Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Da Doofus]

"Yeah, wasn't just me though. You probably didn't know this, but there used to be a Rithian colony around these parts." Darrek pointed outside. "Some rich Irokai family moved in to expand a fur trade with the Kendians, and ended up building a town. Even some humans were living there.

This was years ago, mind you."

Victor glanced over upon overhearing the story.
"You talking about the same Rithian town that got burnt to the ground in a forest fire?"

Darrek ignored him. "But some of the colonists moved up north after the fire. Part of the reason I left home.
Try to find family, you know?"

Rufus looked at him. "How'd it turn out?"

"Those I met that lived in Kendovis were definitely not related to me. So pretty much a dead end."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo nodded in understanding. Must have been rough to have never met your parents. He could only imagine all the questions that one would have. Questions that would never get answered.

“What now then? Planning on heading back to Drafisl?” He asked.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Maybe . . . Trying to be out on my own hasn't worked." Darrek made a glare at Seyth, who only winked back.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Hey. I mean you’re still alive right.” Kairo joked lightheartedly. “You gotta take the good with the bad.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"Not easy with a lot of bad going on." Darrek slumped in his seat.

Lightning flashed and a clap of thunder shook the outpost as rain poured outside in the misty air.

"Case in point." Darrek gestured outside. "I'm stuck in here with those scum until this rain passes."

"What's wrong with rain?"

"Floods the roads and brings out the water predators that normally stick to the dense jungles. Galkor and Ridgeback Placoderms."

Rufus raised a brow, unknowing of these creatures.

"Humans call Galkor 'alligators' and Ridgebacks are big, armor-plated fish." Darrek sighed.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo looked outside the window. The world past the piece of glass was blurred by the water droplets building up on the surface, making it tough to see outside. Hard to imagine that they’d have to deal with alligators and giant fish outside. That definitely made the trek back sound like a real pleasant walk. Unless the two of them could hop trees, which sadly they couldn’t, it would be a good idea to stay behind as well.

Besides, it looked like Darrek could need the company. Being stuck in this place with a bunch of low-life’s was already bad enough, would have sucked even more if they had to do it alone.

Kairo turned back to look at the young Irokai, a grin on his face. “Hey, cheer up man.” He playfully slapped his shoulder. “You got us to keep you company right?”

 

[Da Doofus]

Darrek smirked and rubbed the spot Kairo slapped him on.

"I don't even know your names . . . But you're better company than I've had so far at least." He smiled, his teeth on display in an unintended way. They were definitely sharp and serrated. The teeth of a predator.
Still, his blue eyes and expression downplayed the fierceness of his jaws.

Yet there was also something about his features that were oddly familiar.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo laughed a bit at that. He’d completely forgot to even tell this guy his name. What a dumb move.

“Let’s change that then. I’m Kairo.” He said, before pointing a finger at Rufus. “And that’s Rufus. He does all the fun stuff and I just tag along for the ride.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"Tag along." Rufus swatted away Kairo's finger. "Yeah . . . Let's call it that."

Rufus noticed that Victor had glanced at the three on numerous occasions, more accurately looking past Darrek to study the two men.

"You don't mind me asking about the lady over there?" Rufus gestured to the red-striped Seyth. "Looks like a story there."

"Not at all." Darrek sighed. "She gave me some sweet talk to get me to help their gang on a little treasure hunt they were on, and had me thinking she was courting me."

Rufus nodded.
"I see, I see. Get the picture."

"Yeah." Darrek frowned.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo nodded as well, seething a bit at how mentally painful that must have been.
"That's real rough." He said, forcing himself not to look back at Seyth."I've been strung along before too. Never to that extent though. Don't understand how people don't feel guilty after doing that."

 

[Da Doofus]

"So what's your story?" Darrek asked. "How do you two know Bom?"

Seyth and the Syndroid moved to a table near where Bazin was sitting, positioned behind the three.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo listened intently, deathly unaware of what was happening behind them.

“We actually got caught up with some tyravi a while back.” Kairo said enthusiastically. “Wouldn’t have come out of it alive if it wasn’t for Bom. He got us out of that hell and told us to come to Drafisl.” He looked over at Rufus seeing if he’d like to add anything on.

