2014.06.13 - Scavenger Hunt (Part 5)

The trip through the alps for the next five days had been fine. Groovy even. Wonderful food at night, fantastic vistas and travel during the day. Occasionally, goats could be heard in the distant valleys but not seen. Occasionally, a saint Bernard with its little barrel was seen under its chin. Eventually, even the occasional plane was no longer seen as they entered some of the most remote areas of continental Europe.

It had started as what seemed like a snow drift, but as it got closer it looked like people. The party had been prepared to greet them until Zaraquoy shouted in horror, "That's ...that's not people...it's Alp Yeti!" He let the binoculars drop in fear.

Lunair likes the fine parts, too. She enjoys her time with Kilroy, looking more at peace than blankly neutral. It's all quite fun and interesting. She seems amused by the odd goat sound. And a saint Bernard! Awww.

But then, the snow drift is upon them. She doesn't mind so much, in her expensive winter gear. She peers out, to see just who is out there, lifting a hand to shelter her eyes. "Um. A yeti?" She blinks. "Does he eat people by luring them in or something?" The man seems afraid, although she doesn't think much of his courage in general so far.

Zaraquoy speaks, and as he does, the background fades to a flash back. "The Alp Yeti are a tribe of fierce yeti, so fierce, so hateful, that even the Yeti of the Himalaya's banished them from their ranks. They are so few, that generally they hide from man, but sometimes, when they feel their territory is being broached, they attack folks here!"

Zaraquoy unstraps his pack and takes out a rifle, fumbling with it.

Kilroy looks concerned but not panicking as he takes out his own binoculars. They're still a mile off, but closing fast. He looks at Lunair, "It looks like there's six of them. Good thing they decided to do this instead of ambush us with an avalanche." A distant rumbling is heard behind the group.

Lunair listens, frowning as the background fades. "I see," She seems duly concerned then. "So we're -" They are likely close enough or actually broaching. Interesting. "Thank you." She offers. Either way, she moves for her pack. She doesn't panic herself, but it pays to be prepared. She pauses. Is that a rumbling? "Do you hear anything? And yeah, I'm glad they're after us in the front rather than an ambush like that." Nothing, save perhaps the ole portal gun could do much against an avalanche. Still, something about it is concerning.

She makes it look like she's fishing a rifle from her own bag. "Do they know about firearms?"

One of the porters points to some snow coming from one of the mountains. "AVALANCHE!"

Kilroy looks up at the coming snow and thinks of using salt, but that won't cut it. Time to try his latest trick. He begins creating large amounts of bullets and then stripping the metal casings, leaving only the gunpowder, "Lunair, can you set that on fire?" He begins creating and destroying as fast as he can a thousand feet away, hoping to create a trench to stop the avalanche.

Right. So much for that spot of luck. Lunair frowns even more at the shout. Her eyes widen as suddenly, BULLETS! "wow. You are full of surprises." She seems surprised. Then a nod. "Surely," She murmurs. She looks to him. Out herself? It beats the alternative. And a good, aggressive fire is just what they need. Nay, a tiny lighter will not cut it here. "Please keep my secret," She quietly prays.

With that, she creates a flamethrower and will set the appointed target on fire. Mind, she keeps the flamethrower AWAY from people and supplies.

Fortunately, the folks who are porters are far more concerned with running for their lives, straight into the oncoming hoard of Yetis. The Yetis are incredibly fast and are seconds away from the porters. The Yeti's don't seem to be paying much attention to the avalanche at all...

The flame thrower does its work and BOOM! The gunpowder explodes creating a resounding shockwave which breaks the avalanche into two parts, splitting it around them.

Kilroy smiles and winks at Lunair. "Good job!" He kisses her cheek, though he seems to be sweating bullets himself.

Zaraquoy shoots a shot at the Yeti but misses by a wide margin.

Six more Yeti begin to charge down the mountain! Idly, Kilroy remembers Lunair's question. "Yes...I think they know how to use firearms. Except Zaraquoy..."

