A massive cataclysm has struck the universe, and destroyed most everything in its wake. The survivors are now trying to pick up the pieces, and figure out exactly what has befallen them. Gather together, lightsiders!! The darkness has shattered the peace and calm of the galaxy...and they will do anything to stop anyone from finding out exactly what has been done! This is our first sitewide RP plotline. Lightsiders, you are looking for the source of this massive event. Clues must be found, lackeys tracked down, and bits of memory discovered. Darksiders, you guys don't want that to happen....because of the one behind the whole thing is furthering his ultimate goal. Mandalorians, and non-force users, you guys can decide where you stand on this line....do you side with the Jedi, and try to discover the reasons behind the ruined universe, or will you side with the darkness, and protect those secrets. Will the secret of the cataclysmic reaping be kept under wraps? Or will the Jedi and their allies find out the truth? Your RP and writing will decide the outcome!
BATTLE ARENA
Welcome to The Saga Continues. We have a section called the Battle Arena. Here you can use your characters to fight other characters. Hone your skills and see what you are made of. Don't worry, anything that happens here, does not effect your characters in posts, so if your character dies, you can still use them over and over. Have fun and check it out!
The Saga Continues is the product of the mind of ADMIN ADI; all contents are copyright their original owners. All characters belong to their original creators, and may not be used or replicated without permission. All images are copyright their original owners. This skin Operation Mindcrime was made by pharaoh leap of Pixel Perfect and put together by ADMIN KRYSTAL
Where all cadets sleep. The barracks are separated by Special Forces and Officer cadets. The barracks are genderfluid living quarters, male and female all share the same bay areas. The bay areas each can hold up to 80 cadets. Cadets sleep on bunk beds, have footlockers as well as wall lockers, on their respective locations of the bed.
Tess sat cross legged on her upper bunk, swiping through all the cadet profiles that Headmaster Cardiff had selected for her to choose from. Fortunately for her she didn’t know half of the candidates, so that cut her listing incredibly. Unfortunately, that lowered her list number to about twelve. But that was still too big, Tess needed to drop it down to a total of three cadets.
“He can go, him too, she’s barely qualified. Uhm, no. Uh-huh, meh…” Tess mumbled to herself as she continued to scroll through the list. She had brought the list down to six candidates. Tossing the datapad on the foot of he bed she collapsed backward onto he pillow. How was she ever going to choose from random candidates within the next twenty-four hours? That’s when she got the idea to research the Old Republic Commando program that she had been tasked to spearhead the resurrection of. Tess rolled off her bed and walked over to the bay terminal and began her records research.
Ten hours later Tess had learned all she needed about the various Commando squads and history of the Commandos to make her decision. Most commando squads or ‘pods’ consisted of a marksman specialist, demolitions expert, and equipment or technical expert, although all members were to be proficient in all categories, as well as standard and unarmed combatives. The original Clone Commandos underwent a rigorous ten-year training under the instruction of a Mandalorian ‘Cuy’val Dar’. The commandos were trained for a variety of missions from assassinations to HALO infiltration missions to covert sabotage, anything that would get the job done behind the scenes without putting the commandos on the front lines.
Tess scrolled down her listing on the datapad she held. The selection was best for what she had been tasked for, but she wasn’t at all happy about every member on the team. Out of the original twenty-four candidate that she had been given she was told to select three. Tess had originally disregarded most of them because she didn’t know them, but after her research she realized that she needed to look at every aspect of every candidate. And the finally tally was what she now held in front of her.
Name: Adam Grotto Age: 20 Specialty: Marksman/Sharpshooter Personality: Race: Human Home world: Tattooine
Name: Steven Marwick Age: 23 Specialty: Demolitions Expert Personality: Race: Human Home World: Corellia
Tess may be on Tsark’s bad side but she knew that nobody else in the whole Academy could outthink him in a time crunch, he also had a brilliant mind when it came to electronics. Marwick’s bio stated that he was a little unhinged, but he had been selected due to his ability to make an explosive out of almost anything he could get his hands on. Grotto’s bio stated that he had grown up on a farm, but he was a brilliant combative, and master marksman being top of the Carida Academy for the last three years.
