End of Days
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RP and story by: stingerhs
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the words behind the plot (and yes, there is a lot of reading. i tried to make it interesting, so enjoy :) )
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Opening his eyes for the first time in almost an hour, the man breathed in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. There was no need for his eyes to adjust to the fading light of the day, and it was all the darker due to the rain that was streaking across the window. Overhead was the steady and continuous thumping of the Blackhawk's rotor blades along with the pelting of the rain which was hardly distinguishable over the rotors.
Against the fading light of the day, you could just make out the man's face, and the low light only highlighted his five o'clock shadow. He was a white man who, judging by the slight appearance of wrinkles around his eyes, was probably in his early 40's. He was dressed in what appeared to be a black, form-fitting jumpsuit although it was difficult to make out the details in the low light. The jumpsuit was equipped with little more than some gear webbing that formed a home for several clips of ammunition, four grenades, and a spare battery pack. The suit stretched up over his head so that the only visible part of the man's body was his face. Lying next to him was a large, black pack that was visibly stuffed with gear and a well-worn Mk 17 SCAR assault rifle.
Shaking his head at the outside view, then man then looked into the back of the helicopter. Looking back at him was a squad of soldiers. Some of them were smiling at him as they laughed lightly to themselves. "No offense, sir, but we we're wondering if you were going to wake up before we got to the drop," the closest soldier said to him. Giving the soldier a sideways glance, the man then reached into one of the front pockets of his pack and pulled out a metal flask. Unscrewing the lid, he quickly downed a swallow and momentarily wished that the water could taste a bit more like scotch.
"Don't worry kid. The only things in this world more reliable than my sense of timing is an AK and the desire of an addict to rip out your innards," the man replied a bit gruffly as a smile formed at the corner of his mouth.
Next to the man sat another man that was equipped in a similar fashion to the first man. "Sterling," the man stated to the first.
"Sir, yes sir?" he replied.
"Try not to scare the brats on their first mission. We wouldn't want them to soil those new uniforms," he said almost deadpan in a thick Welsh accent.
"Yes sir. I'll do my best sir," Sterling replied as he grinned at the other soldiers in front of him.
The other man sitting next to Sterling was another white man who seemed to be just as old by his appearance. The biggest difference was the addition of a dark red mustache which was a dead giveaway to his Irish heritage despite his accent.
"Whatever you say, you old farts. At least we're not the ones going in first," the soldier replied to Sterling and the other man as he turned away dejectedly.
Sterling then looked over at the other man and smiled as he said, "So, what do ya think, Davey? Five minutes before one of them loses breakfast?"
Davey just shook his head in response as he smiled in response. Reaching down into his own pack, he pulled out his own flask of water and took a quick swig. "ETA five minutes!" came the call over the intercom from the pilot.
"All right rookies, time to be heroes!" Davey shouted as he unhooked his seat belt. Reaching up, he braced himself on a bar on the ceiling. Sterling did the same as both men quickly attached their bags to their backs and secured them quickly. They then secured their SCAR rifles to in their free hands as they prepared themselves for the drop. The other men just remained seated as they were much more lightly equipped with only their rifles, a sidearm, spare ammunition, and light survival gear. The biggest difference, though, was their demeanor. Davey and Sterling were treating this like it was just another mission, but the other soldiers were clearly nervous.
"LZ in sight!" came the call over the intercom. In front of the two main side doors, the ports for two M60 machine guns were opened. A bit of rain blew inside along with a cool breeze and more noise from the rotors and the turbine engines. The two crew members manning the M60's quickly moved them into place as the Blackhawk flew parallel to the landing zone, or LZ.
The LZ in this case was a large dock, or at least what was left of a large dock. Hulks of half-sunken cargo ships seemed to rise eerily out of the waves. Beside the ghostly shapes was what was left of the docks. Many of these ships were docked here and abandoned hastily. Left almost adrift for years, the ships had pounded into docks with the surf until their hulls had been damaged as such to take on water. Some of the docks had been pulverized to the point that they were hardly beyond recognition.
