• The lunar eclipse OR the battle in the cave

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:01 am**

Still very busy so time is short - hey, at least the world did not come to a catastrophic end. I will recount the operation throughout the day as time permits.

I had mentioned a small passage that Sasha had found that popped out near the temple area, near the main room where the rituals (and human sacrifice) are performed. For the lunar eclipse and the summoning event they had planned, there would be a mass human sacrifice. Our intel suggested 3-5 victims would be sacrificed at very same time.

When we got inside the cave we saw no signs that anyone had entered that small passage. They either never found it or they never thought we would (or could) attack from that route. It was certainly not the path of least resistance, and that was the path we took.

And it paid off, at least in the initial stages of the battle.

Although I have to admit that I felt things were going too easy from the start.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:10 am**

I had just posted that we hadn't heard from you yet.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:13 am**

I wanted to write as soon as possible to let everyone know it went alright - even better than I had anticipated.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:13 am**

I noticed that. I think Kolya was waiting for the right moment so that he could make someone look bad. Hahaha.

Anyhow, I hope everyone made it out safely (I'm guessing had something terrible happened he'd have mentioned it first).

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:15 am**

Bert_the_Turtle wrote:I noticed that. I think Kolya was waiting for the right moment so that he could make someone look bad. Hahaha.

Anyhow, I hope everyone made it out safely (I'm guessing had something terrible happened he'd have mentioned it first).

Yea I would have mentioned it first. There is quite a whirlwind of activity here in the command center.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:17 am**

Considering I know you folks name your MRL systems after weather phenomena, I'm hoping hings are just busy.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:20 am**

Heh. Sorry.

Yes, just busy. Very, very busy.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:21 pm**

I never so scared before...

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:24 pm**

Natasha wrote:I never so scared before...

You haven't been to Karaoke Night at the Brick yet! :wink:

I kid, I kid. So what happened?

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:25 pm**

Im glad you fellas made it out alright. I never doubted ya' would. Way to kick some ass Kolya. You & your team should be proud.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:34 pm**

Bert_the_Turtle wrote:
Natasha wrote:I never so scared before...

You haven't been to Karaoke Night at the Brick yet!

I kid, I kid. So what happened?

Stay tuned...

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:35 pm**

Holister wrote:Im glad you fellas made it out alright. I never doubted ya' would. Way to kick some ass Kolya. You & your team should be proud.

Thanks Holister.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:36 pm**

Moving right along...

We were laying in cold mud waiting - dirty icy slush sort of feeling, even with wetsuits under our clothes and armour. Definitely one of my least favourite experiences in life.

Natasha had set up a silent alarm to alert us whenever anyone arrived in the temple area. After several hours of waiting things started to develop and we went into action. They had covered the long crawlway expecting us to come from that direction. We completely surprised them, which made the initial contact go in our favour.

So after taking down a number of hell hounds and some creepy crawlers with stilleto teeth, we poured into the temple room and went to work on the small assembly of mages and summoners there preparing for the ritual.

Natasha set off a siren alarm that brought these guys to their knees. Try to imagine, that little waterfall sounded like Niagra Falls, now try to imagine what Niagra Falls sounds like in that cave. These guys probably will not hear normally for the rest of their days - not that they are going to need to anyway.

"The eclipse begins," Natasha warned.

Several minutes passed.

We figured the sacrfices would take place when the moon was fully eclipsed. We greeted the incoming party, bringing four men in chains with them. They were completely surprised as we emerged out of the darkness. This batch of guys were not warriors in the least and we subdued them without effort. Unfortunately, some summoning process had already began and continued without the lack of participation and benefit of blood sacrifice.

Up to that point the operation was flawless.

And that really worried me.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:24 pm**

Creepy crawlers with stiletto teeth? Sounds like something I faced before, at another summoning several years ago. Fought some Hellhounds too.

Who were these guys?

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 9:59 am**

As we prepared our prisoners for escort out of the cave there suddenly was some loud fizzling and crackling sounds. The sounds echoed in the ritual room. The sound was soon replaced by an elongated, ovular blue hole with swirling lights that obscured the background.

"Take them from here," I ordered Natasha, and she began escorting the prisoners out of the cave.

Lyosha, Roma, and Sasha, and I stood with our guns pointed at the strange hole hovering a few centimeters above the floor of the ritual room. I could hear the sound of our boots pulling out of the mud as we shifted in our stances slightly. Through my mind raced the hundreds of times I found myself standing outside a downed UFO waiting for the hatch to open to see what came out. This moment lasts 1 nanosecond and 10 minutes all at the same time.

