The Rail-Blazers of Karad'Gor

[KittKat chunky~]

(I'm also possibly still alive! > <   Meant to post soon after Mortis but was delayed until now, hey ho... )


Kat grimaced and shot Zachary a darkening amber-eyed glare in response to his question. "I'm no saint..." she replied sharply, though a slight grin teased at the corners of her lips when she heard Kaz's quip, "... a drink provides some respite, even for me." After that she gave a half-hearted shrug and stretched out her injured leg for Zachary to clean the wound, returning to watch Laina and the others deal with the rotting canine creature. It seemed to be speaking now, which on the whole she considered to be something of an improvement.

"Oh, yes that uhm... exploding spear thing..." Kat muttered in reply to the last comment Kaz had made, visibly wincing worriedly. The stocky lynx's tufted ears lay sheepishly flat back against her dark hair as she continued in a voice laced with awkwardness, "I may have had a slight part in that..."

[Xavier Akafur]

After a pause Ayllaina finally broke eye contact with the undead canine, checking over her shoulder to see that Kaz had an eye on him as well. She looked back at the scavenger briefly, then sighed and shouldered her gun. "We should stick together, given that we don't know if any of those rodents are still lurking around the area." Though she figured Nihlus would have returned by this point if he was able. It did not bode well. "Once we get Kat on her feet we'll swing north for about a quarter mile, and hopefully find him." She didn't feel the need to voice the alternative outcome.

The marten's hair was in a tussle and she spent a moment combing her fingers through it, pushing it out of her face and eyes. The sniper was clearly flustered, presumably by the battle, the undead creature before them, or the possible loss of a comrade so early in the trip. it was difficult to tell. She checked her shotgun quickly, making sure it was loaded, then tucked it deftly back into her belt.


"To answer your question we are scouting a route for  a potential railway to be built through here." She replied, examining the scratches along the barrel of her gun. "Speaking of which, I did not bring enough bullets." She added to her group. "Nothing in the job description implied we would be fighting small scale wars with the natives." They were supposed to be scouting a route. Presumably if they found one a much larger group with many more guns would come and plow a path through. "So maybe a little more sneaking is in order...?" She did not fancy the idea of being reduced to drawing a knife or picking up one of these shoddy junkheaps the vermin were using for weaponry. They were just as likely to explode in your face from the look of them.


"Kaz, see if you can find anything useful on these rats? Any ammunition that looks serviceable, food, supplies."

[Drakeyboy]

Zachary would pause briefly before speaking as if pondering Kat's statement. He would nod then realize that the marten was speaking to the group as a whole. He would nod once then turn back to Kat finally awnsering once he heard the marten said for him to finish the patch. "That's true." He would then take the flask and lay the cloth he was using as a bandage over the cut then say. "Tell me when it hurts." He would then begin to dribble the alcohol carefully onto the cut through the bandage. Not wanting to waste any of it was the main train of thought so he could bandage others later.

[coolcoyote]

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that unless you like rat stew, we aint going to be finding anything eatable here." Kaz casts a glance upon the horde of rats slain around them, shuddering at the thought of what they considered food.

But search he did, putting his experience as a bandit to good use. That is, finding anything thqt looked shiny and expensive or usefull.

Anything that would give him the excuse to stay away from their charming new friend. The yote didnt survive a rat attack just to end up in the stomach of a zombie...

[KittKat chunky~]

Kat glanced up as the marten spoke to the group and their newcomer as a whole. The lynx's tufted ears flicked down sheepishly at the mention of her injury, replying in a half-hearted voice that stung her pride as much as the cut on her leg, "Sorry about this... I'll get back on my feet as soon as I can-" She was cut off as she winced in pain. Zachary was soaking her wound with alcohol and it felt almost as bad as when the rat-creature had opened it with his blade, like a line of white-hot fire across her thick thigh. Kat nodded, blinking back tears as she gritted her teeth.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

 Jude gave another snort, mostly at the martin's statement. “Even if you'd brought enough, it wouldn't be enough.” He grabbed the body he'd been touching by the neck and dragged it closer to him, sniffing it idly. “All sorts of things are out here, none of them are friendly.” He tilted his head, looking back up to her with glowing green eyes. “Rats are the least of your worries.” With that, he dug a claw into the rat's eye socket and fished out the eye, sticking it in his mouth to chew thoughtfully.

[Xavier Akafur]

Laina looked away well before the undead canine managed to get the eye into his mouth, but she still almost seemed to turn green beneath her fur when the sound of his chewing reached her ears. She pulled her ears against her skull and stared at the ground in obvious disgust for a long moment, fighting down the urge to vomit. After a time she seemed to steel herself, though her eyes didn't move back in that direction. "You seem to know a lot about the area." She stated, though the way she spoke it almost sounded like an accusation. She looked at the rest of their group when she spoke, her eyes lifting slightly. "We could use a guide."