Heading up to the side door, Sterling looked out the window. He quickly recognized the LZ from the satellite photos despite the poor visibility from the rain and what was left of daylight. It was one of the docks that was close to the mainland. Unlike many of the others, this one had only had to face the beating of water as there was no ship parked next to it which made it ideal for a quick drop.
Reaching into the top of his pack, he pulled out some sort of mask. Placing it over his face, he clipped it into place on the attachment points on his suit. In front of him, the Heads Up Display, or HUD, came to life. The armor then performed a quick diagnostic as it activated. All systems read normal, and Sterling then took the time to check his SCAR. Satisfied that he was ready, Sterling waited for the pilot to move the Blackhawk into position.
The pilot then moved the Blackhawk into a hovering position over the LZ. As the aircraft steadied, the crewman in front of Sterling opened the door in front of him and attached a rappelling line to an attachment point on the top of the door. Waiting for the pilot to confirm in his headset, the crewman handed the line to Sterling and tossed the slack outside the door. Giving Sterling a pat on the shoulder to signal him to go, the crewman quickly flashed him a thumbs up.
Placing his foot on the edge of the door, Sterling vaulted himself backwards out of the helicopter. Using his gloved hand as a guide, he expertly controlled his decent to the concrete dock and landed almost silently. Moving out of the way, he quickly brought his SCAR to the ready as he looked for hostiles. After about 30 seconds, a hand patted Sterling on the shoulder, and the squad quickly moved towards a grouping of stacked cargo containers. Overhead, the crewmen unhooked the rappelling lines and tossed them out of the Blackhawk. Closing the doors and given the all clear, the pilot then maneuvered the helicopter back out towards the sea.
Sterling and Davey then quickly checked on the rest of the squad silently. All of them gave a thumbs up to indicate that they were OK. With everyone ready to go, the squad quickly fanned out and headed through the cargo canisters without waiting for the sound of Blackhawk to diminish into the evening sky. The rain had picked up which made going through the cargo canisters all the more dangerous. With all the little nooks and crannies, it was a great place for a rogue addict to hide, and the rain made the low visibility even worse.
In front of the squad, Davey and Sterling had taken the point positions as they made their way through the cargo canisters towards an alley. The alley was quite wide, but it was littered with trash and refuse that were leftover from years ago when the addicts practically tore the area apart as they searched for anything to appease their madness. The two old warehouses that stood on either side of them were dripping with water from the rain, and it made the alley quite noisy.
As they exited the alley, they stopped as they prepared to enter a wide street that ran through the many warehouses. Sterling and Davey both switched their viewfinders built into their masks to infrared as they scanned for any unusual heat sources that might indicate any addicts nearby. Despite the cold rain, though, all they could see in front of them was a wash of blue with the ghostly outlines of various objects and buildings in the distance. They then switched their viewfinders to low-light mode and signaled to the rest of their squad with a pulling down motion which was the signal for the squad to put on their nightvision goggles. With the goggles attached to their helmets, all the rest of the squad had to do was to pull the goggles down over their eyes and switch them on.
With the area now seemingly lit with a green sun, the squad moved on towards the end of the road all while sticking to the sides of buildings and constantly checking for hostiles. As they moved on, they arrived at what was left of a gate that had blocked the entrance to the warehouses. By now, though, the gate looked like a car had slammed into it. The two main parts were twisted around so that it looked like someone had desperately tried to leave the docks, and ahead of them was the burnt remains of that car which was lying crushed in on its roof.
Outside of the docks, most of the buildings had been in bad shape before everything happened. Now the years of total neglect had made the city look like a decaying wreck. Sterling, though, had seen it all before, but it was still a bit new since he hadn't been back for just over a year. Davey, on the other hand, had never been to the city since the attacks. For him, the sight of a decaying Boston was somewhat hard to swallow. Sure, he had seen the satellite photos, but that was hardly preparation for seeing it in person for the first time.