Poor porters! Lunair looks concerned, watching the ensuing potential chaos. Nevertheless, she dismisses the flamethrower quickly once she's done. And the explosion makes her lower her head. She still smiles at Kilroy. His wink makes her beam. "You too!" She returns the kiss to his cheek, considerably more pale and a little tense. There's sadly little time to celebrate and hug and squeeze dear Kilroy.

The ringing out of a shot that goes while makes her blink. "Oh. Well. We all have bad days. Need a rifle?" She hefts her own. Whatever his answer, she will definitely have one and take aim.

Kilroy says, "Er...I'll make due with my regular devices, thanks." He smiles and Lunair can recognize a familiar circular invisible pattern on the snow as it skips through the air and hits three of the Yetis like bowling pins, knocking them back. Three more hit the porters though and are making short work of them, wounding but not killing. Yet.

The shot for Lunair is quite good. They seem unafraid of firearms.

"Of course," Lunair smile at Kilroy. She believes it! He does drop two ton rocks and goats on people, after all. She watches the yeti go bowling. Well, that's a new one on her. Still, he's full of surprises and she in awe of him. Lunair winces as porters are being hit. Still, the fact they are unafraid of firearms is perturbing. They're used to them? Just that new? Just that hungry? Hard to say.

"I do feel a bit bad killing yeti since they have a niche. But then, these are ultra violent yeti. So maybe it evens out?" Reload, take aim. She frowns faintly.

They seem unafraid because they're not used to them. Most people fire warning shots or don't hit. However, a single bullet right between the eyes is enough to stop one of them cold. The others pause in their maiming of the porters. Then they panic and begin to run away. That is until the other pack of six slam into Kilroy, Zaraquoy and Lunair, stopped only at the last minute by an invisible Rai stone. Barely.

The three conscious in the other group swing around, stop running and run past the porters towards the more deadly three...(well....two...)

Normally, Lunair might just do that too. But in this case, people are being maimed. She seems relieved as they run. Until the others slam into an invisible Rai stone. Normally, that might be pretty funny. Right now, it's distinctly worrying and horrifying. "I - should I really kill them?" She frowns. "I'll try to shoot to maim but they seem upset," She remarks. Lunair does have SOMETHING resembling a conscience sometimes. Nevertheless, she can't get too fancy out here. There's normal folk and avalanche hazards. Another rifle shot towards one of the charging yeti who is NOT behind a rock's knees. He won't be an adventurer now.

Kilroy thinks fast, "Use Rubber Bullets." He understands she can't use the fancy stuff in a situation like this, but rubber bullets are pretty low tech. "And avoid killing them if you can, but they seem pretty...lethal."

Zaraquoy loads another rifle shot and sneers at Kilroy, "They're trying to kill us. Do something useful!" He shoots right into the Rai stone, which bounces off the invisible barrier. "Wha the?"

Kilroy pushes the Rai Stone back slowly but two more come around the edge while the three in the distance close the gap quickly, but are not quite within melee range!

The single shot hits the knee of the Yeti who goes howling back and retreats.

Geez. Zaraquoy doesn't like Kilroy. Lunair frowns. She nods at Kilroy. "Fair enough. And yeah... I'm kinda on the fence. I don't know how resilient they are. Not bulletproof, mind," She politely ignores Zaraquoy. She knows Kilroy is awesome. And maybe Z is jealous? Hard to say and too busy to ponder it.

Melee range is bad. She is trying to reload faster and take the yeti down or scare them off. She'll try Kilroy's rubber bullet idea and aim for knees and tummies. Painful! But shooting people, even yeti, in the groin, is just kinda perturbing,.

Geez. Zaraquoy doesn't like Kilroy. Lunair frowns. She nods at Kilroy. "Fair enough. And yeah... I'm kinda on the fence. I don't know how resilient they are. Not bulletproof, mind," She politely ignores Zaraquoy. She knows Kilroy is awesome. And maybe Z is jealous? Hard to say and too busy to ponder it.

Melee range is bad. She is trying to reload faster and take the yeti down or scare them off. She'll try Kilroy's rubber bullet idea and aim for knees and tummies. Painful! But shooting people, even yeti, in the groin, is just kinda perturbing,.