----


Some time later, the group pushed their way through the edge of a clearing, the Marten near the front as they passed into the open space. It was only a couple hundred yards from the earlier battlefield, and several of the trees had been knocked over. In fact, the torn ground, the shredded foliage, and the severed limbs of plague rats littering the ground made it pretty clear that this was where Nihlus had been. Been being the key word, as there was still no sign of the dragon-like creature. Laina looked around in frustration, her eyes briefly meeting those of thier newest, and least alive member of the group. Her lips tightened, but she knew they did not have the time or resources to hunt down their missing member. No doubt his help would be useful, but for all they knew he was dead and swallowed by the swamp.


"We'll have to keep moving." She said, though it was as much to reassure herself than to inform anyone else.

[Drakeyboy]

After dribbling the alcohol over the wound Zachary would tie down the cloth tightly so the blood wouldn't leak out. Sure it may leave the toes a little numb in the long run but it was better then bleeding out. He would then help Kat back up whether she liked it or not and help her walk until the wound healed enough so it wouldn't easily tear open again. As for bringing the walking corpse with them he could care less.

---

As they walked towards the battlefield that the winged companion Zachary would simply begin to map out whatever he could with his papers. They were still mostly clean but a few of the top sheets would have been soiled a little because of the first tumble he had. He also managed to fit enough time in to clean his coat off significantly compared to the layer of mud it had before.

When they did reach the battle zone he would look around at the strewn bodies and simply shrug. Oh well this is a place of death so it didn't surprise him to lose a ally. Though he was hoping it would have been later.

[coolcoyote]

"Ten minutes in and we may already have our first causualty." The fat coyote shook his head, "Heck of a first day if you ask me."

Then remembering his present company he adds swiftly, "But you never know, he might just be fine and dandy...somewhere."

The yote cringes as he adjusts the bag over his shoulder. The rats had nor been a good source of supplies. Most only carried their spears and loin cloths. Period. There was little ammunition to be had and what ever food the rats had with them was skeptical at best.

Their spears made good walking sticks as Kaz was finding out. The other supplies gathered were nnothing compared with what they brought with them.

Sliding up to Liana Kaz whispers, "So...any idea why the rat men picked a fight with us? And...is it wise to be letting our less than living friend here guide us? Not that I dont trust him to lead us to lead us into a trap its just...I dont trust him to lead. Zombies aint exactly known for brains ye know..."

[Goblin Cat 😸]

 “And I could use some food. Direction.” Jude replied, “Win win.” He continued to feast on the rat, unbothered by anyone watching, only moving when it was clear that the group was done scavenging. After all, he had just been appointed their guide.
--
 
It was clear once they'd reached the opening that something had gone down. What, the canine couldn't know. He had only just joined the group, but judging from the martin's reaction, it was nothing good for them. Jude gave a nod at the martin again when she mentioned moving on. “It's probably the best thing you can do. Standing around...” he paused as if searching for the words, “Only makes you a target.” Again, he shook his head, almost in disbelief that he was doing exactly what he was.

 

[Xavier Akafur]

Laina's mouth turned into a contemplative sort of frown as Kaz leaned in to speak with her, not bothering to tear her gaze from searching the nearby trees for a few seconds. She did, eventually, and her gaze when it met the coyote's was less than cheerful. "He seems fairly straightforward, possibly for the reason you just stated." She managed a slight, sarcastic smirk. "He's here to steer us away from any unknown danger, not necessarily to determine our course. That would be your job." She reminded him, poking him in the chest gently with a thin, clawed digit.

"As for why the rats attacked us, I think that's pretty clear. Food can't be easy to find here, and we have working weapons." She explained. "I would venture to guess they may also just attack anything that they think they can kill before it kills them." The marten shrugged.


She motioned for him to continue moving, trusting the chubby gunslinger with their heading. Her gaze shifted towards Zach and Kat briefly, checking in on them and how they were handling the situation, before moving to the undead canine, having heard him speak up earlier. "A target is exactly what we do not want to be right now. Jude, was it? Can you follow Kaz and make sure he doesn't run into anything avoidable?"

[coolcoyote]

The coyote bristles, fur on end. Yes, make the zombie hating bandit work with the zombie. Brilliant! Then again, it seems like there was no shortage of things wanting to eat him here so what did it matter if Kaz ended up in the belly of something living or something undead?

"Fine. I'll try to follow the course they want us to take but be warned, we are already deeper into this land than I ever dared to go. There is no telling what will be waiting for us down the road."

Taking the lead Kaz gestures the zombie to follow, "Alright, just...follow along and try not to get yerself in trouble, m'kay?"

[Drakeyboy]

Zachary would be calm dispite the situation. He'd jot down a few more notes for the map and approach the sniper once Kaz was gone. Considering he doesn't even know her name yet a little conversation wouldn't hurt. Still keeping the in progress map out he would say. "So sniper we haven't formally met yet, with me being late to the party and all, I'm Zachary."