A few grotesque looking humanoids standing over six feet tall came through the portal and looked around. They wore leather armour and wielded huge crudely made wooden clubs. When they caught sight of us they immediately attacked, although a couple went back into the portal. We cut the ones charging us down with a hail of bullets, which tore through their leather coats and ripped into their flesh and muscles and organs. Our guns were silenced but their screams echoed loud in the ritual room, as our spent cartridges landed silently in the mud covering the floor of our position.

As I reloaded bringing my gun up to full capacity several more of these things rushed through the portal, waving their clubs in the air with a war cry that bounced around the ritual room in a frightening echo. And again we opened fire the on the creatures and they fell just like the ones before them. The groans and sounds of agony echoed in the ritual room as an unknown number of these creatures lay on the frigid floor dying.

Another fresh magazine slammed home. I heard Natasha returning from behind us. And then I became aware of my breathing. I could feel my chest heaving under my armour and it seemed as if I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

Yet another wave of these things came through the portal and yet again we less loose a hail of fire. As they jumped over and around the bodies of their fallen comrades our bullets slammed into their chests knocking them to the ground, which was now covered with bodies, spent cartridges, and all the blood had come together to form large pools of deep crimson, glistening in the light of the portal.

"I need ammo," Sasha said. We redistributed ammo, of which we at this point running somewhat low. I had four full magazines and two partially used magazines.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:01 am**

GhostSpider wrote:Creepy crawlers with stiletto teeth? Sounds like something I faced before, at another summoning several years ago. Fought some Hellhounds too.

Who were these guys?

We are not exactly sure at this moment, although we have an idea or two.

We hope the interrogation of our prisoners will shed more light on the situation.

As soon as we learn more, we can compare notes.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:21 am**

Here is the entire account of the battle in the cave:

We were laying in cold mud waiting - dirty icy slush sort of feeling, even with wetsuits under our clothes and armour. Definitely one of my least favourite experiences in life.

Natasha had set up a silent alarm to alert us whenever anyone arrived in the temple area. After several hours of waiting things started to develop and we went into action. They had covered the long crawlway expecting us to come from that direction. We completely surprised them, which made the initial contact go in our favour.

So after taking down a number of hell hounds and some creepy crawlers with stilleto teeth, we poured into the temple room and went to work on the small assembly of mages and summoners there preparing for the ritual.

Natasha set off a siren alarm that brought these guys to their knees. Try to imagine, that little waterfall sounded like Niagra Falls, now try to imagine what Niagra Falls sounds like in that cave. These guys probably will not hear normally for the rest of their days - not that they are going to need to anyway.

"The eclipse begins," Natasha warned.

Several minutes passed.

We figured the sacrfices would take place when the moon was fully eclipsed. We greeted the incoming party, bringing four men in chains with them. They were completely surprised as we emerged out of the darkness. This batch of guys were not warriors in the least and we subdued them without effort. Unfortunately, some summoning process had already began and continued without the lack of participation and benefit of blood sacrifice.

Up to that point the operation was flawless.

And that really worried me.

As we prepared our prisoners for escort out of the cave there suddenly was some loud fizzling and crackling sounds. The sounds echoed in the ritual room. The sound was soon replaced by an elongated, ovular blue hole with swirling lights that obscured the background.

"Take them from here," I ordered Natasha, and she began escorting the prisoners out of the cave.

Lyosha, Roma, and Sasha, and I stood with our guns pointed at the strange hole hovering a few centimeters above the floor of the ritual room. I could hear the sound of our boots pulling out of the mud as we shifted in our stances slightly. Through my mind raced the hundreds of times I found myself standing outside a downed UFO waiting for the hatch to open to see what came out. This moment lasts 1 nanosecond and 10 minutes all at the same time.

A few grotesque looking humanoids standing over six feet tall came through the portal and looked around. They wore leather armour and wielded huge crudely made wooden clubs. When they caught sight of us they immediately attacked, although a couple went back into the portal. We cut the ones charging us down with a hail of bullets, which tore through their leather coats and ripped into their flesh and muscles and organs. Our guns were silenced but their screams echoed loud in the ritual room, as our spent cartridges landed silently in the mud covering the floor of our position.

As I reloaded bringing my gun up to full capacity several more of these things rushed through the portal, waving their clubs in the air with a war cry that bounced around the ritual room in a frightening echo. And again we opened fire the on the creatures and they fell just like the ones before them. The groans and sounds of agony echoed in the ritual room as an unknown number of these creatures lay on the frigid floor dying.

