Head Crab Invasion Part 1

"Bloody lizard thinking he can order me around..." Aleran mutters under his breath as he runs back behind the "line". Glancing quickly at Takor, Aleran hopes he didn't hear him. No matter how much he may say otherwise, the giant lizard scares the s**t out of him.

NINJAGEEK calmly walks over past the "line". As he does so a head crab jumps at him. He quickly reacts and moves out of the way. The head crab hits the floor but quickly turns to jump again. Only it can't move. NINJAGEEK's arm's shadow had extended and grabbed the head crab. He clenched his fist and the head crab was squished and it's guts flew everywhere.

Interesting.

He walks the rest of the way and then stops and waits, showing no emotion. He casually wipes a head crabs bladder off his sleeve.

Shall we start this bomb thing now?

OOC: The "line" is the perimeter that my troops have made around us and the prisoners.

Takor, standing in the center of the group, sees Aleran, Ray and Ninja leap behind his lizardmen.

"Father, a shield, please."

He produces a small silver sphere and tosses it toward the enemy.

"And a lizard hears everything, by the way..." Alx flashes a toothy grin toward the fire-tosser.

"Goddess willing, I should be able to protect us. But brace yourselves; I can make no promise."

Standing between the fighters and the soon-to-be-dead headcrab zombies, Father Drakkus prepares to use telekinesis to deflect the force and heat that would come from the bomb. Closing his eyes, he alters his anatomy in such a way as to maximize his telekinetic powers. His brain grows, his eyes become all black, his fingers grow longer and his palms larger and thinner, and his legs and feet thicken and become denser to act as a bracing

"Ready!"

May the goddess of protection save us on this day...

NINJAGEEK looks at the changing priest.

That is very interesting.

Not entirely sure of this priest's abilities NINJAGEEK thinks about how he might protect himself. They had said that the shadow's wouldn't let anyone tough him so he attempts to call the shadows up around him. The shadows swirl and get closer but don't come around him.

He mutters If this is the best I can do I better hope the priest can protect us.

Then he thinks to himself, maybe if I try to make a wall out of shadows, not just put the shadows around me. HE concentrates on making the shadows solid and to his surprise it worked only there was very little solid shadow. Before he can try anything else a flash blinds him as the bomb explodes.

Once the ringing in his ears stops, Aleran looks around. Some people were knocked to the ground, but everyone seems to be alive. The bomb had worked! The passage was sealed, and all zombies who had come in that door were dead under a pile of rubble.

He turns to help Captain Zelos up off the ground. "What's the situation, Captain?"
Standing and clutching his head, Zelos replies, "7 entrances on the ground floor. 1 large main gate, 2 smaller gates like the one you saw here, and 4 double doors. No windows on the first three stories. We barricaded all of the double doors well enough that nothing should be able to get through. The two smaller gates were blocked the same way, so if they broke through this one it's likely they were able to break through the other."

"What about the main entrance to the citadel?"

"I don't know sir. I didn't participate in that area of the defenses. You'll want to ask one of the lizards about that one. They oversaw the whole thing."

Aleran turns to Takor Alx. "Nice work with that explosive! Now can you tell us what we might expect as we continue through the building?"

Rem while training in the Long Distant Road see's the explotion and stops his training to rush to the scene trying to find out what had been going on
Rushing to the area he comes upon the enterence gates to the city and there on carfully makes his way to where the explosion was
and a headcrab jumped at him
pulling his Twin Energy Pistols and shot at it
WTF headcrabs so that game i used to play half life wasent just a game but reality
oh damn i better get to that citadel and fast to help as much as i can
Sprinting towards the citadel he shoots and kills several zombies and headcrabs

Wait, there is another entrance just like this where the survivors are heading. Well we wouldn't want them to die now would we?

NINJAGEEK turns and dashes towards the other end of the hallway where screams are starting to erupt. He urges his body to go faster to save more survivors from the zombies. His speeds peaks but the survivors are already starting to die. He attempts another burst of speed and suddenly he gets it. Behind him he hears a thump and he glances back to see his body laying on the ground. Still running he looks at his arm and only sees his shadow floating in the air.

Interesting

He or well, his shadow pounces the nearest zombie ripping it to shreds. A head crab jumps but as soon as it makes contact it's shadow implodes causing it to do the same. Some zombies turn and see their unlucky friends be disemboweled by a shadow. Only the shadow suddenly jerks and clutches it's arm while looking at a body on the floor that just got stepped on by a zombie.

ouch, that kind of annoys me, just don't. . . STOP!

The zombie was starting to swing at NINJAGEEK's body laying on the floor.

"Someone should help him," Father Drakkus says, looking up from a wounded soldier lying on the ground. As soon as the explosion ended, Father Drakkus dropped the shield and changed back into his normal shape. He then went to the nearest wounded individual and began healing.

