly what I would call clean, you know.”

“Do we have-“

“No. We do not have the frakking meds,” she says. “InstAid can slow it down but we’re not sure if he’ll build an immunity in that time. Medigel is useless for infections. Pain-stop is only going to make it –painless- when he starts developing advanced symptoms. And Adren-O-Line is also functionally useless. We don’t have anything.” She shakes her head, grumbling as she stands back up to look you in the eye.

What she says next makes your heart sink right to the floor. She says, “Morrison’s probably going to die in a few days if we don’t find him any anti-tox or advanced meds.”

>>3000268
[3/3]

Shit. Shit! You rub your face, sighing deeply. No, goddamn it. Dying in a fight is one thing. But infection? Goddamn it! If your equipment hadn’t gone under the water, you might’ve been able to prevent this! Frakking hell! Graves folds her arms. “Judging by the look on your face, you’re pissed. I’m pissed too. Even Tombs is pissed.” She looks back at Tombs. “Right, Tombs?” Tombs glares at the two of you before going back to look at Morrison. “He’s pissed.”

Burke nudges you, glaring at you. “Hey, people die all the time. We need to focus on the now.”

“-Excuse me!?-“ Graves steps past you, immediately shoving Burke. Burke reaches for her machete, but you quickly step between the two of them. “’People die all the time’!? We have a perfectly preventable death on our hands and you’re just-“

“Calm down, calm down!” you yell. Tombs quickly grabs Graves by the arms, pulling her back while Godwin and Nielson grab Burke by the arms too. The two of them are at each other’s throats. Meanwhile Lieutenant Harrell still continues to pace around, apparently inattentive to what’s going on.

> “Look. Give me some time to think. This is a lot to take in and we’re stressed.”
> “Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”
> “If we can move Morrison, maybe we can start moving him tonight. And hope that a medic or Cope has supplies we can use at Hill 47.”
> Other

I'll be leaving this up overnight as usual. I'll return to continue the updates once I get home from work tomorrow so go ahead and leave your votes, make your plans, and argue about who's the best girl. Hint, it's the T-Rex.

>>3000274
>“Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”

>>3000274
>> “Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”

>>3000274
> “Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”
We can't travel with sick safely with something hunting us

I want to DAB on the T-Rex

>>3000274
>> “Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”

>>3000274
>Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”

>>3000274
>“Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”
After we kill the Spino would searching for our lost supplies be an option? They'll be waterlogged as fuck but we still may save something.

>>3000274
>> “Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”
If I could find some way to distract it so you guys can go to the hill I would, but I don't think this thing works that way

Writing update now, stand by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE

> “Our first priority is safety. That Spino needs to go.”

“Our first priority is safety. We can’t just leave, that Spinosaurus is going to track us down. It needs to go before we can even think of moving out,” you say firmly. Burke is not wrong, people do die sometimes but by God you wish she had a little more tact. “We’re already coming up with a plan to beat that Spinosaurus. Just give us the night. And please make sure that Morrison makes it through. Okay?” You look at Graves, pleading with your eyes. Come on, just stand on for like five minutes. Tombs pats her shoulder, gently pulling her back and away from Burke.

Graves gives Burke an incredibly vicious staredown, then sighs deeply, relenting. Great. Then she looks at Burke again. Then she looks at you. “Fine. Tombs and I will do what we can. We’ll use up the last of our InstAid if we have to. But we cannot guarantee that he will make it if we stay here any longer. He needs shelter.” She steps up to you, looking at you dead in the eye. “He needs water.” She jabs your chest. “He needs medicine,” she hisses with suppressed fury. “We do not have –any- of that.” She turns around and storms off back to a sleeping Morrison.

Tombs nods to Burke. “Sorry,” he says simply before joining Graves.

Godwin blinks, folding his arms. “Christ. Graves has got a mouth on her.” Nielson nudges Godwin, shutting up him up.

Joffrey sighs, walking up to you two. The two of you look at Harrell. “Lieutenant,” Joffrey calls. Lieutenant Harrell stops his pacing, looking at you both. “Our guy here wants to take down that Spinosaurus.” Oh God. He’s done it now.

“You want to what?” he asks. Lieutenant Harrell steps up to you, confused. “Didn’t you see what happened to us?”

Burke clears her throat. “Lieutenant, weren’t you the one who ordered us to open fire on it?”

