The Thing from the Mountains (IC)

[North Kospean]

OCTOBER 23rd

"There it goes again that moaning... I can see why the police aren't doing this anymore..."

"Keep quiet its far but we don't know how fast it can get her-wait is that a plane I hear?"

"I think so Captain Yuri the coalition must be arriving."

"Lets report back to the lodge...it's too dangerous out here now with the planes overhead. Sergeant, make sure we aren't being followed. I'll take point. Come on."

It was cold, -1F to be exact, the first light dusting of snow had occurred the night before, and over the changing deciduous trees it was a site to behold. However, no one in the Belrad region had time to think about the beauty of mountains and instead the thoughts of that horror poisoned the minds. The lone road to the town was closed to traffic except those leaving and the official explanation for the disappearances was a serial killer hiding in the Koir National Park. While the explanation wasn't exactly the best if one dug deeper, anything was better then saying an unknown entity was hiding in the untamed forest, and with the newspapers of the country running on the donations of the government, it was easy to convince journalist that yes a killer was hiding in the woods. Those in the town however had something else to say. All day the squares were filled with people performing ancient ceremonies to rid evil spirits and the shrines to Gods were filled to the brim with gifts, while at night the streets were completely deserted except for the occasional military police vehicle patrolling the dirt roads.

This night the quiet streets were to be filled by a different sound besides the late Autumn birds and insects. One of cooperation between nations to find what was causing the disappearances and to eliminate the threat. All nations were to be discreet with their foray into North Kospean further fear would not do the residents well and officials knew it. The countries were to land at the Belrad airstrip a few kilometers north of the city then proceed through forest roads away from the civilian populous until they reached Medicine Sage Lodge. The Lodge was a luxurious piece of property tucked away from civilization usually intended for tourist during the busy summer months it was now to be a headquarters for the coalition forces. It was picked due to the position being in the epicenter of the disappearances in the region and to not stir conspiracies among the populous with strange looking people running around the town. All was to be right and with a clear night ahead the planes should arrive before dawn.

A small token force of MP parked near the airstrip with a Land Rover Wolf awaiting to guide countries to their destination and to give rides to any that needed it. Many of the troops hated the thought of waiting around in the cold dark while a terror was on the loose, but any sort of insubordination was meet with swift punishment and so many instead looked to the shrine of Hippeon, the God of travel, that was near the airstrip. Leaving small tokens at the knee-height stone monument. One problem the North Kospeanians ran into was the lack of speakers in any tongue besides the native language. This operation could only muster 3 officers and one enlisted who could speak a word besides North Kospean and all of them were in English. Even so two spoke broken English and the others were proficient enough and Colonel Vlad Brissun, head of the operation and special operations, spoke exceptional English. Communication was key in such odd circumstances and so Baron Atticus Banes, from nearby Principality of Welzat was to offer his translation services to the country. He was a businessman that invested heavily in the nation as such, he was granted a special privilege that would make some government officials jealous. In addition, the middle aged man was a hunter, more specifically, a big game hunter, and the quest to kill another creature was a good endeavor to leave for the weekend. Atticus however was not a man that believed this to be anything more than a large bear and so did not sense the tension in the air as he and North Kospean LT. Rimor Delpovos waited to guide the rest to Medicine Sage.

[Metcalfer2]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ekov-1.jpg

(OOC: it seems I have lost the art of posting pictures, no matter what I do it just says that it’s impossible to determine the size of the image)

As the odd looking An-72 made touchdown on the tarmac a sense of dread calm continued to trouble Sargent Rybak, a weird feeling that has plagued him since reading the MIA reports on the strange happenings in North Kospean. Usually he would be able to push away such feelings and just get the job over and done with, but the presence of a MSWS operative mingling with his comrades has further inflamed his sense of dread.

As the An-27 came to a standstill he unbuckled himself and swiftly stood up before barking order “I want our gear off this craft and readying to go within 20 minutes, time is of the essence and I don’t want us to be the last one to see this beastie, understood?” In unison his his team called out an affirmative understood. As the planes ramp opened up Rybak made his way down it before it even had a chance to fully open, the frigid air filling his lungs in a familiar embrace that reminded him of home. Looking around for the most formal individual Rybak eventually spotted what his dossier had identified as Colonel Vlad Brissun.

Making his way over to the group of men Rybak snapped a quick salute before swinging his hand out for a hand shake “Colonel Brissun I presume, I’ve been told you have a beastie for us to hunt?”

[Mosarat]

In another world separate from Gaia and Earth, a nation known as North Kospean is besieged by an unknown terror. It is unknown if it is man or beast. Or something of this realm. That is why Dr. Morrison Alton and Professor Yahya Abdullah have been sent at the behest of The Sultan to discover the terror that has gripped a nation.

The Mosaratian Air Force jet for the two investigators was sent out. Dr. Alton was no stranger to
phenomenon such as this. Strange beings and events that couldn’t be described as earthly. Dr. Alton had been an ally to the Sultan. The fellow beside Alton was Professor Yahya Abdullah. The Professor had only read and studied such cases. He had never seen them. However the two men had knowledge that would certainly be useful to the investigation.

“What a dreadful sort of backwater.” The Professor said. “Try to be respectful Professor.” Dr. Alton said. “Alright I will. However I hope this is only inconvenience.” This was not the case. Not only did very little of the population speak English they certainly did not speak Arabic. Finally they found someone who did. They were taken to the headquarters to be briefed on their mission.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

VDV An-12 cargo aircraft has definitely came a long way from Laka to this country, located so far away as if God himself has forgotten about it’ existence. Of all the men in the squad, only Malvine knew about this nation mere existence. However, everyone knew that they have had more important tasks to adhere to other than to ask the young Uzbek about this nation. Instead, everyone was seated around AnnaLiz, listening about more specs on the coming mission and reviewing what little information they’ve had on the land and the beast they were after. Their vehicle and, most likely, home for the next several days was sitting in the middle of the cargo bay, in all of it’s general wood camouflage beauty. What lies ahead? No one really knows, but they’re better come prepared for it.

