Predator: Desert Hammer

[Helios]

After the widely reported incidents of excessive force and criminal behavior by the mercenary group Blackwater, the United States was forced to withdraw many of its private military contractors from the region. However, as the fighting in Iraq began to reignite and the new executive administration found itself either unwilling or unable to withdraw its official forces, private contractors from different organizations were once again hired to execute the jobs that the traditional military could not.

Sectarian violence and religious infighting exploded during the early summer months of 2010 resulting in the widely reported disappearance of Coalition and Iraqi civilians alike. Locals have begun whispering the name of a small group of men that come in the darkness of night and steal away the strongest boys never to be seen again. They refer to these specters as a phrase in Arabic that has yet to be translated to any coherent meaning. The phrase does appear to be Shi'a in origin.

Still, just this week, a two man Marine patrol vanished from the outskirts south of Basra.


The CIA liaison looked awfully solemn as he reported this latest news. You had been called away from your regular duty to be briefed on this matter as if you had a choice in refusing to help. Still, the man in his sun and sand ravaged suit informed you that tomorrow morning you would be going out into the desert to find the missing Marines. As he lifted the flap on the tent to exit the makeshift staging area, he added that he would be accompanying you and your squad; your squad of mercenaries.

-------------------------------------------------

Traditional RPG

No hp. No stats. Just you, your character, and an alien hunter tracking you across the Iraqi desert.

Sign Ups -
Name:
Age:
Bio:

[Bloodcider]

This requires re-watching of the original movie to get me into the mindset. I'll try and think up a character.

Until then,



This post has been edited by Bloodcider on Jun 7 2009, 05:16 :48 PM

[NcB]

Name: Cody
Age: 26
Bio: A young yet experienced soldier, Cody is a fresh merc. After serving throughout most of the second gulf war, Cody found the restrictions of militery life to constricting.

Looking to work for more "exotic" clients, Cody found work in the underworld society, working his way up through the scraps and waste to eventually find himself doing hit jobs for many respected leaders.

Cody prefers to work alone, having watched many a close friend die to a taliban bullet. Deadly at range and close quaters, Cody's subtle, thinking, approach to most situations sometimes gets under the skin of most people.

(That'll do for now, if this goes somewhere i'll add some more later)

[DudeTor]

Name: Richard Scott
Age: 38
Bio: Former Gunnery Sergeant of the Marine Corps Forces. Served his first tour in Somalia in 1993 to 1995 and in both Gulf wars. After being dishonorably discharged from service, Richard took up work as a mercenary in the west-African region before once more returning to Iraq.

Richard has the ability to think logical and calm in combat situations, great knowledge of firearms and CQC.

[Helios]

One more sign up and I'll go ahead and start.

[Bloodcider]

Scruffington is going to sign up, but not until I post my character, because he is prissy like that and I have to hold his hand with these things.

So without further ado, that character I promised:

Name: Butch Killigan
Age: 37
Bio: A burly ex-Marine who has seen action in hot spots around the world, including conflicts in south-east Asia, west Africa, and of course, the Persian Gulf, Killigan is a foul-mouthed, nihilistic embodiment of pure machismo. His hobbies include hunting animals, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey, and stomping queers eating red meat.

[Scruffington]

Name: Max Fightmaster

Age: 35

Bio:

Max was in Butch's unit during every Gulf War that has ever existed. The two of them fought bravely and killed many soldiers on both sides of the conflict, but never each other because they both knew that they were the greatest soldiers who had ever lived. At the end of the latest Gulf War, their Colonel came to them and said that although they had done a great job, there was simply no place for them in today's army. Disheartened, Max tried his hand at civilian life before Butch came to him with the idea of signing up to be a part of one of the many recently-deployed private military contractors that were active across the globe. As luck would have it, the company they ended up choosing was headed straight for Iraq.

Max is known for his physically imposing stature and extremely violent disposition. Generally shooting first before asking questions, Max is never found without his trademark M60, an automatic shotgun and several oversized handguns.

[Helios]

Day 1: Dawn

Light creeps from beyond the horizon exposing ice crystals that had formed atop the humvee. The engine struggles to start but finally does so reluctantly. Cody is in the driver's seat. Major Wyatt, the CIA liaison, is in the front passenger seat. Killigan and Fightmaster are in the back seats and Scott is on the mounted turret.

Your humvee leaves and heads into the desert away from the remaining light of your encampment. Still that light is soon replaced by the sun and within an hour and a half you find yourselves cursing its existence. It occurs to you that it seems hotter today... perhaps the hottest you've ever experienced... or at least remember. Still sweat quickly begins to form in the small of your back, the precursor of a growing irritation, under layers of clothing and armor; unreachable, unmanageable.

