Scene #1432: Hecate

Owner	Pose
Kirito	DOES A TERROR LURK WITHIN THE DATABASE? Could a player of a VRMMO, by shooting a PC in-game, slay that avatar's player and leave no trace of just how they died? Does the rumored Death Gun truly have any power? You are all here because, presumably, you want to find him and learn for sure. How lucky that the easiest way to do that is becoming the most profoundly proficient murder-hobo to walk the wastelands surrounding SBC Glocken? "HUAP!!" The thrum-hiss-sizzle of a Photon Saber interrupts the desert winds, dicing across the tail of a HORSE-SIZED, overly chitinous two-headed scorpion. The monster is one of several that just ambushed the group. 'Wasteland Scorpinator' by the local codexes. Mutants that rose while humanity had left Earth scorched and devastated. Several more still plague the group out here - everyone's been traveling along a path blazed by Reker and Eisen Blumen. Supposedly, these are the favorite hunting grounds of a prevalent PVE ang, and if the group's going to get famous they need two things: loot and infamy. So today's goal: Locate, ambush, eviscerate, and loot a squad armed mostly with optical weapons, geared for PVE. And don't get killed by horrible scorpion monsters on the way there! "Somehow these things don't feel original!" Kirito exclaims as his enemy explodes into shimmery pixels...
Karian Icefang	Karian follows the group, after having spent a bit to gear himself up. After all, a heavy like him needs heavy weaponry. So, he got himself an LMG and heavy armor. "What makes you say that?" He calls out, taking care to let loose on targets that hopefully do not echo into the ears of the PvE group.
Zephyr Windstar	"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" CLAKBLAM! Gayle kicks off the head of one of those scorpion monsters, before unloading a shotgun shell into it. She flips in midair, lands and stumbles backwards a little bit. "Knew I shoulda bought a melee weapon, bah, nothin' for it though!" She racks the pump on her shotgun, a wonderful piece of kit she got off the Christmas event. She dodges, wincing as a pincer slashes across her leg and taking a chunk out of her HP bar. "I'm with Heavy Weapons Guy... there a story behind that remark?" she asks, unloading another shell into the monster, causing it to shatter into light motes.
Tomoe	Tomoe normally would stalk other PVPers it just how she is but she gets the deal she gets how this game works after all right? Eisen Blumen was the body she wore today gone was the Salamander, gone was the sword woman and even teh student. She enjoyed this form and it become almost second nature to her much s Tomoe has become. The asian woman checked her load of ammo and keps figthting she had brough PVE weapons along for dealing with it after all they were ambushing right? Not worrying about carrying /loot/ back with them well they had a shorter hike than one in a dungeon. Either way she paused for a moment. "They are a refernace to an old western made RPG, it's nice to see someone recalls it!" She takes a shot bloing another away ith a optiocal shotgun. "We should be getting ready to switch to PVP gear soon once we get the last of these things cleared out." She blows some blue and red hair out of her eye for a moment and grins lookinver over at Kirito. "It's just like this game having Lightsabers! Don't tell me you not seen those movies They did hit japan!"
Alexis Maaka	Alexis has been taking her time in practicing her skills on GGO since she got in with the Gatecrashers. Having a busy work schedule IRL makes things a bit dicey, but plenty of contracts have given her excuse to hop online and pwn the newbs with the best of 'em. Having some sweet new gear and powerleveling to go with it helps, especially as she demonstrates with a shiny new HK 416. Her foot stomps on one of the scorpions in a melee finisher animation, blasting away idly at the annoying pests as she follows the group. She takes aim at another of the arachnids, firing in bursts to shred the chitonous armor and soft flesh inside. "You don't say." She remarks, keeping pace with Kirito and co. "Heads on a swivel whether or not that hunch is true, folks. Let's not get caught flat-footed here." 'Alice' adds.