 

[Da Doofus]

"The Tyravi caught up to us more like." Rufus said, not fully paying attention to the conversation at the moment as he made glances at the moving outlaws.
Victor, the Vindav, and the other human remained at the bar's edge. Bazin was further away sitting in a booth, and the Syndroid moved behind the three of them with Seyth; both sitting two tables away.

Rufus nudged Kairo and Darrek.
"Stay calm and don't look around." He said quietly.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo seemed more then a bit confused by this. What could have happened that caused Rufus so much strife? It didn’t seem like anything particular had gone wrong, so why the man so focussed and tense all of a sudden.

It came to him like a storm. The group of thugs that had been in their company, he had completely forgotten about them for a solid moment. Maybe they were up to something? That could be the only reason why Rufus would have told him to stay calm. If that was the case, maybe the best idea was to contribute and play dumb, at least outwardly.

“Yeah. Guess you’re right.” He continued, clearly also not focussed as well. He glanced at Rufus, communicating that he understood the situation. Hopefully Rufus would figure out what was going.

 

[Da Doofus]

"That's a nice gun you got there, sir." Victor said with a smirk. "Don't see many like that around here." He tossed away a draping fold of his coat to expose a sidearm on his leg.
Darrek tensed as he finally noticed what had happened; they were being surrounded.

"You heard anything about that fancy Old World ship landing a few months back?" Victor continued, the Vindav moving to a nearby table.

Rufus looked to Kairo after the question, and straightened in his seat.
"Anything happens, you get behind this counter and duck." He whispered, then looked at Victor.
"Bits and pieces, just bits and pieces."

"Well we heard it came down in the deep jungle." Victor glanced at his split group. "I myself remember stories of the last few times one of those ships came from the skies. Carrying Archaic people and fancy guns."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo quickly glanced at Darrek, silently relaying the information. He wasn’t sure if the irokai would be able to fight back if this escalated, but either way it’d be good if Darrek had an option out. A glance at a counter, and a gesture to get low. Hopefully Darrek would be able to understand that.

Kairo glanced over at Victor. It seemed they may have caught wind of where they were actually from. Not good. “Yeah who would’ve thought it’d happen again.” He said, hiding how alarmed he actually was. It was taking everything out of him to not stutter like an idiot. “Roof. Who was the guy who traded you the thing anyway? Must have been real hard for him to steal it off of that ship.”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus shot a glare at Kairo for mentioning a ship.

Bazin set down the bottle he was drinking with a loud thud. "The Empire would be interested to know where it is, and may pay a reward for any live Archaic." His voice was low and dry like sandpaper, with a hint of an accent. The other outlaws stared down the two men with anticipating eyes.

Carl had retreated to another room of the outpost. Rufus sat still as stone, and Darrek was keeping his right arm limp to hang by his leaninv musket.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo tensed slightly as he heard the thud of the bottle. He quickly realized how badly he fucked up. It seemed in his state of panic, he’d divulged a tiny piece of information that could spark something huge. Something that he would most likely not enjoy. He was quickly overwhelmed by guilt. Chances that he’d be able to talk them out of this was slim at best. He should’ve just kept his big mouth shut, otherwise maybe they wouldn’t be in this damn mess right now.

Kairo clenched the edge of the counter, dropping his other arm limp so that it rested near the sheathe of his knife. His heart pumped like an engine, his hands shook visibly, and adrenaline welled in his body.

“We wouldn’t remember the guys name. If that’s what you’re looking for.” Kairo calmly said, a stark contrast to his mental state at the moment. “Sorry to let you down.”

 

[Da Doofus]

Somewhere in the bar came a metallic click, and Rufus leapt on Kairo; knocking them both to the floor just as gunshots rang out. Where they had been sitting at the counter became splintered with several rounds, and Darrek rolled behind the bar with his musket and took aim at the Syndroid.
He saw the robot had one of its arms replaced with a scrapped together automatic pistol, so it was the most immediate threat. He fired, and the musket shot out a bullet the size of a human finger.

