Alexis hated her life. Trudging through endless thickets of swarthaak and scrambling up rugged slopes of the prevalent mica schist mountainsides wasn’t her ideal way of spending her day. The oppressive heat of the blistering African sun wasn’t improving her disposition either. Sweat was pouring down her face, the salt stinging in her eyes. The increasingly uncomfortable weight of the rifle forcing her to switch carrying position ever more often. All in all, their plan to ambush the baboons felt ever shittier by the moment.
William was setting a gruelling pace, barely considering that not everyone in the group matched his levels of fitness, for which she felt increasing respect. The guy was tough, silently soldiering on through the day, scouting the easiest trails for everyone else to follow. Even given the fact that he was trying to make everyone’s life easier, she resented his unwavering drive to push on. The group was flagging, most tired and with dull eyes barely paying attention to their surroundings. At least their brutal pace would soon be at an end, they were climbing up the last mountainside and from here on out, every which way they decided to go would be mostly downhill. Not that that would prove any more comfortable, but at least she would be able to mostly see where they were heading.
She could see that John in particular was struggling, although very fit, what they were doing now definitely didn’t seem to be within his area of competence. She breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the last ridge and had to admit, even if only to herself, that the sight was breathtaking. The endless vista of the mountainous terrain surrounding them was awe inspiring. From here they had near total oversight of their surroundings. William asked the group to settle down, drink some water and scan their environs for their next target. A quarter of an hour later they had to admit defeat, the baboons had either moved out of the area or were hiding out of sight in one of the many inaccessible valleys. William however was not deterred, he insisted that they stay for at least half an hour more and try to find their elusive prey.
Which, in the end, didn’t prove any more fortuitous. They hadn’t spotted even a single baboon, even though everyone continued avidly scanning the area throughout the allotted time. In the end, after a short consultation with Miguel and John, William decided that they would head to base. The day was, notwithstanding their unsuccessful search now, a successful proof of concept. So they collected themselves and, after a couple of moans, started heading back to base.
As she had expected, the descent down the mountains wasn’t any less torturous than their ascent even if their pace was significantly faster. However, by now everyone had emptied their canteens and the debilitating heat wasn’t doing them any favours. From their position it was also impossible to spot the base, but Alexis was certain that they had at least another two to three hours of hiking ahead of them. So, a short time of contemplation later, she approached John to find out where the nearest source of water was. Then she convinced William that a short detour to get some water was advisable, as several of the group were once again clearly flagging by now. In the end, what convinced him, was the fact that few members would be capable of combat if they didn’t drink some water within the next hour and that this would put the group at unnecessary risk.
Ryan was bored, being convalescent had never suited him well. Unable to physically assist development of the fortress he had started investigating his Interface early in the morning. The Quest Log had three active quests: The first, titled Survive (daily) awarded 50 Experience every 24 hours, further investigation showed that it would remain active until he reached Level 100. The second, titled Survive (Earth) required him to reach Level 25 and ascend to the Exodus Worlds, awarding 1500 experience. The last was in relation to his Cultivation, it was titled Mortal and required him to form a Mortal Core, the reward wasn’t listed. When he asked Michelle she confirmed that they shared the first two quests, but that her third was titled Self-discovery and required her to find her centre, again without listing any reward. Further investigation in the Help Menu on quests showed that they could either be granted by the System or by requests of a specific nature by other Players. Trying to find information on how the latter was supposed to work proved an exercise in futile frustration.
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Eventually Ryan decided to rather attempt to further his understanding of cultivation. And got absolutely nowhere. In the end, and given what the Interface dubbed his physical path, he concluded that his form of cultivation was coupled with physical exercise. So now, after having a short snack, he was lying on a deck chair at the pool. It had cost him quite a bit of effort to get here, but all in all he considered it pain well spent.
Leah’s urgent shout woke him from his torpor and he slowly managed to get to an upright position. Struggling, he moved to the terrace, which provided a good view of their surroundings. Michelle was lying in one of the hammocks strung across the terrace, still fast asleep. Leah rushed down to the terrace, breathlessly informing him that she had spotted some people approaching. Ryan decided to wake Michelle and asked Leah to gather the rest of the people at the base, he couldn’t spot the approaching group from the terrace yet, but it wouldn’t be long before they came into view.
It didn’t take long for the approaching group to come into view on the southern slope. Observing carefully through some binoculars Ryan quickly determined that they weren’t much of threat. The two young men and three young women were clearly injured, slowly struggling along the jeep track. They didn’t carry any gear and were clearly unarmed, struggling to keep moving, all in all a pitiful sight. Nonetheless, Ryan considered that being cautious would be the prudent approach, so on his order the group settled down into good firing positions along the terrace and he made a laborious descent down to the grounds, armed with a 9mm Glock and accompanied by Kira.
Once the five had managed to get within 30 metres of him, still completely unaware of his presence, he called loudly for them to stop. The utter sense of defeat he could feel from the group gave him pause. Their hopeless expressions and sagging demeanour gave him pause. He tempered his sense of compassion and ordered them to raise their hands, which they immediately and unquestioningly complied with, much to his surprise. Immediately following his next command, they dropped prone, stretching their hands far above their head.
This freaked him out some more, but he carefully approached them, Glock drawn and ready for trouble. Which proved entirely unnecessary, they remained compliant while he frisked them for weapons. Determining that the group really seemed to pose no threat whatsoever he asked them to get up and move to the dining area, carefully keeping them covered with his weapons and giving directions where needed. Leah, Anna, Michelle and Roland had wisely decided to move ahead, weapons live and ever so careful they convened in the dining area.
After an exhaustive round of questioning Ryan accepted the veracity of the story the five told. They had been conscripted to work for a gang of Players that forced them to forage and loot for gear in town at gunpoint. According to what they said town had devolved into an absolute nightmare within a few days, the military and police had set up bases in town and were conscripting the populace to forage for necessities for survival which they rationed strictly, armed gangs had also quickly taken the advantage and done the same. The civilian populace was caught between a rock and a hard place, even those that were armed had quickly succumbed to the firepower of automatic weapons wielded by the military or the vicious tactics by criminal gangs who showed no regard for human life. Jaco, Stoan, Celeste, Tanya and Monique had been captured and subdued by a smaller criminal gang. Eventually the entire group of workers had decided to try and overwhelm their captors and during the scuffle several had escaped.
Celeste recounted a harrowing story of their escape out of town, hounded and shot at by several different factions and followed by their captors throughout the ordeal. They didn’t understand the motivation of their pursuers as any logical benefit of the pursuit seemed non-existent. The five stridently warned Ryan and the group that they were still being followed, although they might have lost their pursuers earlier that day when they moved into the mountains. Nonetheless, they were certain that they had been followed till then, occasionally spotting a group behind them and intermittent gunshots following them.
A short discussion with the fragment of the remaining group later Ryan had managed to hammer out a plan. They decided that, given the story of the five and their general disposition, it would be prudent to arm them and prepare for any possible pursuit. Ryan momentarily considered whether they were trying to ambush the base, but rejected the possibility as unlikely, there would have been far better and more logical approaches to capture an entirely unknown base of opposition. Nonetheless, he positioned everyone in such a way that the five could always be taken under fire by at least two members of their group before everyone settled in to wait for what might come their way. Until the remainder of the group returned, Ryan wouldn’t be taking any chances.