Realistic or Modern Bastard's Tale

[TheAdept]

“Looks like it’s just us, Ethan. Come on.” Jesse was mildly disappointed. He was unknowingly trying to do exactly what Shaun tried to do. He figured they might benefit from an activity where they all work towards a common goal. They still needed food.

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“Ya know they say back in the day people commonly ate meat and bread and even sweets. And they ate three times a day! Imagine that.” Jesse said as he walked up the mountain. He took another way than last time so as to avoid Inquisition Nobles. In fact he tried to go someplace closer to Williams land. He didn’t want the hunting to be disturbed. The land and scenery all around made a pretty dramatic shift from flatland and fields at the bottom of the mountains to pine forests when the went up into the mountains.

 

[Obsidian]

"Perhaps one day we will need no longer imagine it. It would be real." Ethan mused, his mind turning back to the nobles and William's estate, the food and the order and the reconstruction of the old world going on there. And yet Shaun could not understand the allure of it. Regardless, Ethan's mind would return back to Jesse, and he looked over to him, "You mentioned something about Bastards earlier. From the way you were talking about them, you were not talking about the Nobility. Who were they?"

 

[TheAdept]

“You don’t know? I thought everyone did.” Jesse said confused “We fought the Nobility, gave them hell for years. We were made up of lone survivors from places that had been massacred, and we were all different. We shared ideas, and the leader encouraged us to learn of the old world. Then there were betrayals...” Jesse started to get angry thinking about it.

He saw a deer cross the road up ahead “We gotta track deer. There’s bound to be more nearby.” He said

 

[Corvid15]

"What exactly do you want the bomb to do? Gas attack, shrapnel bomb, pressure plate, poison?"

Shisa watched Shaun's every move, studying what he was making. Shisa wasn't too familiar with bombs, the Speakers never used them. But, some plants she had were incredibly toxic if burned, maybe they could work.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

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The Cistern
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"Do you remember what I was sayin' to Aurora a while back about blowing up the Boulder compound's front gate as a distraction, while she sprung Mos from his cell? There is nothing more demoralizing to see than a cloud of gas boil your friends alive..." Shaun answered, his voice trailing to silence when mentioning the effects of the poison he intended to use.

He reached into the Duffel bag at his feet and gently removed a bag of Yellow fluid, the same one from the supply wagon and cannibal attack. "I need you to make me a binding agent, to make this stuff solid mass." He said to Shisa. He then began to screw off the cap of the Javelin missile.

 