As time passed, the squad continued to move uninhibited through the remains of the city. It was somewhat slow moving as they stuck to the sidewalks next to the buildings and had to work around the occasional car that had either crashed into a building or had been pushed there by vandals.
Navigating was easy enough, though. With a built in GPS unit in their suits, Davey and Sterling could instantly access their position in relation to the preset waypoints they had programmed in them earlier. With both of them at point, the squad could move at speed without having to stop and figure out where they were.
Finally, the squad reached a large junction in the streets. In front of them was a large barricade made of cars and other refuse looted from the city. With their nightvision, they could clearly make out a number of men patrolling around the front of the gate. They were armed with an array of either submachine guns or shotguns. A few of them had assault rifles, but none of them were equipped with body armor.
Despite the rain, though, the men quickly spotted the squad and ordered them to identify themselves. Sterling stepped looked over at Davey who motioned Sterling to step forward. Shouldering his rifle, Sterling then stepped forward and yelled out, "We're Stingray squad with the supplies you needed!"
After a moment, one of the other men stepped forward tentatively with his SMG at the ready. He then yelled back, "Prove it!"
Sterling then carefully and slowly moved his free hand to his backpack which caused several of the men from the roadblock to tense up. They eased, however, as Sterling produced a small package. Setting the package down in the middle of the junction, Sterling then put his hands up in the air and backed away.
The other man from the roadblock then stepped forward towards the package. Kneeling down, he kept a bead on Sterling with one hand as he picked up the package. He then backed away towards the barricade and disappeared as he turned the corner. After a couple of tense moments, the man reappeared from behind the barricade and yelled out, "All clear. You can proceed Stingray squad."
The rest of the men manning the barricade relaxed as they watched the squad move from their hiding locations. Several of them were noticeably watching the areas away from the squad for any signs of hostiles, but that wasn't anything unexpected. These men had little to fear from Stingray squad compared to the addicts that could be out there somewhere.
The squad moved through the opening in the barricade, but none of them said a word to the other men. Instead, all of them just stared each other down as they nervously gripped their weapons all the tighter. It was a cool reception considering the supplies these men were receiving, but then again, they had every right to suspect the squad of treachery as well. Humans and vampires of any kind never get along very well.
Finally, the squad reached the central area which turned out to be an old hospital that was surrounded by a shanty town. Shacks and ramshackle buildings littered the overcrowded area. The residents were all on the dirty side, but they were all well armed as well, mostly with SMG's and shotguns. There was even several children here, but even they clutched their pistols tightly as Stingray Squad made its way through the throngs.
For everyone in the squad except Sterling, the sight was both shocking and apalling. As much of a veteran that Davey was, this was still new to him. "Don't worry about nothing, boys. The ones you see here in the shanties are human. The vamps keep themselves in the buildings, and they keep the "friendly" addicts away from everyone else so they can't cause any trouble," Sterling commented as he noticed the looks on the faces of the squadmates.
"Looks pretty crowded. Surely they have enough room in the buildings for humans, right?" Davey asked.
"Don't know. I never asked them last time," Sterling replied. "I think that they keep the humans in the shanties intentionally. They probably have entire floors in these buildings that are empty, but vamps are going to be vamps. They don't like human company. Too much temptation."
The squad kept quiet from there on out till they reached the entrance to the hospital. In front of it stood two well equipped men. They looked like former military the way they were dressed, but their uniforms were in too good of shape for them to be from that time. Sterling motioned the squad to stop as he continued on and walked towards one of the men. "We need to see the Council. We have the supplies as promised," Sterling stated as he stopped in front of them.
"Show me," the man replied courtly.
Taking off his backpack, Sterling placed it on the ground in front of the man and opened the top. It revealed a number of boxes that were all labeled with a biohazard symbol. Taking out one of the boxes, he tossed it to the man. The man then opened the box and examined the contents. "Its good. You may proceed," the man stated as he closed the box back up and tossed it back to Sterling.
