That's only a bit ominous. The five humanoids looked around. The one holding the wolfdogs did something on his controls and the beasts ran free searching.
The mutt farthest from the controller was still within identification range so...you know....in for a penny in for a pound.
Beast / Toothy Dark Gnawchink / Level 4 / Dexterity - Agility - Vitality / Tracking - Blink - Fear - Rend
That sound horrible. Switching back to my Stealthy Skirmisher class allows my Advanced Skirmishers Stealth to be automatic. If they are all level 4 I don't think I can take them...maybe. Luckily, ha! I haven't been close to where they are and the beasts don't have a scent to work with. They locate another body in a closed locked car, working with a tool that looks like a jaws of life met a cement saw the entire drivers side of the vehicle is removed. They don't bother with a seat belt again removing the body in pieces.
The tallest of the five is holding a head attached to part of a chest up to look at, the scales on their scalp start twisting like worms and forms dark brown hair that grows to where a neck should be, then tosses the body chunk onto the pile in the cart.
"Ennouughh, caulll Beeastts. We movve."
Pushing their grisly pile along they proceed on 4th Avenue heading towards downtown where I was when this started. I can hear the wheels squeaking away along with the dragging and grunting noises. Things like that might be why I'm not seeing people about anymore.
Once the crew is beyond sight I slip out of the van. The first car with the open window isn't to far away, not that I want to examine what's left, but the Skin Shifters didn't grab any items. Spilled across the console of the Kia eco car are 4 items.
(sys) Coin pouch / Holds physical system coins and non system currency
(sys) Fidget Spinner / Aids Meditation / Spell - Fascination
(sys) Pack of 6 Golf balls - Refills / Hole in one
(sys) Driver - Golf Club / Tool - Weapon / Smashed It
I'm not sure what I was expecting but the items might be useful, a young golfer I think. Looking all around I make my way over to the other car which is essentially cut in half long ways. The air bag was deployed in this car and there is powder residue all over. The body leaked onto the fake leather and there are bits everywhere. Using Mana Sight I spot a small pocket knife down the side of the seat and a bracelet on the floor mat, also another generic pouch of 52 coins.
(sys) Pocket Sword / Unfolds into a Sword - Variable Size / Vorpal Edge
(sys) Shield Bracelet / Equipment / Summons Shield, Small to Tall / Defensive Blast
Useful Items, poor guy.....or gal at least they had good taste. Pocketing the folding sword and slipping the bracelet on my right wrist I offer a kind thought toward the dead man and move up the street opposite the way the shifters went.
Holding my arm in front of me like you see in a medieval movie I send some Mana Energy to the shield while thinking of a small round buckler, a small flare of power and attached to my arm is a dark metallic disk about the size of my chest, in the center is a spike like a spear top while, the bands holding it in place resemble the bracelet, but now they are wrapped around my forearm. A very useful Item.
"KRAAAA!" The Raven scares the shit out of me as it lands on a mini van. "No, I didn't find anything for you, no cores" Taking flight the raven scouts around and finds a new perch.
My watch let's me know it's 7:53 pm and I'm heading West towards Vine Street, The sun is almost completely down now. I think my eyes were adjusting as the daylight disappeared as I didn't notice the difference. Without streetlights, outdoor lighting from buildings, or cars the shadows are pools of darkness. Some buildings have lights in various windows, mostly upper floors, a few of the them are moving around.....flashlights maybe?
My Perception and Mana Sense allows me something similar to Darkvision or Nightvision, I can see clearly about 30' in the dim light and make out shapes beyond that. Off In the distance I can hear gun shots, on my left at the powerless casino I can just make out loud shouting or screaming from inside, In a few of the windows at the hotel I can see glowing windows which might be people or emergency lights. For a moment I consider going in to help, but I pass, I wouldn't know where to start. I'll help anyone I come across, but I'm not running into a dark building.
SKILL LEARNED - DARKVISION
That's well timed and funny, Intent and attributes make the skills....The area I can see now extends out to 50 feet or so, It resembled what I thought of as night vision you'd see in the movies, It was brighter than before but everything was shapes and shadows.
