Ravens in Wonderland [Red Raven Dominion of Dredd]

[Thalia Sigismund]

Location: Deepest darkest part of the Dark Zone
Objective: 3
Allies: [member="Red Ravens Storyteller"]
Enemies: [member="Keira Ticon"] [member="Nei Laa"] [member="Daxton Bane"]

The wind whistled through the rotting oaks, rattling the bodies that hung from termite-bitten branches, sagging heavily with their dead weight. A heady smell of decomposition, mold, and swamp water wafted through the air. Howling like a gale, The Devourer moved through the woods, ravenous with the hunger that was enormous. The hunger of wanton greed. Of unrequited lust. Of malnourished kingdoms. It sought...souls. Souls to consume. The Sisqua had disposed of its unlucky targets long ago, and now the creature drifted aimlessly like a dark fog, the only light visible for miles, its two piercing eyes. The darkside entity felt a stirring, a presence of lives. A feast of new souls to eat.

Little things, some without heads, some without bodies, scrabbled in the dark alongside the creature, screaming with shrill voices. Remnants of souls, pieces of souls. Never-sated, the creature hunted, looking for those warm bodies and fragile minds. Minds filled with fear. The creature's voice echoed in the psychic void, so that all creatures within range would hear in their minds, these words repeated over and over again.

"Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente.Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente.Nuyak nukente.Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente.Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente.Nuyak nukente.Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente. Nuyak nukente.Nuyak nukente"

Soon, the words would reach a shrieking crescendo that was maddening enough to shatter the mind of those weak and foolish enough to traverse in the Dark Zone of the Planet Dredd.

 

[Armand Temi]

It had only been a moment since the Gen'Dai had stormed away in a huff when off in the distance Dak heard an explosion and then the hum of an energy shield reverberating. Next came the eerie voice of Dredd's President, Gorgeous John, sentencing all of the Ravens to death by angry mob. Immediately Dak had many pressing questions - who were these sickos and bandits to the East? Why were they so uptight when their planet was literally oozing glitterstim? And just how gorgeous was Gorgeous John? And was he single?

I'm about to find out, she thought, slipping vibroknuckles onto her delicate hands. She popped a speed-spice pill for good measure. She knew the Gen'Dai was making similar preparations as per his macho display. The Star Striders certainly looked up to the task. Momentarily boosting her grav boots, she went up the street and wedged herself between the Gen'Dai and the Striders. This way at least she wouldn't be the one to take the first blow.

[member="Gorgeous John"] [member="Cryax Bane"]
[member="Chiasa Kritivaas"]
[member="Deborah Waller"]
[member="Kezeroth the Malevolent"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

Location: Dark zone
Objective: Breaching the zone
Allies: [member="Keira Ticon"], [member="Nei Laa"]
Enemies: [member="Red"] Raven Storyteller, [member="The Devourer"]

For a moment Daxton seemed to ignore his companions, stride forward with purpose before coming to full stop and studying the surroundings, especially the ground with a gauntleted fingers, Living things seemed to scurry beneath his billowing green cloak, only to wiggle away at great speed into the shadows.

The Orbalisks colony could sense the powerful presence of a dark side user and it was agitating them. Using his lung to their consciousness, Dxton began releasing several of them so they could probe where the eminations were the strongest,

Waiting for his companions to join him, he remarked, "I sense a strong presence nearby. I would suggest you link with me so can extend what protection I can." Should they agree, he would extend the aura of his battle mind to include them as well.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Location: Outside the smoldering remains of the Oval Office
Objective: Sweet sweet revenge
Allies: [member="Cryax Bane"]
Enemies: [member="Gorgeous John"]


"Son of a-"

The rest of that thought was lost to the explosion. Both Twi'lek and Chiss reacted instantaneously and almost in sync. Chiasa because she listened to that little voice that she associated with the Force, and it had started screaming as soon as that chair started to turn. Cryax because with his ongoing Dredgeventure he was probably as paranoid as a long tailed cat in a rocking chair factory. In either case, before the voice finished speaking the were both turning and throwing themselves out of the room.

