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Post by E-Stalin [Orthrus] on Dec 28, 2008 15:55:08 GMT -5
Volk rubbed a hand over his tired eyes, frowning for a moment as he thought. Sighing, he said,
"Well, artifacts usually only appear near anomalies, which makes getting them very dangerous. You can't see many anomalies very easily, which is why searching for artifacts at night is almost suicidal. Artifacts themselves are very visible, they usually bounce around slightly, float in the air, give off a halo of light, whatever. The trick is to grab them without getting yourself killed. Before you do anything, do what most Stalkers do and get a bunch of junk. Find some screws and bolts or a lot of pebbles and put them in your pocket. You can throw them in front of you later to set off any anomaly up ahead. You also definitely want to buy a detector from some traders, which will start beeping rapidly as you get closer to an anomaly. Word of caution, they don't detect all of them. Most anomalies are clustered together, you won't find just one random anomaly on its own. So usually when you cross a hill you'll see a ton of rippling heat shimmers over some place, or maybe swirling grass and leaves or even just a few flickering dots of light. These are anomalies, and at that point you need to be damned careful not to get to close to one. You might have to manuever between them, hop over cars, or even crawl under one. Different ones have a different trigger radius, so you'll end up trying to get through a minefield to grab an artifact and then get back."
Volk cut off short, as if leaving an unfinished sentence. Then he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, "Look, get back to the Cordon and talk to Sidirovich, tell him I sent you to get a detector. Every damned Stalker has one, and you guys deserve it if nothing else. And last thing, anomalies can vanish and reappear nearby, but they don't migrate as a group. A field of anomalies can stay in the same place for months, and many Stalkers will map them when they find them. Just asking Stalkers can get you good information on where anomalies are. Oh for...and another thing, if you ever find a dead body, grab their PDA and download it onto yours. There's a USB port on them, so just plug it in. You can get journals, updated maps, anything. Information is extremely valuable and it can help you. Your PDA will automatically sort all the data so it doesn't mix up with your own or others. Tch. There's so much information about Zone survival I could write half a library about it. You'll learn more tricks as you get through it. Assuming you survive eh?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------- You might get a free anomaly detector as payment for services if you go see Sidirovich again. It's lightly raining, and the sky is clear.
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Post by Blade Knight on Dec 29, 2008 22:41:39 GMT -5
Adrian thanked Volk and relayed the information he learned to Vasyl. “I’ve heard of the relationship between artifacts and anomalies before, but that stuff about migrating anomalies is news to me.” he said. “Anyway, It looks like we need to pay the big guy a visit, huh? We should get going. It’s relatively nice out now, so we should be okay if we just backtrack along the road back to the Cordon. Keep an eye out for mutants just in case, though.” Before they set off, he noticed that his TT-33 felt awkward in its shoulder holster. It was, he realized, stuffed into a holster made for a Makarov after all. He decided to relocate his prized handgun to his jacket’s inside pocket instead, to keep it safe until he could get a proper holster. Standing just inside with Vasyl, Adrian produced his binoculars from the pants pocket he had it stored, then surveyed the road back down to the Cordon, carefully checking the route in advance for any problems. When he was finished, he replaced the binoculars, and nodded to Vasyl. With that, Adrian led the way back outside. After the rain last night, this drizzle was less menacing than a garden sprinkler. He set the pace at a comfortable jog, his SKS carbine cradled in his arms with the strap around his neck and under his shoulder. He kept to the middle of the muddy dirt road, knowing that if anything did try to jump out at them, they would have to come out into the open first. He kept alert, listening past the gentle patter of the rainfall and the sucking pops of their boots in the mud, listening all around them. His gaze was everywhere. He did not dart his eyes nervously, instead he let his eyes pan calmly and intently over everything they passed by, with frequent checks behind them. In this manner, he hoped to return without incident, where he surrendered the lead to Vasyl. “Alright bud, your turn. Take us to where you found this Sidirovich, so we can pick up that anomaly detector. I also have a few questions I’d like to ask him when we get there.” He than proceeded to follow Vasyl through the Cordon, eager to meet the merchant in person.
