The X-scrolls., Eat plasma, Daedra. Options

[DarkHunter]

Now then... I wonder how he'll take actually being shot at with magic?

[The Metal Mallet]

Damn the Mythic Dawn, damn them all!

It's interesting to see Uriel get involved with this now. Can't wait to see what happens.

[jack cloudy]

Well, he is human. Humans (from earth) have never been exposed to Magicka. Here comes some drama. Have fun. I bet Mazelure loves the alien I described.




Gerard was impressed. At first he’d thought that the armour was just an illusion but it turned out to be very real and capable of standing up to his Plasma. Fortunately these Blades seemed to be quite capable to hold their own against the assassins. Unfortunately, they were outnumbered and one of the assassins had managed to lock up the Legionnaires inside their own castle. Gerard clearly wasn’t looking at amateurs.

He jumped off the coach and landed on the street, right in front of a Nord who had broken through. Gerard raised his pistol in an attempt to end the fight quickly but the weapon flew out of his hand and landed on the coach. Gerard didn’t follow the gun’s trajectory. Whatever just happened, he knew that the Nord was responsible. Gerard whispered the word he’d hoped he would never have to say, cause it really sounded annoying enough the first time he heard it.
,,Battlemage.”

Gerard made a few distracting moves with his feet and lunged at his foe. One hand gripped the Nord’s axe while the other slammed in the man’s face. Gerard vaulted over the Nord and slashed at his back with the captured axe upon landing. While the axe failed to penetrate the Daedric armour, the force of the blow was enough to drive the Nord to his knees. Gerard raised the axe above his head for the finishing blow when the Nord managed to lay a hand on his foot.

All of Gerards muscles were blocked into position. The Nord got up and faced him. He was making a big show of spitting out his broken teeth and wiping the blood out of his face. The Daedric armour had spent its time in Tamriel and vanished.
,,You’re a good warrior. It will be an honour to kill you.”
Gerard would have responded with several not so polite words if his paralyzed tongue hadn’t stopped him.

The Nord began weaving a spell and shards of cold ice formed between his hands. There was a green flash and the spell dissipated. The Nord sank to his knees with a questioning look on his face. There was a huge hole in his back where the hot plasma hat struck.
,,Quite an interesting weapon. It shows that size isn’t everything.” The Emperor dryly remarked with Gerard’s Plasma pistol in his hands.

The remaining assassins were soon wiped out and the Blades returned to check on their Emperor.
,,Are you alright, milord?” Their leader asked with a wary look at Gerard. He kept his hand near the handle of his sword.
,,Thanks to this man, I am.” The Emperor responded and dug in his pocket.
,,Here, take this ring. It will mark you as a man favoured by the Emperor. And this is yours if I’m not mistaken. Now would you please tell me your name?”
Gerard took his pistol and the ring.
,,You can call me, X-COM.” He responded.

,,Well, sir X-COM. I have a proposal. Would you like to join my blades and become my personal guard. You will be rewarded for your service. I’ve noticed that you are quite good at protecting people.” The Emperor continued.
,,Unfortunately, I’m not good enough.” Gerard said and walked away.

He went back into the alley and leaned against the wall. His eyes saw the past.
,,I’m sorry.” He whispered as two tears ran down his cheek.

The unbelievable noise of the Skyranger rang through his head. He was sitting a bit away from the rest of the squad with one exception. Claire Dreyfus. Like any recently married couple, they spend as much time together as they possibly could. A slight change in the high-pitched whine of the engines told them that the Skyranger was preparing to land. He looked out of the window and saw the shapes of buildings nearby. It looked like they would land in the middle of the street.

,,Great. Why couldn’t the damn bugs leave us alone for just one week?! Did they have to attack this city now?! We’ve just got married three days ago!” He shouted over the noise of the engine. His wife rolled her eyes.
,,Well sorry, but I think you forgot to ask them! Now shut up and save the planet!” She yelled back with a smile.

The Skyranger touched down and its engines finally ended wrecking everyone’s ears. The Commander sitting at the back of the plane right next to the miniature tank waved.
,,Hey, lovebirds! Get out there and make yourselves useful. The HWP will go to the west, you’ll clear the east, Jeff and Barry will clear the south and I’ll take everyone who’s left to the north. Now move it.” He ordered.

With a rumbling sound, the engines of the miniature tank came to life and it rolled down the platform. Almost instantly, its turret swung to the left and released an armour-piercing shell. There was an unearthly scream and then silence.
,,Hostile detected and eliminated. Continuing patrol.” The soulless voice of the tank reported.