Tess was finally ready to present her choices to the Headmaster to form the first commando squad since the fall of the Empire. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it, she was excited about getting advanced training and skills, but she was also worried about how her team would do working together. They were all from different parts of the Galaxy and they would be thrown together because she had to choose them. She was apprehensive because she wasn’t sure she was ready to lead a squad of her own. But she also felt perfectly prepared to lead them at the same time.
She looked at the time displayed on the bay clock, 2330, time for her to get some sleep, she had to be at the Headmaster’s office first thing in the morning. She stripped out of her uniform and down to her nighttime wear, completed her nightly routine and lay down to sleep.
Alcide had been on Carida for nearly a week now, the transport getting him here about two days later than expected. With the universe in the state it had been, public transportation had not been that reliable...but if you wanted to get somewhere unnoticed, it was still the best way to travel. The delay had been due to the screening for the plague, taking more time than normal to make sure no infected were making their way off-planet at the various stops.
It was annoying, but necessary. No one wanted to have to deal with an infected on board a small transport vessel....it would get messy.
The former military barracks had been converted to handle civilian traffic for now, being the largest place near the spaceport. The military here was not anywhere near full capacity, and in order to make a few extra credits, they had opened the barracks to travelers. Luckily enough, Alcide had enough in the way of funds where he didn't mind spending the extra to get a room here.
He had been searching the holoweb for signs of his father, and finding only the same thing....Nystao had been destroyed, the Red Dawn Medical Center with it, and Adieumus had been defending the complex. No one had seen him leave, and it was assumed that he was killed in the bombardment, or ensuing battle. No one really knew...Nystao was a wasteland after the Order of Ruin had attacked. While it was somewhat comforting to find out that Adi was dead, Alcide knew it probably wasn't true...Matango was notorious for escaping situations that few were able to.
Still, if Matango -was- dead, it was one less thing that Alcide needed to do. He would have to look into this 'Order of Ruin', and find out what they were all about.
Stretching out on the bed, he grabbed the remote for the holoscreen. After turning it on, he began flipping the channels. Most were static, being offline due to lack of staff, but there were a few that had reruns of old programs on. Leaving it on an old war show, Alcide began to drift off, half meditating, half sleeping.
WHEN THE FIRE'S AT MY FEET AGAIN, AND THE VULTURES ALL START CIRCLING, THEY'RE WHISPERING 'YOU'RE OUT OF TIME,' BUT I STILL RISE!
Addison Arcturus had been traveling trying to avoid the plague that was circling, it made traveling harder; but the raven haired girl had all the time in the world. Her trip was after all to find more about herself, that was why she had left her mother, saying that she needed to learn who her father was to understand the force fully. She had left her mother in tears, but she promised to come visit her, but that was because this happened. It was better for her to search for answers than it would to go back home; because she knew she didn't have the willpower to leave her mother another time.
As the vessel stopped and the passengers started to exit, she waited, simply standing up. Her eyes was looking around at the people that passed her, and once everyone was off, that was when she exited and she looked at the landscape in front of her. She made her way towards the barracks and decided to use some money to stay there, it was better than any other options she had.
She made her way to the bed and laid her bag down on it, as she sat down. For anybody, it would seem like she was praying, but she was holding onto the necklace that her mother had given her. It was a promise to bring it back, she softly kissed it and that was when she felt it, a pull. She got up on her feet as she walked out and over to the door that she was pulled to.
It wasn't something she could explain, but it was different from the other times she had felt it. This was a dark presence; but that was what made it even more intriguing for her. Or for that part of her that felt drawn to it. Before she knew what she had done, she had knocked on the door, waiting to see who the presence belonged to.
He had just been getting dressed to head down to the training facility,when a knock came at the door. Alcide's face gave a puzzled expression...he knew -no- one here. Honestly, he liked it that way. Anonymity was best for someone in his line of work. It wasn't exactly good for an assassin to have a known face.
Still, it was impolite to keep a guest waiting.
Walking to the door, Alcide gave it a tug, and it slid open.
"Yes?"
The intent, icy blue eyes that he shared with his father stared down from his 6'2" height. A dark-haired woman was standing there, looking a bit...intrigued? Scared? Curious? Alcide wasn't quite sure what, but it wasn't calm. Had she been sent here by his employer to check on the progress of his mission? If so, was she going to try to kill him for not having accomplished it yet, or even finding his target for that matter?
Caution was the word for now.
