OC- Sorry, so long no posts. I have to do this quick too. Cadian, I guess you are out of the game?
IC-
Set's ghouls had led through the sewars, their guns holsterd and their path unmolested save for the occassional mole rat. When troubled the mighty Orax had dispatched the mutant rodents with a few hits of his mighty sledgehammer.
Finally they had come to a manhole cover and the ghoul had stopped.
He turned to face the others, a finger to his rotten lips. "Here you are smoothskin. Up there and into the big building. But it's guarded. So be clever."
"And you?" Asked Cadian.
"Will wait for you to return and then back to the church for your lady. From there, out of deadland." Then he stepped back into the darkness until he seemed to dissolve into the dark.
Grimble had gone up first. Years as working as a scavenger in dangerous places, he moved quietly carefully and quickly. He had learned his trade in the Boneyard, and could steal a bone from a ravenous deathclaw. He climbed up and removed the manhole. It was still dark above, and Grimble almost slithered along the deserted streets as the others waited below.
It took him nearly an hour to circle the great hall, but he moved without notice and without bloodshed. Quietly he noted the guards, the entry ways. He neared the great doors and knew that he could pick through them. Then finished he returned to the manhole.
"We must be quiet, but we can approach. Stay low and be dark. Their are guards and some are armed, but we can work our way through the gate, and then into the building." He told them.
Cadian nodded and followed Grimble, followed by Orax and then Sloan in the rear. Low and quietly they moved, crawling along the street so as not to alert suspicion. Grimble had found a pathway, and they followed him through the shadows until he reached the gate's back entrance.
Orax stopped a few meters from the gate, and then signaled. Two fingers walking, a spear, one finger, and hand across the throat.
Cadian nodded, and motioned for Orax to go forward behind Grimble.
At the gate Grimble removed his tools and quietly worked the lock, until it gave an audible click.
The ghoul guard on the other side had barely time to say "What's that?" When Orax came through the gate and crushed the guard's skull with one drop of his sledge.
Grimble dragged the body aside as the other two members went through the gate. THey took what they needed and continued.
Back into the shadow. around a corner, past a huge dumpster to another door. A rear entrance. Just as they neared another ghoul opened the door and stepped out. In his hands he had what looked like a cigerrette, and he drew a match, which momentarily blinded him.
"Never could quit these damn death sticks." The ghoul mumbled, and then his head left his shoulders under Orax's blow.
They removed this one's body as well, again removing what they needed and putting it into bags.
The door opened the four men moved in. Cadian stopped, and looked at them all. "Remember your names and remember, leave a few alive."
The others nodded, not needing to be reminded.
Cadian nodded to Grimble who again led the way. Through the abandoned building, papers strewn on the floor and over cockroaches that fed on the decay. Grimble moved with purpose, an innate understanding of the buildings layout though he had never been before. Such instinct learned from years among the deathclaw of the LA boneyard.
He stopped at a corner, bringing them all to a stop. Then a peak around.
Two ghouls on guard under torch light. Probably more inside.
"Where the hell is Set?" Said one.
"Fucker things he's a primadonna. Most powerful ghoul in Necropolis." Said the other.
"My rotting ass he is." Grumbled the first
"Power? Bah. War? What's it good for?"
"Absolutely nothing." Said the first. They both laughed.
Behind the corner, Grimble and Orax extracted blood and tissue from the bags. The ghouls they had killed would open the door for them. Their hands bloody, they put the rotting tissue to their faces until they each had the visage of rotting death.
Cadian nodded for them to continue.
Slowly, mimicking the staggered walk of the ghouls, the two walked up to the guards, saying nothing but giving low moans.
"Hey, it is our relief?" Asked one of the ghouls.
"About damn time." Said the second as the two humans closed on them.
Grimble struck first, drawing his knife and plunging it into the chest of the first ghould, his other hand clambed around the ghoul's mouth. At the same moment, Orax's sledge found its' third victim.
Cadian and Sloan were at the door as the two dead ghouls were slowly lowered. Grimble worked the lock with deft skill.
He nodded. The door was open.
Orax went in first, throwing the door wide and fast, knocking over the first ghoul guard. The other tried to respond with his spear, but was not fast enough as Orax's sledge broke through the ghouls weak ribcage.
Cadian and Sloan followed, guns drawn into the giant room. Around a huge round table the leaders of the different ghoul clans of Necropolis had gathered to discuss the new danger.
For years they had been alone, and when humans had returned in small numbers they had been welcomed. It had not been easy. There had been prejudices and fears, but over time the ghouls and humans had begun to trade. Caravans brought essential goods to the city.
But now a human had come and had killed ghouls with a malice. He had tortured and murdered without cause. This new threat needed to be addressed and the meeting had been called. The human was named Caribe.
Sloan's gun fired quickly, dropping the few ghouls who had guns. The other ghouls could only watch, stunned by the sudden attack.
Cadian laughed.
"What do you want?" Asked one of the ghouls.
"Don't you know my name, wormfood?"
"Caribe?" whispered another ghoul.
Sloan fired once, killing that ghoul tha had spoken. Then Sloan said "No, I am Caribe the Nukecola peddler."
"Fools, I am Dwemer, and with me I bring Robert and might Ivan, and I bring death with me."
The slaughter lasted only a few moments, but when it was finished all the ghoul leaders had been slain. Only two remained, their hands and feet ruined by bullets.
To these Cadian said, "Remember what happened here. Know who did this to you. Tell the others. I am not finished with Necropolis. This is my city now and I will slaughter all ghouls that fail to obey."
Quickly the foursome exited the hall and slipped back into corridors of the building. Grimble held back just to observe as the ghouls discovered the crime that had been committed. Moments latter, Set approached the building. By then the foursome had left the building and returned to the tunnels below the city, where they were led back to Set's sanctuary.
Set, upon arriving at the sight of the carnage, is known to have called out for revenge. "This crime will not go unavenged. No human connected with survive in Necropolis! Go to all the clans and tell them their leaders have fallen."
Those that remained looked at Set, suddenly aware that they were leaderless.
"But who shall lead us?" Asked one.
"It must be you Set. You are all of the council to remain." Said a second.
Set looked to each of them, and then he smiled the best smile his twisted mouth could manage. "Then so be it. Those who seek my leadership shall have it. Kill the smoothskins."
Within hours the ghouls of Necropolis had begun their search for the humans, now under the leadership of Set.
But by then, Cadian and his group had already returned to the church to retrieve Roadrunner, and then had quietly slipped back down into the shadows.
As the first sun came up, Set was the undisputed king of Necropolis. Those ghouls that might have opposed him were quietly done away with over the next week.
But on that day, as the sun rose in the East and touched the face of Brute, Ivan, Richard, Melvin and Rob as they walked towards Necropolis, their prey was already leaving the city and heading South. Nor did they know of the ambush that they were to soon walk into.