Frederica	Gear isn't entirely a problem, not if you have money. And Frederica does have money, if not so much time to grind as she once had. It seemed only proper, in this case at least, to take care of GGO's RMT system to buy her way to a reasonable level of firepower. She doesn't have the strength to wield a decent flamethrower, but she's making do with a grenade launcher. A M79, in fact. Old weapon, but one with a good range and effectiveness. It's slow however, as slow as a rocket launcher to reload with none of the rocket launcher's range and accuracy. Along with the belt of grenades, she's armed for bear... or at least scorpion. "Quit getting so close to them!" Frika complains good-naturedly. She'd already fired her grenade launcher, and is currently holding a frag grenade in one hand waiting for an opportunity to toss it. She's probably done SOME damage to the party by now, catching one or two in the edges of an explosion. Nothing terribly damaging but ... well, explosives are dangerous! And while she seems relatively unapologetic about such a thing, given this is just a game, she IS trying to be a little more careful... hence the held grenade. As to what the explosive once-and-future-pyro is wearing? Well, she's wearing an avatar that resembles her normal self somewhat. Her hair is its normal length if rather ... well, if purple. And her curves... well, okay. That's one thing about Frika. Her avatars are more generous in certain areas than nature would grant her flesh-and-blood form. Her outfit is practical in only a game sense, consisting of 'camo' shorts and an improbable shirt, along with combat boots, gloves, and assorted pouches and ammo. (http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/03eb285c63980735cd764f8a243caf5d.jpg)
Teepo	There's a newbie in this group! Short wavy blond hair, black eyes. Wearing mostly brown, but has a sea-green scarf around the neck. Though a newbie, it's likely this newbie has fought a time or two in the real world. Though the newbie shares something in common with Kirito. It's a little hard to tell the gender! Until he spoke, that is. So there's that. At least he's been contributing on this run. He's pretty fast, and knows what he's doing. He generally knows where he should and shouldn't be standing, generally knows how to flank and sneak... use others' aggro to make his attacks. He has a PvE pistol for this part. He has something to add to the conversation, too. "Sorry! Ya got offworlders in your party. Thanks for the explanation though."
Arthur Lowell	ARTHUR LOWELL is here! In the flesh, actually, as per the norm for Arthur in GGO. Using a pair of HAND-BROOM-CANNONS, which are apparently dual pistol-sized handbrooms that fire shotgun-like blasts of light, blasting throguh monsters. "EH," Arthur calls out to Kirito. "In VIDYA, you CAN'T really make a lot of ORIGINAL SHIT, y'know? Gotta keep to what people KNOW." He fires into the head of one of the creates as he attempts to ride it. He's been stung, a lot, because he simply does not give a fuck, he just keeps blasting point blank lightfire into the foe's head. "So how's this AMBUSH shit gonna work. Can we, what, LEAVE the LOOT around? Or are we just gonna find a BIG SCORE and then wait for SOMEONE ELSE to take it? What's the PLAN, big guy?"
Riva Banari	AND SO THE LEGEND OF BULLETARTIST RIVA CONTINUES WITH THIS LATEST INSTALLMENT: 'How Not To Get Eaten By A Giant Mutant Scorpion' "WAAAAAGH!" Riva yells, flailing. "THEY'RE LIKE TEN TIMES THE SIZE OF A SCORPION, OF COURSE THEY DON'T FEEL ORIGINAL!" She runs away, trying to shoot behind her as one of the scorpions clambers along after her, keeping up easily enough over the rough wasteland ground. The massive stinger slashes past her and she barely dodges, falling backwards as she rolls away behind some rocks. "Scorpions... They're like the rats of the desert! With poison! RATS PLUS ONE!" She pops up and braap braaaps at the one trying to eat her. It rattles off the chitinous armor. It almost seems to laugh at her chitteringly as it moves in to claw-claw-sting. "I should have stuck with the raaaa-ha-aaaaaats." Riva groans, preparing to get mauled.