After an extremely long flight the pilots were somewhat tired- despite there being two spare crews replacing each other, sleeping while seated in extremely prop aircraft is not exactl6 a fun experience- while the squad were indeed provided with sleeping bags they’ve made a good use of, air crew have forgot their own in Laka. As such the touchdown was not exactly a smooth one, with the cargo plane going around not just once or twice, but three times, with the final landing being somewhat bouncy due to the plane over speeding on landing approach. As the BMP has slowly rolled out of the cargo bay, Kospeancs could witness a wierd yet comical scene- Cpl Kamenashi was doing his best, playing something resembling VDV song “VDV- eto my!” (VDV- it’s us!) using his violin- the desant had a lot of traditions and playing this song while desant unloads for the first time in a foreign land is just another one of them. All 10 men of the squad were standing in parade rest next to the vehicle, while listening to their command giving them a few final motivational words via radio. After this, the cargo plane has taxied back to takeoff and landing strip, as if the pilots and other members of the aircrew were afraid of staying in this God-forgotten land for a few minutes more.

- Well, so this is North Kospea…- Svetlana looked over the airfield with a mixed look on her face,- with all honesty, remembering how bad CAR looked like, I was expecting something worse, hell, I might even like this place!
- Curb down your enthusiasm, Svet’, we’ve just arrived to this place. CAR at least had some accompanying armor, and here, something tells me that here we are going to be more or less alone here…- less than enthusiastically replied AnnaLiz
- Oh come on, ma’m, at least here we don’t have any of these local rebels who are going to run after our BMP with RPG’s or something
- Well, they sure make for fine trophies, that I can say for sure!
As the infantry and crew got into or on (riding atop armor is an old Russian tradition after all), the BMP has rode towards the awaiting local officers (or waited for them to come to them if they are closer), awaiting further instructions

[Lauzanne]

The roar of the An-12's turboprops could be heard from miles away as the massive cargo plane arrived after the previous one left. One could be mistaken as an outside observer to see a second VDV plane landing, however it was not the case. Bearing the purple-within-blue roundel of the LAF, the landing was a lot more graceful as the snow came down, gently coating the plane in a thin layer of white. As the engines spun down and the ramp opened, the team and the loadmaster were already unhooking the two 4x4 vehicles. Within a minute, both Ferrets were reversing off the vehicle, the two teams clad in a snowy digicam, the very light grey broken up by brown, black and green fractal patterns.

Starshina Dmitri Pearce was the semi-typical Razvedka operator: To the point, good memory, and close with his team. He saw his men get out of the 4x4's, clad in cold weather gear. Although it was unpleasant, it was natural for this time of year. As they were performing another check of their weapons and gear, he tapped Sergeant Velichkov on the shoulder.
"Let's go check out the local wildlife, Serzhant."
"Yes sir."

Pearce noticed the others that had landed to approach the others. Another nine-man team, two out-of-place civvies, and some Soviet-style VDV types. Accepting officer looks new, but the man next to him seems to be a civilian. It was natural that they weren't the only ones here, but given the eclectic mix of the personnel on display, Dmitri was sizing up his options as he approached the pair.
"Starshina Pearce, Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment. I take it you're going to brief us on the situation?"

[Lacienia]

In sharp contrast to the hulking transport planes around it, a jet/propellor hybrid VTOL could be seen descending towards a helipad. Its powerful turboprop engines flinging the snow in all directions and creating a slight hump of powder around the landing zone. Having sufficiently maneuvered, the VTOL came down with grace that's normally seen only in simulations and movies. Upon landing, the rear cargo ramp lowered and a three individuals could be seen exiting the craft. Wearing white camouflage standards, each of them looked as though they were peak specimens of humanity, whether it be sharp eyes, developed muscles, or evident spacial awareness.

Corporal Robert Baldwin

Robert gave a sigh and stepped off the ramp. There hadn't been a supernatural occurrence in a few months. The team had been enjoying their free time by binge-watching the latest television shows and trying to beat each other in air hockey. He wished that the period of peace could have just continued onwards. No matter, there was a job to be done and done it would be. Major Erikson was walking towards the odd looking group composed of a soldier, an accepting officer, and a seeming civilian. Seeing that the accepting officer was from North Kospean, Robert decided to follow the Major. Hopefully they could ask for directions to the FOB and maybe even get a warm meal.

[North Kospean]

In another world separate from Gaia and Earth, a nation known as North Kospean is besieged by an unknown terror. It is unknown if it is man or beast. Or something of this realm. That is why Dr. Morrison Alton and Professor Yahya Abdullah have been sent at the behest of The Sultan to discover the terror that has gripped a nation.

The Mosaratian Air Force jet for the two investigators was sent out. Dr. Alton was no stranger to
phenomenon such as this. Strange beings and events that couldn’t be described as earthly. Dr. Alton had been an ally to the Sultan. The fellow beside Alton was Professor Yahya Abdullah. The Professor had only read and studied such cases. He had never seen them. However the two men had knowledge that would certainly be useful to the investigation.

“What a dreadful sort of backwater.” The Professor said. “Try to be respectful Professor.” Dr. Alton said. “Alright I will. However I hope this is only inconvenience.” This was not the case. Not only did very little of the population speak English they certainly did not speak Arabic. Finally they found someone who did. They were taken to the headquarters to be briefed on their mission.

The two were the first to arrive on the desolated airfield. The heat from the plane was quickly outclassed by the nips of the wind. The MP that guarded the strip were outclassed in full winter uniforms with gray Ushankas and AKMs being the most noticeable features of this force. The pair was mysterious to the Kospeaneans after all, the culture was completely opposite and some wondered how a call to action was even delivered to the foreigners being from a land so far away that few could even pinpoint the general region Mosarat was in. Regardless, they came all this way for something and LT. Rimor was there to make sure the ride to Medicine Sage was a safe one.