Sterling then closed his backpack up as the man turned around and swiped a card on a reader next to the door. The door then opened, and Sterling and Davey headed through. The rest of the squad, previously briefed that they wouldn't be allowed access to the Council, remained outside in front of the entrance.
As they walked in with their rifles shouldered, they switched off their nightvision, and they then stopped by a security desk which was staffed by a man and a woman who were also dressed in military uniforms. They then checked in their SCAR rifles and their sidearms. Looking around, there were several men walking the halls. Davey noticed that a few of them were dressed in business suits that were well pressed and maintained. Shaking his head, Davey knew all too well that the vampires here were about the same as they were elsewhere: they all wanted to look and act as professional as possible.
The pair then made their way to the top floor via an elevator. As the doors opened to the elevator, they were greeted by a waiting room with a reception desk. Behind the desk sat an attractive woman who was quite young looking. She hardly even acknowledged them as they entered, though. She motioned for them to take a seat without even looking up from her work. The two men then sat down in seats to the left of the reception desk. Sterling then quietly said, "Yeah, nothing changes. These, erm, people are all business whether they consider you allies or not."
"Some allies. I haven't had this cold of a reception since the last time I tried to pick up a girl back at the bar," Davey replied.
"Don't worry about it. We'll be done here before too long," Sterling replied. "Besides, we just got through the hard part of getting in, and all without incident. That's quite the accomplishment."
"Yeah, well, I can't say I'm looking forward to spending the night here," Davey responded.
They then sat in silence as they waited for a couple of painfully dull minutes. Finally, the receptionist casually stated, "The Council is ready for you."
Getting up, they then went through a door behind the receptionist and entered a board room of sorts. Around the table sat 12 men and women who all watched as the two men entered the room. In the well lit room, you could finally see the detail on the black form fitting suits Davey and Sterling were wearing. It almost looked like overlapping sinews of black muscle with a couple of wires and attachment points here and there. It was also quite wet from the rain, and Sterling almost felt bad for the water that was still dripping down onto the nice carpet. Of course, this was all in stark contrast to the black suits that all of the Councilmen were wearing.
As Davey and Sterling stood at the end of the long table, the man sitting at the head then said, "Well, its been a long time since the UN decided to send us any aid. I know you have the supplies, but do you have any messages from the UN?"
"I'm afraid not, Councilman," Sterling replied.
"Very well. Normally, I would dismiss you, but we do have some business that needs to be addressed. I'm sure that you noticed that your journey through the city was unimpeded, correct?"
Sterling just simply nodded in reply.
"Then you should be aware that this is a bad sign. The last time all the rogues abandoned the city was when the Dissidents mounted a large recruiting drive."
"And with a recruiting drive comes heavier assaults," Sterling concluded.
"Exactly. However, this does not come at any cost to you. As of right now, the rest of your men below have been detained until further notice," the Councilman stated.
"Detained?" Davey exclaimed. "We were here on a peace mission, and you're taking us captive?!"
"No, were not taking you captive. We're taking your men captive."
"Yeah, typical vampire bull****. We help you, and you just take advantage of it!"
At the "vampire" comment, the entire Council quickly stood to their feet in anger. "That will be quite enough from you!" the Councilman at the end of the table yelled out. "Its not enough that we have to deal with human prejudices, apparently. As such, you will now have to deal with an added addendum."
"What do you need, Councilman?" Sterling asked.
"We need you to gather intelligence on the activities of the Dissidents. We need to know what they're planning so they won't be able to mount an effective assault on our position. If they succeed, the best any of us can hope for is that you humans wipe them from the world. If you don't succeed with the intelligence gathering, though, the immediate repercussions will be that your squad will serve as blood donors to the hungriest of my men. Is that clear enough for you, humans?"
"Crystal, sir," Sterling replied.
"Good, now you and your blasphemous filth can go."