Alcide drew himself up a bit taller. He shared many things with his parents, including his father's build, and eyes. He had acquired his mother's intelligence, however. This had made for a dangerous combination many times for his foes. With a confidence earned through quite a few years of training, Alcide cocked his head.
WHEN THE FIRE'S AT MY FEET AGAIN, AND THE VULTURES ALL START CIRCLING, THEY'RE WHISPERING 'YOU'RE OUT OF TIME,' BUT I STILL RISE!
She could feel her heart beating fast, but she closed her eyes calming herself down and once she was calm, she opened her eyes again and saw the door slide open. She heard the man say something, but she was just caught off guard by the feeling she had inside of her. How could it be that she was intrigued by this dark presence? And once she had questioned that, she also questioned if her mother had ever told her the truth about who her father was; or maybe she that was something that her father had kept from her mother? She shook the thoughts out of her mind as she took a good look at the man in front of her.
She watched as he drew himself a little taller and it caused her to stand up straight as she looked at him, curiously. As he spoke, she softly chuckled at his words. 'No, there is nothing you can do for me..' she thought to herself as she took her hands, to remove the hoodie on her coat before she looked back up at him.
"No, I don't think there is something you can do for me, I just knocked since I somehow was drawn to your presence, the darkness to it." She said as she didn't want him to flatter himself. She had to admit to herself that he wasn't bad looking, but there was something deeper in her that was drawn to the presence, like she found some sort of comfort in it.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you?" She asked, she was rather blunt, her mother had told her when she grew up as a child that one day that bluntness would get her in trouble, and from missing her mother; she thought that maybe this was the day that she finally got in trouble for it, but that thought just made her smile, because she didn't believe that for one second. She was just curious and drawn to the darkness in the worlds and in her.
Alcide was a little confused at first. Was this an act to get him to drop his guard? He couldn't sense any malice coming from this woman, more confusion, and curiosity. Perhaps she was using her emotions to get him to relax a little bit. That would make more sense than the alternative of her being a force sensitive, and not knowing what a darksider was.
He would play her little game. It wasn't like he wasn't armed, anyway.
"I'm Arkanian, at least half. But that still doesn't answer your question, does it? Come in. We can figure out exactly what it is you are asking, I suppose."
He was almost as confused as she was. Her aura was all over the place...she was definitely untrained in the typical sense. More and more, he was thinking she had a connection to the force, but didn't really know what it was, or understand how to use it. He stepped aside after a moment, and waved her in, motioning for her to take a seat. Reaching into the chiller, he grabbed two bottles of water. Offering one to her, he plopped in a chair.
"I'm just a traveler, wandering the galaxy to avoid catching that nasty flu bug that has been doing so much damage. I'm trying to find a place that is relatively plague-free so I can open a small repair shop."
It was a blatant lie. She would easily be able to look at him and see he wasn't a grease monkey. It -was- true that he was trying to avoid catching the plague, but that was about the only true part of his statement. She could sense things, it was apparent...but Alcide wanted to see how good she really was. You could tell a lot from a person just in a few words, and how they reacted to the conversation. So far, this woman just seemed a curious onlooker. However, he hadn't survived in his line of work for as long as he had by being naive. He knew that all of this could be a ruse to get close to him.
Trust no one...they were the words that Alcide lived by.
WHEN THE FIRE'S AT MY FEET AGAIN, AND THE VULTURES ALL START CIRCLING, THEY'RE WHISPERING 'YOU'RE OUT OF TIME,' BUT I STILL RISE!
She watched him carefully after asking the question, for a split second she wanted to know what he was thinking, but the moment he answered her it was replaced with the simple chuckle that escaped her lips. "You're right there, it didn't answer my question." She said as she took a step forward, walking to get inside. However as she had taken that step, something inside her told her to walk back to her room, but the part of her that was curious about what he was, was what won and she walked inside.
As she was inside, she didn't look around; more so because every thing seemed to be the same as in her room, so what was the point? She sat down after he had motioned her to, and also took the water bottle when he offered it to her. "Thank you." She said just to be polite. She took a sip off it as she listened to his story. She found herself wanting to laugh and chuckle, feeling that he was lying. However she didn't hold him accountable for it, she was a stranger that had knocked on the door.