Standing there in the street I hear a sound *plop* *plop*, on the ground just ahead is a winged shape. I think its a two foot wide bat as I watch another one falls down and goes still, then there's four of them. Each shape produces a mid sized core, From above I hear "Kraaaaaaaaaa".
The cycle of life, I think I'm falling behind a bird in total kills. Picking up the cores "Did you want these?" a minute later there's a pile of corpses and I have 13 cores. Holding my arm out the raven wings down and lands on my forearm, the claws grip tightly but don't break the skin "here these are yours" grabbing some of the cores from the car hood I had piled them up on the raven swallows them up one at a time. Halfway through the pile the raven pauses and with a burst of Mana Energy he grows slightly larger and much denser, claws reaching a little farther around my arm. Everything about the bird was more deadly, I use my Advanced Identify.
Bird / Swift Shadow Raven / Level 4 / Agility - Speed - Vitality / Specialty - Wing Strike / Keen Eye sight - Blend - Fatal Slash - Shadow Bite
"You need a name, so I can stop calling you, The Raven" as expected all I get in response is "Kraaaaa"
"Did you eat any of the bats or just stuff your self with cores? let's try and get to the edge of town tonight at least" he launches off my arm to the gloomy sky.
Up ahead is Ralston street I move over to the sidewalk to avoid the pile of cars blocking the roadway. I don't see anything to loot in the mess, I wonder if someone already checked. Truly amazing how fast the world goes from vacation town to post apocalyptic mess."
On my left is a parking lot set up as a marketplace on the other side of a chest high fence I can see a line up of food trucks, easy-up shelters, and picnic tables, at least 9 or ten venders. The ground looks alive in my Darkvision, like a shag carpet that is 4 or 5 inches thick wriggling and moving. Taking a closer look I realize it's rats, mice, and other rodents, some look like giant moles and a weird albino mole rat thing there must be thousands of them raiding the food trucks and nibbling on the dead bodies. I can make out the remains of a few people lying on the ground or draped over the tables. Every now and then a fight breaks out amongst the swarm and I can see a level up or spray of blood. Once again thank full for my Advanced Skirmishers Stealth I back away from the barrier and quietly get away from there.
Nothing but death in there, on tip toes I move along. even The Raven is silent. Once I get moving I decide to Sprint and see just how fast I can go with Advanced Skirmishers Stealth to hide me I should be Invisible and fast. The system screen open on my left is more distracting now that it's dark outside, I close it down, I'll have to remember to check it for notifications later.
Using Sprint and the Speed Attribute I get to Vine Street in a few seconds and swing right heading North again. Goal number one is get to the Interstate then plan a route to my stash, If the road is clear I'll try for a vehicle or other transport.
Surrounded by a huge open parking lot, The Casino on my right is lit up by headlights, spotlights, and a huge crowd of people, cheering? I can hear an announcer and it sounds like.....A boxing match? Speeding back up I cruise past, just a shadow in the darkness.
Ahead Vine Street goes over Interstate 80 and the overpass should allow me to see what the main road looks like. The pavement starts to slope up and soon I'm over Interstate 80, The roadway up here is clear and a chain link fence expands across for fall protection. Stopping dead center I do a quick check of my surroundings, safe.
"Kraaaaa" the raven joins me be settling in on the too of the security fence. "Back at ya buddy"
The moon is coming up over to the NW and also to the SW......two moons. Shining with brilliant luminescence I can see for miles both directions on the Interstate. The twin moons are close to equal in size and I can't tell which is the original one.
The cars and trucks in both directions have been pushed to the north side of the road, I assume to make the Interstate drive able. Off In the distance to the west, maybe a half mile, I can see a few headlights from vehicles parked facing both directions, the headlights making them easy to spot. With Perception I can just make out four vehicles, two of which have a mounted gun on the rear. Miltary? National guard?
Off to the east a helicopter is flying low over the city, 2 spotlights shining down, I can just make out gunfire with the occasional tracer round. While watching the copter several mid sized shapes fly through the sky larger than The Raven but not huge. To the North is darkness with the occasional bit of light coming from a house or a business. To the SW a siren sounds off, quickly followed by a metallic crunching sound and the siren disappears, followed by several quick shots, then nothing.