When the two approached, Rimor greeted the duo in a fairly awkward but understandable English, "Gos!(Hello) It is a pleasure to meet you Dr. Morrison Alton and Professor Yahya Abdullah! I am Lieutenant Rimor Delpovos, here to guide you back to headquarters, Colonel Brissun awaits. If you may step into these vehicles you may be transported without danger." He said pointing to a Land Rover Wolf.

The vehicles were a mainstay of the Armed Forces and five were scattered across the staging area. One unusually clean model came rolling across to the two academics and off they went into the woods. The Koir National Park while vastly untamed did have a network of forest roads that one could easily get lost in especially the back routes to the lodge and as such a convey of three Land Rovers took the duo. While the driver was silent due to a communication issue the rest of the ride wasn't as a mess of bumps and violent shacks rattled the car. Outside the safety of the car was an endless forest of mixed trees and above that the moonlit peaks of mountains, and after 30 minutes of this same view, an oasis to break the silent wood, the Medicine Sage Lodge. The lodge was well lit with floodlights battling the darkness away and the four story hotel now looked to be a fortress with North Kospean soldiers on the decks and ground. The duo was lead inside and into a conference room where Colonel Brissun awaited.

He was a older man well in his 50s with a gray beard and balding hair. The Colonel looked up as the duo came in and greeted them, " Its a pleasure to meet the two of you and I thank you for arriving here on such short notice. How was the drive?" He asked. Behind him were reports after reports going back years of sightings of something in these parts of the country and under one classified report seemed to be a picture...

[North Kospean]

In sharp contrast to the hulking transport planes around it, a jet/propellor hybrid VTOL could be seen descending towards a helipad. Its powerful turboprop engines flinging the snow in all directions and creating a slight hump of powder around the landing zone. Having sufficiently maneuvered, the VTOL came down with grace that's normally seen only in simulations and movies. Upon landing, the rear cargo ramp lowered and a three individuals could be seen exiting the craft. Wearing white camouflage standards, each of them looked as though they were peak specimens of humanity, whether it be sharp eyes, developed muscles, or evident spacial awareness.

Corporal Robert Baldwin

Robert gave a sigh and stepped off the ramp. There hadn't been a supernatural occurrence in a few months. The team had been enjoying their free time by binge-watching the latest television shows and trying to beat each other in air hockey. He wished that the period of peace could have just continued onwards. No matter, there was a job to be done and done it would be. Major Erikson was walking towards the odd looking group composed of a soldier, an accepting officer, and a seeming civilian. Seeing that the accepting officer was from North Kospean, Robert decided to follow the Major. Hopefully they could ask for directions to the FOB and maybe even get a warm meal.

The group of troops were impressed with the display of an advance aircraft. The North Kospean air force consisted of just a few helicopters and cargo planes so this was something of a novelty. After a few minutes the soldiers came out, and Atticus who was smoking a pipe and conversing with the LT., chuckled to himself remarking quietly, " Didn't know you guys had that super soldier serum." The LT. did not chuckle as he usually did when the old hunter made comments but instead made a hasty walk to the man who he presumed to be Robert Baldwin of Lacienia.

"Nice to meet you. I am LT. Rimor Delpovos. Do you require a ride to our headquarters? We have many vehicles open." He said gesturing to the open Land Rovers. Behind him a soldier was fixing the shrine of Hippeon as all the landings and take offs had knocked a stone from the monument.

[Drifterica]

A Drifterican UJTH would eventually land at the airfield at around 1 am. The group of five climbed out of the helicopter and were immediately slapped in the face with the cold. Due to Drifterica's climate, most of them had never seen snow before, let alone the temperature in the negatives. They wore most of their gear, carrying their weapons and large rucksacks over to a group of North Kospean soldiers. The camo they wore was all white, with a mix of greyish green, similar to a winter take on a tigerstripe pattern.

The group so knew why they were there. Most of them believed it wasn't to hunt down some monster, but due to problems, they had back at home. The Captain, Amber Reed had moved to D.I.E.C because, to be promoted, she need foreign field experience. Shinto Brancroft, a former soldier and now DEA agent were tasked to see how religion and superstition could be used for physiological warfare. Aiguo, the technician was sent there rather as a disciplinary action, he was considered lazy and was forced out of the unit by his former CO. The detective wasn't sure why she was there. She assumed because the higherups couldn't have thought of anything of use to do with her and the rest of the military crimes division, and sent her away just to say the division wasn't a waste of taxpayers' money. And Nutatu knew why he was there, he was there to kill a monster. He swore he had seen monsters and strange creatures in the railroads of Vanquria, the most recent conflict Drifterica was involved in. Though there were two things they all agreed on. It was very cold. And they did not, want to be here.

Amber and her group walked over to a group of MPs. Knowing the problematic language barrier, she attempted to communicate with them.

"Uh...Do you speak English?" She said somewhat awkwardly. "Uh..." She pointed to the Drifterican flag patch stitched into the jacket. "We're from Drifterica...We need directions to meet some officer of some kind?"

[Mosarat]

In another world separate from Gaia and Earth, a nation known as North Kospean is besieged by an unknown terror. It is unknown if it is man or beast. Or something of this realm. That is why Dr. Morrison Alton and Professor Yahya Abdullah have been sent at the behest of The Sultan to discover the terror that has gripped a nation.

The Mosaratian Air Force jet for the two investigators was sent out. Dr. Alton was no stranger to
phenomenon such as this. Strange beings and events that couldn’t be described as earthly. Dr. Alton had been an ally to the Sultan. The fellow beside Alton was Professor Yahya Abdullah. The Professor had only read and studied such cases. He had never seen them. However the two men had knowledge that would certainly be useful to the investigation.

“What a dreadful sort of backwater.” The Professor said. “Try to be respectful Professor.” Dr. Alton said. “Alright I will. However I hope this is only inconvenience.” This was not the case. Not only did very little of the population speak English they certainly did not speak Arabic. Finally they found someone who did. They were taken to the headquarters to be briefed on their mission.