Cryax's Magnaguards were moving forward, trying to get to the bomb in time. They didn't manage it, and were reduced to so much scrap, but they did absorb a little of the blast. The unskilled but strong from desperation Force Push the Twi'lek sent at the bomb as it went off helped too. It didn't negate it, but it was enough that the blast sent the two flying with only bruises and scrapes rather than broken bones and liquified organs.

Pushing herself up into a half sitting position as she took stock; outfit ruined, new scratches, unsightly bruises, head ringing, half deaf, she growled. It hadn't been a cheap outfit either. As the message of the price on their heads rang out from every speaker on the planet, she looked over at her Boss.

"Please tell me this means we can kill him now."

 

[Nei Laa]

Location: The Dark Zone
Objective: 3
Allies: [member="Keira Ticon"] [member="Daxton Bane"]
Enemies: [member="The Devourer"] [member="Red Ravens Storyteller"]

Muttering something in Ryl about the moronic tendencies of men, Nei returned Keira's shrug and followed her and the Sith fellow into the creepy darkness. Visor down, hands firmly planted on the hilts of her blasters, The Nautolan only felt her uneasiness grow. A strange sensation began to spread from the base of her spine and upward, stopping between her shoulder blades.

Now, Nei was was not Force Sensitive. At all. She couldn't manipulate gravity, or read minds. The closest thing she had to any of that was her ability to detect pheromones and, well, about every single Nautolan could do that.

But she had damn good instincts, and her instincts were screaming at her to shoot first, ask questions later.

When she caught up with the Sith, though, he began to talk about linking and whatnot, earning him a strange look. "Linking be stupid, how can I shoot if I be linked?"

 

[Cryax Bane]

Location: Outside the smoldering remains of the Oval Office
Objective: Get to the Raven's secret bunker in Liberty District One
Allies: [member="Chiasa Kritivaas"] [member="Kenna Raine"]
Enemies: [member="Gorgeous John"]

The whole scene was as dramatic as an Action Holo. Too bad it was all too real. When the chair spun around, Cryax had a sinking feeling and, sure enough, Gorgeous John had planted a gorgeous bomb. It was a brilliant maneuver, but Cryax couldn't stop to applaud. As the capital building rocked on its foundation Cryax, Chiasa, and his metal security detail were all blown back by the explosion. Lying on the ground with his everything hurting, he first cast a perfunctory glance around for Chiasa, and as the smoke cleared he found her next to him. Thank the Maker she was alright. He shook his head at her. Luckily a couple of droids had survived the blast and came clambering up to them, scorch marks on their metal armor.

"Yes, that's exactly what it means. Kill the bastard. Painfully and without prejudice," he said, then rose to his feet, groaning with pain. Flames licked at the floor behind them and Cryax pointed to the emergency exit. As Liberty District Emergency crews passed them on the stairwell, Cryax started typing on his Datapad, sending out an executive order for any Red Raven mercenaries to band up and head to the secret underground bunker Cryax had set up just in case of an event such as this. That was the upside to being paranoid, you were always prepared when a crisis happened. Waiting at the bunker were not only security forces, and more droids, but Cryax's new bodyguard [member="Kenna Raine"], a tough lady that came highly recommended by various experts in the Antecedent security industry.

His blaster cocked and ready he motioned for Chiasa to follow him. "The Ravens have a secret bunker set up underneath the city. If we can get there without anyone spotting us, we can plot our next move." Cryax knew that was a big "if." Given the Liberty District President's track record, the chances were good that Gorgeous John was watching them every step of the way.

 

[Cheshire Kat]

Location: Heading West towards the Red Ravens
Objective: 2
Allies: An army of stim addicts and glit-biters
Enemies: [member="Kezeroth the Malevolent"] [member="Dakita Calfur"] [member="Deborah Waller"]

As the loudspeakers started blaring, Gorgeous John’s unmistakable voice booming over the airwaves, the Cheshire’s Chidren began to boo and hiss at John, and Cheshire Kat raised his hand, immediately shutting them up. As the politician made his annoucement, the Cheshire Kat, as he usually did, made a hand motion that suggested that the Prez should get on with the blabbing already, and his followers responded with heckles and cackling, but then Gorgeous John announced that he was offering one million credits for every Raven killed. One million karking credits! Consternation abounded among the Children, and then a cheer went up among the crowd, the mob suddenly erupting into pure chaos. There was dancing, making out, and stabbing. Lots of stabbing. The Cheshire Kat motioned for his roiling mob to follow him to the armory where the Children literally trampled over one another to arm themselves to the teeth with guns, knives, bombs, whips, chains, bats, and anything else they could get their hands on.