“Ah, ah, that doesn’t matter,” says Lieutenant Harrell. Goddamn it, Joffrey. “We don’t have the resources for that. We can’t just-“ Burke shoves Harrell back. “What the-“ Harrell stares at Burke, as if she had just assaulted him personally. Technically she did, but in a more hurtful manner of speaking. “Private, you did not just do that or I swear to God I will-“

Burke holds up a hand, shushing him. She turns around to everyone. “Who here has a frakking problem with us hunting that Spinosaurus!?” Silence, dead silence. Not even Joffrey speaks up. Godwin, Stoakes, Horner, and Bakker all remain quiet, glancing around nervously. She turns back to Harrell. “This is happening. With or without you.” Lieutenant Harrell shakes with barely suppressed rage. He glances at you. Okay, that was sudden. You remain silent. Best not to add anything to that right now.

>>3001732
>>3001732
[2/2]

He points to Burke. “This is not over, Private.” Lieutenant Harrell steps back until his back is to the wall, then he sits down.

“Alright.” Godwin, Nielson, Burke, and Joffrey gather around you, attentive. “That Spinosaurus is still out there. What’s your plan, boo?”

“Well, we need to locate it first, don’t we?” asks Godwin.

“Not a problem,” says Burke. “Apex predator that size, it won’t be too hard to miss if we’re looking in the right spots. And if it travels by land, it’ll probably be leaving a blood trail from the wounds we gave it. Not to the mention the tracks obviously. The big question is how do we even get it into position?”

> “It’s best if we go looking for it first. It’s probably licking its wounds right now.”
> “If we draw it here, we can trap it with something, then take it down to our heart’s content.”
> “Maybe we can bait it out with an easy meal. Hunt down one of those big leaf eaters and leave it in the open for it to eat.”
> Other

>>3001734
>> “It’s best if we go looking for it first. It’s probably licking its wounds right now.”
nothing like slinking through the jungle, like my forefathers did

>>3001734
> “It’s best if we go looking for it first. It’s probably licking its wounds right now.”

>>3001734
>> “It’s best if we go looking for it first. It’s probably licking its wounds right now.”
>That and if we kill it we could recover our lost supplies.

>>3001734
>“It’s best if we go looking for it first. It’s probably licking its wounds right now.”

> “It’s best if we go looking for it first. It’s probably licking its wounds right now.”

“If we look for it now, we might catch it licking its wounds off guard. Then we can figure out a way to deal with it, hopefully on the spot.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s-…” Godwin looks around nervously at everyone. “I can agree with that. Best offense is a good defense. Or the other way around. But how are we going to take it down? All we have at best are a couple of bricks of explosives and some peashooters.” That’s a good question, but you’re hoping to cross that bridge when you get to it. Right now, just locating the Spinosaurus would be a good achievement.

Joffrey sighs. “Well, we can probably rig something up. A trap or something.”

“Maybe collapse a tree on top of it?” asks Nielson. “I mean, we got explosives for that. Plus, I don’t imagine even something that size can handle an entire tree falling down on it.” That’s true.

Burke says, “A well-placed shot to the belly might work just as well, or another shot through the eye. If we can take it down with minimal use of equipment, that’d be excellent. Seeing as how we’re quite lacking in that department.” She looks over at you, resting her hands on her slung DMR. “Last we saw, it was still in those swamp waters. We might still catch it if we hurry.”

“What about the camp?” asks Godwin.

Horner yells out, “We’ll hold down the fort! Just get going ya scamps!”

“Yeah! Have fun storming the Spinosaurus nest!” Bakker shouts out in return too. Yeah…

“We better go now then.” Burke nods to you.

“Hold on.” Godwin steps up, holding up his heavy V-CAW. “I’ll come with you guys. Nothing a bit of flame can’t help.”

“I better go too,” says Joffrey. “The explosives might help.” Tierney perks up a little, glancing up at you. You look over at her, then at Joffrey and Godwin. They’re definitely eager, and they’re healthy. But the more people you add, the more complexity in the plan there is. And they aren’t scouts like you and Burke. They’re not going to be as adept in stealth as the two of you are. And the bigger group you go with, the more attention you might grab from any nocturnal predators.

