Private/Closed Bootleg Bros. Ultimate - The Banished Campaign (Act 1)

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak
Arcturus Pit - Early Morning
One turret down, 4 to go, all of which were now shooting at the Mantis. The bulk of them were in the pit, and so had an angle on the open cockpit of the Ghost. Kazaaak zero-turned to the left and activated the ghost's thrusters, launching him forward towards the pit. In spite of being briefly slowed down by some trees, the ghost was able to punch through into the main section of pit.

Pushing forward, Kazaaak drifted around some trees, using them as cover between him and the shade turret in the center- although still taking damage from the ones at the entrance- before he reached the foot of the platform. Kazaaak turned the ghost left and deactivated the thrusters, drifting up the incline to get behind the turret!

Kazaaak fired plasma at the turret, breaking the shield and destroying it. He was now being fired on from behind by the remaining turrets, made worse by the fact that the Ghost was now on the top of the platform, making it more susceptible to fire. Zero-turning and activating the thrusters, again, Kazaaak drifted around a landing platform to get a better angle on the remaining Shades.

 

[Fraseandchico]

JULIAN

With Kazaaak flying drifting away for cover and safety, the AI knew that the bug was drawing plenty of attention, which seemed to almost relieve JULIAN of any consequence for his own shooting.
"Perfect," He mused - Had the robot required breathing, it would have held off for a moment as it realised that the attention was now likely being drawn towards Keyes. "...Not perfect." JULIAN added, realising that this would likely be considered a moment that 'required revealing' himself. And take it as such a moment, the SPARK did.

The SPARK slid out from behind the tree it used as makeshift cover, raising the Beam Rifle once more - Attempting to take advantage of the foes still being focused on Kazaaak - And attempted to reach a suitable position to fire upon the Jackal Snipers, acting to draw not only their attention away from Kazaaak or Keyes, but also the attention of other foes in the area - Then move for cover.

 

[comic]

DETOUR​

—Ambush Clearing, Day 2 Early Morning—​

Kaminski kept up with what he could, firing well-timed shots at every opportunity, but the Banished contingent in this area was surprisingly strong. He was wasting bullets on brutes and jackals, their own defenses stalling him, leaving the marine to only deal any real damage to the grunts.

Copen took the opportunity to punish the defending phantom, heavy bullets slugging across its surface. The pilot turned the bow of the ship quickly, the vehicle’s side now facing the mantis. The grunt stationed on the port beam with its plasma turret opened rapidfire, spewing a hail of plasma out towards the mantis - only to be quickly eliminated by an equal spray of hot 20mm lead. Blue bioluminescent blood exploded in the interior of the phantom as the plasma turret was ripped apart.

“Shit, okay, maybe a bad idea,” Kaminski grunted as he pulled on the belt to ground himself with the movement of the mantis. “Why the hell are there so many of these bastards?”

The jackals held back, taking defensive positions to lay down suppressive fire as the brutes moved in front of them, ordering the grunts to be the ones to actually get close to the mantis. Almost all of them were compliant and stupid.

Kaminski had taken out only a few more grunts but the rest were converging on them.

Copen’s targeted dropship turned its bow around again, this time to face the starboard side to the mantis and let the next turret-mounted grunt let loose through the trees.

The mantis was tough, but it was a big target, and plasma scoring was piling on, the damage mounting up. A few screens flickered in front of Copen, one console sparking for a moment. He let loose the second silo, another five 30mm rockets flashing through the air as he set them out toward the isolated phantom. At its distance, it saw the attack coming, the dropship swerving on anti-gravity to drag it out of the way. Two rockets passed by, nearly grazing it, but the other three struck right at the exposed core.

An eruption of hot blue plasma burst out of the phantom, almost like a contained miniature supernova in detail, balls of plasma cascading to the forest below as the phantom shuddered, rolling backward through the air. It remained in the air however. Yet as its smoldering hull reoriented to start firing—a white light blinded the horizon for a brief moment as the phantom erupted in an even mightier explosion, its entire frame bursting apart, sending melted and twisted metal sailing through the air in every direction, the explosion more akin to a scream than a boom.

The was one down, and Kaminski had managed to take out a few more grunts in that time. However, they were upon them, several starting to leap for the legs of the mantis, bony hands clawing to grasp the metal and start heaving themselves up.