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The Backstory
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At the turn of the millennium, a drug was developed in an American university that caused an extreme "high". In the trials, it proved to be more potent than even crack cocaine. Despite the early signs that the drug was highly addictive, one of the students that was working on the product figured out how to manufacture the drug with cheap and readily available drugs and chemicals. This student was then able to manufacture the drug on his own, and he introduced it to local night club goers in exchange for money. Due to its small size and orange color, it was initially referred to as "orange drops", but that name was later shortened to just "drops. The drug was an instant hit in the illegal drug trade with the ease of manufacture and low cost, and it had an added benefit that it was unclassified by the DEA.
However, drops had some serious side effects that went mostly unnoticed except in the university trials. After even one use, the first symptoms of withdrawal would start to become evident which included headaches and increased appetite. After prolonged withdrawal, however, the user's behavior would be noticeably different. Shaking and a very short attention span are common. The elevated appetite level would then seemingly slack off, and it wasn't until tragedy struck that the researchers understood.
After one user was locked away for almost a full week of prolonged withdrawal, the subject refused to eat any of the food that was provided for him. When a doctor tried to examine him, the man succumbed to his hunger and attacked the doctor by biting him in the neck. It was initially unclear as to why the man bit him, but it later became apparent that the man was trying to feed on the human flesh of the doctor.
Word of the incident got out which quickly prompted an immediate ban of the drug by the DEA and an emergency situation to deal with anyone that had used the drug. Terrorists also took note of the occurrences and decided to use the drug to launch the most successful and devastating chemical attack in history. Developing a simple aerosol system to deploy the drug, the terrorists then planted aerosol dispensers as various hair care and other aerosol products in high population areas within the vast majority of major cities in the US and across Europe.
It took about a week or so for the chaos to really start to kick in as people finally started to experience withdrawal from the drops. With millions of people wanting nothing more than another dose, drug stores across the US and Europe were raided as these "addicts" tried to manufacture the drug so that they didn't have to cope with the overwhelming cannibalistic urges induced by withdrawal. Even as the government tried to intervene, chaos and anarchy took over. People that couldn't get access to the drug turned to cannibalism, and none of them cared if the human flesh was coming off of a corpse or someone who was still screaming in agony.
For that first year, the world was thrown into the worst economic and humanitarian crisis in known history. The UN emerged as the binding force for the humans that weren't addicts as the world tried to band together to solve the crisis. Nationality didn't matter for much anymore since anyone could be an addict.
A partial cure was discovered, though. A group of Chinese scientists introduced a new drug that was able to deal with most of the withdrawal symptoms, including the cannibalism. However, it also created a problem with anemia for those that took the drug. The solution, then, for these people was to obtain blood either through transfusion or by simply ingesting blood. Unfortunately, this drug was extremely difficult to produce as it required an exacting calculation that was easily thrown off by even the slightest change of variables. With such low doses available, these "vampires" were few in number.
However, a group of vampires saw these "addicts" as a source of changing the balance of world power. They were able to organize addicts and force them to obey them almost as slaves by providing them with extremely low doses of drops. They also decided to use the addicts' desire for human flesh as a tool by simply promoting it. Addicts that performed well for these vampires would be awarded human prisoners. These groups would become known to more civilized vampires as "dissidents".
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The RP
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basically, it boils down to this: Sterling and Davey are going to need to put together a squad that is going to gather intelligence on the Dissidents. the characters you create will fill the slots in the squad. you will have to choose your character first based on the class of character, and then by your own creative process in the following format:
Class: Human, Vampire, or Addict
Human
Humans are, well, human. They have no special attributes.
Vampire
Vampires have improved eyesight at night and low light areas. They are also extremely well coordinated. Unlike humans, their bodies don't release as much adrenaline, and when faced with a stressful situation, they can think much more clearly. The major downside is their need for blood in a daily dose of about 20mL. They can either inject blood or use the more popular method of drinking it. If they miss a daily dose of blood, a vampire will start to succumb to the effects of their anemia which will include dizzy spells, lack of concentration, shortness of breath, and diminishing strength. A higher dose will then be required to return a vampire to normal dependent on the length of time between doses. If no dose is received, the vampire will eventually die.