"Okay, whatever you say... I guess." She added as she put the bottle right beside her on the table and looked at him. "You don't have a presence like you're just being a traveler." She had right away with a soft smirk. "I'm just curious, I've met many people and most of them have that lightness with them, but you..." She stopped herself as she picked up the water bottle, but nervously played around with it in her hands. "You're one of them..." She said as she bit her lip a little. "The ones from the dark side." She said that lowly. It wasn't because she was afraid, the whole point of her being there was because she found it intriguing, and she wanted to understand it better, but at the same time she wanted to stay away from it.
There was so many thoughts in her mind, but in that moment; they were all quiet, as she let out a breath.
She asked exactly what Alcide was figuring she would. His suspicions appeared to be correct...she was an untrained force user with a pull towards the darkness. Bogan would be pleased. It was now time to see just how curious she really was.
"You say 'Dark side' like it's a bad thing. Trust me, my dear....just because someone dabbles in the dark arts does not mean they are evil. That is a lie propagated by the Jedi, one they started millennia ago to make themselves seem righteous and good.
Believe me....they are not as 'good' as they portray themselves to be." Alcide reached into a drawer, and pulled out a pack of smokes. Pulling one out, he lit it, and laid the pack on the table beside her. "Have one if you wish." This would be a delicate explanation of things, one that sith had used to groom apprentices for generations. It had been used to explain the need for the darkness, and it had been successful many times.
"What most don't realize is that darksiders want much of the same as the ones claiming to cling to the light...peace, harmony, and the end of war in the galaxy. Our methods may differ, but the end result is the same, no matter which side you are on. You live, you fight, you suffer, you die. It's a cycle that both the sith and jedi have been trying to end for thousands of years."
He took a drag from his smoke, and exhaled. Drinking a gulp from his water bottle, he continued.
"I will admit, the Jedi have been more successful than the Sith, but only because their numbers were greater for so much longer. They did as all religions do, try to dominate their sphere of influence, and convert those that do not subscribe to their words. I obviously do not. Then again, I really don't feel that religious views should affect the way the force is viewed.
The Force is neutral. It doesn't choose sides...we do."
Those were words that burned as hot as plasma as Alcide spoke them. It was his father that had uttered them the first time he had heard them, in one of the many holovids his mother had shown him. While he did not share his father's brighter view of the universe, he did agree with that statement....and Alcide hated himself for it. Taking a breath, he realized that he didn't even know who this woman was yet.
"So now that I've bored you to tears, my name is Alcide."
WHEN THE FIRE'S AT MY FEET AGAIN, AND THE VULTURES ALL START CIRCLING, THEY'RE WHISPERING 'YOU'RE OUT OF TIME,' BUT I STILL RISE!
It hadn't taken her long from saying the word before he responded to it. "I..." she tried to get in there but stopped herself. She hadn't meant anything bad about it. It was more the need for her to understand what she was craving and to understand why. As he took out a pack of smokes and told her to take one if she wanted to, she was quite tempted too, and she couldn't fight it. She grabbed the pack and took one out before she took a drag off it, closing her eyes for a second as she listened to him talking about the dark side.
As she took yet another drag, her eyes was opened at she looked at him, but she found that her focus drifted away from him and into her mind instead. It had done so a few times with her mother, showing her fond childhood memories with her mother. However the setting around this memory seemed to be gloom, almost like she had wanted to forget it ad never think about it... but it was brought around by something he had said, she couldn't tell anyone what word that had triggered the memory. First it had been a short interaction with her and the man in her memory, him telling her something; she couldn't quite remember. The next thing it jumped to was her on her feet, watching the man walk out the door, while her mother was shoving him outside.
She returned to the room with him at his last words, which were that they were the ones to choose the side. However she just stared blankly at the wall trying to make sense of what she had seen, it must be a repressed memory, something she didn't want to see; but why she couldn't figure out.
As he spoke yet again, he took her attention as she softly let a chuckle escape her. "No, you didn't bore me to tears.." She lied before taking a drag of the smoke. "I'm Addison." she added right after exhaling the smoke, as her mind was still on her memory, that had to be her father, so why would her mother lie to her? What was she trying to hide from her?
She had zoned out a bit, he could tell. His business was reading people, after all....he had to learn his target's habits, movements, and their actions until he knew them without thinking. Given a few words, and the chance to see how someone reacted when certain situations were approached. Something had triggered her to hit the 'deep thought' button. Lightly, he reached out, almost imperceptibly, trying to pull the thoughts from the top of her mind....skimming it, in essence.