Reker	"The plan is pretty simple. At least in my opinion." Reker says, as he's been sitting on the hood of his truck, watching everybody kill scorpions and get themselves ready for the upcoming battle, "These guys are primarily armed with light guns. PvE weapons. Great against monsters like the scorpion over there, next to useless against players because of these." He taps a small device on his vest, "Shield generators deflect light blasts, negating almost all of the damage. They don't deflect bullets, though. So these guys will have one, maybe two guys with real guns." He hops off of his truck and then heads towards the back, "We take those guys out first and the rest of them will be easy pickings. Taking down a group like this should be easy, though I expect security will be a little tighter since they got taken down by another group a couple of weeks ago. They'll probably all have real weapon sidearms, and maybe one or two guys with rifles."
Kirito	"U-uwaaaaahhh!" Rare for anynoe to hear Kirito panic, but with a grenade being lobbed at a scorpion close by... he goes to leap but BOOOOOOOOOM! A scorpion's blown to bits - pixels, that is - and Kirito's hit with enough force to knock him on his rump with a thud, plunging his HP down to 3/4ths. It's regenerating quickly enough. The androgynous warrior in black snorts, rises, and stretches while the otehrs are finishing off their enemies. For some brief moments he seems annoyed... but then... There's that mischevious glint in his eyes again. Kirito tromps over towards Frika and boldly states, "That's a C+ or a B- grade, Frika." His words come out in a disapproving tone. Of course he knows Frika can do better. It's motivation time "Too bad you don't have a tail this time around. Motivating you to fly was so easy in ALO!" Just how daring can the Black Swordsman get? But he soon spots Riva's nearby... difficulties, and cups a hand near his mouth to shout, "Riva! Watch the eyes! It'll look right where it's aiming. That's a huge clue for dodging!" She has to learn somehow! He gives the others all a somewhat sheepish look... and then settles on Teepo. "Thanks again for coming. You're pretty good!" For a newbie, he'd normally say. But he's a newbie himself here. And the only doofus wielding an energy sword instead of a gun with such flair. He frowns at Reker, then mutters, "Preying on PVE'ers huh.... it's not my style, but we don't have many choices here. They were taken out though? By who?"
Karian Icefang	Karian shrugs. "Either way, it means a better target for us. That's what we should do. Take down big dogs to earn our reputation." He says. He hefts the LMG easily with one hand, watching the others closely.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis shrugs at Kirito, "Gotta do what we gotta do, besides this'll make things a bit easier on us if we give the other clans to back off when we're off raiding." She points out, offering the Black Swordsman a hand up before continuing onwards, rifle in hand as she takes aim at a few more of the scorpions. "Try and watch that fire discipline, eh Frika?" She calls out to the grenading pyro sourly. "LAst thing we need is to get our asses blown off before we even get in position!" Rolling her eyes, Alexis sprints towards Reker as she grumbles about bloody amateurs under her breath. At least this Reker bloke's legit, for one thing. "How further are we to the zone, Rek?" She asks the former Marine Raider, swapping to a laser pistol to take some potshots at the scorpions. It saves ammo for PvP, doesn't it?
Zephyr Windstar	Gayle grins. "So they're not gonna be a soft target huh? Good! I love a challenge." she remarks. "But that's a good question, who attacked these guys before us?" she asks, reloading her shotgun before holding it at parade rest, turning her eyes over the others as they group gathers after the attack.