The two were the first to arrive on the desolated airfield. The heat from the plane was quickly outclassed by the nips of the wind. The MP that guarded the strip were outclassed in full winter uniforms with gray Ushankas and AKMs being the most noticeable features of this force. The pair was mysterious to the Kospeaneans after all, the culture was completely opposite and some wondered how a call to action was even delivered to the foreigners being from a land so far away that few could even pinpoint the general region Mosarat was in. Regardless, they came all this way for something and LT. Rimor was there to make sure the ride to Medicine Sage was a safe one.

When the two approached, Rimor greeted the duo in a fairly awkward but understandable English, "Gos!(Hello) It is a pleasure to meet you Dr. Morrison Alton and Professor Yahya Abdullah! I am Lieutenant Rimor Delpovos, here to guide you back to headquarters, Colonel Brissun awaits. If you may step into these vehicles you may be transported without danger." He said pointing to a Land Rover Wolf.

The vehicles were a mainstay of the Armed Forces and five were scattered across the staging area. One unusually clean model came rolling across to the two academics and off they went into the woods. The Koir National Park while vastly untamed did have a network of forest roads that one could easily get lost in especially the back routes to the lodge and as such a convey of three Land Rovers took the duo. While the driver was silent due to a communication issue the rest of the ride wasn't as a mess of bumps and violent shacks rattled the car. Outside the safety of the car was an endless forest of mixed trees and above that the moonlit peaks of mountains, and after 30 minutes of this same view, an oasis to break the silent wood, the Medicine Sage Lodge. The lodge was well lit with floodlights battling the darkness away and the four story hotel now looked to be a fortress with North Kospean soldiers on the decks and ground. The duo was lead inside and into a conference room where Colonel Brissun awaited.

He was a older man well in his 50s with a gray beard and balding hair. The Colonel looked up as the duo came in and greeted them, " Its a pleasure to meet the two of you and I thank you for arriving here on such short notice. How was the drive?" He asked. Behind him were reports after reports going back years of sightings of something in these parts of the country and under one classified report seemed to be a picture...

“Thank you.” They both said. They got into the SUV. They sat in silence on the way. However they took note of the landscape. It was quite different from the sandy lands of Mosarat. The Professor and Dr. Alton were rattled by the bumps. The pair noted the fortifications of the building. They went in and met The Colonel.

“It was good Colonel.” Dr. Alton said. “A bit bumpy but every good. I must say your country has good scenery.” He added. Meanwhile the Professor was bent over the reports. Until he found the picture. “Excuse me.” He said. “But what is this picture.” He added.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

As the rest of the “coalition” forces were arriving, desantniki could not have but made some sweet chit-chats about everything, however, their primary concern was how the platoon were going to spend their evening. The reason for debate? Anna-Lizabeth has decided to force down everyone’ throats a good old portion of traditional Lakan “mandatory fun”- to force everyone to watch a movie she bought before this assignment, a really old (1937) movie “Deep raid”. Even finding this reel at Russian State Films Fund Archive auctions was pain in itself due to little to no people showing interest in the film. Moreover than that, the reel was incompatible with the standard Lakan movie projectors (here they are way more popular than in western world), so the sarge saw no other way out of it other than to buy another one- which was currently residing in a large wooden black box strapped to the BMP’ side. Obviously, not all of the crewmen wanted to watch a Soviet Stalinist-era war film…
- Come on, ma’m, we can watch your movie’ bout these Soviet desantniks some time later, why do we have to do this today…- Malvine has a movie of her own, which she really wanted to show everyone
- Because your alternative to this is a goddamn movie about prostitution!
- It’s not a our prostitution, ma’m, it’s about life in NEP-era USSR, filmed in the…
- I don’t want to hear a word of it- it’s in the goddamn name- “Prostitutka”!
- Pleeeease, ma’m! We can watch both movies after all…
As this argument was going on, the BMP was preparing to embark with all of the other vehicles- given it’s powerful armament it was only logical to assume for this vehicle to take the rearguard position

[North Kospean]

Metcalfer2, Lauzanne, Laka Strolistandiler

The night was entering its late hours and the temperatures plummeted as the harsh wind nipped away at the last three remaining "coalition" teams. It was about time to wrap up the situation at the airfield. As such LT. Rimor answered the last of the questions such as Pearce of Lauzanne inquiring about a briefing of the situation which was answered by referring him to Colonel Brissun at Medicine Sage Lodge and correcting the Metcalfer Sargent Rybak by explaining he wasn't Colonel Brissun. As this was happening more Land Rover Wolves arrived from the dark forest road loading up troops and gear for the bumpy time back.

As the foreign officers were about, the LT. kindly asked if the armored vehicles could be at the back of the convey and follow the now 10 car lineup through the woods. Finally, after hours of waiting around it was time to go back to the warmth and comfort of the lodge, but one obstacle still remained, the forest road. This dirt/gravel mix of a path was hellish on the wheels with bumps and squeaks not unusual. However, it was the only thing that connected the lodge and airstrip without having a military parade through downtown Belrad, a nightmare situation for the hermit republic.

The convoys first vehicle consisted of LT. Rimor and Atticus Banes, followed by an all MP rover and then the Metcalfer team followed by the Lauzane and Laka forces. In the very back were the armored vehicles carried by the two nations for the missions. As the slow moving convoy made its way through the desolate path, the North Kospeanean drivers were fatigued by the constant back and forth driving throughout the night and most were ready to be done with the operation already. It also didn't help that the full scale of the situation was never explained to such low ranking troops and carrying all these foreigners heightened the sense of dread, the dread that something unknown was happening in these woods. This dread was fermenting in Corporal Nicholas Friner, the driver in the lead vehicle, who was spaced out as Atticus told stories of hunting man eating bears and the likes, until a heard of deer ran out in front of the rover. The corporal tried to snap out of his thoughts and avoid a collision by hitting the brakes and turning the vehicle to the right instinctively, but he was betrayed by the loose dirt/gravel mix that laid before the road and veered straight into a small pine just off the path. The cars behind instantly smashed on the brakes brining everyone to a complete standstill.