Grunts: 17
Jackals: 12
Brutes: 12
Phantoms: 2
​

THE COURIER​

—Arcturus Pit, Day 2 Early Morning—​

Kazaaak’s maneuver forced him into a nearly-cornered position, though he managed to take out another shade turret along the way. Yet after a second, as he turned to fire at the next turret nearest him, the one right beside his ghost suddenly shook, then erupted in a contained explosion of blue light, sending shrapnel falling into the pit - and exposing Kazaaak to point-blank shots from the second shade on the same level as he.

The ghost was great for how the mantis had been using it, but with focused fire so close, he’d quickly find that its defensive capabilities really weren’t anything special against plasma. And now, his stunt was drawing the Banished ground units back to this side of the pit, rather than the exterior.

Keyes had to flatten himself against the shadow of the wall, watching as brutes and grunts rushed right back to where they’d been before, firing their weapons up at Kazaaak. They hadn’t noticed the captain - yet. The freed marines were forced to find cover to avoid getting spotted, still weaponless for the moment.

JULIAN exposed himself to fire at the sniper jackals and draw their attention, a particle shot piercing through the skull of one and dropping it. Only a couple others took notice, moving quickly to defensive positions to return fire on JULIAN, though the others seemed too focused on Kazaaak to take notice.

If the mantis didn’t move quickly, the ghost wouldn’t survive another second under such conditions.

Grunts: 12
Sniper Jackals: 5
Jackals: 4
Brutes: 13
Shade Turrets: 3
​

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen
​

One down.

As Copen suspected, the chain reaction from destroying the Phantom’s power core was more than enough to put it out of commission. That left two more of the dropships, but as both Kaminski and the Mantis’ systems pointed out, there were more urgent matters at hand - Banished infantry were gathering all around the mech, opening fire on the large target.

“Something must have gotten their attention beforehand…” Copen theorized. It was likely the earlier presence of the rest of the team, he figured, though the exact cause didn’t matter right now. Shaking off the troops near the mantis as soon as possible would be best. “Hang on!”

As he said that, the cyborg pressed down on the big red button in the cockpit, and the Mantis raised one of its legs before quickly slamming it back down. In an identical manner to before, the earth in front of the mech would erupt for a good distance, Copen having aimed the stomp in an attempt to reach the jackals that were slightly further away, or at least force them to back off as anything in front of them (and likely directly around the Mantis) was suddenly uprooted.

His focus on the ground troops was only made clearer when the missile launcher was pointed downwards, Copen now aiming primarily at the brutes as he began to fire missiles upon them, trying to clear out the more resilient opposition before they could further gang up on the Mantis. As he did so, the cyborg directed the mech to step away from the infantry, and once another good opening in the trees presented itself, iX would switch targets, opening fire with the chaingun at the nearest Phantom.​

 

[Fraseandchico]

JULIAN

The AI let out a small sling of curses, with unclear targetting - This was due to the miminal success in regards to redrawing the attention of the snipers, both ways. In that he had drawn any attention to himself and simultaneously too little attention. Not only that, but it wasn't as though he could shift strategies completely on his own - All he could was continue to follow Keyes's orders from before since they were not currently in contact.

As JULIAN could only watch, the SPARK peeked out of cover, taking a few shots in the process and certainly feeling the sting - But aiming and firing upon some of the Jackals who were focused on Kazaaak still - As they were not focused on JULIAN, it would be less likely they would avoid the shots in time, after all, but he could only fire a few at this time aas Overdrive was still cooling down and he was too far away for a Nova...

 

[Psymallard]

Spaniard Representation
-Tiberium Woods-
Peeking out from some foliage behind them, David began to fire bursts of plasma from his pulse carbine at the backs of the group of jackals assailing the Mantis.

...

The swordsman had heard a ruckus on the way to the rendezvous point. He had a mind to avoid it, but he and Bisenti came to the conclusion it was likely an ally in trouble. Thus, David was convinced to investigate. Sure enough, the person riding on the back of the mech was identifiable as a UNSC marine.

David had shed some of his unnecessary junk under a nearby tree root, such as the skull and his second shield gauntlet, and then continued on to the edge of the clearing. Under the cover of darkness, he positioned himself behind the jackals. Those slippery suckers were the most frustrating to fight thus far, and he imagined it went double for something as relatively sluggish as a mech.

And, that brought him to this moment. His barrage of superheated gas lined up nicely with the earth-shaking stomp aimed at the same targets, effectively catching the group in a pincer attack. He feathered the trigger for a moment, at least until the element of surprise had worn off. Once it did, he cast his pulse carbine back into a bush and drew his machete. He had just gotten it, and by golly it was going to taste blood before daybreak.