> “I’ll go alone. But thanks for the offer.”
> “I’m taking Burke. The rest of you stay here.”
> Take someone (Godwin, Joffrey, Tierney, Burke are volunteering)
> Other

>>3001876
>Take someone
Burke and Joffrey

>>3001888
sure

we can say that the other two need to help hold the fort down

>>3001876
>>Take someone
>Burke and Joffrey
Let's go blow up a spinosaurus.

> Burke and Joffrey

“Joffrey and Burke are enough,” you state. Tierney disappointedly hangs her head low, going back to sitting against the wall. “Sorry, Godwin. But a flamethrower isn’t exactly what we need right now. Plus I’d rather we not smoke ourselves out accidentally.”

“Eh. Fair.” Godwin shrugs, smirking. “We’ll hold down the fort here then. Anything gets close, I’ll give them a whiff of fire. Might even get a firing going to get us dry.”

“Nothing too big,” says Burke. “Just enough for a little heat.” Godwin nods, agreeing. “Alright then, we’re set?”

“We’re set.” You grab your carbine and ready it. “Graves!” She turns to you, making sure to tuck Morrison in beneath the camo poncho. “We’re going hunting! We’ll be back soon!”

“Try not to die.” Excellent advice. You nudge Burke, and she readies herself. Joffrey readies his pistol and grabs his explosives and places them in his bag. With that, the three of you get ready to march. Nielson and Godwin start piling on some driftwood to start a reasonably small fire while Tierney and Stoakes sit together by the wall. Hopefully by the time you get back, nothing will have happened. Maybe you can even get a good night’s rest for once.

…

…

Thunder claps in the distance. Rain’s coming again. Must be the rainy season here on Acheron unfortunately. Hopefully by the time you get back, Nielson and company will have built something resembling a shelter. You, Burke, and Joffrey slowly stalk through the swamp, your boots quietly sloshing in the slowly rising water as you search for the Spinosaurus. Burke takes point, carefully scanning the ground for tracks while you and Joffrey stay behind her.

Joffrey nudges you, his pistol in hand as he glances around. He whispers to you. “Hey.”

“Yeah?” You keep your voice down too.

“What exactly is the deal with you guys?” he asks. “How come you’re in charge?”

“Well. Nobody argued,” you say. You shrug. “Just sorta happened.” You look at him. “Why do you ask?”

He presses his lips together, trying to find the right words for it. “Look. Can I just say something before we do this thing?” He grabs your arm and gently turns you towards him. “I know Lieutenant Harrell is getting on our nerves. It’s stressful. But he got us this far.” He places his free hand on his empty toolbelt, stern. “I don’t appreciate you and Burke here stampeding all over him. There’s a chain of command. Hell, I should be the one giving orders here if he’s not.”

“Then why don’t you?” asks Burke. She turns around, stopping you two. “Are you two just gonna be little drama queens about this shit are we going to hunt a frakking Lizard?”

“I’m just saying,” says Joffrey. “There’s a chain of command. He should be in charge. We should be helping him, not hindering him.”

> “I respect his position, but I don’t respect his decisions.”
> “Let’s not talk about this now. We got work to do.”
> “We’re fighting for our survival here. Chain of command does not matter anymore.”
> Other

>>Take someone
>Burke and Joffrey

I'm fucking done with LT's shit. We gave him a
chance to be a logical and realistic officer, and he betrayed that trust. I suggest we relive him of command at the next opportunity. I do find it a little odd that we are behaving how the officer should be tho.

>>3002083
>“Let’s not talk about this now. We got work to do.”

>>3002083
>> “Let’s not talk about this now. We got work to do.”

>>3002083
> “We’re fighting for our survival here. Chain of command does not matter anymore.”
We can re-establish chain of command when we're not falling all over each other trying to survive.

>>3002083
> “Let’s not talk about this now. We got work to do.”
Point noted though, tell him to bring it up when we get back to camp (if he has the balls to after watching us dumpster the dino)

>>3002083
> “Let’s not talk about this now. We got work to do.”

> “Let’s not talk about this now. We got work to do.”

“Joffrey, I appreciate your opinion. But this is something we gotta discuss back at camp.” He does not seem to appreciate that response, but he definitely does not want to voice it. “We gotta find that Spinosaurus first and take it down, then we can talk shop about who’s in charge. Alright?”