There were the light scents of smoke, brimstone, and darkness, and the taste of evil, and hatred. Not everyone in the memory had the luxury of being welcome...but they were still necessary. He could feel the warmth of family, yet, he could sense the insecurity of fear. So many emotions feeding rapidly into one unknown...a dark, black hole from which nothing could be pulled. He had seen it before....either the memory was repressed, or it was sealed by another.
Either way, that made her slightly more dangerous. Alcide had seen the same thing in a few sleeper agents, and they turnedout to be killers without even knowing it. However, the feelings and emotions that were laid on top of that hole were far from artificial. The only way feelings like that were generated is if they were truly experienced.
"Nice to meet you, Addison." He crushed the smoke out in the ashtray, and took another gulp of the water bottle, finishing it. He stood up slowly, and stretched. "Tell you what...I gotta hit the gym for a bit, but if you want, we can talk more when I get back..." The blonde haired man cocked his head to the left, looking at her inquisitively. "Unless you wanna go along?"
WHEN THE FIRE'S AT MY FEET AGAIN, AND THE VULTURES ALL START CIRCLING, THEY'RE WHISPERING 'YOU'RE OUT OF TIME,' BUT I STILL RISE!
As she was sitting there thinking about the memory, she felt a chill down her spine and moved her shoulders a little to try and ease into the chill. Once it went away, she went back to her memory, but it was almost like the memory wanted to get away from her, almost like she wasn't supposed to have seen it at all. She sat there focusing on it, trying to go deeper into it; but everything ended up just being black in the end.
She stumped the smoke in the ashtray in an annoyed way, how could a memory come back and just go like that? Nothing made sense for her. She was filled with so many emotions that she couldn't even control it. She felt betrayed by her mother, angry even at her, but also that the memory was back in the deep end of her mind, and she didn't even know how to get it back. She was frustrated because it could have given her the answers she longed, about who her father was; and that was what caused her anger the most. Being so close to finding out, but for it to just run away again.
She looked back at him again, when she had finally found control again. She listened to him say that it was nice to meet her and she gave him a smile. "It's nice to meet you too, Alcide." She said before she took a big sip of her water bottle, emptying it before she laid it back on the table.
As he said that he was going to hit the gym, she looked away from him. 'Well I guess it's back to the room, with all this thoughts' she thought to herself before he continued and she looked up at him as a grin arrived. "You know what? I actually want to join you. I suddenly got the urge to punch something." She said as she stood up and looked at him. "Please, lead the way." She said as she was ready to follow him.
A wry smile crossed Alcide's face, and he nodded. Grabbing a small bag from the corner of the room, he slung it over his shoulder, and opened the door, waiting for Addison to exit.
The training facility was only one level down, and it was a quick jog down the steps, a right turn, and the pair arrived. Without even waiting, Alcide punched a few keys on the main panel. A room behind the glass came to life...a battle scene. Troops, vehicles, armored hovercraft...the whole works. With a side-eye glance at Addison, Alcide offered only the slightest of warnings.
"I don't do the easy training thing. You sure you are up for this? Wouldn't wanna see you get hurt, ya know?" Sure, the last comment was said with a bit of egotistical snark, but Alcide was a bit arrogant at the abilities he had. Then again, few, if any, were actually able to back up his words like the darksider. He reached into the bag, pulling out a small, cylindrical lightsaber hilt, wrapped in black cloth tape to cut the chrome flash. Clipping it to his right hip, he again reached in, and pulled out an armored helmet. Again, it was flat black, with the visor completely smooth....faceless.
It was exactly how Alcide did his job....a faceless wraith, hell-bent on eliminating any target he was given. He was damn good at his job too.
With a nod to Addison, Alcide turned and entered the training room. As the door came open, a stray blaster bolt streaked just millimeters past his head, striking the wall behind him. With a chuckle at how feisty the droids seemed, the darksider shot into the fray. The heat of battle had his blood running hot now, but his motions were deliberate, a ballet of destruction being conducted by a darksided demon. He was tearing through the battle droids, slicing one after another down in a vicious dance of death. His white bladed lightsaber looked a blur as it spun, snapping out to strike like a venomous snake. While it wasn't apparent, the force was building up within Alcide...the darkness bubbling, boiling, and roiling forth. Alcide was an uncaged beast, unleashed on the unlucky training droids.
