Hunt or Be Hunted

[Arrbi Betna]

If it wasn't for the cloying heat and the distant calls of hungry, vicious predators, he could almost call the place beautiful. As it was, Betna was glad for the climate control inside his armor, but he knew Dxun's perceived beauty was simply a veneer over a sudden and messy demise for the unaware or careless. Even the most veteran warriors, hunters, and explorers were far from safe as untold numbers of them had gone missing over the ages. The deadly jungles had even claimed a Mand'alor in the past, something few took lightly even now.

He'd been here before, some time ago, on a failed hunt with a number of others. The creature had moved on, disappeared, and vanished into myth and legend once more leaving the group frustrated and empty handed.

At least, until now.

Once again it had surfaced, the stories returned, and even the most dangerous predators began to avoid a single region of the planet, something that was highly unusual in such an unusual place. The signs were the same and while there had yet to be any word of encounters with the creature, the signs were too similar to pass up and so Betna made a few calls to a select few he knew, without a doubt, were more than up to the task.

"We're entering the Kyr'am Tigaanur's territory," he said, noting that the sounds of the jungle were slowly dying away and the calls of predators were becoming more distant and, more importantly, directly behind them instead of all around. "Eyes open, safeties off if they weren't already. Full seals on armor, too. Remember, this thing probably has some sort of contact toxin it can throw or spray."

They read the reports, they knew the same things he did, but it didn't hurt to touch on the more important things here and there. Following his own suggestion, for he wouldn't presume to give orders to equals and betters, he checked the safety on his own weapon. Making sure the safety was off Hyperion SAW, he kept it at low ready as they moved through the jungle floor, taking care to keep the belts of ammunition around his shoulders from rattling overly much as he walked.

[member="Ijaat Mereel"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ijaat Mereel"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Arrbi Betna"]

A chant ran through the back of Ember's mind. It sustained the spell he'd woven, the Force-twist that made him strong enough to arm-wrestle bull rancors for sport. Or -- more relevant to today's situation -- carry an E-WEB repeating blaster as a handheld assault cannon, with the power generator perched on his back like a sugar cube on a really ambitious ant. He shoved aside greenery with the E-WEB's long muzzle. The weight of his frame, his armour, and the repeating blaster drove his boots an inch into the jungle soil with each step. Keeping his balance took as much concentration as the strength-spell, leaving none for sensing-spells. Therefore he relied on the sensors built into his helmet, and they worked fine. It wasn't like he'd ever been great at sensing things with the Force anyway.

Vines tangled the barrel; he paused in his plodding march and stepped back to free the repeating blaster cannon. In the end, he had to tear the vines apart barehanded, then slip on a pair of thin, armoured gloves that sealed to his thick bracers. He didn't normally wear gloves or gauntlets with this armour, and he was fully capable of detoxifying poison, but those were no reasons to take dumb risks. Gloves firmly in place, he picked up the E-WEB again and kept walking.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco plodded through the jungle, about ten meters to the right of Arrbi and Ember, crouching low and doing his best not to tear apart the jungle despite his large frame. He was athletic, and as of late he'd been trying to study more into enhancing his strength and stamina, much like old Ember Rekali, though he was not nealy as skilled as the elder Mandalorian Witch. He was however, very physically strong, enough that the Myrkr Rifle in his hands didn't bother him nor did the weight of the armor he wore.

The Jungle was home to millions of life forms, billions even, and so as he expanded his presence out his senses picked up curiousness, some predators taking notice of the four men walking through the dense jungle, some prey animals taking shelter. Lots of things to try and filter through to find the presence of one spider. It was more likely he would only get a handful of seconds notice before they came up on it or it descended on them than anything else. Helmet scanners wouldn't be much better in the dense jungle, but they would be better than nothing.

The rifle in his hands was loaded up for distraction, Dragon's Fire rounds, a Dragon's Breath round in the rotation, a cryoban round. The nice ones that might disorient and distract a creature that Arrbi described, but likely wouldn't kill, even with a good solid headshot. That's what his sword and the second clip of alternating AP and Anti-coagulant would be for, in case he was called upon to actually make the kill shot, though he doubted it. Ember was waltzing through the jungle with an E-Web and power generator, and Arrbi had a SAW. Ijaat was likely carrying a Keldabe Cannon for the thrill of firing the weapon into yet another large beast's mouth as it tried to swallow him.

The real curiosities Draco had, was the desire to fashion one of the creature's fangs into a dagger or something. But that would come later.

[member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

[member="Ember Rekali"] | [member="Draco Vereen"] | [member="Arrbi Betna"]

Ijaat still ached, everywhere. Burning lines of pain along the new cybernetic limb, and along the biot serving as his right eye and the various skin grafts and surgical scars. Bacta had kept him alive, and then the best Uk's in the Outback had got to him and done what they could... An Emperor's Reach prosthetic l now replaced the left arm of his body he had lost to the Murder Tooth in the wilds of Myrkr. A bad eye (re: empty socket) was covered in a patch, healing before he could accept a prosthetic and his good eye had lost some spectrums of vision in the flash-burns as the grenades he dropped had taken the beast out. A cracked helmet and visor had seen to that, and so a kusk chwukkun had been grafted to it, turning his eye almost cat like... Overall, he could see in more spectrums than originally now, and once he healed fully, would probably be stronger in combat than before. But damned it the new arm didn't itch.

Flexing the teretatek ivory plated masterwork, he limped along slightly, stiffened left knee being supplemented by a bevii'ragar hunting spear of the Mandalorian people, which doubled as an honorable way to say he was injured, had no business hunting, but was here anyway. His rather startling talent with Force enhanced senses would come into play shortly, and once he recovered he fully intended to augment the lovely blank ivory on his arm to give it a nice boost alchemically speaking.