POST SUMMARY: Thank Volk for the information; Tell Vasyl what Volk told me; Put TT-33 in jacket inside pocket; Check over the road with binoculars; Travel carefully back down the center of the road with SKS at the ready; Follow Vasyl to Sidirovich
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Post by Aseigan Cetanu on Dec 29, 2008 22:51:50 GMT -5
Vasyl nodded, his new Baikal cradled in his arms as well. He made his way through the Cordon to where Sidirivoch's shop was. Climbing down the dank stairs, he made his way to the counter. The damp floorboards creaked under his weight as he walked. Vasyl nodded at Sidirivoch as he walked in. "Volk sent us to get a free anomaly detector, said you'd have one." His demeanor wasn't one of impression, or of intimidation, or of fear, or for that matter of friendship. It was business, pure and simple, and it was the manner Vasyl had learned after years of training to have around men who dealt in arms, armor, or anything he might need. He spoke clearly, and yet with a type of language that showed he was relaxed and calm, not the rigid, perfected English of uptight business men who go door to door to sell their goods or the speaking patterns of a school child's writing for an English paper. This was a new type of speech, the kind that was used by those in markets that shun the streets, an underground kind of speech that kept the message clear while still slandering every rule and law of spoken English. Vasyl waited patiently for a response from the man, ready to get what he came for, and to leave.
Leads Adrian to Sidirivoch; Asks Sidirivoch about anomaly detector; Waits.
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Post by E-Stalin [Orthrus] on Jan 1, 2009 23:11:26 GMT -5
The road remains clear for the most part, though you do see several dogs milling about by the tree line about forty meters off, none of which seem to even notice Your passing. Three Stalkers are sitting under the main road where it arcs in a small bridge on D10, warming themselves around a barrel filled with burning junk. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sidirovich looked up when the pair entered, and for the briefest moment it could be said that he was actually glad. It was short lived, considering that he was pleased only due to the fact that a halfway capable Stalker was around. Handing out something for free, on the other hand, wasn't something he enjoyed doing. He stretched and leaned back, clasping his hands over his rounded belly, "Volk already called about it. They're right there on that bench, they're yours," He pointed to the bench by the lockers, where two small, slim metal boxes were lying, complete with headphones, "When turned on they'll start beeping more and more rapidly the closer you get to certain anomalies. They'll remain silent at other times. And for that matter, they take double-A batteries, so remember that they don't last forever. I suppose you do deserve them as some kind of payment. I heard how it went, so it's well enough. I'm available to the both of you in the future, but remember, I don't do things for the sake of being kind. I help you because I expect something in return, or because you're doing something that I consider good for business."
He stood up and pulled a small metal case off of the refrigerator, "All right, where are you guys going anyway? Maybe you could transport something for me? Or you could buy something, I'm always open for trading," and he laughed quietly.
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Post by Blade Knight on Jan 2, 2009 15:21:01 GMT -5
Adrian stepped up to the counter, ready to ask his questions. “Actually, I’ve got a thing or two I’d like to talk about right now,” he said. “I would be interested in finding a gunsmith. I’m not sure If you do that, but at least you can tell me what I need to know.” He hefted his SKS, displaying the carbine to Sidirovich as he explained his ideas, gesturing to the various parts as he considered modifying them. “First of all, I was thinking about upgrading this a bit. Specifically, I was considering modifying the receiver cover to accept detachable scopes, and possibly switching out the internal ten round magazine for the 30 round clips that AK’s use. Or, at the very least, I need some stripper clips. Oh, I also need a decent cleaning kit. What do you think? And what would that cost me?”
POST SUMMARY: Discuss SKS upgrades with Sidirovich
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Post by E-Stalin [Orthrus] on Jan 2, 2009 16:34:46 GMT -5
Sidirovich shrugged, "I can't do something like that. There're only a few professional smiths in the Zone, and the only one that can really do anything is a nomad called...well, nomad. He's up in the Duty base for the most part, but he was here about fifteen minutes ago, so you missed him. He's headed back up to his own place though, so you'll find him up North. I can sell a cleaning kit though, sure. Magazines, ammo, optics, stuff like that. Can't help you with much anything else involving guns though. Are you headed North?"