Just seconds after the five individuals in the vehicle came out to look at the problem. The Corporal was white in the face as he desperately tried to explain the situation to the LT. who instantly marched to him. While the man was pleading his case, Atticus decided to look around the vehicle to see the damage.

"Damn we are not getting out of this easy!" He said as he realized the vehicles front half dropped about a meter off the road where there was a dip. Worst yet was that the lead carrier was now horizontal covering most the road leaving space only for someone to walk past the site. .

"We need some help to clear this!" He called out to the others who came rushing out of vehicles. " What a start to this little trip. Lets get this done quick." The man muttered to himself as the North Kospeaneans assessed the damage and how to proceed.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

BMP came to a screeching halt, barely avoiding crashing into another armored vehicle which was driving ahead of it, sending infantry seated in the compartment flying forward and piling atop each other, like the Russians in this video. While the swearing soldiers have gotten back “on their feet”, AnnaLiz had gotten out of the vehicle, asking the officers if she could do anything to help the,.
-My… Well, this looks bad. Very bad. Calling for the driver to come, she walked around the vehicle while being escorted by Manzura all while carrying her 3-gunned AR, as if she was showing off to someone. If there was one thing she was looking for it was definitely a way to connect her BMP to the ditched vehicle- the powerful machine can easily pull it out, in 20~30 minutes of work. The remaining part of the work is setting up a temporary perimeter and asking the Lieutenant for permission to work. She would ask him in a calm yet somewhat troubled voice:
-Permission to speak, sir? My unit can get this thing back on the road in 20-30 minutes. Our winch is long enough to reach it and if you’re going to help us to set up a perimeter, I suppose we could get it done…
Should he accept this offer, AnnaLiz will dismount most of her men on the ground, with the remaining sitting in the vehicle, watching over the bushes with thermals or night vision devices to prevent assault. In case of need, they could launch a star shell to illuminate the surrounding area- there was definitely no shortage of these.

[Metcalfer2]

Five minutes before the accident

Rybak sat back in his seat, concentrating on the bumps of the road and the light snow falling outside the vehicle, anything to take his mind from the combination of his dread and the piss taking being given by his comrades. The chief instigator of which being his Junior Sergeant Mariam Wosene, the tall East African woman currently nudging her elbow into Rybak’s side “how is it a man of your worldly experience…suffer from face blindness” Rybak shot back “I don’t suffer from face blindness, it was just a case of mistaken identity”, another of his comrades called out from behind him “this is the eighth time this has happened”. Rybak lifted his hand in a one finger salute aimed behind him followed by a chorus of laughter “I bet the Sergeants in the Orphan Legion don’t have to deal with this bullshit”.

The MSWS Officer replied to Rybak’s frustrated musing “Legionnaires of the MOL often don’t speak at all if they can help it”, Wosene turned to face the stranger to their unit “same could be said about the Abomination Legion”. The young man laughed “if only, if anything majority of my comrades won’t shut up most of the time…..it’s actually quite unsettling when they are quite”. The conversation and banter were quickly halted by the accident in front of them, the car driver pf the Metcalfern vehicle uttered a short curse before making the vehicle come to a sharp halt.


Exiting the vehicle Rybak stood to the side as Lakan soldiers rushed past him, following behind them while eyeing a group of deer disappear into the snowy woods. Upon reaching the stricken vehicle he watched as the mob of Kospean and Lakan soldiers tried to pull the vehicle off the edge, grabbing his radio he called some of his team to come and help their allies. Turning to a Lakan soldier he inquired to the cause of the accident “what happened here?” The Lakan screwed his face as he replied “bunch of deer ran in front of the lead car, swerved to miss and ended up like this”, scratching his stubbly face Rybak continued his inquiry “a group of deer? Not one or two but like a herd?” “Something like that, excuse me I gotta help with this” “fair enough, fair enough”.

Turing back to face his approaching men he started barking orders “try help these guys, use your E-tools to try and fix this miss”, as they passed him Wosene stopped next to him “what’s the problem Sarge?”, Rybak sucked air through teeth before replying “something odd has caught my attention” “and that would be?” “The deer, the ones that caused this mess, if it is one or two then I would think it normal, but a group as large as I saw is just….not normal” Wosene put her hand on his shoulder “your just being paranoid” “I’m not paranoid, I grew up with deer, they don’t run in large groups unless spooked, hence something must of spooked them” “you think it’s our mystery beast” “maybe, or maybe a hunter spooked them”.
Wosene flashed a smile before walking on “again paranoid”, standing in place Rybak looked up into the woods above them, looking through the falling snow and darkness, feeling like something was watching them “maybe, maybe “.

[Lauzanne]

It was times like this that Pearce was glad Lauzanne had adopted the Ferret. With it's independent suspension and halfway decent air conditioning, driving along an unsealed road like this was far more preferable than being thrown about like the vehicles in front of him, even with the similarly sized Sandcat between them and the Kospeans. He would reach for his radio
"You're not freezing up there are you?"

Razvodnik Albesca was certainly freezing, the layered uniform staving off the cold but not fully defeating it. His gun was pointed to the right, with his counterpart in the second Ferret looking off to the left. When he got the call, his left hand got off the stock of his GPMG to hit the transmit button. The only thing louder than the wind right now was the BMP-2 two vehicles down from him.
"Chilly as hell, sir."
"Keep it up."
His goggles were down, painting the world in a radioactive green. The other exposed personnel, vehicles and some wildlife that were around were all shown in a bright orange, drawing one's eye to the life that existed out here among the endless trees and snow. Reminded him of home in the winter. He was peering back towards the BMP when everyone came to a screeching halt, Albesca bringing his gun forwards to scan for a potential threat.
"Just some fucking deer." The other gunner reported. Although everyone relaxed a fraction, Albesca hit his radio again.
"Looks like the lead vehicle is stuck." With that, he could hear the groan from all the soldiers inside.
"Alright. Everyone who isn't driving or gunning, fan out."