[Obsidian]

~~~ Mountain Forests ~~~

Now that they were out hunting, this would be a good opportunity for Ethan to study Jesse and his fighting style without the threat of bloody murder behind any one of the surrounding trees, and, from watching Jesse, Ethan would be able to learn from him and immitate him. Jesse is the most impressive warrior he's ever seen, and certainly worth twenty of any ordinary noble grunt. Ethan would need to become something similar if he is to face Lord Todd one day soon.

"I'll follow your lead," Ethan said, before returning to their topic, keeping his voice down, "So, these betrayers, what were they all about?"

 

[Corvid15]

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The Cistern
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"How safe is it to handle this? Do I need gloves, skin protection? This. .. is this that nerve agent you were talking about? Would glass capsules be better. What is this?"

Shisa began rooting through her pack, hmm, a binding agent. Clay might work, flour, hmm. This wasn't what she was used to, but she'll figure out something.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

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The Cistern
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"This is KP-14 Nerve agent, yes. Extremely lethal in enclosed spaces...Like this one." Shaun says, mildly worried sounding. "We are going to bind this fluid, which must not get an where near us or the pool over there, and fill these old small glass bottles with it." He holds up a apocrethary bottle, showing it to her. It has a crack which has been taped over, making It useless at holding liquids."Put these on." He passes her a thick pair of rubber gloves.

 

[TheAdept]

Jesse gestured for Ethan to stop speaking as he spotted a deer drinking out of a creek not far off. The deer was vigilant, lifting its head in Jesse’s general direction, but it wasn’t enough to save it. Jesse was sucked very still and silent, then shot out the deer’s brain.

“I will tell you while we butcher this thing.” He said as he approached the deer’s corpse and got out some tin foil.

“We were taught a code by Charles, the leader. He taught us some ethics but he didn’t teach honor too well. We fight well, but we also fight dirty. Some of us were more focused on how he told us to take advantage of any opportunity.” He said as he sawed through the tissue holding the skin on the deer.

“We weren’t an army. Settlements we traded with supported us and stood against the Nobility as they came through. None of the battles that resulted lasted more than a full day. We were running around the state hitting their barracks, arsenals, even sacked Boulder once. But the Nobility was winning. And when they offer you a place it’s...tempting.”

 

[Obsidian]

Another impressive shot from Jesse, and Ethan observed it all carefully. He couldn't help but smirk. He wondered how Jesse got this good. But as Jesse started carving up the deer, Ethan would listen, and he would help where he was needed in carving up the deer. And he could not help but notice the attention Jesse brought to his last word, 'tempting.'

"Were you tempted as well?" Ethan asked, "I don't know how you Bastards lived, but, seeing how Lords live myself, I can see why it would be tempting. Did you consider it?"

 

[Corvid15]

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The Cistern
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This was not in the least bit comforting to Shisa. Taking the gloves, she put them on. Looking at the liquid in the bag, it appeared like water in viscosity. That might work. But if this stuff is airborne like Shaun said it is, most of the binding methods would let it evaporate. And that would be very bad, to put it simply.

"Bind it with a solid, like they did with plasticine explosives? Or with a liquid emulsifier. Should we be doing this outside?"

Shisa pulled out some small, empty glass vials. These might work. She set the empty vials next to the ones Shaun had. If this stuff is similar viscosity wise to water, she might be able to do a few dry runs before opening the bag of death.

"We can test it with water, so we spend minimal time around this stuff. I can definitely mix it with clay or something, do we want it to evaporate when the vial is broken? Couldn't we just leave it liquid if that is the purpose. Should I scent it?"

Shisa had far too many questions. She sent Morrigan off far away from them, just in case. No need for her to be the canary in the coal mine.

 

[TheAdept]

“Well we didn’t live in a fucking shithole. That’s what the cistern area is. It’s clean water there, but the rest of the place is a literal fucking shithole. People in the old world shat in holes that went to that place.”
Jesse started cutting away chunks of meat “Here, I’ll hand you cuts and you can rap them. Anyway that meal we had in Denver was the second time in my life I had bread. The first time was...also with a commander.” He said then stared off for a second “But my leader, Charles, he was a father to me.”

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

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"This stuff is Aerosolised, so we need to bind it with a solid. Then we can compress the stuff into sealed bottles and phials ready for the next stage. It's unwise to mix it with water as the stuff naturally tends to evaporate over time. In powder form, it'll take a great deal to turn it into a gas. The explosive device will scatter the nerve agent, liquidating and boiling it AND launching glass shards covered in it in the blast." Shaun explains, "and we should definitely be doing this outside, but if something goes wrong we have a chance of surviving by dumping the bag into the pool, giving us a chance to run."

 

[Obsidian]

"And now we live in a shithole. At least we sleep in the better part of it," Ethan snickered in derision. Still, perhaps studying more of those tunnels would to worthwhile, to get ideas about waste and sanitation infrustructure. But that would be for future projects. And, just as Jesse asked, Ethan would take the cuts of meat and wrap them up, readying them for the journey home. Once Jesse spoke of his father, though, Ethan understood. Jesse stayed loyal to the Bastards for his father, for his family. After a few moments of silence, Ethan would broach the question, "What happened to Charles?"

 

[Corvid15]

"I don't mean mixing it with water. I mean trying different binding agents with water. That way, we dont open the KP-14 until we find the best binder. I should have enough clay, and that should work fine, probably wont need to test it."

Shisa took out a pouch of clay dirt, which should work perfectly. And it was red clay. Jesse had said something about intimidation tactics, and this might be one. When wet, it was a perfect blood red, drying a similar color as dried blood.