"We need to move further up into the stronghold. I assume that someone prepared a second line of defense further up?"

Ray stood up and raised his hand. "I'll go with NINJAGEEK to make sure things are okayz with him. Cya!" Right away Ray turned to head down the way NINJAGEEK went. As he went down he checked his Maroon watch. It's been about 1hr and 45 mins since he used his ice attack. As for now he was feeling okayz. Still.....my concentration to use magic is completely gone, i think i'll stick to-

A stra headcrab dropped from the ceiling, Ray noticed it and sliced it in half with a quick arm movement. -Slicing and Dicing..... Ray picked up his speed a bit and finally caught up to NINJAGEEK. But he didn't get a good look at what NINJAGEEK was doing because a group of zombies rushed at him. Two jumped while the other 2 tried for a tackle.

Ray smiled as he saw a good opportunity to try out his new weapon combo. Throwing his rapier in the middle of the group of zombies he held onto the rapier. Then he jumped through and swirled the chain around like a spiral. As he jumped through the spiraling chains he caught the other rapier and then outstretched his arms, rapier in each hand. The spiraling chain tightened around the 4 zombies and ultimately captured all of em. Ray finished the job by cutting off the headcrabs from the zombie's bodies.

He continued over to NINJAGEEK, only to get hit by a big black shaped thing. He fell backwards a bit, and noticed.....NINJAGEEK was controlling this big black thing?
"YO NINJAGEEK! WHAT IS THAT!?"

NINJAGEEK had run head on to Ray not realizing that he was there, to intent on getting to the head crab zombie. The zombie's arm swung and NINJAGEEK's shadow screamed. A black liquid squirted from it's leg. NINJAGEEK's body had been hit in the exact same spot and blood oozed out of the wound. The zombie raised it's arm to swing again. NINJAGEEK struggled to stay standing and reached towards his body. The arm swung and sunk into the leg again. NINJAGEEK screamed out in agony again and fell to the ground. Again the arm raised up and swung. Only this time it hit some kind of wall before it reached the body. Confused, the zombie swung again and hit the wall of shadow in front of it. It tried backing up but there was another wall behind it, and one on either side of it. It got angry and started hitting the walls repeatedly. NINJAGEEK managed a smile though his pain as he clenched his fist and the zombie splattered all of shadow walls.

This hurts you know.

He stood up and turned around to face the zombies still pouring in from outside.

Next.

"Excellent idea, Lieutenant," remarked Takor Alx to Bale who had suggested the explosive. "Soldiers, I appreciate your willingness to fight in my absence, and I hope it will be long before I am forced to leave you again."

"Now, escort the survivors here to the roof. The door across from this tapestry leads to my speeder. Gramkil, I need you to pilot it away from here and return with the frigate with all speed. We will need a large vehicle in order to escape with everyone. The rest of you should remain on the roof and protect the survivors until Gramkil returns."

"Bale, you and Maleth are with me. Ninja and Ray are nearby, and my radar is picking up enemy signals. There is also... some sort of... anti-signal, for lack of a better word. We must hasten to them and deliver any who still live."

The bulk of the lizards saluted, placing right hands to left shoulders, and departed, led by Gramkil. Alx, Bale, and Maleth darted down the corridor toward Ray and Ninja. Each wielded a serrablade.

As they ran, Alx called over his shoulder: "Father and Aleran, you may head roofwards if you wish or come with us."

Rem slowly makes his way towards the center of the city while killing many zombies in the process and gets an idea

Rem: Damn their everywhere how can anyone possibly defeat them all, damn think think No holy crap what happens if these things spread outside of the city
Holy crap that cant be good in any way shape or form there has to be a way to seal them inside the city
But that would call for a shield of some sort
its to big of city for just me to make an energy shield but i could make a shield that could only allow humans through but only for about a 10 foot radius shoot there has got to be a way
hmmmmm
think
think
wait there used to be an armory around here hmmm i think it did have some sheild genorators but i dont know how wide of shield it would be but first of all maybe i should try to find it
Rem goes serching for the armory while killing 6 headcrabs and 2 zombies on the way
Rem: oh there it is wow its still standing in this ruined city
darn zombies may be slow and stupid but they sure know how to make a mess
lets have a look whats in the armory
Walks through the door to the armory
wow look at all the equipment
there are more explosives in here than the headcrabs themselves
Ahhh here they are shield genorators hmmm they are not that big but there are around 100 of them so
Rem gets to work and 1 hour later
yes finished
Rem has combined the power of 20 shields into one so the power increases
ok so now lets just link all of them to one remote lets see
looks around and grabs a detonator from one of the explosives and recalibrates it to work for the shields
ok so i got 5 shields and should take each one to the outer limits of the city and set them so lets go
Rem takes of at incredible speeds due to his energy conversion into speed and goes off to set up the shields

"Father? You take the roof, I'll defend the escape. Ok with you?"