Joffrey looks over at Burke. Burke tilts her head, clearly not amused by the distraction. “Alright.” He motions you all forward. “Lead the way then.” Burke waves you all to follow her. Truth be told, part of you is really nervous. You really don’t want the responsibility of being in charge. But it seems everyone is willing to push the job onto you because you’re halfway decent at your job and you’re not outwardly panicking at everything.

Even worse, Morrison’s injuries are technically your fault. Maybe if you had gone around the Boneyard, he wouldn’t have been injured. And nobody else seems to have gotten infected injuries except him so far. If experience has taught you anything, the moment you’re in charge is the moment everyone starts blaming you for everything. And they wouldn’t be wrong to blame you if he dies. You have to push that thought out of your head for now though. Hunting a titanic beast requires a clear head and a relaxed body.

Burke stops you, then points to the ground. You all crouch down and move up to her slowly. She points down to the ground. A massive foot print was planted in the soil, leading out of the swamp waters. Yeah, that’s your mark alright. The trail starts into the trees on dry land. The three of you start moving along, carefully. You take your carbine into your hands and ready it.

After a few short minutes, you hear the guttural breathing in the wind. Even as the rain starts drizzling down, you can see its silhouette in the approaching night. It’s a rather ungainly looking beast with powerful looking legs and arms. The crocodilian snout was covered in plasma burn marks, with a few breaching into the skull by the look of things. More plasma marks were scrawled all over its body from where Stoakes’ tri-gun barraged it. And its massive sail on its back had holes in it like a dish sponge.

[1/2]

>>3002695
[2/2]

The beast is using its claws to tear into a dead Lizard, a Parasaurolophus by the looks of its crest. It bites into the meat of its belly, staining its snout in blood. But judging by how it recoils back to scratch at its mouth and head, it seems to be in pain. Those plasma marks are probably still burning it. Not to mention its ruined eye. It’s left eye is still good, but it’s right (the right side is the side you’re facing right now) is completely destroyed, with dried blood seeping out from between it’s eyelids. It’s probably blind on that side now.

Burke nudges you, signing out to you by hand. “We have the drop on it. Don’t waste the opportunity.”

Right. What should you do?

> There are some high trees around. Maybe collapsing a tree on it like Nielson suggested is the best idea.
> If you’re careful and you’re slow, you can stick the explosives on its leg. Approach from its blind spot.
> Take Burke's DMR. One well placed shot to the head is all you need.
> Other

So sorry for disappearing like that without notice. Red Dead 2 came home and I lost track of time. Leave your votes in overnight and we shall begin again first thing in the morning. Hope you're enjoying yourselves for now.

>>3002696
> Take Burke's DMR. One well placed shot to the head is all you need.

If the DMR takes majority by the time I wake up, I'll do the rolling for y'all so we can get the ball rolling. Just to clarify.

>>3002696
>> Take Burke's DMR. One well placed shot to the head is all you need.
I would also like to add on to using us as bait kinda and if we don't get the killing shot, the lizard might advance on us, and we can then have the explosives waiting for it

>>3002697
No problem man, hope you're enjoying it

>>3002742
This man has the right idea.

Just to note if I'm not here for the command vote, I'm all for a vote for who's in command.

>>3002696
> Take Burke's DMR. One well placed shot to the head is all you need.
One shot. One kill.

>>3002696
>Take Burke's DMR. One well placed shot to the head is all you need.

Rolled 7, 9, 7 = 23 (3d10)

I'll roll all three groups of 3d10 for us to get us rolling this morning. Stand by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbI0cMyyw_M

File: swamp.jpg (334 KB, 1024x765)

334 KB JPG

Rolled 5, 7, 8 = 20 (3d10)

Rolled 5, 5, 3 = 13 (3d10)

honestly i have no fucking clue if i should actually make the success DC visible so you guys have a frame of reference if you succeeded or not. Let me know if i should.

>>3003350
I was just rolling up for this specific instance to get the ball rolling, seeing as how it's the morning and most players probably aren't in yet. People seem to trickle in slowly.

>>3003357
I thought dinosaurs and spess mehreens were what anons flooded into Quests for.

Besides, I clarified earlier here: >>3002715
No one seemed to protest.