Gerard and Claire were the last to leave the plane. They dropped down the ramp and peered into the darkness. Gerard sighed.
,,Night, why do the bugs always have to attack at night?” He muttered.
,,Maybe they’re from a dark planet?”

Gerard chuckled.
,,You know what? You just could be right. Let’s start with that building. Anything that moves and isn’t human is toast.” He said and began to creep through the darkness.
Once he got close, his wife stopped him.
,,What?” He asked in a slightly annoyed tone.
,,I’ll go in and you stay behind to cover my back. I’m cuter and you would only manage to scare any humans you ran into.” Claire responded.
Gerard muttered something under his breath.
,,Sure, I’ll protect you. I’m good at it.”

He ducked behind a low fence. The silence and the darkness was scary. For a few minutes, he didn’t hear a thing. Then, a sudden sound caught his attention. He looked around till he saw the silhouette of an alien standing on the other side of the street. It looked vaguely like a humanoid insect with crab-like scissors on its front limbs. It turned around and Gerard could swear it was looking right at him.
,,What the heck is that?” He whispered to himself and raised his rifle. When the creature began to move towards him, he fired.

The bullets merely bounced of its hard shell as it rushed forward with a speed closer to that of a sportscar than that of a small humanoid being. It ignored Gerard and the bullets and instead entered the building that Claire was investigating. Gerard got up and ran after it. He slowed down once he got near a flight of stairs. If he ran around like a maniac, he would be asking for an ambush.

He slowly ascended the stairs as silently as he could. At the top, he peeked into the corridor before him. Something was moving in the shadows, something human. He could see the corpse of the death alien lying a bit further away.
,,Great shooting, Claire. You must have hit a soft spot.” Gerard grinned as he lowered his gun and approached his wife. That grin soon froze.

He leaned against the wall for support, unable to believe what he saw in front of his own eyes. Something had infected her, something that was tearing her up from the inside. A crab-like scissor shot out of her shoulder and tore off an arm. He could see the alien growing. Gerard staggered forward and pulled a grenade out of his belt.
,,I’m sorry.” He whispered as he shoved it down the mouth of the zombie that used to be his wife. He ran and didn’t stop when the sound of the explosion reached him.

,,It was a Chrysalid. You killed it but it was already too late. Its egg was inside you, growing. I had to kill it and you before it was mature and would tear itself a way to freedom. It was later that our Psionic people found out that the victim is fully aware of his surroundings and the pain till the Chrysalid emerges and kills its host.” He whispered to a death ghost as he sat in Kvatch’s alley. He knew he had made the right decision, but his heart couldn’t accept it.
,,Is killing the only thing I’m good at?”

[The Metal Mallet]

Wow, this post was amazing, that memory of Gerard's past shows real emotion. Very dramatic indeed. I can feel Gerard's pain.

I wonder if the Emperor will be able to convince Gerard to change his mind. That or at least give him a hug.

[Lord Revan]

I wonder if the Emperor will be able to convince Gerard to change his mind. That or at least give him a hug.

Lol probably not, but the hugging.........

[DarkHunter]

Jeeze... quite an emotianal bit bit .. hey whats this *wipes his face* Damn it, you got me all sad... a lots of stuff better die now ... or I'll have to go beserker in Morrowind and rip something to shreds... (Runs toward the Exrise Office screaming incohensively)

[jack cloudy]

nah, he's got better things to do. Like getting his behind inside the castle before more assassins show up. Ahem, I am nearing the end in the story which is good since I'm leaving on saturday and won't be on for three weeks. I might drag him out again someday.




It took a few hours for him to make up his mind and go back to the guild hall. By then, the sun had already set.
,,Andre, I want to learn how to heal.” He declared once he’d arrived.

Several months later.

,,Take one drop a day and you should be back on your feet again in no time at all. Well, I’ll be off. I hope you feel well soon.” Gerard said, saluted and walked out of the door. He had become a relatively good alchemist and used his skills nowadays to heal people. It was much less adrenaline filled than blowing up ugly things, but the change of pace was a good one.

He counted his money and decided he could go out and have a drink at his usual spot.
When he entered, he found it to be unusually quiet.
,,Hey, Elanor? Why’s everyone so down?” He asked the owner of the small tavern.
The Bosmer didn’t answer while he poured down the Flin.
,,Remember Jedar, the farmer? One of my customers found him this morning, death.” The Elf responded when Gerard repeated his question.
,,Death? How? Last time I saw him he only had a minor case of the flu. I gave him some tea.”