Aleran was not quite sure where the lizards were going down the hallway, but he was going to follow them anyway. He orders his captain to take most of the men to the roof to escort the wounded, and then address all of his men. "This building could be the place of our final stand. Anyone who wishes to may sty here with me and fight. You may die. Anyone who goes will not be thought less of. In fact, I order at least half of you to leave. Anyone who volunteers to stay, follow me. The rest of you, follow Captain Zelos up those stairs."

With that, he spins around and starts walking after Takor Alx, not looking to see if any follow him. Truthfully, he hopes they all leave. He doesn't want more of his men to die.



There were still plenty of doors to check and possible reseal. The one that Ninjageek and Ray were fighting at, the large main doors (though those should still be holding), and a few smaller doors that should be looked over just in case. Still plenty of work to do.

NINJAGEEK looked at the oncoming crowds of zombies and at his leg. It hurt a lot even though the pain was blunted by him residing in his shadow.

How could I protect my body while fighting at the same time? he thought.

His mind raced trying to come up with an idea before the zombies got to close. He started manipulating the shadows around his body to form something of a coffin of protective shadow walls.

Hopefully this will hold. he thought to himself.

Then he turned back to the zombies that were slowly advancing towards him. He carefully imagined something like clawed gauntlets on his shadowy arms and the shadows warped themselves into them. Shadows swirled and crowded around him as he dove into the crowd of zombies that first screamed in glee that turned to terror of something dangerous. The shadows bathed in blood and became alive to a new master of shadows.

>.l, these things just keep coming! We should probaly close the entrance to this place....

Ray didn't have much time to look at the entrance's structure to forumlate a plan. Right away there was a massive amounts of headcrabs on him. Ray had his chain wrapped around his finger and twirled it around. He kept it at a close range so it only went about 3 feet in front of him. (this way he wouldn't hurt any allies) Ray had it so the chain would spin around all sides of him, basically creating a shield.....

SNATCH One of the head crabs grabbed his chain by the blades at the end. The zombie was disgustingly swollen, and it looked like there was about 6 purplish headcrabs on this zombie.... The head crabs came off of the zombie and worked their way a long Ray's chain towards his head.

"Fudge....."

Rem had set up four shields and was just know ariving at the last place where he had to set the last shield up. Thank God that he was able to avoid all zombies and headcrabs on the way to his destinations. Rem wanted to save as much energy as possible for one reason and one reason alone.
Rem: damn i hope that i can make it in time i cannot be late if i am it could mean the death of all the people that may still be alive in the building located at the center of the city. only i hope that that explosion was set of by people or my work will almost be for nothing. Ok now lets get this shield up
Rem messed with the shield for about a minute
Ok i think i have it just right if i can just get a charge to all of them i can probably make it so that once they are up they will not use energy and will not lose power unless deactivated by hand. ok i think i am ready gathering as small amount of energy as possible so i dont waste any ok
Rem focus' hard on his lightning and it separates at increadable speeds to the other shield genorators and...
Ok i got them and then i just have to use this detonator
Rem pressed the button and a huge burst of energy comes out of the shield genorators and at a well enough speed the shields slowly rise to the sky to form a dome type thing.
Ok this will take about 1 hour to be fully up
Now i must get back to the armory to continue with phase two of my plan

OOC: Dude, Narutouzi, wtf are you doing? shields? why?

Drakkus agrees with Aleran's proposal. Just not yet...the Goddess want his to go to the small doors. He know that nothing is impenetrable, and as no one else seems to be doing anything about those particular weaknesses....
He stands by the rubble from the explosion until the passageway is clear around him. Everyone had either headed up the stairway or gone down the hallway to fight. Closing his eyes, Father Drakkus transforms into a stag and goes running down a smaller passageway that he knows must lead to one of the entrances in the back.

NINJAGEEK is jumping and spinning inside a crowd of zombies, creating chaos amongst them. Shadowy gauntlets have become covered in blood now as they rip out the guts of the zombies that stray near him. With him the shadows dance too, tripping the zombies and sometimes even ripping them apart on their own accord. A fast zombie suddenly runs up to him and swings an arm to strike NINJAGEEK but NINJAGEEK attuned with the shadows quickly raises a shadow wall to block the attack and then smashes the fast zombie with it. H looks for a next opponent and sees a large bloated zombie moving towards. Jumping forwards he quickly and effectually rips the head crab off of it and spins looking for another zombie to fight. As he turns a poison head crab from the poison head crab zombie he just killed crawled up and bit him. NINJAGEEK turns and kills it, the wound barely anything. He steps forwards but suddenly falls down on the ground so tired he can barely move.

Poison he mumbles.

He struggles to get back up and continue to fight but he can't at the moment.