 

[comic]

DETOUR​

—Ambush Clearing, Day 2 Early Morning—​

The Mantis raised a leg.

The surrounding grunts came to a stop. “Oh poop,” one said. Amazing last words.

The leg slammed down, a gust of kinetic energy expelling from around the mech as the ground burst apart in a line in front of the mantis, grunts sent flying in every direction. That dealt with almost all of them. However, one brute seemed to have been anticipating this, the one who’d ordered the grunts to surround the machine in the first place. He charged like a bull toward the mantis as it rose back to its full height, recovering from the stomp.

The jackal group had a little more time to react than the grunts, moving quickly to dive out of the way, a few still getting propelled through the air, one breaking its back against a tree - before another tree uprooted from the stomp fell on it.

Quickly following were the missiles, Copen not having time to charge up another silo, so releasing individual rockets to suppress and break the line of brutes. Several went flying as balls of fire erupted with each point of contact, illuminating the greenery around them - but the charging brute had moved past the range of fire, leaping into the air, covering surprising ground before slamming a free hand into the back of the mantis, digging his claws into the metal, successfully grabbing hold with a laugh as the mantis moved away from the immediate area.

It had been a bit of a massacre, the ground troops almost decimated in their assault, though the remaining two phantoms kept firing - and Copen was in range of the wounded one now.

In the chaos of Copen’s stomp and retaliation, David and Bisenti had arrived on the scene. The spaniard opened fire on the jackals, taking advantage of their exposed backs - and their disorderly leaps out of the stomp’s way, allowing him to score a few, plasma tearing open their thin flesh and bone into blackened material. With the ground troops seriously beaten down, David advanced with his machete as Bisenti offered supporting fire with his own pulse carbine.

“Shit- shit!” Kaminski shouted, glancing behind to see one of the brute’s arms swing over the edge of the mantis, and the alien started to haul himself up, fanged mouth cracked in a crooked grin as his angry eyes locked onto the marine. Kaminski swiveled on the spot, holding on as best as he could to take aim with the rifle, letting a round slug into the brute’s shoulder - to little effect, claws digging into the top of the mantis to stay steady.

With a charge, throwing himself forward, the brute rammed his other shoulder into Kaminski, throwing the marine off the side of the mantis - before he stopped, his belt catching him and dropping him to the edge of the mech’s top, Kaminski’s DMR flying elsewhere. His arm had been nearly ripped off.

Immediately, the brute plunged his fist through the open hatch to attempt grasping at Copen, razor sharp claws raking dangerously through the tight cockpit.

David and Bisenti, meanwhile, had a moment to capitalize on, as the ground troops hadn’t been clued in to their presence yet, still focused on the retreating mantis as the phantoms fired blasts to tear apart the forest and reduce hiding places for Copen. Their backs were to the recently-arrived team, and Bisenti wisely held fire for the moment now that the initial attack was over, following behind David as they closed the distance to the Banished, most of which were already setting after the mantis again, some with limps, some loudly complaining about a boo-boo (a grunt, namely).

Grunts: 5
Jackals: 7
Brutes: 8
Phantoms: 2​

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen
​

Switching targets to the ground troops seemed to have been a good choice - the combination of the stomp and missiles had cut their numbers in half, and some of the enemies that had survived the onslaught had been noticeably injured. That made things a lot easier on the Mantis. Satisfied with that outcome for now, Copen held down the missile trigger again, charging up the silo as the mech grew close enough to attack the damaged Phantom, aligning its sights with the dropship.. Some damage was still piling up on the Mantis, but things were looking far better than before––

“Shit- shit!”

Raising a brow, Copen glanced over his shoulder just in time to witness Kaminski nearly fall off the mech, having been suddenly attacked by a brute. He had utilized the Mantis' blind spot to his advantage, now lashing out at iX with his claws. The cyborg was able to shift forward enough to avoid being grabbed, though the brute's claws still tore along the cockpit's interior, ripping through some of the metal and through the pilot seat. A gash was left on Copen's back, which while somewhat mitigated by Break-Shift's durability, still left noticeable and lasting damage to his armor.