Then they took to the streets, heading West where Kat's lookouts had spotted some Red Raven forces moving towards them. Thousands upon thousands of Cheshire’s Children moved across the land, some dancing, some running, some riding tricked out swoop bikes painted with glitter and wielding chainsaws. All headed towards a generous payday.

 

[Keira Priest]

Location: The Dark Zone
Objective: 3
Allies: [member="Nei Laa"], [member="Daxton Bane"]
Enemies: [member="The Devourer"], [member="Red Ravens Storyteller"]

There was a vague telepathic presence on the barest edge of her conscious, the presence amorphous, difficult to pinpoint exactly, though it had the feeling of the same darkness she and Daxton had sensed previously. The words were spoken in a language she didn't recognize, the rhythm and phrase repeated endlessly, slowly growing in volume. Shaking her head in order to clear it Keira directed a well-placed telepathic shove at the foreign presence that touched on her mind, attempting to divert or at the very least discourage any further attacks of that manner. Not one of them needed a distraction, as just the aura the area gave off was bad enough by itself.

When Daxton managed linking, she listened silently to Nei's opinion on the idea before speaking up herself. "It won't stop you from shooting. If anything it'll help you with that. He's talking about linking mentally, through the Force. We'll be able to collaborate better that way." If the Zabrak was referring to the ability she had in mind, then that would be the effect, and a welcome one at that, after having gotten an idea of just what awaited them if and when they inevitably continued. A mental link would not only improve their chances of working together smoothly, but it would also help to boost morale.

"I'm open to the idea, yeah." A slight smile, though not visible in the darkness, but it would show in her voice. "Anything to help would be nice. There's something out there, you have to be feeling it too. Someone or something else is here, and it doesn't want anything to do with us."

 

[Daxton Bane]

Location: Dark zone
Objective: Breaching the zone
Allies: [member="Keira Ticon"], [member="Nei Laa"]
Enemies: [member="Red Ravens Storyteller"], [member="The Devourer"]

Nodding at the assessment Daxton said, "Yes, I sensed it as well. I can sense its strength in the Dark Side. I can sense a hunger as well. Whatever it is will be coming to us, that is certain."

Extending one palm in the direction of either of his companions, he extended to them the aura of his Battle Mind. For them, there would be a brief sensation of cold fingers touching their minds before their senses become more sensitive. Their reflexes markedly improved as well as a feeling of calm and awareness of where everyone was in relation to their current position.

Once the link was complete, Daxton would reach into one of his pouches and pull out several small scout drones. Activating the mini droids he released them into the air where they buzzed momentarily before scattering to different directions to get a tactical view of their surroundings.

 

[Cryax Bane]

((Hey all I've been informed that we can't Dominion Dredd until it's been officially added to the map. Hopefully in two weeks. We will pause this campaign until then so that we don't get disqualified. Sorry folks!))

 

[Red Ravens Storyteller]

Objective 3
The Dark Zone

The rising tactical drones would pick up a small pale shape, fleeing deeper into one of the ruined buildings, deeper into the shadows.

The orbalisks in the meantime, had a ways of urban landscape to traverse before they reached the edges of the dark forest in the heart of the Dark Zone. Once a beautiful park, maintained so the city dwellers wouldn't forget their ties to the land, the smell of fresh growing things, or the sigh of wind in the trees, it was now a twisted, foreboding place. The Dark Zone was Death, but the Heart-Forest was the home of Death itself. It didn't much matter how far it was though, for Death was coming to them. The Ravens were largely protected from the maddening symphony at this distance, only [member="Keira Ticon"] being sensitive enough to hear without being strong enough to entirely block it out, though she did an admirable job of pushing it aside. [member="Nei Laa"] protected by her own force insensitivity felt nothing yet, but unless [member="Daxton Bane"] proved strong enough to shield them all, should they come upon Death itself, at close quarters not even that would save her, or any of them. So easy to destroy that which was already driven mad. Perhaps they would even turn on each other before ever seeing the face of Death.