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Post by Aseigan Cetanu on Jan 2, 2009 17:10:52 GMT -5
Vasyl silently picked up the anomaly detector with a calm, relaxed motion, stepping back into place behind Adrian. He clicked in the headphones while the two talked, putting both phones into his ears. He looked back up, sliding the box into his outer left pocket, and leaned against the dank wall. He had no money, so he had no reason to talk about extra ammunition or anything like that. For now, he'd survive on what he had. Vasyl's breath fogged up in front of his face, and he ignored the silvery mist of condensing moisture in his breath as he waited for them to go looking for artifacts, to find something that could make him some money or get him a bit more ammo, something else he could use to survive. He thought of the old SVD he had back at home, the way the weapon fired so accurately, and how quick it had been, and how many lives he had taken. He regretted most of those lives, but at the same time he regretted that he was now using shotguns and pistols in place of his old SVD, his 'Little Dragon.'
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Post by Blade Knight on Jan 2, 2009 22:04:32 GMT -5
Pausing for a moment, Adrian eventually glanced at Vasyl, then answered, “Yeah, I guess we are headed north. If you need something transported that way, it won’t be a problem for us to take it along. What’s it like up there?” He picked up the other anomaly detector and examined it while listening to the merchant’s response. He slipped the device into a vacant pocket of his dark cargo pants. Before leaving, he said, “I guess I have a full box of 95-grain Wolf/9mm MaK ammo, two bottles of Vodka, and a folding pocket knife I‘m willing to trade. Any of that gonna get me some stripper clips?”
POST SUMMARY: Confirm availability for errand run and ask Sidirovich about the northern area; Take anomaly detector and place in pants pocket; Offer to trade for stripper clips.
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Post by E-Stalin [Orthrus] on Jan 7, 2009 19:20:05 GMT -5
Sidirovich nodded, leaning forward, "Well, I have some documents I need transported to the Barman about four kilometers North. He's in the Duty Base, at the 100 Roentgen bar. He'll be expecting this, and he'll pay you for the delivery. Just don't try opening this and screwing with it, or you'll get a lot of problems you don't need. If you're good at this, there could be more work for you later. As many Stalkers will tell you, we merchants are constantly seeking for a way North, through the brain scorcher. Anyway..."
He looked as if he'd lost his train of thought for a moment, and then shrugged, "How many rounds are in the box? Forty? Right...well let me look at the stuff and I'll see how much it's good for. You're looking at about sixty rubles. SKS stripper clips sell for ten each, unloaded."
The currency would be clean cash. The zone didn't deal in checks or credit cards. A while ago there had been a proposed system of storing credits on PDAs. That had failed miserably. In any such place, cash was king. It was easier to keep track of, carry, and steal from other people. It didn't leave an electronic trail that an assassin could use to track down a Stalker. Hunting others down was the Mercenaries job afterall, and most Stalkers didn't want to make it any easier on them. Assuming of course, that they'd done something worth getting killed for.
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Post by Blade Knight on Jan 7, 2009 19:54:46 GMT -5
Adrian passed the merchant his box of ammunition through the opening in the grate. “There you go,” he said. “Don’t worry about the package, we’ve got no need to go digging our noses in other people’s business. We’ll get the job done.” Then he asked Vasyl, “What do you think? You up to a little delivery?”
POST SUMMARY: Give Sidirovich ammo box; Talk about delivery; Ask Vasyl’s opinion
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Post by Aseigan Cetanu on Jan 7, 2009 20:48:56 GMT -5
Vasyl nodded to Adrian with a smooth, quick motion. "I'm good to go when you are." he said confidently, his voice proving his honesty. It probably wouldn't be easy, and he'd probably get shot at, but what the hell did he care? For all he knew it'd be a smooth trip. He waited for Adrian to leave, and then followed behind him, shotgun in hand.
Agrees to go with Adrian.