For now, he touted the indomitable and murdery Shacklebolt rifle of his own design, two battered DE-10's slung low on his hip, and a bulky rebreather and full suit of armorweave woven from euk'gar, a duster made of the hide of the beast he had killed earlier on myrkr gracing his frame and a keldabe cannon strapped to his back. He would survive such toxins, but he was not meant to be in the thick of things yet. The doctors and surgeons had nearly had a fit when he told them he was going hunting with barely two days out of the kolto tanks. But, stopping him was unlikely as teaching a stone patience.

Coming up in the middle of the quartet, he strained every sense, searching for the beast, and made a knife-hand to the left, indicating to those in the lead it was that way.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz3O0JftA5w​

He kept the weapon at the ready, his eyes constantly scanning. The direction Ijaat had pointed out seemed to be more or less in the correct direction as slowly but surely the ambient sounds of the wildlife died out bit by bit. What was left was an eerie silence that weighed down on the small group of hunters, growing heavier by the minute as they ventured deeper into the jungle.

Ahead, spotted occasionally through the thick canopy above, the nearby mountain range grew closer as they walked while around them the trees and plants took on a strange, darkened hue. At first, Betna figured it was simply the atmosphere playing tricks on his mind or, perhaps, he'd lost track of time, but as a light breeze shifted the canopy of leaves and branches above them, he realized it was something else.

He stopped and knelt, reaching out a hand to lightly touch some of the undergrowth nearby. His gloved fingers left a lighter, greener hue as he brushed his hand along the leaves of a nearby plant. A glance at his gauntlet showed a blackish film of dust on the material, something out of place with anywhere else he'd seen so far. He took a moment to look behind them and saw that where they'd walked was of a more vibrant hue of green while the rest of the area seemed dim and dark in comparison.

"Ember," he said, his voice quiet out of habit. They all wore helmets with commlinks that allowed them to communicate silently, even while shouting, but the nature of the task at hand brought out the subconscious caution of the hunter quite easily. "What do you make of this? Is this some sort of... pollen? I've never seen anything like it."

[member="Ijaat Mereel"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Ijaat Mereel"] [member="Arrbi Betna"]

Ember glanced in the direction that Ijaat indicated, and nodded once in acknowledgement. He laid the E-WEB down, crouched beside Arrbi and eyed the black powder on the leaves. Gingerly, he reached into the short-term future and moved his hand toward the plant. Nothing. He smeared a little on his glove and raised it to his visor for closer inspection, murmuring a spell to sharpen eyesight. Again, nothing in the immediate future -- no hazard.

But absence of evidence was not evidence. And after a long moment he realized that his sense of the future had gone a little numb. Nothing as comprehensive as a ysalamir bubble, but still. He wiped his gauntleted hand in the dirt and stood. "It interferes with the Force," he said quietly. "I can't tell how; it's something specific, but I can't figure out what. I'm not much for sensing things, I'm afraid. So far I'm not having trouble lifting my cannon, but I'll keep you lot posted."

He hefted the E-WEB again and eyed the iridescent footprints.

"My guess is the critter makes this, some kind of particulate musk, and leaves it around to mark its territory. The glow makes me think it works a little like a fly hitting a spider's web. If so, it knows where we are now."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco breathed evenly, inspecting the dust as Arrbi mentioned it to ember. From all he could tell, it was a damper on his senses, kind of like how camouflage paint made it easier to hide, this stuff made it easier for the creature to hide and weaken its prey. Like Ember said, it also likely alerted the beast to their location.

"Well, there isn't much use hiding. We are in its web like a fly. Sometimes the best way to get the spider's attention and lure it out, is to shake the web." Draco said, quietly, moving a little closer to the group, standing about four meters from them.

"Its eyes are likely attuned to pick up the light the pollen lets off when activated. The dampening effect may indicate a relation to Vong biots. Coating an area in Vongspawn might be the cause."

They were educated guesses, but nature rarely evolved something for no reason or correlation. And given the Vongforming that had taken place on Mandalore centuries ago, there was the possibility of a symbiotic relationship, or the possibility of a distant vongspawn ancestor.

He opened his helmet scanners and withdrew his Force Sense, a waste of his attention and power given the situation. His technological sensors were more effective and allowed him to conserve his energy for the fight when it happened. Draco checked the round in the chamber, dragon's fire, and followed the three elder warrior's lead.

[member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Ijaat Mereel"] [member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

"Feels different than vong... Vong are a raw hole almost... This is a blurring, and dulling.... It might be similar, or watered down.... Whatever it is, it's close... Don't need the Force to feel eyes on the back of my head."

Stretching, he checked the Keldabe cannon again needlessly, and sheathed his beskad into his jinbaori coat, and looked. They were near a clearing, with obvious signs of vegetation disturbance and trample. Trails of old webbing hung thick here and there in the air, and only a scarce few trees grew in the center of the clearing. The black grime like dust coated heavier here, and he stooped, examining the detris that was likely of his prey. Heedlessly he sniffed it, tasted it on his tongue by pulling the rebreather back a second and then immediately spitting and swigging from a filtered canteen. Rising, the crippled warrior nodded to the others with satisfaction and returned his eyes to scanning.

"This might be a lair.. I say we set fire to the webs and flora. If it considers this place its' own, it will likely be maddened beyond reason. We can meet it with it's first charge off kilter. Apex predators hate challengers. Though I advise not to challenge them by flying into their mouth and punching their tonsils."

[member="Draco Vereen"] | [member="Ember Rekali"] | [member="Arrbi Betna"]