[member="The Devourer"]

 

[Thalia Sigismund]

Location: The Dark Zone
Objective: 3
Allies: [member="Red Ravens Storyteller"]
Enemies: [member="Daxton Bane"] [member="Nei Laa"] [member="Keira Ticon"]

As the Siqsa drew closer to the souls, the delicious souls, she paid no heed to the small tactical drones buzzing around. The demon was in her travelling form and at best the drones would pick up an amorphous translucent smoke shape travelling through the zone at breakneck speed. However hidden she might have been to the droids, any Force users around would begin to sense a very strong and terrifying dark side presence growing near. She reached out into the minds of the warm bodies to coldly pluck some clues out of their consciousness so that she could choose her first victim. Yes, there was much she could use.

With her dark psychic tendrils she reached into the mind of Keira Ticon and spoke to her in a voice that she would recognize as belonging to her Umbaran antagonist, Salacious Vile, who had tortured her in a dark cell not too long ago. "Keira. Keira. Keira." she said, spitting and coughing in an exact mimic of Vile. As she got closer to Keira and the other Red Ravens, the Siqsa's form swirled and writhed, manifesting itself into a physical shape. All others would simply see a translucent fog of the blackest smoke, but Keira Ticon would see a form, hunched over and cackling madly with a murderous gleam in his icy blue eyes. As she drew closer she would recognize the being as Salacious Vile peeking out from behind a dead oak tree, halfway in shadow. His mouth twisted into a large fang-filled smile as he whispered.

"I'm here to finish the job, Keira."

 

[Armand Temi]

Location: Standing pretty freggin' close to [member="Cheshire Kat"] and his gang
Objective: 2
Allies: [member="Deborah Waller"] [member="Kezeroth the Malevolent"]

A chill went up Dak's spine as in the distance she heard the distinct whoosh of swoop bike turbothrusters. She peered to the East and saw a seething mass of what could only be described as party zombies. And they were scrambling and clawing towards the Ravens. She winced as some of them were trampled in the throng, heads smashed by boots and stilettos. And even though the Gen'Dai had a karking arsenal with him, he would only make a dent in the front lines of Kat's Children. Maybe keep them at bay for a few minutes tops. Dak decided to make a retreat and dart down an alleyway, looking for a hand or foothold in order to go up.

 

[Blair]

Location: Enemy Territory
Objective: 2
Allies: Kezeroth the Malevolent [member="Dakita Calfur"]
Enemies: Cheshire Kat

Deborah tried to speak up, saying they should wait for more allies to arrive, but given that both Dakita and Kezeroth were already charging into battle it seemed useless. She sighed and rolled her eyes before looking to her men and saying "Alright, boys! Let's light this place up!"

Her men cheered, holding their blasters high, before Deborah hopped on her speeder and ordered for the men who volunteered to go with to hop in. There were six altogether, the others staying with the ship to await orders for backup or extraction. The others with Deborah sped along with the other Ravens and primed all the guns they had with them. They charged foward with Kezeroth and waited until they could see Chesire's gang in front of them. Without hesitation all of them started unloading everything they had at the freaks.

 

[Nei Laa]

Location: The Dark Zone
Objective: 3
Allies: [member="Keira Ticon"] [member="Daxton Bane"]
Enemies: [member="The Devourer"] [member="Red Ravens Storyteller"]

Nei spent about five seconds considering Keira's clarification before another question was raised. "But how can we be linked through the Force if I not be Force-Sensitive?" Honestly, these Force Users and their crazy methods. What was wrong with good ol' fashioned shooting? Though, considering what the Sith just said, maybe a little extra help wouldn't be so bad.

Shrugging her shoulders in an attempt to seem nonchalant, she muttered, "Fine, do what you want. But I still think it be no good for me." Almost immediately, the female felt something...cold violate her mind for a moment. That sensation itself was soon replaced by heightened everything. It was what many spacers called "the zone." It was a feeling where one was centered in the right here, right now, and neither the past nor future mattered. Only the present.