Within just two minutes, the first wave of training droids was laying on the ground. They were now just smoking, sparking, burning shells of what they had just been...and Alcide had not even broken a sweat. Leaning against the wall, he pulled a bottle of water out of a small pouch on his belt. Taking a big gulp, Alcide cracked his neck.
That would do for a small warmup. It would only get tougher from here.
WHEN THE FIRE'S AT MY FEET AGAIN, AND THE VULTURES ALL START CIRCLING, THEY'RE WHISPERING 'YOU'RE OUT OF TIME,' BUT I STILL RISE!
Addison walked out of the room with Alcide. It didn’t take them long before they had arrived at the training facility, and though it wasn’t the first time she had seen people fight or training facilities; it was the first time that she had stepped foot in one. It intrigued her and made her body fill with adrenaline.
As she heard what he said, she couldn’t help the chuckled that escaped her. “You won’t!” It might have been arrogant off somebody that had never fought much in her life, but she didn’t care. She watched him as he pulled something out of his bag and watched as he got ready for the scene in front of them. She decided to just watch him the first time, and just stayed put to the wall, watching how he moved and she was rather impressed.
When he was done, she took a deep breath, before she found the clip that kept her clock in place, and simply dropped it to the floor. She moved to her wrist where she took a hair band and gathered her hair before she put it in a messy bun at the top of her head, tightening it, so she knew it would get loose while she was moving along the training arena.
She took yet another breath before she moved her hand to her hip, pulling a RK-3 blaster out of its holster. She looked around while holding the blaster seeing if there was something else she could use as well. As her eyes fell on a vibrostaff and smirk appeared on her lips. She put the blaster into the holster again and made her way over, taking the staff in her hand. “Let’s go!” She told herself before she walked out on the floor.
She held the staff in her hand and closed her eyes, closing down every other thought that was in her head, only wanting to focus on what was in front of her. Trying to turn her angry emotion into a drive for the training, using it as a weapon. As she was ready, she opened her eyes and looked at the new droids.
Within 5 minutes everyone except one was laying on the ground, she stood up from the last one she had ruined and grabbed her BK-3 and shot the last droid and when she was done, she let a deep breath escape her. She moved to put the staff back before she walked over to where Alcide stood. “Not bad, huh?” She asked with a grin.
Alcide, in a blazing burst of speed, drew an E-11 blaster from its hidden holster on his waistline in the back, drawing up to where it would almost look like he was bearing down on Addison to fire. While she had impressed him with her skills, she still had a lot to learn. He squeezed the trigger once, and a single blaster bolt sizzled through the air, directly past her left ear. An audible crackling sound filled the air, followed by a creaking, and a 'thunk' as the stealthed droid hit the floor.
"You missed one. Prolly should pay closer attention to your surroundings."
He spun the blaster on his index finger twice as he moved the weapon back to its holster. He then looked to his right wrist, and opened the datalink to the control room. Seeing a connection to the AI running the simulator, Alcide grinned, and spoke.
"AI Niklaus, let's take off the training wheels. Bump the level up from one to, say....five? That should give us some more realistic battlefield conditions. Set it up to be Imperial era Stormies. Throw in a few shocktroopers for fun, eh?"
A single beep showed confirmation, and Alcide turned to Addison.
"Now that we are done with the warmup....Watch and learn, Grasshopper!"
Two more clicks on his wrist datalink, and Alcide vanished from view. He had activated his active camouflage, and dashed away to a higher vantage point, leaving Addison to her own devices. She looked quite capable of handling herself, to be honest...and, even though it looked like it, none of the holoprojections were tuned to kill. It would only appear that way to the untrained eye. Not that getting hit wouldn't hurt, of course. What was training if pain wasn't involved?
A cityscape view spread out before them, projected into the massive room, with blind corners, high and low ground, and dark alleys. Alcide jumped up onto one of the platforms, and scanned the area with the heads-up display in his helmet. Six troopers in the signature white armor worn by Imperial Stormtroopers for a very long time were entering the battle, three armed with stun batons, the other three armed with F-11D blasters. An upgrade to the E-11, Imperials weren't known to have been using them, but it was a nice touch. For now, Alcide declined to engage, and just observe, waiting from his higher vantage point, hidden from view. He could stay like this for up to thirty minutes, waiting for the perfect time for them to pounce.
Now, he just had to see if she drew the group this way....