Wyatt seems unaffected however. He stares on stoically as the sun continues to bake the rest of you. Of course, he could simply look different outside of a suit and in his tactical gear. Finally he breaks his abrupt silence with a brief outburst revealing that the heading he gave the driver was toward the temporary forward outpost for Hammer Squad. Their captain had reported the two missing Marines but radio contact had since ceased altogether. Still, as you round the outskirts of the city, you find the silence almost unbearable. Finally you reach the southern most perimeter of the city. The ocean is clearly visible as are multiple oil platform in the distance as well as built into the bay itself.

You come upon the chainlink gate marked with an American flag...


...and no guard.


A cursory glance of the camp reveals no soldiers but a large variety of spent shell casings. Weapons and magazines are completely absent, presumably looted. Wyatt growls for you to fan out and scan the surroundings for anything... anything at all.

-To the north is the entrance to the city common; empty at this time of morning but still a dangerous location with multiple potential ambush points. Not so far to the north but still imposing upon the skyline is the southern most city mosque with a single minaret jutting up toward what would have been clouds on a more comfortable day.
-To the east is the bay and a large quantity of oil refineries. You can make out a destroyer in the distance along the horizon if you squint.
-To the south is more desert and beyond that the Kuwaiti border. Not much remains in this area that hasn't been destroyed during the initial days of the invasion. The remains of several missile platforms remain but were barely usable before they were destroyed by coalition forces. The center of these positions has become a vehicle graveyard of sorts.
-To the west are multiple small villages, many of which are starkly anti-coalition and some out and out violent. It has been reported though unconfirmed that many insurgents or even key insurgency leaders are hiding amongst these townships.

You find yourselves left to your own devices. Something crackles in the distance, in the air; like gunfire in the distance but different... closer.

[NcB]

Cody:-

Cody turned tothe group and gave a nod towards the north. It was the most likely location the gunfire came from and probably a hotspot.

Removing his rifle from his back, Cody loaded the chamber and begun steadly moving north. Darting between burnt out wreakages and dusty alyways, he kept an eye on the boiling horizon.

[DudeTor]

Richard Scott

He headed north as he was given order to do so. Finger close to the trigger as they moved along, his eyes scanning the area for enemies.

[Bloodcider]

Butch tapped Max on the shoulder with the back of his hand, and jerked his head to the settlements to the west, knowing there was the highest possibility of engaging some gooks.

"Back to the meatgrinder," he said, and spat a wad of chewing tobacco. He flexed his bicep, hefting his M16, before moving west in a fast jog.

[Scruffington]

Max Fightmaster

Max grunted his approval to Butch's plan. He noticed the other two members of his squad head north, but he had already forgotten their names in anticipation of the bloodshed that was surely to arise in the west. Max readied his M60, lit what remained of the cigar he had been chewing on for the better part of yesterday, and jogged up beside Butch. Finally, after years of pushing carts at Wal-Mart, Max would be back in the thick of combat.

[Helios]

Cody, Scott -
You come to the entrance to a large marketplace ironically built seemingly around the mosque. The entrance to the Mosque lays to the west with the empty marketplace ahead of you. The city streets get remarkably confined further ahead. To the east is the ocean and the many oil refineries.

Something metal glints from the minaret and catches both of your eyes as you pass.

Killigan, Fightmaster
You enter the desert and find no settlements in your immediate vicinity. Simply sand and heat at this point. Reports have confirmed their existence but they're still someway off, and will take some time to reach on foot.

As you continue across the sandy landscape you come across the head of a goat; a few meters away you believe you see a hoof. Further away still there appears to be more body parts from presumably the same animal.

[NcB]

Cody

Cody quickly swivled on the spot, bringing his right leg behind him to perch on a knee. He took aim at the location of the glint with hawk like eyes. The sun bore down on him from high above, his shaded glasses helped to keep his vision clear.

[Helios]

Cody
The metal object glints into view briefly then disappears, then reappears again, in an endless cycle but does nothing otherwise remarkable. Still, Something IS up there.

[DudeTor]

Richard Scott

As Cody got down, Scott quickly turned around and got in defense position. "You got something?" Scott asked while covering the rear.

[NcB]

Cody

Behind the glasses, Cody squinted his eyes and fought with the heat to clear the image. A bad feeling begun to sink into his gut.

"Atop the mosque, it's probably nothing." Cody replied to Scott, tapping him on his shoulder and pointing towards the location of the glint. "Might just be the heat getting to me."

[Helios]

Scott, Cody
The small metal object, whatever it is, continues its disappearance reappearance act, otherwise unmoving from the same relative position.

[Bloodcider]

Butch stopped abruptly at the severed head, crouching down to prod it with firm fingers, looking for powder burns or shrapnel.

"Looks like it was blown apart by a landmine," he clarified to Max.

[Helios]

Killigan
Upon further inspection it does appear to have been blown apart by a landmine or IED, though it's not particularly clear from where. The age also isn't clear and with the sandstorms of late it is entirely possible that the blast site was covered over. Still, it is a morbid reminder of the other unseen dangers inherent in the desert... traversal will require care if the settlements are to be found.