Copen grit his teeth, letting go of the controls to reach for the M95 - causing the Mantis to stop and fire the charged silo at the wounded Phantom, though not as precisely as he'd wanted. Grasping the shotgun, he whirled around to take aim at the brute, before iX fired out two blasts in quick succession at the ursine alien to dispatch him before he could cause further damage.​

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak
Arcturus Pit - Early Morning
Most of the turrets were dead, but the Ghost was in serious danger, as one was right next to it! Pulling the thrust trigger, Kazaaak rocketed forward to get away from from the turret, ending up near the platform another turret had previously been on. Noticing the large amounts of Banished chasing him, the pirate decided that he had done enough in terms of actually blowing up defenses- and that taking the enemies away from the pit was the best idea.

"HEY YOU NERDS!" he shouted at the nearest available group of enemies. "EVEN THROUGH THE SCREEN ON THIS THING I CAN SEE THE SCALES ON YOUR ARMS! ARE YOU SURE THOSE AREN'T TUMORS? AND YOU!" He swivelled the ghost to another group while moving backwards. "YEAH, YOU! THAT MOHAWK! DID A BLIND MAN GIVE YOU THAT HAIRCUT?"

Enemies suitably enraged, he turned around and moved away from Keyes and the marines. Occasionally he would swivel, fire some shots, and then swivel back to keep leading the enemies away. Snipers be damned, Kazaaak was going to be a distraction and a damn good one! As long as he didn't stick his head out or something. Though he did jiggle the ghost to throw off the snipers.

 

[comic]

THE COURIER​

—Arcturus Pit, Day 2 Early Morning—​

JULIAN took advantage of the yet unawares snipers, firing once, then twice, using the trees to block the shots of the two jackals focused on him. His shots struck true, eliminating two additional snipers. The two focused on the SPARK trilled, calling the attention of the other jackals toward him.

The last sniper focused on Kazaaak listened, refocusing itself to fire on JULIAN as the four jackals on the ground moved quickly to depart from the main defense force and began scaling up the steep wall, toe claws shredding away at stone and earth as they rose rapidly to reach the robot before they assembled with their gauntlet shields, peppering JULIAN’s area with plasma shots.

Kazaaak’s taunting was funny (not to the Banished) though somewhat unneeded, given he was the central focus of almost the entire Banished presence in the pit. Still, his momentary pause evoked an unfortunate opportunity, as what seemed to be a stick was lobbed through the air - and it landed against the hood of Kazaaak’s ghost, jagged edges around the stick enabling it to stick to the metal, embedding into the surface.

A spike grenade.

It erupted, hot shrapnel and smaller tungsten spikes spraying the immediate area and tearing open the ghost’s forward hull in an instant, allowing dark smoke to billow out from inside, a good indicator to get moving, which the mantis proceeded to do.

The ghost sputtered as it moved, but its performance didn’t yet appear hindered. Shots flew left and right, this way and that, Kazaaak doing his best to backtrack out of the pit and weave around the copious amounts of focused fire - though he had zipped his way back up towards one of the first shades, the turret already opening rapidfire on him at close range in an attempt to put the ghost down.

“Sissy!” one grunt yelled after Kazaaak, throwing back an insult after one of his fellows was practically vaporized on the spot by an array of plasma bolts from the mantis’ ghost, his tactics having taken down a brute as well.

With Kazaaak and JULIAN still doing their best, and efficiently maintaining Banished attention, Keyes skirted around the cliff peninsula to begin his approach toward the second group of marines. The first group, meanwhile, were allowed to collect discarded or mounted weapons, ammunition, and explosives. The first contributing thing they did was lobbing several spike grenades up at the two shade turrets positioned overlooking the pit.

Needless to say, they didn’t last long.

Grunts: 11
Sniper Jackals: 3
Jackals: 4
Brutes: 12
Shade Turrets: 1​

 

[Psymallard]

David Kavarr
-Tiberium Woods, <1km of Copen-
Ah, and they hadn't even spotted him yet- how fortunate.

The jackals were in his weight class, but their slipperiness in a wide-open area such as this would make it hard to engage them in melee once they realized the Spaniard was among them. The grunts... were too pathetic for him to focus on. They were armed and dangerous, and David knew not to underestimate them, but punching down on such sorry little specimens really wasn't his style.

The swordsman opted instead to choose the scarier-yet-slower brutes. Kavarr stalked through the underbrush. Not particularly stealthily... but after not being noticed so far, he realized he really didn't need to duck his head when there was the spectacle of a rampaging mech in the area. He emerged in a brisk walk, locking onto one of the uninjured jiralhanae. The wounded ones would be just as dangerous, David knew from his limited experience with the aliens, but he figured taking out one of the fresh ones when he had the element of surprise would yield the best results.