,,I’ll tell you how, Gerard. He’d been torn apart. There were footprints nearby, footprints of a Daedra. The footprints led to a area where the grass had been burned and turned to ash.”
Gerard frowned He’d heard of the Daedra. There had been rumours of strange black rings that burned the ground appearing in the woods lately. Daedra were one of the suspects. At first he had dismissed it as fantasy, but now he wasn’t sure anymore. Maybe those rumours were true and those rings had something to do with this Daedra that killed Jedar. He remembered the old Redguard. It couldn’t have been a simple animal that took him out.

He put his glass down to think. Why would these rings, and consequently Daedra, take a sudden interest in the nearby forest? His own mind yelled invasion, but that was an assumption that would be in place if he was on Earth. Tamriel was not earth, and invasions weren’t done by a bunch of rings in the woods.
,,Alright, I’m going home. It’s too early in the morning for mysteries.” He proclaimed, paid for his Flin and left.

He’d barely stepped onto the street when the sky began to darken and clouds rapidly formed overhead.
,,Rain? Blast it all.” He muttered and began to walk faster.
A bolt of lightning split the sky in two and thunder echoed through the city.
,,Man, the weather sure changes fast here! You’d think it was caused by something supernatural!” Gerard shouted at the sky. It surprised him that there was a complete lack of rain. Then, it was proven that the weather change was indeed supernatural.

An enormous ring made of an ominous black substance formed in front of him. A red aura emanated from it and the ground was blackened.
,,Oh great, it IS an invasion. Looks like the little ones in the forest where just used for scouting.” Gerard muttered to himself and drew his Ebony sword just in time to decapitate a lizard-like creature that came out of the portal the ring had formed.
,,I hate it when I’m right!” He didn’t wait to see what else might come out of the portal. He turned and ran as fast as he could to the mage guild.

,,Andre, start packing!” He shouted as he burst through the door. Andre turned around to aks what was going on, but Gerard had already jumped up the stairs and locked himself into his room.
,,Right. As if I would go outside in this weather. Just listen, it’s storming outside.” The Breton muttered and went back to his studies. A few minutes later, the door was thrown open again.
,,Who is it this time? Divines have mercy!”

Outside.

,,You two, get to our left flank!” The captain had rushed to meet the Daedra together with the rest of the legion as soon as possible. The streets were flooded with the otherworldly beings. The Legionnaires were both outnumbered and outmatched. She saw a Daedroth entering the mage guild. Worries about her husband filled her mind but she fought it off. Right now she had other priorities than the Breton.

Just a few moments later, something crashed through the walls of the building and landed on the street. Something else landed on it a second later. The Captain looked at it and saw to her surprise that it was the metal man she’d found in the woods a few months ago. It had smacked the Daedroth straight through the wall and then jumped out after it.
,,That thing can actually move.”

Gerard raised himself up from what was left of the Daedroth and aimed his Heavy Plasma at the incoming swarm of Daedra.
,,Alright, punks. I’ve got an interplanetary reputation as the best shot in the galaxy. Are you hungry? Eat plasma, Daedra scum.” He growled and pulled the trigger.

Brilliant green blasts of Plasma flew forth and carved into the ranks, vaporizing flesh and bones. The grass around Gerard burst into flames when the air became superheated. That was the real reason why he was wearing a sealed suit of armour. While his Flying Suit was inadequate to stop the plasma from heavier weaponry, it did keep the user of a Heavy Plasma nice and cool when his environment was turned into an inferno.

Once he’d made sure he’d created some breathing room, he ran back inside.
,,Andre! There is this big interdimensional gate or something outside! How do I destroy it?!” He shouted at the Breton who was still cowering against the back wall.
,,Umm, something like that must be similar to a recall spell. It requires tremendous amounts of Magicka. I’d say that you must go through and destroy whatever is powering it.” Andre managed to stammer.
,,Got it. I’m on it.”

Gerard went back outside and saw the mass of Daedra approaching. He looked the other way to see the Legionnaires behind him.
,,Evacuate the city! I’ll take care of that gate!” He spoke and faced the Daedra again.
,,Right, blasting my way through will take too much time and ammo. I’ll have to fly over their heads. That means I’ve about 40 minutes before I run out of fuel. Here goes.”

He rose up into the air and sped towards the gate the Daedra where still pouring out of. On the way, he had to dodge a few spells but except for that, nothing tried to stop him. He reached the gate and flew through the red aura at full speed.

[Neck' Thall]

Wow...This story is really nice...

[The Metal Mallet]

Sci-fi versus Fantasy! Which will be the victor? Only Jack knows! And hopefully you'll give us the answer soon, eh Jack?

Also, didn't you know? Drinking Flin in the morning is a sign of alcoholism?

[Agent Griff]

Great, this story is really picking up. I like the combination between Elder Scrolls and X-COM. An actual mod in which you can be a big metal man firing plasma at everything that moves would be really great. Keep up the great work Jack!