File: 1428202311911.jpg (113 KB, 549x188)

113 KB JPG

>>3003360
> No anon reads
> in a text quest that's nothing but words

> Take Burke’s DMR. One well placed shot to the head is all you need.

Time the shot between breaths in and out and between your heartbeat. If you can get another shot at the eye, you might nab the brain. It bobs its head up and down as it continues to feed on its meal. Wait for the moment when it stops. Right now, all you can really hear is your heart slowing down and your breathing relaxing. Focus inward. Nothing but your target, you, and your rifle.

Light flashes across the swamp. Lightning. Wait for the thunder.

A thunder clap. The Spinosaurus raises its head, curious.

You squeeze the trigger. The plasma shot strikes dead center in its eye. The Spinosaurus roars, reaching for its head as it stumbles to the side. It’s not attacking you. It’s not trying to kill you. But it’s definitely in pain! You, Burke, and Joffrey hold, waiting to see what it does. It spins around, howling and crying as it reaches up to its head. You see the sizzling smoke rise from its ruined eye, seared flesh from the plasma most likely. It rams headlong into a tree, rubbing its eye against the tree. Possibly in some attempt to ease the pain.

The three of you stand up, watching it. It finally collapses on its left side, its legs kicking as it starts shrieking and howling in horrific pain. Part of you is starting to feel sorry for the poor thing. You honestly meant for a sure kill shot. Dropping it in one hit is merciful. But you suppose the DMR wasn’t powerful enough. Maybe the AMP rifle would’ve done it.

Still, it’s alive. And it’s howls and cries start turning into moans of pain as it starts to rest on its side, giving up on its ruined eye.

Burke snorts. “Nice shot.”

> Go up and finish the job.
> Leave it. It’ll probably end up dead later eventually.
> Other

>>3003363
>Go up and finish the job.

>>3003363
>> Go up and finish the job.

>>3003363
>> Go up and finish the job.

> Go up and finish the job.

You, Joffrey, and Burke walk up to it. It twitches and writhes in agony as you come around to the head. The poor thing. You didn’t mean for this to happen. But that’s the circle of life you suppose. Predators gotta hunt, prey gotta die. It gives one last howl to the air, making you all stumble from the sheer volume of it. Like a final death throe before it finally decides to rest its head and welcome what comes next. Joffrey looks all along its belly and sees the numerous plasma scorches, some of them even made little holes from the look of the dried blood formed around it. Along with the shots to the head and the sail, the wounds likely would’ve killed it over a period of weeks. Plasma isn’t something that you can just heal without Medigel and InstAid after all.

But even if it were dead meat, it likely still would’ve came after you once it caught its second wind. You press the barrel of it against its skull, then fire. The beast goes limp, its tongue hanging out of its jaw.

Joffrey looks at you in shock and surprise while Burke reaches for the teeth. He steps up to you. “You uh… you hunt Lizards for a living or something?”

“Nah.” Really the most honest answer you can give.

Burke slices a tooth off her with machete, then takes a look at it. A little bloody, but serviceable. She tosses it to you. A trophy for your troubles it seems. Heh. This tooth is almost the size of your hand. It’d probably make a good souvenir once you get out of this place. Still. To think that is something the Lizards were scared of. Some giant crocodile with a sailboat on its back?

Then you hear howls in the distance, followed by croaking sharp caws. “Raptors?” asks Joffrey.

Burke steps up, looking around. “Sounds like them.” One long howl, then several dozen cawing sounds in the distance. Not even that far. Sounds like they’re in the Swamp too. She looks to you. “I don’t think this thing is what the Lizards are afraid of.”

You’re not too far from the camp. But if those are the natives like you assume they are, they’ll be closing in on the Spinosaurus’ corpse real quick.

> Climb a tree and hide out.
> Make a run for the camp, now.
> Stay here. Nothing here suggests they aren’t as advanced as the Lizards. You could probably take them in a fight.
> Other

>>3003458
>> Climb a tree and hide out.
Leading them back to camp is a big no.

>>3003458
>Climb a tree and hide out.

>>3003458
>> Climb a tree and hide out.

> Climb a tree and hide out.