Frederica	Frika doesn't really care about GGO. It's a fun game, but her motivation isn't the same as it was in Alfheim Online. She can get pretty fired up about some asshole killing random people, but it's not as personal as it was when Asuna was one of the potential victims. It's hard for her to care overmuch if she accidentally blows up a friend here. Given the absolute lethality and random danger poised by her real-world powers, the dangers of explosives pale in comparison. They're even... kind of liberating. She can have FUN! She gives Kirito a look. Not a nasty look, though there's a gleam in her eyes. "Maybe this time I'll give YOU flying lessons!" she says in mock-viciousness. Well, probably mock. She pockets her hand grenade and cracks the barrel of her launcher, possibly in emphasis of her words. She IS pretty good with the launcher, admittedly. She can use her natural experience with arcs and blasts, rather than using the relatively-unpracticed motions of her throwing arm. She responds slightly better to Alexis, however. "I'll be careful." she promises, somewhat sullenly, slotting ammo into the launcher. With a snap she closes up the grenade launcher, bringing the stock up to her shoulder. Careful or not, her promise might mean little. If she dishes out more hurt to the enemy than to her friends, what's the real harm? In virtual reality, at least. She's QUITE careful to avoid Arthur, for example, knowing that he's here in the flesh and vulnerable. She has no need to be quite that careful with others.
Tomoe	Tomoe Says "Right so swap from your energy weapons now, we won't have time to do so in flat out combat." She moves to swap her own gear at this point she watches Kirito get nearly exploded and she laughs pretty loudly at him for a moment. Kirito get the warning in sooner it seems and she looks to Kirito anf nods. "Mine either but hitting them and succeding will get a lot of notice they never had someone come out of nowhere and stop a hunt team. They had more major squadrons doe it but not a pack of nobodies." She grins widely at this as she checks over her shotgun and pistol. She seems to be readty after a moment and she seems to be getting ready. "Riva you holding up all right?"
Riva Banari	Kirito calls to her. Looking right where they're about to attack? "IT'S A BUG, THEY HAVE COMPOUND EYES, HOW DO I KNOW WHERE IT'S LOOKING?" Riva yells. but flails nonetheless and lunges forward, the claws snapping past her and glancing her with painful damage lines... but the tail slams right behind her. "I THINK IT'S WORKING!" Riva yells in response to Tomoe's expression of concern... And then she trips over the front of the scorpion, her arms flailing out to grapple the tail of the scorpion. She clings to it for dear life, while the scorpion bucks and clacks with irritation. "We can totally HANDLE IIIIIIIT OHMAHGAWDWHEEEEE!" She yells, only punctuating how stupid this is clearly getting in the background of Serious Game Time.
Teepo	Teepo listens to Reker's plan. "So just swoop in and overrun 'em?" he inquires. "Better find a place to set an ambush, then." He also looks to Kirito at the comment, and offers a salute and a grin. "Thanks." A nod to Karian's words, and then a smirk at Alexis's words. "Yeah, kinna want my ass to remain attached thank ya." Gayle gets a nod. Teepo also adds, "If they've been taken down once, they're likely to be a little better prepared." They're going to need to be careful. "Or, the people who came after them might decide we're better targets." Riva's screaming gets a look. Well, there goes their 'ambush' capability...
Arthur Lowell	"INFAMY!" Arthur declares. "We need to make people MAD! We need to get people TALKING! We need to make 'em HATE! C'MON!" He leaps off the scorpion and wanders over to Kirito to give him a backslap. "'Sides. If they're ANYTHING like FPS PLAYERS where I come from, they're ASSHOLES." Tomoe gets a nod. "GOTCHA BOSS, swappin' NOW." And he just sort of... Flicks both his brooms to the side, though they make an audible reloading noise. Wait, what? Then wandering to Reker. "HEY GUY, yeah, I know the PREMISE here, but I mean the PLAN plan. Like, where we gonna LAY LOW where we'll get some real fuckin' TARGETS to get our FIGHTS ON with, huh? That's what I wanna know."