Nei herself had experienced it many times in the past, usually when she was flying. Then, the feeling was amazing and greatly helped her to avoid dying in a splatter. This was many times greater than that, and it was awesome.

And, not so awesome. Nei's brain wasn't used to so much imput, particularly with pheremones, and it took her a moment or two to steady herself.

When she was finished readjusting, the Nautolan's eyes picked out a dark, poignant fog that curled around her and her companions almost hungrily, something which didn't set well with her. What the kark? Fogs aren't supposed to be hungry! Under normal circumstances, she most assuredly would have drawn her blaster and started shooting, but something inside urged her to refrain. So, instead, she turned to Keira. "What now, Ticon? Ignore this fog, or what?"

 

[Kip Radon]

Location: Liberty District One objective 1
Objective: Take out the trash.
Foes: [member="Chiasa Kritivaas"] [member="Cryax Bane"]
Allies: The droid army.

John laughed over the radio, loud rolling wails of genuine laughter. They thought they could actually hide here? Like they had a place that was actually safe that John didn't know about, the notion was silly. John was very confident that every square inch of liberty district one was bugged and the people more than happy to turn over Cryax and his orange skank. So John just kept on laughing over his communicator.

"OH MAN!! THE LOOKS ON YOUR FACES!! SO PRICELESS!!" Now coughing John began to slowly stifle his laughter slightly.

"This reminds me of the last guys who came here looking to take my planet, hold on let me tell you. So this guy from this big company shows up and starts talking about relief for the planet! And he's all like" John cleared his throat then put on his best stuff business man impression

"This planet needs basic necessities like good and water and order, you should feel sorry for being a bad leader!" John dropped the impression and laughed again

"So I have my droids come at him and what does he do?! He grabs a spoon from the soup we served to defend himself! A FREAKIN SPOON!!" Gorgeous John began laughing heavily and then went on with the story

"So I take the spoon and scoop his eyes out with it! And he's all running around blind and bumping into things screaming blood flying everywhere!" John laughed again and cleared his throat once more

"The moral of the story is you're a queen and I'm going to kill you."

Soon loud thumps from Prison Battle Droids began to surround Cryax and Chiasa on all sides of the capital building steps. They stood there towering and awaiting orders.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Prison_Battle_Droid

 

[Daxton Bane]

Location: Dark zone
Objective: Contact
Allies: [member="Keira Ticon"], [member="Nei Laa"]
Enemies: [member="Red Ravens Storyteller"], [member="The Devourer"]

Glancing at his HUD, he saw that the sensors where detecting something moving very fast to their position. Unable to get much details due to the haze, he could not tell from a glance if it was merely cloaking itself somehow or if the haze was part of the creature. Thinking carefully back over the hundreds of tomes he had studied involving sorcery, he would try to recall anything pertinent which could help them defeat whatever the creature was.

Scribbling an eldrich rune on the dusty floor, he infused it with the Force, laying the first of several magical traps for his prey. His curiousity was prodded and now he was curious to see if the creature could not be bargained with. He wanted to know if he could use it to possibly further his own schemes and plots.

 

[Miss Blonde]

Location: Liberty District One, objective 1
Objective: Save Cryax and Chiasa
Allies: [member="Cryax Bane"] and [member="Chiasa Kritivaas"]
Foes: [member="Gorgeous John"]

A set of crosshairs circled on Cryax's forehead and wobbled a bit, the look on his face was funny to say the least. He had not been shell shocked that many times apparently, his hair was in every direction and it was pretty funny. The crosshairs focused and moved along, bullet loaded was not for him. Moving over to the left towards an narrow street to Cryax's side the crosshairs focused on a prison battle droid that was aiming down at the young Chiss President. The lines focused on it's head and steadied to the point of almost complete stillness.

"I need a raise." A silky female voice said to no one in particular.