If Lunair were better at social queues, she would know Zaraquoy is trying to make Kilroy appear 'weak'...after all...he isn't doing anything at all but staring into space from his perspective...as it is, Zaraquoy is just looking like a jerk instead, but a 'more' compotent Jerk than Kilroy since he spots Lunair taking action as she pumps shot after non lethal shot at the Yeti as they go around the stone, groin and knee combos of lethality. Three more go down.

Zaraquoy is far more lethal as he gets one more in the chest, no where near as skilled with a firearm. Kilroy still holds two back with the stone but then simply lets it rest on one with gravity, and turns around to dump a second invisible stone on a second, leaving two more approaching within seconds from opposite sides!

That, and Lunair knows much better than to assume Kilroy is 'weak'. She's traveled with him. She's seen him in fights, saved and been saved by him. So it's sort of both really. Still, she doesn't push the argument. She is pretty good - alarmingly good if one only knows she's a civilian - with the firearm. "I'm sorry," She offers. She's gonna have to ramp it up.

There's two more approaching and she can only take one down. She'll take the one closest to Kilroy down, if it's coming towards his side. Still, it's good that Zaraquoy is stepping up his game at least.

The final Yeti bypasses Zaraquoy and goes straight for Kilroy. IT, at least, knows who the threat is here, and grabs him by the throat. It hurts, a lot, and it is difficult to think, but the sudden sting of salt in its face and nostrils and mouth distract it to the point of setting Kilroy down, as he begins to choke and gasp for air...right along side the Yeti.

Zaraquoy kicks it and zip ties the last of the Yeti. "You were useless."

It does amaze Kilroy how the guy he is PAYING to help decides that insulting him is a good idea, but his patience ends. He mutters something under his breath.

Zaraquoy sneers, "What was that?"

"I said...you're fired."

Zaraquoy is about to say something...and stops. Apparently, for some odd reason, that hadn't occurred to him.

Lunair gasps as the yeti goes for Kilroy. "No!" Not - She looks horrified and helpless. It's too close for her to take a good shot. She moves to help Kilroy up, offering her hands. "Here... you did well." She shares knowledge with the yeti that Kilroy was one of the most, if not the most terrifying combatant in this fight. She is a bit surprised as Zaraquoy outright insults Kilroy. She blinks at him.

Her eyes widen. Her mouth opens, then closes. "... Well." She doesn't protest or argue. Kilroy is in charge, and frankly, Kilroy HAS tolerated a lot of 'tude from Zaraquoy.

"Er...perhaps I was..." Zaraquoy stammers, a bit chastened...attempting to sound apologetic, yet somehow managing to sound highly arrogant at the same time. Quite the feat, really.

"Use the satellite phone. Summon a chopper. I'll pay for it. You're done."

He looks at the porters and asks, "Do you know first aid?" One of them raises their hand and nods. "Please make sure everyone is taken care of."

Zaraquoy says, a bit chastened, "I know first aid."

Kilroy ignores him utterly, "Are you alright?"

Lunair is just as surprised as anyone else. But she is one of Kilroy's entourage and really - Zaraquoy earned this one. She says nothing for now. "I'm well enough. Yourself?" She looks over Kilroy, peering at him. "Should I help with anything?" She offers. And really, she doesn't mind carrying a little more to help Kilroy or the injured porters.

Relieved that she is OK, Kilroy smiles and kisses her on the lips this time. "Keep a look out in case there are more of them, but mainly help me secure these guys. I'll let the Swiss authorities figure out to do with them." He uses some rope to tie them up with, but also makes sure that THEY are also treated for first aid. The three dead Yeti are covered up with Tarps.

A half hour later, three helicopters arrive. One of the Swiss Guards, a colonel puts his hand behind his head and shakes it. "What is it with you guys? First cultists, then goats, now Yetis? One more time and we're arresting you."

Kilroy smiles, shrugging and winks at Lunair.

Zaraquoy looks pissed. "You'll pay for this Conneticut."

"I already am. But not anymore after today. If you'd realized that, maybe I wouldn't have fired you."

Zaraquoy says something nasty but the sound is drowned out by the choppers as the motor starts and they begin to take off.