Reker	"I know a lot of you guys disagree with this plan." Reker says, as he looks at the group, knowing they're not really happy with the situation, "They're one of the top ranked PvP squadrons in the game. Lead by a dude named Dyne who's placed in the top twenty of every single Bullet of Bullets tournament so far." Reker shakes his head a bit, "So if we can score that kind of target, it'll definitely get us the attention that we want, to try to draw Death Gun out of hiding." Reker pulls out a device and turns it on, generating a 3D map around himself, "This right here is where we are now." He marks a point on the map, "This is the direction this team will be traveling from." He motions to a desert dune not far from a wrecked city with several destroyed skyscrapers, "Our best bet will be to hide in these ruins. I can set up a few claymores to strike them initially and we can pincer in on them and finish them. Top priority will be anyone with a real gun."
Kirito	"Hoh? Top twenty? That's pretty good!" Kirito goes a bit wide-eyed, distracted momentarily from Frika's retort.... again, Riv's flailing and strange derpination leave him blinking. Is that... really happening? And is everyone calmly going over plans while it's happening? Err... Nothing's like it ought to be, huh? Oh well. He'll just keep an eye on her. She does need to learn how to dodge better it seems! So he glances at the map after nodding to the others who spoke to him. Only one thing gets him questioning. "Claymores?"
Karian Icefang	KArian nods towards Kirito. "Sounds like a good idea. We should also set up point in front and behind. A real crossfire would work wonders." He says, looking over the map. "If we have any other heavy weapon users, they should set either in front or behind to draw attention. Meanwhile, the lighter and faster people should fire at the flanks." He suggests.
Alexis Maaka	"Landmines." Alexis explains Kirito-ward, before giving a thumbs up with Reker. "Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes peeled." She says. Karian also gets a nod, "Good point, we can surround and shred 'em before they can even dial us all in." Her eyes scan the map, marking bits in her own menu just as Reker points them out studiously.
Riva Banari	There's some more struggling, and Riva brapps into the back of the chinous horror again twice more before she is finally hurled away, sending her flying with a thud behind some rocks. the good news is that the massive mutant scorpion seems to have lost track of her in the process, as it clicks a couple times in what might be irritation, and wanders off. A few seconds later, Riva pops her head out. "Is it safe?" She says, peering about, and then she stumbles over to hang out with the others. "Ohay, yeah, so the plan is to ambush the dudes and get them to run into the mines, got it." She nods to Reker, and shrugs. "Look, it's not like any of us are Death Gun, these guys are just gonna get their egos zinged. It's a game, not real life. Don't worry about it." As she talks, she's busy bandaging herself up. LOOKS LIKE SHE LEARNED HOW TO USE THE HEALING STUFF FAST. "Just tell me where to go, guys."
Tomoe	Eisen looks to Kirito for a moment and she smirks. "Type of landmine." She notes before she's going to get into a good spot to hide she's pretty good at it and her darker coloued armour and body suit does blend in better to the background than somethings might. She seems ready as she's got her shotgun ready loaded and she's about set to ambush their prey.
Frederica	"I can split them up some too, with a grenade." Frika claims, hefting her chosen weapon. Assuming she can hit her ground target at standoff range, that is. At least she's better at aiming a launcher than she is at throwing. Actually, given real-world skills, she's perhaps surprisingly good at artillery-level firepower. She grins at Riva, levelling her grenade launcher and popping off a powerful explosive at the wandering monster. It's only money after all, and she's not nearly out of ammo. There is no kill like overkill. That taken care of, she turns to Reker. "Some of us completed the world quest of Alfheim Online." she states. Tomoe, Kirito, Karian, Arthur and herself, among those present. "We might not be here for PVP, but our mission means killing off characters. We can handle it." she says, perhaps a bit more tartly than Reker deserves. Then again he IS a guy.