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Post by E-Stalin [Orthrus] on Jan 9, 2009 20:22:26 GMT -5
Sidirovich slid the box toward him and pulled out the flaps. Each layer of cartridges was separated from the other by a waxed paper square. Sidirovich spilled out each row one at a time, doing a quick count, examined a couple of the cartridges at random, and then pushed the mess to the side. He pulled open some drawer underneath his desk and pulled out six pink 10 ruble banknotes. He was about to slip them over to Adrian, then paused, "You do want clips right? How many?"
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Post by Blade Knight on Jan 10, 2009 0:52:33 GMT -5
“I’ll take three,” Adrian answered. “If I keep ten loaded in the carbine and ten in each spare clip, that’ll give me a total of 40 shots before I have to manually reload. I think that’s good enough for me at the moment.” He returned the subject to the delivery job. “Four kilometers isn’t that far. If we keep up a good pace, we should arrive this afternoon. Perhaps we might even find an artifact-spawning anomaly along the way. But anyway, The Barman will have his package soon. If you give us the documents now, we will be able to get started right away.”
POST SUMMARY: Request three stripper clips; ask for the documents
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Post by E-Stalin [Orthrus] on Jan 10, 2009 2:16:09 GMT -5
Sidirovich shrugged and stood up, moving around as Adrian talked. In just a few moments he had the clips:, thin, curved metal strips.He slid them through the grate with a flick of the fingers, followed by three banknotes. When he heard Adrians' estimate though, he started chuckling, struggling to control laughter, "Oh no no no. You're not going four kilometers anytime fast out here. To get to the Duty base, you'll be going North through the garbage dump, which is a radioactive heap of junk and anomalies and bandits. The thing about surviving in the zone, is to take things slow. You need to hide, break, eat, and sleep. Very few people can just walk right through it without getting themselves killed, especially once you leave the cordon. Down here, there might be one or two bandits hiding behind a bush and waiting to jump you. Up there you'll have entire platoons of the fucks raiding Stalker encampments. Then there's the wild dogs running about, I hate those things...
Anyway, there's a barrier between the garbage dump and the road North, guarded by Duty faction members. They'll let you through if you pay them a fee, but tell them I sent you and feel free to show them that you're carrying this for me. They'll let you in free of charge. Just take care of this. If you two die I'll have to send someone else out to retrieve it, and that's a drain on my resources."
He slid the case under the grate. It was locked by a simple, small padlock, and was very slim, small enough to fit into the rucksacks given to stalkers. It didn't weigh too much either, maybe a couple kilos.
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Post by Blade Knight on Jan 10, 2009 13:45:33 GMT -5
“Hmm,” Adrian mumbled thoughtfully. He did not want to admit that what Sidirovich had said was a bit intimidating, but that was the reason he had come to the zone in the first place, after all. To use his skills out here where he could be useful and appreciated, to reconcile for what he had done in his messy past. To do as much good as he could for others. If he could accomplish those goals before dying, than he could pass on with no regrets. “Guess this’ll be a learning experience, then.” he said as he stuffed the slim case into his rucksack. The stripper clips and money went into a back pocket. “We’ll be careful. Like I said, the Barman will get his package. I’m not ready to die just yet.” There was a glint in Adrian’s dark eyes, the determination of one who had nothing to lose. He gave the merchant a farewell nod of his head, then turned to go. This was going to be a challenge, no doubt about that. Nothing at all like the raid last night, which would probably seem easy once this new journey was over. As Adrian emerged back out into the light of the outside world with Vasyl behind him, he took a deep breath of crisp morning air. “Let’s go.” he said.
POST SUMMARY: Accept job; Put documents in rucksack; Put stripper clips and (30?) rubles in back pocket; Say goodbye to Sidirovich; Leave with Vasyl
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Post by Aseigan Cetanu on Jan 10, 2009 17:23:07 GMT -5
Vasyl nodded silently to his companion, and with each step the realization of what they were about to do, go through a radioactive garbage dump in the most basic sense, sank more and more into his heart. He wasn't afraid; He had seen too much to be afraid of that, hardened his heart far too much. But it was still a little... unnatural, made him just less than afraid, uneasy perhaps, to realize what he was doing. As they left the small group of worn out, dank, and grim buildings behind, Vasyl recounted everything he had in his bags, double and triple checking in his mind that he knew what he had. It was an old exercise he learned, to help remove the uneasiness as he realized he was prepared, and for the first time in over 13 years, he realized he wasn't. He had ammunition, but not enough for every situation, he had no protection from anomalies, and he didn't even have a single explosive or schematic of the area. It was going to be a tough journey, and he knew it, even as he drenched his boots in the mud that lay in huge puddles all over the dirt roads.