Five soldiers left the vehicle, Pearce included. Two on the left side of the convoy, three on the right. Guns up, eyes open and looking out at the endless forest.

[North Kospean]

BMP came to a screeching halt, barely avoiding crashing into another armored vehicle which was driving ahead of it, sending infantry seated in the compartment flying forward and piling atop each other, like the Russians in this video. While the swearing soldiers have gotten back “on their feet”, AnnaLiz had gotten out of the vehicle, asking the officers if she could do anything to help the,.
-My… Well, this looks bad. Very bad. Calling for the driver to come, she walked around the vehicle while being escorted by Manzura all while carrying her 3-gunned AR, as if she was showing off to someone. If there was one thing she was looking for it was definitely a way to connect her BMP to the ditched vehicle- the powerful machine can easily pull it out, in 20~30 minutes of work. The remaining part of the work is setting up a temporary perimeter and asking the Lieutenant for permission to work. She would ask him in a calm yet somewhat troubled voice:
-Permission to speak, sir? My unit can get this thing back on the road in 20-30 minutes. Our winch is long enough to reach it and if you’re going to help us to set up a perimeter, I suppose we could get it done…
Should he accept this offer, AnnaLiz will dismount most of her men on the ground, with the remaining sitting in the vehicle, watching over the bushes with thermals or night vision devices to prevent assault. In case of need, they could launch a star shell to illuminate the surrounding area- there was definitely no shortage of these.

"What a disgrace." Rimor remarked in his native tongue having finished berating the enlisted man that caused the accident and turning to look at the collection of soldiers. The solider was utterly embarrassed that just hours into meeting these troops from far off lands a mess like this had occurred. He was trying to make his small army a competent one in front of these giants but had failed, regardless he was the man in charge and started barking orders for the men to clear the area and get lights on the vehicle. As he was adjusting his Ushanka, the black haired officer took one last glimpse into the woods and saw the numerous tracks of mountain deer leaping through the light snow. "Running?" He muttered to himself but the mind quickly jumped back to the Laka officer in front of him.

He listened intently and had to think for a minute before speaking in English, " You think it can reach? The ummm... your mmm...vehicle his far off from this mess. I must apologize for this forsaken event. Please forgive us." He said ashamed that such an event was occurring

Meanwhile, Atticus had taken his sight off the scene and instead was walking down the convey. Peering intently into left side of the woods, he could hear faintly the few creatures making noise at this time like the last crickets of the season and the crunching of animals avoiding the scene but far off it seemed unless his aging ears were playing tricks on him he heard something more... As the man was walking he came face to face with Pearce. A quick pat down with his eyes and Atticus blew up with a smile. "OH! A Lauzanne soldier! How nice to meet you! Your country has done great things for us in the Black March we never forget! I didn't know you all would be in these parts too, must have a thing with helping little buzz off countries." He said shaking the mans hand and delivering a hardy laugh.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

-Hmmm, not long enough to get through…- Anna reached for her radio, telling one of the men who have stayed at the BMP to measure the distance between the crashed car and their vehicle- “Ey, vi! Zamertye distanciyu meshdu Land Rover’om i BMP! Poshiveye, sukini deti!” (Hey, you! Measure the distance between the Land Rover and the BMP! Make is fast, you sons’ o bitches!”- and a number of fastly approaching footsteps have indicated that they’ve complied. After a bit exhausted Irina has ran up to the vehicle, she noted that the distance was within dozens of meters, surely out of the winch’ reach. After uttering another Russo-German swear word, she ordered private back to the BMP, and started thinking of another solution, quickly coming up with the idea of pulling the vehicle out using the winch, albeit in another way. She approach the Kospean officer yet again:
-Unfortunately, you’re right, sir- the car is just out of reach of your BMP’ winch. However, we can try to use it another way- you see this tree,- she pointed at a rather large pine on the other side of the road,- if we will be able to attach our winch to it and the vehicle we might be able to pull it out- using only it’ own power and, of course, our infantry squad- they’re no strangers to pushing and pulling armored vehicles, ain’t I right, Malvine?- the Lakan private sadly nodded- Lakan dirt roads often forced infantry to push not just cars, but whole BMP’s and even tanks.

If the officer will agree, whole squad will dismount, take the second wing from the BMP and carry it to the front, with one man attaching it to the car, two others guarding him/her, and the other seven busy attaching it to the tree. Because they know that the higher you attach the winch, the easier it will be to pull the car out (remember the principle of moments?), the one attaching the heavy winch will have to stand on another desantnik, with the remaining personnel guarding the two. This will be, of course, accompanied with a lot of Anna-Lizabeth swearing at her men (in not just one but three languages- Russian, Japanese and German all mixed together into an abomination of a speak), and the men swearing at their work- a wise American has once said that if Lakan is not cursing everything while doing physical work he’s either not doing a physical work or is not a real Lakan.

[North Kospean]

Mosarat

The Colonel smirked at his comment about the beautiful scenery of the country, "Oh it is, something about those mountains... it's home to us." He said before turning to the Professor who was examining his stacks of papers. He noticed the picture was out of place and before he could hide it the curious man asked about it.

"Oh that..." He grabbed the picot making sure its contents were guarded away from the duo. "Well I was going to show this to the entire coalition force tomorrow for briefing... its difficult to explain the contents... what is your specialty in the field Professor? Are you familiar with the... strange?" He asked raising an eyebrow at the man.

[Mosarat]

Mosarat

The Colonel smirked at his comment about the beautiful scenery of the country, "Oh it is, something about those mountains... it's home to us." He said before turning to the Professor who was examining his stacks of papers. He noticed the picture was out of place and before he could hide it the curious man asked about it.

"Oh that..." He grabbed the picot making sure its contents were guarded away from the duo. "Well I was going to show this to the entire coalition force tomorrow for briefing... its difficult to explain the contents... what is your specialty in the field Professor? Are you familiar with the... strange?" He asked raising an eyebrow at the man.