The starman whipped out the stun baton he'd found as well. He held off until activating it until just before he jabbed it (electrical end-first) into the alien's lower back. If not to harass and weaken any potential energy shielding, it'd cause the beast to stiffen up as David flourished his machete overhead. He meant to swipe the blade across the back of the brute's neck as deep as the blade would go.

 

[comic]

DETOUR​

—Ambush Clearing, Day 2 Early Morning—​

Copen took some damage from the brute, but his quick response with the shotgun put an end to that problem. With the first blast, pellets shredded across the jiralhanae, causing him to shout - and the second blast finished the job, tearing open his face.

The brute stumbled back, slipping off the edge of the Mantis to the ground. The silo’s premature release launched only three missiles rather than all five, something the wounded phantom managed to swerve out of the way as the other continued firing on the now-stationary mech while most of the other ground units closed in again.

David jabbed his stun stick forward, ramming it into the exposed part of his targeted brute. The electricity pumped into the alien, who let out a snarl as his body jerked a little - but it was quickly apparent that the stick wasn’t giving off the kind of juice to immobilize such a creature.

The brute quickly turned, swinging his arm about in a sweeping motion for David, the limb instead catching the machete’s blade rather than the neck. Still, the lightly-armored arm allowed the composite sword to land a blow, its nanite-sharp edge slicing cleanly through the hair, skin, and meat - before it stopped at the bone of the brute’s forearm. He let out another snarl, now yanking his arm away as he spun his body, now swinging with his other arm to try and backhand David away, the brute turning to face the spaniard.

His retaliation was short-lived, as Bisenti opened fire with the spiker he’d collected. Superheated tungsten spikes plunged into the brute’s torso, knocking him a pace away, the spikes lodging in his body, melting through armor and flesh. The third sound that came from the alien was a groan as he looked down at the damage in momentary shock - an opening for David.

However, this drew the attention of the other nearby brutes and jackals, all quickly turning their attention upon Kavarr and Bisenti.

Kaminski grasped his belt with his free hand, considering his options for a moment. “I’m dropping, Copen,” he called to the android. “Give me a sec... to get clear... in case you wanna stomp again...!”

The marine released his hold on the belt and dropped to the ground, trying to angle his legs to soften the blow, collapsing in a heap for a moment as his BR75 dropped beside him. Thanks to David and Bisenti, most of the ground heat had been lifted off of Copen and Kaminski. Only the grunts and a couple brutes were still in pursuit, forcing Kaminski to scramble back to his feet despite the pain, grabbing the MA40 as he set the BR75 on his back, spraying lead towards the foes as he limped backwards to suppress them.

Grunts: 5
Jackals: 7
Brutes: 7
Phantoms: 2
​

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen
​

The universal translator did its job once more, making short work of the intruding brute, leaving his body to fall off the Mantis. For a moment, Copen thought to help Kaminski back onto the mech - though the marine quickly informed him of his plan, dropping to the ground somewhat roughly. Plasma shots began to rack up damage on the Mantis again, prompting the cyborg to grab hold of the controls again, moving away from Kaminski's landing spot.

Cover was growing few and far between thanks to the ongoing conflict, forcing the Mantis to take more blows than necessary as it pivoted around the Phantoms. Leading with the chaingun again, Copen let loose a storm of lead towards the yet undamaged Phantom, aiming to expose its core while he charged up the rocket silo again.

This time, the cyborg directed the Mantis towards the Phantoms once the missiles were ready to go. With the gap closed somewhat, he would fire out the missiles at the wounded Phantom, letting the chaingun rest only when the other projectiles were in flight.​

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak
Arcturus Pit - Early Morning
In spite of a grenade, the Ghost continued to function. Having killed a few of the foes chasing him, Kazaaak refocused on the turret. Turning as he moved, the pirate drifted around the turret as he had for the previous ones, firing plasma until it was no longer a threat. Rotating again to face the group, Kazaaak continued to pull away from the pit... when he had an idea.

Instead of feathering the trigger for the plasma, he began firing it in bursts, allowing the shots to spread out a little before he refocused them. This way, instead of only attacking one at a time, the mantis could damage the entire group of foes at once! As he did so, he moved the Ghost around unpredictably, making full use of it's ability to move in all 4 directions.