Teepo	For his part, Teepo seems to be OK with it all. He steps a little closer to Reker, so he can study the 3D map the device generates. Listening as he studies the map-- he needs to know all the way to get out if things should go pear-shaped, after all-- he begins switching out his PVE gear for PVP. He's manged to find a pistol and a short-barreled shotgun, so he should be more or less good using these. "There's an idea." This to Karian and Alexis, and he nods in agreement. He's obviously not using heavy weapons though, so he's with the lighter ones. Frederica gets a nod too. "Yeah. Aside from that guy we're looking for, nobody's playing for keeps. And hey! It's preventing them from getting hit by 'Deff Bang'." Because that's about as silly as 'Death Gun'.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur wanders over and, while the others explain what claymores are. "Betcha you were thinkin' about SWORDS." He looks smug. Neeeerrrrrrrrrrrd. "ANYWAY! I ain't got a problem with the PLAN. Let's GET IT ON! I brought some VIDYA for us to play while we WAIT AROUND if you guys wanna." He's already wandering off a bit, intending to press the group on to more action. He really does wanna get this done, it seems! Very focused on the objective, in a way, even if his demeanor is unprofessional. "You guys know MY STYLE, I'll be UP CLOSE, so you set up your CROSSFIRES an' your AMBUSH LANDMINES and whatever, I'll FLUSH 'EM OUT of whatever COVER they try gettin'." He'll try to coax the group into wandering into the ruins. He also has... A stack of handheld game consoles in his Sylladex, for the group to play while they wait on the ambush, if they want to. Just to, you know, put some vidya in your vidya.
Reker	"Alright guys, lets get down there and get set up. They won't be long before they arrive, and we want to be all set up before they show." Reker despawns his truck and starts to set off towards where he's going to set up the claymores and the team is going to set up their ambush. It's not too far away, and they should be able to beat their quary there. MEANWHILE Dyne has made it into the top twenty of Bullet of Bullets in all the previous events. He is a very dedicated GGO player, and he has a team of very loyal troops who follow him. Recently, however, he has managed to lure the services of the deadliest sniper in the game. Dyne lifts his cowboy hat up as he looks over at Sinon, "You're clear on your part of the plan, right?" He asks, as he looks at her again, "Just get to the tower, and take out their guard. We'll be able to take down everyone else without an issue, but we need you to put down their gun wielder first and foremost." He stands up and tosses his cigarette away, which bursts into digital bits as it hits the ground, "Lets move folks." The rest of his team gathers up their gear and sets off towards their ambush point. They'll move in on Sinon's shot. That was the plan two weeks ago, and it'll be the plan again this week. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right?
Karian Icefang	KArian moves with the group, keeping his eye on the horizon. He casts a glance over towards Arthur, but simply nods towards him. Then, towards Kirito, a flash of a grin. "This is merely what we must do, Reker. Nothing more. We don't have time for regrets, not while people are being killed." He says, hinting that stuff like this wasn't new to him.
Alexis Maaka	PLaying vidya in vidya. Against her better judgement sometimes, ALexis Maaka is one not above playing silly little games when there's time providing. She accepts one of the handhelds and shrugs, giving Arthur's hair a little muss as she begins to climb her way into position where she can take potshots from above with her scoped 416. But since the wait will be pretty long, she sits about and begins to play Animal Crossing for little bit until things begin to pick up oncem ore.
Zephyr Windstar	Gayle has been largely quiet. She doesn't have much to add to the discussion, but pipes up with, "I'm specced for speed, if they bunker down, I'll flank and spank." she replies, checking her shotgun's loaded, then going over her paired pistols. She gets into a position that's largely covered, waiting for the enemies to pass before emerging for some buckshot facials.
Riva Banari	BulletArtist Riva, free of scorpion-esque doom and the point of her destruction vanishing in a blast from Frederica, seems to be relaxed now. she cheerfully nods to the others and heads into the ruins with Arthur while the ambush gets set up. She swaps out her gear as requested, changing to PVP MODO. Her gear doesn't change much. she's still pretty noobtastic. Were she alone, the thoughto f her taking on this crew ould be stupidly laughable. But she has /heart/, dammit. Heart and the ability to work with others. Speaking of working with others, she sticks next to Arthur. "So how are you liking this so far, Arthur? We're getting a hell of an adventure on, that's for sure." She comments, looking around. Once games are offered, Riva totally gets some game on for her game. It boops around as she continues to yammer at Arthur. "So yeah. Those guys aren't going to have any idea what they're in for!" She says confidently.