"If you want, I can coat the bottles with something, or mix it into the clay. Maybe salt, hot peppers, nettles. An extra irritant. And this clay should work perfectly. I have plenty of it too."

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

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The Cistern
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"Well I would say add some giant Hogweed to the bottles if you wish to be an awful person, but here we are making a chemical weapon which were going to use on some poor gate guards." Shaun chucked darkly. "Yes, that should do as a binding agent. God, lady Geneva would not be pleased with me, I feel dirty doing this." Shaun says, now preparing the bottles and phials with corks and producing a syringe, giving the point a gentle tap.

 

[Corvid15]

"If they're just gate guards, I think this is cruel enough. Sometimes, we have to do awful things. It is hard, but to achieve our goals, they are things we have to do."

Shisa sat next to Shaun, clay at the ready. She knew this had to be hard for him, he had seen what this could do before. Shisa gave him a small peck of a kiss on the cheek. Thing is, she forgot she was wearing her mask. So it was more of bumping him with bone. But its the thought that counts.

 

[TheAdept]

“On the night we were destroyed, Evans shot him to save his own skin. The shot didn’t kill him right away either.” Jesse was right. Charles bled out slowly. The Nobles kept him too busy to help him. On top of that Charles wasn’t his father, Charles raised him after his parents were savagely murdered “Orphans don’t survive in this world. People that take them in are few and far between. But when my parents were eaten he saved me from freezing to death.” Jesse said as he finished.

Just then both Jesse and Ethan heard a loud noise, buzzing and the swishing of wind.

“What the fuck is that?” Jesse said, as the source of the noise showed itself. It was something unlike Jesse had ever seen. It flew. Blades spun above it, to fast to see in detail. There were windows on it like a kind of building, but it was built of metal like a car. Not long after they spotted it it had passed.

“Let’s go.” Jesse said, thinking it was The Nobility’s doing.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

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The Cistern
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Shisa's little donk on the cheek made Shaun blush and smile. "Ok, now for the dangerous bit. Feel free to stand clear if you like." Shaun said, filling a phial with clay and corking it, then picking up the syringe and putting it into the designated collection point in the bag, and filling it. He then moves a candle closer.

"Hold your breath." He puns, before injecting the liquid into the clay filled phial and sealing the hole with hot wax from the candle and moves his hands clear, leaning back a little in fear.....nothing bad was happening, signalling the process was safe to repeat.

 

[Corvid15]

Shisa began filling phials with clay for Shaun, preparing them to make the process easier. She did like him, much more than the others. Granted, the others were either plain jerks or had tried to kill her (cough, cough, Aurora twice).

Shisa would prepare vials, and hand them off to Shaun, blushing a little each time their hands touched in the pass. What was this. Why? There was the feeling of happiness, of a family bond, of many different things. But this was a cocktail of emotions she couldn't describe. Love wasn't something really in the Bone Speakers. Adults weren't really paired in couples. Sure, one pair may have a baby together, but the entire unit was a polyamorous relationship (for those old enough to participate). There were no couples, or possessiveness of one person. Granted, that wasn't something Shisa had ever heard of. She knew her ways.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

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The Cistern
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Eventually, the entire bag had been emptied safely by Shisa and Shaun, and put into a solid state within secure containers.

"That was the most dangerous bit done, now we get to play with the explosive part..." Shaun announced, turning his attention back to the Can and cap-less rocket. "I'm going to put the grenades payload onto a separate fuse, which will detonate the bomb itself." Shaun explained, poking a hole in the lid of the TnT filled can and gently threading in a string soaked with oil. He then placed the Can into the body of the rocket after removing some electronics and a gyro or two, and placed the cap back on. He then taped the detonator rocket to the other two, and then the phials and bottles to them.

"And hey presto...a war crime in the making, now made." Shaun celebrated, hugging Shisa, pulling her shoulder to him.

 

[Obsidian]

Evans. Ethan remembered that name, the noble commander that escorted them to Cap Hill brought him up while they were at the estate, Evans is Lord William's advisor. And Evans killed Jesse's adoptive father. Ethan could understand that feeling, to lose a someone to the nobles, to fight them in search for revenge. Just in the same way Ethan found his target in Lord Todd, Jesse found his in Evans, both wanting the same thing. But then, as Ethan thought this, the noise came.

Ethan would nod at Jesse's order, packing the meat away and grabbing their gear, following Jesse has they made their way back through the forest and down the mountain. Ethan didn't know what that flying thing was either, but it looked like some kind of machine. At least it was loud, so hearing it come would not be difficult. Once the flying machine passed, Ethan relaxed a little but kept following Jesse closely, adding a final question, "That Evans guy. He is Lord William's advisor, but you're still going to go after him, aren't you?"

 

[TheAdept]

“Yes. Not just him. I intend to hunt all the betrayers down.” Jesse said with resentment clear in his voice “Why did you ask about Todd back in Denver?”

 

[Obsidian]

"Because Todd is to me what Evans is to you." Ethan said, an edge of anger touching his voice, "The village I spoke of at the estate, the one destroyed by Lord Todd, the one in which even the women and children were butchered? That was my village, my family, and Lord Todd killed them all, along with my father. And like yours, mine adopted me, did for me what no one else would; taking me as his own and teaching me what he knew. Todd will die, and I will be the one to do it."

 

[TheAdept]

Of course. Jesse was bound to run into this. He wasn’t the only person hurt by the betrayers.

“Todd is one of the betrayers , but he was the most disgusting person I’ve ever met. And you know, I live in a literal shithole with the guy who suggested it and a woman that eats corpses. You can have Todd but make it horrifically gruesome. Anyway, let’s head back.”