Another fresh magazine slammed home. I heard Natasha returning from behind us. And then I became aware of my breathing. I could feel my chest heaving under my armour and it seemed as if I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

Yet another wave of these things came through the portal and yet again we less loose a hail of fire. As they jumped over and around the bodies of their fallen comrades our bullets slammed into their chests knocking them to the ground, which was now covered with bodies, spent cartridges, and all the blood had come together to form large pools of deep crimson, glistening in the light of the portal.

"I need ammo," Sasha said. We redistributed ammo, of which we at this point running somewhat low. I had four full magazines and two partially used magazines.

And then they came looking for Saline, which we still do not know anything about. We did learn a few things about those guys blowing up apartments though. They are completely immune to psionics and magic, their skin cannot be pierced or cut, but they do react to blunt force, although if they are taking any damage, they are capable of taking a lot of it before showing any signs of pain. I shot one in the head, point blank, 10 times, and the bullet simply splattered and the fragments fell to the floor. They are not very good offensive fighters, but in defence they are very difficult to grab and hold on to. A net is a perfect weapon against these guys.

They paid most attention to Lyosha and saying things to him in their strange accent, "We will not stop until you tell us where Saline is." After we fought with guys and managed to get one zip-tied, the others returned to the sides of the portal like a sort of imperial guard standing by the throne. Out of the portal came some ugly creatures, larger, uglier, and much less human looking than the previous batches.

More shooting, but these guys handled the damage much better than the first bunch. They hopped over the bodies, feet splashing in the pools of blood. Our gun fire only slowed them down. Before long they had bridged the gap and were right on top of us. I could hear Natasha mumbling a lot, presumably activating her wards, as I pulled my knife.

From somewhere I took a club to the head, but my helmet took the damage although I was momentarily stunned. One of the creatures tackled me to the ground and I managed to drive my blade deep inside its side, slamming through the ribs and puncturing a lung. It howled in pain as I ripped the knife from its body and jabbed again into its side and then ripped it out and then arched around and plunged the blade deep inside where a human's kidney would be several times. As it reached back to grab my knife hand I brought the blade up and around and slid the knife into the creature's neck. The creature rolled off of me and the blood covered knife handle slipped out of my grip. I came to my feet and another creature was charging me. I stepped to the side and redirected the creature. Its head smacked into the wall of the cave with a soft, wet thud, after I heard the skull crack. It stumbled backwards but amazing was not dead. I brought my gun up on its sling and shot the creature once in its bloodied face, as the blast sent its grey matter spraying out the back of its head. The other had died and I retrieved my knife.

As I looked around the battleground I could see my team doing much the same. I did not see where Natasha had gone to. The sounds of hand to hand combat were ringing throughout the temple of the cave. The fight was ferocious to be sure, but the echoing only compounded the magnitude of the battle, which cannot itself be understated.

There were a few more hand to hand encounters before it was all said and done.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:28 am**

Wow! Damn! Note to Self: If I ever have to stop a Summoning, bring my .50 Browning Heavy MG.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:22 am**

Well, when you have passages as narrow as 50 centimeters wide, you are sort of limited, although we did stockpile ammo prior to the attack just in case.

I am still picking out dried up mud and blood from my gear in between debriefings, meetings, and general what-nots.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:30 am**

Ouch. Wish I could've helped ya out.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:34 am**

Me, too.

That first part was a turkey shoot. The second part was a fight for our lives.

But we got some high valued prisoners, and they will talk. Without revealing too much, you may have the chance to help yet...

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:36 am**

Oy sounds like things got a little to intresting there. I too wish I had been there to help.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:45 am**

"Without revealing too much, you may have the chance to help yet..."

Should I be worried or excited?

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:03 pm**

Shadowstalker wrote:Oy sounds like things got a little to intresting there. I too wish I had been there to help.

Would have gladly had you along for the ride, too.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:03 pm**

Bert_the_Turtle wrote:"Without revealing too much, you may have the chance to help yet..."

Should I be worried or excited?

Yes.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:08 pm**

I really hate cults.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:17 pm**

I am starting to.

This thing is going deeper than any of us ever thought a few months back...

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:08 pm**

Kolya wrote:I am starting to.

This thing is going deeper than any of us ever thought a few months back...

Well, then you will hate what waits in your Inbox...

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:36 pm**

I am just starting to dislike everything that is associated or associates with supernatural beings.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:44 pm**

Just a word, everything supernatural is not evil, just most of the stuff we deal with that comes looking for trouble. But a cult can turn even the most beautiful and peaceful thing into a horror, I have seen this happen more often than I like.

The lunar eclipse OR the battle in the cave

The lunar eclipse OR the battle in the cave

Introduction (part 1)

The opening round (part 2)

The Battle (part 3)