Teepo	Teepo heads for the ruins with the group as well, and finds himself a place to hide and take cover. It may be a little closer to the place they're expecting the party to be in, but like Gayle, he's more concerned about being fast enough to not get hit than just overwhelming attack power.
Frederica	Frika would definitely keep her eyes out for threats, but... well, when they're not actually under attack she's a bit bored and VIDYA GAMES are awesome. There's a whole lot of beeping and booping going on, and Arthur even gets a grin from the pyro turned demolitionist. It'll be another thing entirely when matters get critical, of course. She intends to work off Reker's actions in placing claymores. Wherever the enemy is, whenever the mines detonate, they'll immediately go for cover. If, that is, they're at all worth the bother of fighting. Her first move is therefore to figure out their best available cover and plot a grenade strike into it. Arcing fire, her specialty, should help make any group out of sorts and somewhat easier prey for the more accurate members of this assault squad. And of course, her cheap-ass grenade launcher always deals physical damage. That's the big reason she's using gear that's so out of date. It was the best she could get that was portable, shoulder-launched, and not an actual anti-tank weapon. She has a few PVE grenades, but her primary weapon is set for killing Death Guns. Or, you know, other players.
Sinon	For one famed GGO sniper, this wasn't just a raid. This was a challenge. Her goal was not money or fame, but strength, which she could get only by defeating the strongest players. Taking jobs as being the anti-bodyguard member of PvP groups was one way to achieve this. Sinon was well-known in GGO for her skills as one of the best snipers in the game. Rumor has it that her unique anti-material rifle, PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II, or Hecate, was only obtained after she sniped a boss alone for hours, until it finally died and dropped the weapon. And since then, she's been sought after for her skills, such as today, taking out whatever powerhouse the PVE group would have. Sinon looked away from Dyne, towards the ruined skyscraper that was her destination. She was calm and collected, preparing her rifle for travel. "I can take care of it." Her voice was determined, as she started her sprint towards the tower. Once she arrived, she would scale to the top, and put her rifle in position, lying prone, watching the battlefield below. She would take out their gunman, and show that she was stronger than they. She would become the strongest of them all.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur is going to wait a while, playing his VIDEO GAMES. Arthur passes one of his spares to Riva while she talks to him. "YEAH! I'm fuckin' LIKING IT! I mean, no... PROGRESS so far, but HEY!" He does a sort of wide two-handed gesture. "It's the most FUN kind of STALLING I've ever done!" He laughs several times and then looks up eagerly from his game, peering out at the vast ambush area, eagerly looking for any sign of the targets! It has been five minutes. Arthur's gonna be boooorrrred eventually.
Kirito	What, landmines use a sword's name? Kirito makes a face at Arthur. One that suggests yeah, Arthur hit the nail on the head there. But regarding the plan as a whole, the short swordsman nods. "Sounds good. Let's do that. I'll be with the pincer movement!" Naturally. He'll just have to hope people don't accidentally shoot him. He moves to set up with the others, clipping his weapons again to his belt and giving his Kagemitsu the chance to cool off... MEANWHILE... As it turns out, the hunting group everyone's hoping to ambush is late. A whole four or five minutes late. They are approaching far off in the distance, but without the proper visual skills there's not much to see besides seven shapes on the horizon, carrying weapons. They're walking unusually slowly, given how quickly avatars can usually move when they want to. And what player wouldn't want to save time out in the boonies here? Those who DO have some way to see in detail - either the Hawkeye skill or binoculaurs for instance - will find that most of them are wearing brown and greenish clothing. Very basic armor, although one has some kind of slightly bulky armor plates for their torso. Nearly all using energy weapons - only one has a mini-gun. The guy in the back is entirely covered in a draping robe. He's broad-shouldered and built like a brick.