You point to a tree by the Spinosaurus. “There, there! Move!” Burke quickly takes back her DMR then grabs the bark and starts climbing. You kneel down and lock your hands, then let Joffrey use you as a step to help himself up. The bark here thankfully is sturdy while being rough enough to allow for a decent grip in climbing. As for getting down… You hadn’t thought of getting down but one thing at a time. Once Joffrey is helping himself up, you grab onto the tree and start pulling yourself up. Up above you, Burke and Joffrey have sat themselves upon a large branch. Burke holds her hand out to you. You grab it, then she and Joffrey pull you up onto it. This branch is thick as a horse, it should hold you three easily. You hope at least.

After a few minutes, you hear the rapid splashing of water and the ruffling of leaves and foliage. Jumping out of the bushes are several Raptors. In the darkness, their silhouettes are barely recognizable, but they are definitely Raptors by the look of their movement and the bobbing of the tails and heads. One of them moves up to the Spinosaurus corpse, barking as it nudges its head against it.

It gives a shrill cry into the air. The other Raptors give even louder high cries into the air in return. In the distance, more Raptor cries are heard responding the same way.

Lightning flashes. They’re revealed in bright blue-white flash of light. They are Raptors. But no exo-suits, no guns, no helmets. Instead, they have painted themselves in purple streaks like tiger stripes. Dark leather pelts adorn their backs. One of them bows its head to the Spinosaurus, scratching its claws along the ground. The others follow suit as well, silencing themselves. They’re… they’re praying to it.

> DEINONYCHUS
> An incredibly solitary species. The Deinonychus are little wrote or heard about as they primarily keep to their home turf and rarely venture outside. The Lizards seem to want little to do with them. Although primarily resembling Atrociraptor in their appearance, Deinonychus appear to be much more intelligent than their primitive aspects let on.

The thunder claps. They all bring their heads up again, then start sniffing the ground. One of them paws at the tracks you left. Barely noticeable thanks to the gauze around your boots and on Burke’s (and Joffrey’s. You made him.). But the scent must remain. It takes a sniff around, growling. They must have caught your scent. But thanks to the swamp water and the dead Spinosaurus and everything else, your natural human scent is being crowded. You hope at least.

> Wait for them to pass. Hope for them to pass.
> Try and traverse the area by tree. These branches seem to intermix and intermingle with each other. And they seem sturdy enough as well.
> Shoot at them. They have no guns or weapons. They’re easy marks.
> Other

>>3003659
>> Wait for them to pass. Hope for them to pass.
Moving around is almost comically a bad idea, and I'd rather not get into a shooting match outnumbered and in a hard place

>>3003659
>Wait for them to pass. Hope for them to pass.

>>3003672
Thing is, they don't have guns, but the reinforcements on the other hand we can't even sure about.
>>3003659
> Try and traverse the area by tree. These branches seem to intermix and intermingle with each other. And they seem sturdy enough as well.
OP, players goddamn love rolling, please wait for rolls.

>>3003672
>>> Wait for them to pass. Hope for them to pass.

>>3003659
> Wait for them to pass. Hope for them to pass.
We can do it. All we have to do is stay still.

> Wait for them to pass. Hope for them to pass.

Joffrey readies his pistol to fire, but you grab his wrist and push it back towards his chest. No guns. Not now. They’re just looking. If they can’t find you, they’ll pass. That’s the theory at least. They keep sniffing along the ground, searching. By your counts, there’s at least seven of them in this little area alone. Their tails swish and wag as they skulk the site of the Spinosaurus corpse, hissing and clicking their teeth. At least they can’t hear your heartbeat right now, it would’ve given you away a long time ago.

One of them follows your scent trail up to the tree you’re in. It sniffs at the bark, scratching at the wood briefly. Joffrey once more readies his pistol, but Burke quickly grabs his pistol hand and keeps it still. Please, Joffrey, don’t lose your cool. The Deinonychus keeps sniffing at the tree, snarling as it huffs the wood. It doesn’t seem to understand why the trail seems to end at the tree. It starts circling the tree, as does another one of its companions. Stay calm. They haven’t noticed you yet.

Another comes up to the tree and sniffs at the trail you left. It starts sniffing, then looks up. The three of you stay stiff. Please don’t have night vision, please don’t have night vision. It tilts his head, clicking its teeth as stares up at you three. Does it think you’re part of the tree? Does it see you and not understand what you are? Just stay still. Don’t answer its questions.