Addict
Addicts are extremely jumpy and almost nervous looking. They have highly sensitive senses, and the have excellent reaction times. Their high intensity level is matched only by their ferociousness in close quarters combat. While early addicts didn't mind using only their fingernails and teeth as weapons, most addicts have resorted to knives and clubs when the fighting gets personal. The downsides are related entirely to the withdrawal symptoms. They need to either consume human flesh or take very low doses of drops to stave off the symptoms for about 12 hours. The downside is that even a low dose of drops will heavily diminish their intensity level to almost normal human levels.
Name, Age, Sex, Appearance
this is entirely up to you. get creative and just keep things realistic.
Squad Position
pick your position from the selections available at the bottom of this post.
Background
you don't have to have too detailed of a background, but it would be nice if your character had one. just remember that your character has to somehow end up at the old hospital. depending on your character's class, you will also start in the following locations: humans in the shanty town, vampires in the hospital, and addicts in the addict cage which is just west of the hospital.
Equipment
this is limited by character class except for one thing: no swords.
Human
Humans can be equipped with just about anything except for assault rifles and body armor. this is only due to limited availability and the reliance of the vampires to equip them. their weapons and other equipment will be substandard to anything the vampires have available. very limited in explosives (ie, only Molotov's and IED's.)
Vampires
Vampires can be equipped with anything except for assault rifles. They do, however, have access to body armor and the best firearms available.
Addicts
Addicts don't make for very good marksmen, but you can still equip them the same as you would a human. just note that you'll be unable to equip your character till the Vampires let you out of the pen.
with that said, here's the sheets for Davey and Sterling:
Character Class: Human
Name: David "Davey" Saer
Age: 39
Sex: Male
Appearance: 6'4", 253lb, dark red hair and mustache with a pale complexion. stocky build
Squad Position: Commanding Officer
Background: Davey has seen more than his of experiences as he first served as a UN peacekeeper in Africa for the first 4 years of his tour. He was selected for British special forces, or SAS, about a year later, and he would serve in a number of conflicts including Iraq and Afghanistan. During the crisis, he served as an instructor for the UN's military forces and has been involved in many incidents involving these addicts and more recently dissident activity abroad.
Equipment: SCAR assault rifle, Beretta pistol, emergency medical kit, and the experimental NNS Armor System which provides ballistic protection over the entire body. Special armor abilities include enhanced reaction times, enhanced strength, climate control, GPS guidance system, and stealth enhancements that can automatically adjust the camouflage pattern according to the environment and help silence footsteps.
Character Class: Human
Name: Matthew Sterling
Age: 41
Sex: Male
Appearance: 5'11", 241lb, clean shaven head and face, light complexion, stocky build
Squad Position: Executive Officer
Background: Sterling had a brief military career with the US Army and served during the Balkan Crisis in the 90's. After his honorable discharge, he was employed for a mercenary company and fought as a "security specialist" in a number of conflicts, most notably in Iraq where he was involved in an incident with several US Marines. During the crisis, he initially signed up as a mercenary for a private businessman looking to protect his own interests in Atlanta. Sterling saw first hand what happens when someone gets addicted to drops and almost ended up as a victim of the chaos that reigned during the first year of the crisis. When his employer died at the hands of addicts, Sterling slipped out of the country and signed on with the UN as an adviser. He later became a squad leader due to high casualties, but lost that position due to an argument with his commanding officer which led to Davey's promotion over him.
Equipment: same as Davey's
Squad Positions
Commanding Officer: Davey (played by stingerhs)
Executive Officer: Sterling (played by stingerhs)
Scout: Taylor (played by Admiral_Thrawn)
Medic: Jazz (played by ForeverNight)
Sniper: Stalker (played by ForeverNight)
Demolitions Engineer: Bubba (played by Jedi_Man)
Assault: Vlad (played by Jedi_Man)
Assault: Clyde (played by Carsew)
RP thread located here. (
http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=196318)