Whizzing through the air, it made contact on the Syndroid's left torso plate, shredding the metal but not damaging it into incapacitation.
Seyth wielded a pistol similar to Victor's; like a flintlock that could fire multiple times before reloading. The female Irokai had knocked over a table for cover with the Syndroid doing the same to her left.

Further down the bar, Victor and the other human were crouched behind their corner of the countertop and were trying to get a flanking shot on the other two humans. Darrek, however, was quick to keep them pinned with his musket.

The Vindav was nowhere to be seen, but Bazin had made a defendable position by tearing out the table of the booth and propping it up as cover paired with the two seats on his side.

Rufus kicked over another table and crawled on the floor to pull it into a position that could be used to shield he and Kairo from the gang's line of sight. As this happened, splintered wood rained on the two from missed shots, and gun smoke began to cloud the air.

Rufus pulled out his pistol, and hauled Kairo behind the table.
"I'm gonna give you cover, and you make for the door when I say go!" He barked, putting on his helmet and standing just enough to take a shot at Victor, who ducked just in time as the explosive round blasted a hole in their cover.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo took a deep breathe, nodding out a quick acknowledgement before he prepared to make a run for it. He wished he could do something, fight back, anything that made him seem like less of a liability. But with nothing but the small knife, there wasn't going to be much that he could do. He'd probably get shot if he tried to do anything stupid with the flimsy weapon.

This would be the last time he'd let Rufus save his ass. He swore by it.

He tried to stay as calm as possible as he analyzed the situation in front of him. It was tough, but he was able to catch a glimpse of most of the hostiles. The vindav that had gone missing though was worrying him more than he would have liked. If the guy was to pop out of nowhere, chances he'd be able to react fast enough would be slim at best. He silently hoped to himself that it wouldn't have to come to that.

He grabbed the knife, clutching it like it was his lifeline. Taking a few deep breathes, he focussed on the task at hand.

​

 

[Da Doofus]

The gunfight continued for mere moments that seemed to last hours. Darrek would take position long enough to fire, then faop back behind cover to reload. Rufus picked his shots carefully, taking aim back and forth between the three gang positions in the bar. His next two shots were at Seyth, then the third at Victor once more.
He was making up for Darrek's lack of fire rate by keeping their attackers pinned to the best of his ability.

With Kairo low to the ground behind the table, one missed shot from Seyth firing blindly from cover hit the table and splintered the wood by his head.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo yelped as the bullet impacted the table. For a second, he was sure that he'd been shot, but the relieving realization that nothing in his body was in pain helped him get out of that state. Now was not the time to breakdown.

He quickly brushed the splinters off his shoulder as he analyzed the state of the table. It definitely wasn't relieving that the table seemed ready to break with the shot. They needed to do something about this stalemate quick, or else they'd be the ones at a disadvantage.

"This table isn't going to hold much longer." He urged Rufus, as he scanned for anything else they could run too for cover just in case.

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus ducked from a flurry of rounds from the Syndroid.
"You're right." He gritted, and reloaded his pistol.
"Forget the door. Get behind the bar with Darrek. Carl may have a gun stashed under the counter." He made a blind shot over the table.
"I'll cover you. GO!" He shouted, rolling from behind the table to relocate to another position, taking shots at Seyth and the robot as Darrek kept Victor pinned.

 

[Chai_T3a]

At the sound of Rufus's okay Kairo quickly got out of cover, bolting towards the cover of behind the bar. Between walking around the thing, and vaulting over, he only had one good choice.

Without hesitation, Kairo vaulted. The counter was tall, and he needed to put in a good deal of effort to get across, but nonetheless, he reached the other side. Quickly getting within cover.

"Having fun?" He asked Darrek as he immediately began searching for some kind of weapon he could use.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Oh yeah, just a regular night out." Darrek scoffed, reloading his weapon.
Behind the counter was a rusted short-range weapon that looked like a revolving crossbow of sorts. A box of extra bolts lay nearby.

Rufus managed to find new cover behind the front doorway, and had routed Seyth and the Syndroid out of their own position.
The two retreated further back in the bar, near Bazin and to the right of Victor. Now the battlefield had been divided into two halves with Rufus, Kairo, and Darrek now having defensive control of the front half of the outpost.