"Fudge" Ray muttered again, "One of my maqasins fell off....." Ray took his other blade in his left hand and stabbed the oncoming poison headcrab.

"Ah wellz, i'll just throw the other one off....cause having one shoe on feels weird =/" Ray threw his other shoe off at the Poisoned Zombie's hand. THe zombie let go of Ray's rapier, and Ray reeled it back in. All in one moment Ray had dove in at the zombie and sliced it with his two rapiers.

Ray notices that the black thing that was fighting had dissapeared....as well as any sign of NINJAGEEK. So was NINJAGEEK's new power?Must've been....but where is he Ray jumped into the air, using any jumping Headcrabs in his way as stepping stones to get higher. Noticing NINJAGEEK on the ground he lands nearby.

".....Always getting yourself into trouble, eh NINJAGEEK?..." Ray grinned at his friend. Then his grin turned into a frown. NINJAGEEK wasn't moving.... "And yet....so do I...." Ray lifted NINJAGEEK onto his shoulder's and then tried to find an opening through the headcrabs....
Ray looked at his watch again, "Only 2 hours have passed!!!??" Sighing, Ray put NINJAGEEK back down. "I can't do this, not with all of these-" Ray started doing his chain/rapier combo again, "-Pests everywhere in my way!!! I can only hope NINJAGEEK can last while I recharge my magic...."

Ray continued to stand his ground, hovering over NINJAGEEK's body, not letting any headcrabs infect the ninja. Ray had no idea that he was poisoned.....

5 long minutes passed, and Ray was beginning to waver, the amounts of zombies and headcrabs had become denser. ((ooc: O_o is that a word?))

"We HAVE to close the entrance to this place. Think Ray think!" Looking at NINJAGEEK he realized he was overheating with a fever, and his wound was swelling, even worse, NINJAGEEK was foaming in the mouth....
"Fudge! Poison!" Immediatly Ray bit his lip and jumped as high as he could towards the area the headcrabs were coming. Then he threw NINJAGEEK as far as he could into the entrance gate. NINJAGEEK Slammed into the ceiling and with the help of Ray's rapiers which created a focal point for the impact. The impact+focal points create a big fissure in the ceiling and collapsed on the entryway, blocking the entrance from more headcrabs and zombies.

Ray had chained up NINJAGEEK at the last second and brought him back. NINJAGEEK had vomited all over because of what happened.....and ultimately had the color return to him. Probaly because NINJAGEEK had vomited any poison that was inside of him.
"^^ I'm surprised that worked!" But Ray saw the remaining 100+Headcrabs and zombies in front of him...."However, looks like we're not out of this yet....."

NINJAGEEK woke up after passing out from the poison and realized that he was chained to so rocks. focusing his mind on shadows again he ripped the chains free with the help of all the nearby shadows. He looked at Ray

What was the chains for Ray? Whatever, we have some zombies to kill and lets get to it.

He turned to the zombies, which seemed to never end.

"^^ That's right, whatever is a good word o,<" Ray was glad he wouldn't have to carry NINJAGEEK back to safety. Taking his blades he headed into the massive amounts of Headcrabs and zombies

Arriving at the main gate in the middle of the building, Aleran sees that it has held well. so far...

There are few defenders at this entrance, most of them having run off to help with the break-ins at the other doors. The only ones remaining here were a few of the town's militia, a large group of what looks to be retired veterans, some mercenaries that seem to have no desire to be there, and several young men who look like they have no business fighting at all. One boy must have been no older than twelve!!

"You there! Boy! how old are you?" Aleran addresses the youngest looking kid in the bunch.
The boy trembles..."11, sir"
This is who the town officials put in the front lines at the most important defensive point?!

Raising his voice, Aleran addresses the assembled troops.
"Right then. I am Lord Aleran of Yyru, and I am taking over this defense." He pauses, but no one objects. "First off, I need someone to tell me. Where are the rest of the survivors hiding?"
One of the older veterans, a dog-man thing, answers in a rough voice, "Safe, m' lord, in a strong room on the top floor."
"Thank you. Now, I want anyone with a normal human lifespan under the age of 16 to go to this room, retrieve the people within, and take them to the roof. there should be an evacuation ship there soon. Anyone with a different lifespan who is not old enough to be without a mothers care, go with them."

The boys are reluctant to leave, but some of the mercenaries kindly offer to escort the boys to their target, promising to return. Aleran lets them go, knowing that he will never see them again. Cowards.

He then organizes all remaining fighters into a reasonable defense. It turns out that Zelos had disobeyed his orders and followed him anyway, along with all of his men who weren't seriously wounded. All in all, Aleran had around 30 men to defend a 4-pace wide door. What he did looked something like this...


OOC: Ignore the hole in the wall..bloody MS paint put it there without telling me...in truth it does not exist, so we're still safe.