It hisses before clawing at the tree. A leaf falls off from the branches above, floating down as it gets beaten against the rain. It looks down at the leaf once it falls to the ground, then looks up at the tree once more. Uh oh. It turns around and whacks the tree with its tail, staring up at your branch in particular. More leaves fall to the ground. Some of them settle down on top of you all. The Deinonychus appears to be putting the pieces together. It looks around, then finds a piece of driftwood by the water. The others look at it, curiously as it comes back to the tree. Then with a thick stick in hand, the Deino starts bashing at the tree with the driftwood, looking up. More leaves and even a few twigs fall out of the tree.

Oh. Sweet God. He –did- see you. He’s testing the tree to see if you’re actually part of the tree like a nest or something. The other Deinos gather around the little genius as he continues to whack the tree.

> Stay as still as possible. (DC required for success 20)
> Your cover’s blown, shoot at them.
> Climb further up the tree. Fast as you can. Your cover’s blown.
> Other

>>3004124
>> Stay as still as possible. (DC required for success 20)
NO PANIC FIRING. We can mow them down if they get serious about knocking us from the tree.

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>3004124
What the fuck these lizards are smart as fuck
> Stay as still as possible. (DC required for success 20)
5% chance? Never tell me the odds.

>>3004145
REJOICE FOR WE ARE THE CHOSEN ONE

>>3004145
I probably should've clarified that it was three rolls for 3d10 AFTER we get the majority but I'm honestly kind of tempted to just take that crit.

Let's see where the votes us after an hour or so.

>>3004150
oh my bad man, I forgot how we rolled in here

>>3004152
No it's my bad, I keep forgetting to actually lay up the dice rules somewhere when I start these threads.

They're here btw: https://pastebin.com/nhswziq6

Plus I'm not good at dice systems in Quests anyway sooooooo

>>3004124
>Stay as still as possible. (DC required for success 20)

Roll me three 3d10s.

>>3004145
^ This crit up here will count as an additional success. Remember, 20 is your baseline for a success.

Rolled 1, 1, 2 = 4 (3d10)

>>3004305
Gotchu

Rolled 1, 7, 10 = 18 (3d10)

>>3004305
I'll be sure to do a spectacular job.

Rolled 1, 9, 6 = 16 (3d10)

>>3004305

>>3004309
>>3004310
>>3004332
>every single roll had a 1 in it
What the fuck.

> Failure

A twig smashes down on your head, making you flinch wildly from the impact. The Deinos freeze, looking at you directly. Uh oh. They perk their bodies and heads up, clicking their teeth in anticipation. One of them, the one hold the stick, cries out loudly then starts clawing at the tree to try and get up at you. “Aw, shit!” yells Burke. “They’ve seen us!” They start trying to climb up the tree, sinking their sharp claws into the bark.

Joffrey fires his pistol at one of them. The shot grazes wings its body, making it fall off. The others immediately drop off the tree then start circling around it. “They’re like frakking dogs! Goddamn!” You raise your carbine, waiting for a shot on one of them. Don’t waste your ammo here. Just wait and see what they do.

One of them grabs a pair of rocks, then starts smashing them together. Another grabs leaves as well. Wait, what the hell- Oh they’re trying to start a fire! “Burke, there!” you yell. Burke fires on them. The shot slices straight through one of them, making the others immediately run to the other side of the tree. The one Burke dropped is abandoned. You all try to lean over to get a shot, but it’s no use. They’re in a blind spot unless you move to another branch! Shit!

One of them starts calling out into the sky, five rapid caws, followed by long howls in the Swamp. They’re calling for reinforcements!

Burke points to another tree. It’s branches are long and thick, and are nearly joined with this tree. “There!” She hops to another branch, then hops across to that tree.

“Where’s she going!?” yells Joffrey.

> “Burke, come back!”
> “Where we should be going, come on!” Follow Burke.
> Other

>>3004579
>> “Where we should be going, come on!” Follow Burke.
Never split the party.

>>3004579
>“Where we should be going, come on!” Follow Burke.

>>3004579
>> “Where we should be going, come on!” Follow Burke.
Keep up, don't fall behind.

>>3004579
> “Where we should be going, come on!” Follow Burke.

>>3004579
> “Where we should be going, come on!” Follow Burke.
Can't go back to camp now, darn

> “Where we should be going, come on!” Follow Burke.