A crack of thunder rang out into the air and the SHOCK slug exited the Czerka sniper rifle and deposited itself into the head of the prison battle droid. Sparks flew up from the head of the droid and slouched down terminated. Another two shots barked out and took the heads off from the other two droids blocking the narrow street. A shower of sparks and metal went off and the other droids around Cryax and Chiasa began to turn looking for the source of the shots.

There were about fifty droids bellow and more were on their way at a decent pace. Another three shots cracked the air in hissing snaps, soon following another display of sparks and dead droids.

"Cryax, Chiasa! Street on your right move!" The voice rang out over their comms and following after was another two shots taking out a droid that fell a few feet from Cryax hitting the ground in a thud.

"Now!!"

Standing up popping out an empty magazine field agent and body guard to Cryax Bane, Patricia Susan Garter dropped it and began to bound from rooftop to rooftop. The droids spotted her and began to open up with red beams from blasters. The young agent wore a black dotted red dress and on her backpack of various goodies and weapons. She kept moving fast letting the sniper hang from her small body with a sling. Producing two machine pistols she leveled the two pistols running towards where she instructed Cryax to opening fire on various targets while jetting across the skyline rooftops, terminating a few droids along the way.

She was a badass.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Location: Liberty District One, objective 1
Objective: Scarper, find escape route, stir unrest, rally resistance, KILL BILL. I mean John.
Allies: [member="Cryax Bane"] and [member="Patricia Susan Garter"]
Foes: [member="Gorgeous John"]

While often contrary for the sake of being contrary, the Twi'lek had very, very specific beliefs on who was her ally at any particular point in time. That definitely included anyone who shot things that were trying to shoot her. Street on the right. Okey doke. The tiger striped female could move when she felt the need, and she currently felt the need. With a quick check to make sure Cryax was also up and moving, she ran. No zigzags yet, she trusted to her cover-fire and concentrated on speed to get that initial distance between herself and the immediate threat. Not that she wasn't thinking. She was always thinking.

This place was well and truly bugged. She refused to believe all the citizens were content and cowed however. She would not be if she lived her. This man would grate on her nerves. His existence was an affront. Someone had to be resisting. What did she need? She needed to find them. She needed a distortion field emitter. An ion-scrambler. A few other goodies wouldn't go amiss. [member="Xalus"] for one..

Was it wise to stay together? Two targets would be harder to scrag than one, John would have to split his forces. For a moment her mind wandered back to his spoon story, her perfect lips peeled back from her teeth in a near silent snarl. There was a corpse on Orrazerus who could tell John a story about how Chiasa removed eyes when threatened, except of course dead men told no tales. She'd dearly like to move John into that category. His stories were tiresome.

"Might be time to improvise darling, I think this plans gone well and truly off the rails."

Her voice was surprisingly level for someone sprinting for their life as she addressed the Chiss. Her eyes continued to scan the street before her, looking for an opportunity. She wasn't sure about the bunker any more, and even if it was safe, if her peeling off took half the pursuit with it, Cryax would have a better chance. Or perhaps John wouldn't bother to chase her. Would believe her to simply be arm candy. Wouldn't he be surprised when she came for him if that were the case.

 

[Kip Radon]

Location: Liberty District One objective 1
Objective: Take out the trash.
Foes: [member="Chiasa Kritivaas"] [member="Cryax Bane"] [member="Patricia Susan Garter"]
Allies: The droid army.


Droids fell to the ground in succession of each other and soon the prison battle droids were aiming their guns up at woman in a red dress. Firing bolts at her their attention was turned from [member="Cryax Bane"] and the tiger stripped twe'lik that was making a break for it.

"Calling reinforcements." The cold robotic tone of the machine called out and sent a signal to nearby troops and droids.

Their objective was simple kill or capture anyone of the ravens and anyone trying to help them. The prison droids moved on their slow clunky legs to get into a better firing position. A few more dropped and exploded in sparks from pistol fire.

"Exterminate." The robots booted out in unison

Chiasa was not wrong, there were people that did not take kindly to their president and wanted out. A few feet from Chiasa coming down the street was a prison battle droid. It trained it's blasters on her and was about to fire before it sparked and died. Falling over there was an odd sight, a small girl sitting atop the shoulder of a hovering droid held a smoking pistol.

"Come with me if you want to live!!"