From the direction I came from the sound of the crowd of people is getting louder, I think they added Karaoke now and someone hooked up speakers for that amount of noise.
Movement catches my attention. From the East an SUV is driving, lights off. They are going slowly next to the line of cars along the shoulder. They pass underneath my location, From my position I can't make out how many people are in the Vehicle. Watching it drive towards the other group a ways off something else stands out, They are being followed.
About twenty feet behind the SUV keeping to the shadows and the vehicles abandoned there, are insects, beetles to be exact, two foot long metallic black beetles with mandibles that look like short swords scuttling at the same speed the SUV is going. 9....14.....18.....21....maybe 26 of them, different sizes and levels from 2-3.
When the SUV gets within sight of the checkpoint? they turn their lights on and the people there swivel a spotlight in the direction of the vehicle, the beetles scatter then charge.....scuttle furiously? towards the 2 groups. The SUV finally seeing their pursuers speeds up and races off, The people at the checkpoint open fire on the bugs.
This isn't going to end well as I can see sparks where the bullets are deflected and not a single insect is slowed down let alone damaged. The larger caliber on top of the truck light up the night with a few tracer rounds here and there. The heavier ammunition succeeds in pushing the insects back but doesn't slow them overly much. Thinking through my options, I have two classes for using firearms but haven't done anything with them yet, My advanced class does well enough close up and either my staff, the new sword, or the axe I have in my Inventory would work. Seconds before the beetles reach the group I race to the edge of the overpass, jump down onto the top of a truck on the interstate and Sprint towards the battle.
With my Skill active and my Attributes assisting the world slows down and I time it to get there right as the beetles arrive. Hopefully to avoid gunfire, but also I'll be in the lighted zone so I can be seen by the other people.
Insect / Piercing Giant Headed Ground Beetle / Level 3 / Strength - Endurance - Vitality / Piercing Thrust - Smash - Durability
Insect / Giant Headed Ground Beetle - Earthen / Level 4 / Strength - Endurance - Vitality - Intelligence / Piercing Thrust - Smash - Ground Blast - Earth Spire
Troy / Guard / Level 1 Human / Vitality - Strength / Barrier
Claire / Watch Woman / Level 1 Human / Perception - Agility / Spot Target
A quick Identify on some of each group, I think the humans are outmatched. As the mounted gun quit firing the seven people prepare to defend themselves with a variety of guns and hand held weapons.
I hit like a sledgehammer.....Damn I think I actually have a sledgehammer in my Inventory somewhere, to late for it to be useful. My skill with the staff has improved, the new skills from my earlier battle showing through. This time my staff is 5 feet long and I have the entire weapon enhanced with Mana Energy allowing it to strike with additional damage.
My surprise attack, with my speed bonus, high attributes, and probably my Luck kicking in I am able to get a critical strike with each attack and the blunt end of my staff decimates the head or body of each beetle. Seven are dead before the rest even notice I'm among them, one hit creates an explosion of carapace and internal fluids, bits and chunks of the beetles fly everywhere.
The people notice me first, the front line of the beetles had reached them and their weapons aren't causing any damage, and the 3 in the back are frantically looking around for help. The guy with a baton is trying to smash the lead bug but as far as I can tell it's not working, the beetle is a third the size of the man and with a flare of energy the mandibles at calf height snip off one of his feet, in a torrent of blood he falls to the ground and gets swarmed.
"Get on your cars! Off the road! Your not hurting them!" I shout at the group.
In seconds I have 3 more down and I notice the Raven has joined me. Like a kamikaze pilot the bird is racing down claws extended then lifting the beetle into the air and ripping it in half, downing the core each time one pops out like a tasty treat.
In less than a minute we have the pack cut down to just a few and they try to escape, the raven chases after them with a "Kraaaa" which I take to mean "MINE!". Before looking up I grab all the cores from the dead insects also finding several sharp bits of metal carapace that have a Mana Energy glow about them as well as 3 Mandibles the size of a dagger with a serrated edge and very sharp needle tip. Putting everything in my inventory I look up to see 6 sets of eyes on me and more than 1 gun.
"Easy there, I just came to help"
----------------------------------------