Tomoe	Eisen waits her shotgun at the t the ready she waits now she's got to get in fast and attack she knows how this goes they will have t bring down any escorts they might have but she does trust the others. She has no idea Sinon is lurking with another crew here, not at all. Things are about to get crazy at this point. She would talk to Kirito about the weapons coming from the West, so she can get it. She waits a moment longer as she pokes her head just up enough to get a look with her binocs out and get a look at what's comming. <Target spotted they got an escort but I can't make out anything about what they are packing."
Karian Icefang	KArian pulls out a pair of binoc's he grabbe, at least for his one eye, and scanned. "They're late..." He then spots the group and watches them. "Hrm....Why are they walking so slowly?" Then he changes over to the party chat or equivilent. "Something feels off about this....stay on guard."
Teepo	Yup. Sounded like something was going to go pear-shaped. Teepo hears Karian's warning and tenses. This is probably gonna be bad. Once he can see the group more clearly, he takes note of the guy with the machine gun. That must be the slug-gunner. And... that guy in the robe. He probably bears watching, too...
Frederica	Frika checks out the approaching 'bad guys', her own farsight ability activated as she's warned of their presence. She can't see as well as can those with binoculars perhaps, but it's enough to give her some idea of the approaching figures. "They're moving slow. Which is probably why they're late, I guess." she notes, thinking nothing of the slowness. Maybe they found a heavy treasure or something, and are lugging it around with them. Her tactics are fairly simple either way, whether there's something wrong with the situation or not. She finds some cover, a handy boulder to hide behind, and readies her M-79. Her target will be the likeliest cover spot, if Reker had the chance to plant some mines. The group itself, if he hasn't. Angles and elevation, wind and yardage. The calculation is intuitive rather than mathematical, but it's one borne of long experience with heavy firepower in any case.
Zephyr Windstar	Gayle pokes her head over some debris just long enough to peer through a pair of binoculars. "Looks like energy weapons only... that big guy's all covered in robes with a big machinegun... Dunno why they're movin' so slow though. I don't like this one bit." she reports to the others, ducking back down again and readying her shotgun.
Riva Banari	Meanwhile, the ever-attentive Riva doesn't really comment on the slowness of the incoming guys, since she's not really paying attention to anything in general except for the people around her and the game she's messing with. "I guess progress is kind of a metaphorical thing. I mean, it's not about the destination, but the journey!" She says, and then the game indicates she just got blown up. She frowns. "Okay, that was stupid, I get it." She starts again. "I suppose patience is a virtue, which is why it's so damn hard to have it." She grumbles, and looks up at the mention of the guys. "Soooooo... What are we doing? Going out there orrrrrr?" It's clear she's just as impatient as Arthur is. God help us all.
Reker	Reker had been busy setting up those claymores, getting their ambush point set up. He's unaware that there is another group setting up nearby with their own ambush. Reker finishes setting his mines and then moves into position to get a view on the approaching PvE group. Not far from Reker, Dyne is doing something similar, his group set up and waiting for Sinon's shot. He is watching the PvE group and talking to Sinon on the radio. "Sinon, take out the one with the machine gun first. He's the only threat. We'll be able to clean up the rest easy...That big guy with the robes is probably carrying all of their gear, that's why they're moving so slow.."
Sinon	With confirmation from Dyne, Sinon aims the barrel of Hecate, looking through the sight. She aims the gun at the head of the PVE guy with the machine gun, as she holds in her breath, steadying the weapon. Her finger gripping the trigger, she responds over the radio. "Fire." And then she pulls the trigger, a bullet flying for the man with the machine gun. But, this seems a bit too easy, doesn't it? No matter. In a matter of seconds, it will be another one down, a symbol of her being the strong Sinon. She has to be. She can no longer be weak.