Arc 5 | Dead Pacifica (Part 6)
DEAD PACIFICA
Part 6
In a span of a second after Kowalczyk exploded, I tagged two of the cultist soldiers still flailing mid-air from the force that hit them with what’s left of [ Organic Combustion ].
They detonated like grenades.
Limbs tore loose. Blood sprayed in thick sheets. Bone fragments scythed into the cluster of men I couldn’t reach with [ Shockwave ], knocking them down as bodies slammed into bodies. Men were hurled into stacks of rusted cars, into the mud, into each other. The junkyard rang with explosions and their screams.
Milford’s voice cut through it somewhere, barking orders, losing control. Soldiers scrambled. Some fired wildly. Some ran. Some just stood there, locked in place because their minds refused to accept what their eyes were seeing.
Their momentary daze was all my archetypes needed to attack.
I tugged at the dense fog to press closer into the junkyard.
It rolled in from the edges like a breaking floodgate, thick and choking. Visibility vanished in seconds. Shapes became silhouettes. Screams became unnerving echoes.
Then, to my right, Old Growth darted into the pit.
In under six seconds, Old Growth slaughtered four soldiers in front of me.
Nine feet of lithe, fibrous muscle wrapped in thick bark armor charged through the fog. He crossed the yard in a blur, bearing down on a soldier who was still trying to get his bearings, helmet hanging crooked on his head. His mouth opened, but it was too late to let out a scream when Old Growth leapt and came down with his full weight on top of him.
The impact drove the soldier flat into the mud. One claw seized the helmet and hammered the man’s head into the ground. Brain matter burst out of his skull and into the gravel in pink-gray clots. When Old Growth lifted his claw, bits of skull and sinew stayed behind, stuck to the mud like bloody string cheese.
| THE OLD GROWTH
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| Dread Score: 7/10
| Creature Type: Plant
| Cooldown: 1 week
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| Special Traits
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| Multiple Limbs III
| The archetype has six limbs, providing stability, balance, and efficient locomotion. This enables the archetype to navigate diverse terrains (walls, trees, etc), and improve their hunting tactics. Each limb can grapple, pounce, manipulate an object, and increase their speed during combat. At level II and higher: the archetype’s speed, locomotion, and efficiency increases.
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| Javelin Appendages II
| The archetype carries two javelin-like appendages, which can be used to injure, dismember, and gore a delver. If all Javelin Appendages are severed or destroyed, it will take 20 days for the archetype to grow a new one. At Level II: The archetype can reattach a thrown javelin appendage with a swift action. The appendage must be intact and undamaged. Regeneration duration decreases.
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| Moving Vines (Thorns) II
| The archetype can exert control over a 60-foot radius, causing vines to emerge and ensnare up to two (2) delvers. By opting for thorny vines, these tendrils release a paralyzing venom upon entering any open wound, swiftly draining the delver's Resolve and incapacitating them at an accelerated rate. At level II and higher: The archetype gains one (1) special venom damage type. You have selected Acid. This can be lethal to delvers depending on the dosage.
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| Terrain Mimicry I
| The archetype can blend into the selected surroundings with perfect accuracy in texture, lighting, and coloration to avoid direct optical perception, and making them invisible to the naked eye. They are not immune to other various means of sight (body heat sensors, night vision, divination magic, etc.). The archetype must stay still in order to activate the camouflage effects. Select three (3) terrains: Forest, Mountain, Urban.
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| Bulletproof (Plant) I
| The archetype gains a ballistic-resistant exoskeleton made of compressed plant fibers and resin. Firearms and thrown projectiles fail to penetrate and instead ricochet off the body. Damage from non-explosive projectile weapons is reduced to negligible levels.
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