“I am a parapsychologist. I study events and things like this. So yes in a way. I have heard of some strange events happening throughout Gaia. Hauntings,extraterrestrials, vampires, witchcraft, and other events that can’t be described as natural. As much as I tried to understand them I have never encountered them. However I believe with absolute certainty we might encounter something like this. However I believe Dr. Morrison Alton has more experience.” The Professor said.

“Yes. Last year me and his majesty the Sultan had quite the experience. I have an entire case file on the issue. It involved a man possessed by strange creatures called jinn. They caused him to do strange and dark things. Luckily the Sultan and I exorcised them.” Dr. Alton explained.

[Lauzanne]

Meanwhile, Atticus had taken his sight off the scene and instead was walking down the convey. Peering intently into left side of the woods, he could hear faintly the few creatures making noise at this time like the last crickets of the season and the crunching of animals avoiding the scene but far off it seemed unless his aging ears were playing tricks on him he heard something more... As the man was walking he came face to face with Pearce. A quick pat down with his eyes and Atticus blew up with a smile. "OH! A Lauzanne soldier! How nice to meet you! Your country has done great things for us in the Black March we never forget! I didn't know you all would be in these parts too, must have a thing with helping little buzz off countries." He said shaking the mans hand and delivering a hardy laugh.

Pearce was guarding the convoy's 3 o'clock position, on one knee with firearm in a low ready position. The Lauzannean flag was visible on the right hand side of his uniform but all the gear was the same. Given they used the same Ferrets that no doubt became iconic speeding through the streets of Armitage, it probably wasn't hard to make the connection. Pearce had met with the team that went there once or twice, providing more information to the larger SOF community.

"A Welzatian? We did alright, a lot of that bloodshed was completely un-necessary. We were asked to come here since North Kospean is seeking out closer relations, given the current situation... It's not looking too great." Pearce began, pointing at the crashed land rover.
"One large convoy open to ambush, the BMP should have been in the lead. No forward group to clear... It's a mess. I hear you have some LDF troops in Welzat training your boys though?" Pearce asked, still scanning with the night vision. Before Atticus got a chance to respond, he put one hand up to indicate silence as he heard something in the distance.

When he realised what it was, he felt a chill up his spine.

It sounded like the scream of an injured human far off in the distance, sounding like someone had broken their ankle or arm in a bad fall. As it echoed through the snow-coated trees though, it sounded distorted, getting deeper and more roar-like as it began to trail off. By now everyone else had heard it too, Pearce springing into action.
"Atticus, get down behind me. Albesca, Viktorov, 3'oclock. You lot with the BMP, three o'clock!" He ordered to the Lakans in their armoured vehicle. Although he wasn't in their chain of command, he had seen their leader go towards the front of the convoy.
"I've heard the bastard, eyes out. Don't take the bait. Get that vehicle ready in time or leave it behind."

The LDF group was now squarely facing the direction of the sound, Velichkov and another soldier joining Pearce and his two in keeping an eye out for whatever this thing is.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

Theme
“Okay, comrades, listen up- the higher you put the winch the easier it will be for us to pull the vehicle out of the mud. According to the manual we have to get at least 5 meters above the ground. Now we could climb the tree- but I don’t think, with all honesty, that this will be possible- this is a pine and I don’t see any way we could climb this high. As I don’t remember anyone of you getting hiking training, we all know that this means. Semyon, put your weapon on the ground and get as close as you can get to the tree, Malvine, get on his shoulders, Celestine, you are the lightest one in the squad, climb on her and attach the winch. No, I do not give a flying fuck, Semyon- get to the fucking tree and attach the fucking winch. Poshly, yob vashu mat’! (go on you motherfuckers!)

Now Lakan desantniki are trained to do an awful lot of things and carrying not one but two other desantniks in full equipment is a necessity to qualify the Central Desant Academy, which is the reason why Zhirenkova chose to order her troops to do this, comically looking yet somehow practical maneuver. Before they were able to finally attach the winch, the “man-tower” has already collapsed twice, which was always accompanied by more of Russian swearing by AnnaLiz, with the men sometimes swearing back in non-offensive senses. Finally, the “yeblany kosoriliye” (f@#faces curve-faced), “nedobitky karantinniye” (untranslatable Russian folklore) and, of all the other things, “mukhoboyi peredolbanniye” (AAA soldiers) were finally close to attaching the winch- AnnaLiz even came closer to tell them, how they should to it in precision… Which was exactly the moment they’ve heard the scream. With a really loud Russian “BLYAAAAAAAD” (no need to translate), three troops piled atop their commander, who would have unleashed the whole arsenal of Russian military swears at the three poor conscripts if not for the urgency of the situation.

In swiftness in changing of mood and behavior only displayable by Lakans, the troops have immediately complied with the order to get back to the vehicle, detaching the winch and tossing it back into the BMP. Very rumpled, they’ve got back atop the vehicle and readied their rifles, preparing to fire at whatever lied ahead. “Nu cho, sukini’ dety, poigrayem nahui!” (Well, sons o’bitches, let’s play a fucking game!) BMP fired up’ it’ engine, preparing to drive off the road and chase down whatever lied ahead, with all of the infantry using their IR/NV scopes as well as the driver/gunner/commander.

[Lauzanne]

Theme
In swiftness in changing of mood and behavior only displayable by Lakans, the troops have immediately complied with the order to get back to the vehicle, detaching the winch and tossing it back into the BMP. Very rumpled, they’ve got back atop the vehicle and readied their rifles, preparing to fire at whatever lied ahead. “Nu cho, sukini’ dety, poigrayem nahui!” (Well, sons o’bitches, let’s play a fucking game!) BMP fired up’ it’ engine, preparing to drive off the road and chase down whatever lied ahead, with all of the infantry using their IR/NV scopes as well as the driver/gunner/commander.