Follows Adrian; Recounts what he has; Feels a little uneasy.
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Post by Blade Knight on Jan 12, 2009 18:21:15 GMT -5
Adrian had used the time it took to leave the Cordon to fill his three stripper clips as he walked. Each of the simple, curving metal strips had edges on the inside that held onto the bullets as he slid them onto the clips. In a way, it reminded him vaguely of railroad tracks. He dumped the clips as well as thirty extra SKS bullets into a pouch on his harness waist strap, right next to the one containing the 24 Makarov bullets. Having these two pouches of bullets right there on his harness meant he would not have to dig into his pack for ammo when he needed to reload clips. This left his rucksack with three boxes of SKS ammo left, totaling at 65. They set off to the north, again following the road. As they walked, Adrian would grab little trinkets from the ground as they passed. Scraps, junk, pebbles, random things that he would just stuff into a pocket for use later. He was glad he had there cargo pants, all the pockets really came in handy. Every now and then, he’d mutter to Vasyl to hold up, then check out the area ahead with his binoculars. He’d scan over the terrain for anything of note, then resume their trek. His SKS remained cradled lightly in his arms as he and Vasyl traveled, it made him feel safer. But he knew that sooner or later, he’d have to use it. He hoped that when that time came, his new favorite weapon would not let him down.
POST SUMMARY: Load stripper clips; fill pouch with stripper clips and extra SKS ammo; Travel north along the road; Fill pocket with junk; Periodically stop to use binoculars
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Post by E-Stalin [Orthrus] on Jan 14, 2009 23:54:30 GMT -5
You guys can move square by square with updates. You're now just outside the Cordon, and finally moving into the Zone. On either side of the road are fields and sparse trees, with blind dogs running around here and there. Note that the horizontal ridge/railroad through the cordon is currently guarded by an outposted military group. There's not many, but you won't be allowed through without being fined. Of course, this may not be the only way through, or over, the ridge.
You're both still in good condition.
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Post by Aseigan Cetanu on Jan 15, 2009 21:51:28 GMT -5
As they wandered through the bleak, foreboding wilderness, Vasyl's sense of danger increased. He was used to dangerous situations, but even so, he had never trained himself to lose the heightening of senses or paranoia that fear entailed. His ears pricked at the slightest sound, and his eyes scanned the landscape with alert energy. He held the shotgun, barrel out, in his arm, the butt held tightly in his armpit. He looked around as foot after foot he stepped through the dense mud. Remembering that he hadn't taken his pills for that day, he reached into his bag with one hand, continuing forward with the gun held in the other, and removed the tiny package of pills. He took the pill quickly, never taking his eyes off the road, and kept his senses alert, sharp, and ready as he ventured down the track. Every sound made his heart skip a beat, every foggy breath was quick, his sense of touch heightened. From his uncomfortable clothing, rubbing against his now sensitive flesh, to the feeling of cold air against his face, he had a heightened sense of things derived of his fear. He brought his other hand around to the gun, ready to bring the shotgun to his shoulder at a moment's notice.
Become alert from fear; Take pill; Make necessary preparations for any combat encounters
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Post by Blade Knight on Jan 21, 2009 19:03:31 GMT -5
Folowing Vasyl’s example, Adrain swallowed his pill for the day as well. With all the possible things to worry about out here, thyroid cancer wasn’t going to be one of them. He followed his friend as they traveled further and further into the wilderness, ready for anything, or so he hoped…
POST SUMMARY: Take potassium iodine pill; continue into the wilderness; remain as alert as possible
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