“Where we should be going, come on!” You steady yourself, then move to leap across the gap. Burke grabs your hand, helping you across the branch. The Deinos move out from behind the tree, moving to jump and run around in the open beneath your branches. They snap their jaws like piranhas, looking up at you all, hoping one of you falls. You look to see Joffrey slowly help himself across. He’s no scout. Hell, he’s probably no hunter either. He probably doesn’t know well enough to make this jump.

“Come on!” says Burke.

“Alright!” Joffrey leaps across and lands on the branch. Snap. The branch gives out under him. “AH!” Joffrey grabs the sharp jagged end of the branch. The wood hits one of the Deinos, knocking it out. The others start jumping and leaping up at him, biting at his feet. “Ah! Shit! Shit!” he cries. “Help!”

You move on over to him. “Joffrey…” He holds out his hand to you, his hands bleeding from the cuts from holding onto the sharp jagged stump. He’s enough that they can’t just jump up. But a fall from that height will definitely injure him. You just need some cover. You look back and see Burke moving without you. “Burke!”

She looks back, frowning.

You know that look. She wants you to let him drop. If he drops and gets eaten, it’ll distract the Deinos and allow you some time to get out safely. She starts moving on without you. “Burke!” you shout.

“Agh! Help!” Joffrey tries to hoist himself up. “Ah, son of a bitch!” He holds out his hand to you. “Please!”

> Help him up.
> Leave him.
> Other

>>3004928
> Help him up.
This is actually going to kill us one day

>>3004928
>Help him up

>>3004928
>> Help him up.
Fuck me, no man something something

> Help him up.

You lean over and grab his bloodied hand. You got him. You’re not going to leave him. He’d do the same for you if you were in his position. You heft him back onto the tree branch, solid ground at this point. The Deinos follow you from underneath, one of them spinning around and whacking one of its own with its tail. They bite and snap their jaws as you start slowly crouch walking across the branch. “Burke!” you scream. Goddamn it, what is she thinking!?

“Come on, this way!” she yells back. She leaps across to another tree, this time making it to a branch jutting out upwards at 45 degrees. She climbs around to a branch that’s more flatly leveled. You grab Joffrey and toss him across.

“Whoa!” He grabs on, yelping as his injured hands grab onto the roughshod bark. He groans, keeping himself steady as he tries to push over to the next tree. “Agh, son of a…” Once he’s past, you jump too. Some bark and leaves fall off. You look down to see the Deinos circling around the trees, hissing and clicking their teeth loudly as they follow you. Doesn’t matter how high you are, you have to come down some time. And they have all the time in the world.

Shit. Shit!

Then suddenly you hear a roar in the distance. A Rex roar. The Deinos stop what they’re doing, looking in the direction of it to the south east. One of them looks up at you, then towards where that roar came from. It chirps to its companions. One apparently goes back for the body of its fallen. The rest start heading southeast. That last Deino. You actually recognize that smart one, the one who whacked the branch against the tree to expose you. You look it dead in the eye. And he stares right back.

He hisses, then slashes the tree with its claws before slowly marching back with its group. It keeps its eyes on you before finally leaving.

…

Looks like it’s gone. You look over to Burke, who kneels down on a large branch ahead of Joffrey. “Burke,” you say. “I think they’re gone.”

“I’d rather not risk it,” she says. “Probably should stay up here for the night.” Fair. But…

> “What the hell was that? Joffrey needed our help!”
> Get down the trees and head back to the camp while they’re distracted.
> Stay up here. You can do more talking when you get back.
> Other

>>3005317
>Get down the trees and head back to the camp while they’re distracted.

>>3005317
> Get down the trees and head back to the camp while they’re distracted.

Gotta go for the night. Keep leaving your votes overnight and we'll be back in the morning. Apologies if I jumped the gun on doing those dice rolls myself this morning. Hope you're enjoying yourself.

>>3004928
What the fuck Burke. We're going to have a talk after this.

>>3005317
>> Get down the trees and head back to the camp while they’re distracted.
Fucking Burke

>>3005317
> Get down the trees and head back to the camp while they’re distracted.
We'll talk when we get back to camp. Words will be had.
Or we can talk on the way. What do you guys think?

>>3005317
> Get down the trees and head back to the camp while they’re distracted.