Pearce heard the Lakan troops running behind him, expecting the group to form a perimeter to protect the convoy as they try and get the Land Rover unstuck and out of this prime ambush position... Only to hear their BMP rev up and start to turn. Pearce looked in their direction, slinging his rifle and running at the armoured vehicle. As it exposed it's left side to him, he leapt up, using one wheel as a launching point to get onto the mudguard, pulling himself up behind the turret to hit the commander's hatch with the palm of his hand, shouting in Russian.
"Don't FUCKING go out there! We need to secure the perimeter to get the FUCK out of here!"

[Laka Strolistandiler]

Pearce heard the Lakan troops running behind him, expecting the group to form a perimeter to protect the convoy as they try and get the Land Rover unstuck and out of this prime ambush position... Only to hear their BMP rev up and start to turn. Pearce looked in their direction, slinging his rifle and running at the armoured vehicle. As it exposed it's left side to him, he leapt up, using one wheel as a launching point to get onto the mudguard, pulling himself up behind the turret to hit the commander's hatch with the palm of his hand, shouting in Russian.
"Don't FUCKING go out there! We need to secure the perimeter to get the FUCK out of here!"

If anything, AnnaLiz had a fairly straightforward approach to her hearing Russian was deciding that she was speaking to someone from her own squad- for some reason the intelligence brief did not include the nationalities of the sent people, and as such the first words Pearce would hear out of the swiftly opened hatch would be: “Che za hujnya?! Kogo vy zabyli, vyrodki zemli lakanskoj?” (What the fuck?! Did you forgot anyone, you degenerates of Lakan lands?). Sticking her head out of the hatch, he would see her facial expression switch from anger at the conscript who forgot to get inside the vehicle to a misunderstanding and even a somewhat confused one, then to a face of a person who was just caught doing something bad and is very sorry for it. Mumbling for a few seconds, she answered to the officer in an orderly voice:
-So… Sorry, Comrade Starshina, sir! We are merely moving to the firing position, so that our BMP could cover a larger part of the road, sorry for the misunderstanding, sir! Should… Should the infantry dismount, sir?

Conscripts meanwhile we’re trying their best to listen to the conversation happening outside of the vehicle- a task extremely hard given how awfully loud the BMP’ engine was- while during the modernization it’ thermal emission rate, fuel effectiveness and serviceability were severely increase, it somehow managed to become so loud, that in some units, motostrelki were even issued earplugs during training ops.

[Lauzanne]

Pearce had gotten yelled in his face, understood what was said but was... Intensely confused by the statement, and then she was calling him sir and asking for orders as if she and her squad were a part of his detachment. He didn't let the intense confusion show on his face as he pulled his NODs up, looking down at the convoy, back at the commander of the vehicle. He had a plan.
"We need to get this convoy moving. If you can get this back on the road, I want you to lead the convoy. Try and get that Land Rover out of the fuck-up it's in and fast, before whatever the fuck is out there decides it doesn't wanna wait for us to come to it. If you can, get your men to dismount too and we can cover the whole thing happening, otherwise we're sitting ducks here. Sound good?"

He wasn't sure how she would react to being asked to do something, but already given the fact she seemed to respond to his rank of Starshina, asking for input on what to do and profusely apologising probably went some way towards being receptive to the idea.

[Metcalfer2]

A couple of minutes before the Incident

Rybak stood stock still as he continued to scan the dark tree line, paying barely any attention to the cascade of Lakan swears and the light snow falling from above. As a hand grabbed his shoulder he was shaken from his search by the words of his MSWS attaché “not helping your men clear the way?” Rybak gave a half hearted chuckle “if some of the finest trained men in the empire are unable to help free a car without my orders then this mission is significantly fucked before it can even start” “fair enough”.

Shrugging his shoulders the man began turning before stopping “I know that we have only known each other for less then a day but I’ve noticed that you seem a bit….spooked” this time Rybak committed to a proper laugh “spooked, I’m a Sergeant of the Kaiser’s Spetsnaz, I don’t get spooked” “of course, of course, I find it interesting that you used he Slavic name for the organisation rather than the Metcalfern name” “I was born in Minsk, Slavic has always been more natural to me than Metcalfern” turning to properly face the man Rybak’s face twisted to a quizzical expression “but I don’t see why that’s relevant” scratching his nose the man gave a sly smile “it isn’t but it does make me think of an old tale from the Slavic mythology in that part of the empire”.

Rybak’s skin turned pale as he listened to the Officer “and what would that tale be?” “Of the Leshy, God of the forests and all that resides in them” Rybak let out a sharp laugh that carried out over the frigid air “the fucking Leshy, give me a break. Nobody outside of old babushkas living in the forests believe in such things, I would think that a learned Metcalfern man from Ankylo such as your self wouldn’t believe in such nonsense” “I find it that one should never be skeptical of every tale, God knows how many of them could be based on real things and events”, a chill ran up Rybak’s spine as he stared into the officers cold black eyes.


Their conversation came to a sudden stop with the sound of a abrupt scream followed by an unnatural roar, Rybak turned to see where the noises had come from before the sudden cacophony of calls and swears began drowning everything out. Turing to his men he gave a high pitched whistle before barking orders “fallback on the Cat, weapons at the ready!”, as swift as the wind the seven men and women fell back to their Sand Cat as the Lakan BMP roared to life.

After a couple of brief moments surrounding their armoured car and having their weapons trained on the dark the Metcalfern’s somewhat shifted their focus to the rest of the collation allies, turning his head to the confused muck up between the Lakan’s and the Lauzanne’s Rybak gave a confused curse before turning to his Junior Sergeant “Wosene, your in charge while I’ll go check out what the fuck is going on over there, keep your eyes on the trees and light up anything that looks beastly” “understood, I feel like we are going to have a better time”. Making a quick jog towards the Lakan woman and Lauzanne man, hearing the confused tirade of Slavic Rybak began spouting off his Belarusian accented Slavic “what in Gods name is happening here, do we have any confirmed contacts?”