[minque]

Also, didn't you know? Drinking Flin in the morning is a sign of alcoholism?

Hehe exactly my thoughts as well! Beware!
Good work as usual Mr Cloudy!

[milanius]

,,Alright, punks. I’ve got an interplanetary reputation as the best shot in the galaxy. Are you hungry? Eat plasma, Daedra scum.” fly over their heads. That means I’ve about 40 minutes before I run out of fuel. Here goes.”[/i]

Also, didn't you know? Drinking Flin in the morning is a sign of alcoholism?

Like I said, I like this guy. A cohort of Dremora vs. Plasma gun ? SF vs. Fantasy ?!? You've got to be kidding Rayguns PWN ye Daedric butt, end of story.

[jack cloudy]

I'm back. Now prepare for the fantastic, nerve-wrecking, the biggest masterpiece of all times. Just kidding, it's not the biggest masterpiece of all times. Anyway, enjoy.

PS: If I'm correct, pretty much all of Tamriel's drinks I've encountered are alcoholic. Also, water in that period was also filled with all kinds of trash. (at least in the cities.) Drinking alcohol would be healthier then.


He found himself in a strange land. The sky was red and the ground was covered in hot lava. Hell was a good description of the place. He flew over some sort of huge machine that was making its way towards the gate, with another pair closely behind. Judging from its size and appearance, he guessed that one of them was enough to obliterate Kvatch. All three, and the Daedra had enough power to destroy the whole province.

He slowed down till he was hovering in the air and looked around. Beyond the three machines, the army of Daedra that was marching through the gates and a couple of big towers in the distance, he didn’t see anything. He just didn’t see any kind of generator that might power the gate.
,,Fool! This is not Earth. Forget about tech and think about magic!” He told himself and looked around again.
,,It has to be the tower. Knowing the way things always are, whatever is powering the gate is farthest from the tower entrance. The entrance is at the bottom which means….I’ll need to get to the top. Man, I hate it that the bad guys never make it easy for us good guys to blow them up and save the day quickly. It always takes so long we’re too late for diner.”

He flew towards the structure as fast as his suit could handle, keeping a wary eye on his fuel constantly. Instead of taking the lower entrance, he landed on a balcony somewhere between the top and bottom and went inside. He was instantly assaulted by a group of what looked like walking piles of ice.
,,This is one weird planet. Oh well, time to make some steam.” Gerard muttered to himself, grabbed his gun at the back end with both hands like a sword and swung it in a wide arc while holding the trigger.

Plasma or fire, both are hot and both are not pleasant for an Ice Atronach. Before the Atronachs could do as much as raise their hands to counter with spells, they were already melted, vaporized and downright annihilated by the plasma storm. Gerard stepped over the remains and slammed a new clip into the Heavy Plasma.
,,Sorry, but the ice-cream man is all out of ice today.”

Gerard ran around at random through the tower for a while. The place was practically a maze and he ran into a death end several times.
,,At least there’s one advantage here. If there are bodyparts lying around, I know I’ve already been there.” Finally, he reached a small window near a large door. He looked out of the window to see the first invasion machine pass through the gate. The second would follow in a few minutes.
,,And I’ve got less than five minutes of power left for my suit. Nice timing.” He grunted with pure sarcasm.

A key he’d found earlier fit and the door swung open. Gerard saw something move and leaped through the door and to the side while firing with his gun. He used the weight-reduction his suit provided to kick himself off the floor and land behind a pillar.
,,Aargh! Who are you, mortal? How did you manage to make it all the way here?” The creature shouted through the room. The plasma had hurt him, but not much.
,,Gerard Dreyfus, bigshot killing machine employed by X-COM and equipped with more firepower than an intercontinental Nuclear missile. You have five seconds to surrender. If you don’t, I’ll empty my entire arsenal on you.”
The Dremora didn’t answer. Gerard heard a weird whooshing sound, but nothing else seemed to happen.
,,Five, four, three, two, one…zero. Alright big guy, here I come!” He shouted, moved away from the pillar and emptied his weapon on the Dremora.

The plasma merely bounced off the shield the Dremora had cast on himself.
,,Magic, I hate magic.”
Gerard dropped his heavy Plasma and drew his sword in time to stop the first swing of the Dremora’s axe. The sword’s Ebony blade got an impressive crack, but held.
,,You are quite interesting, mortal. I have never seen anyone like you before. Still, you are mortal and so you shall die here. Don’t worry, the afterlife is only a day’s walk and two gates from here. Ask Molag Bal for more information.” The Dremora taunted with an evil light in his eyes.

At the second swing, the sword broke. The Dremora raised his axe for the third swing. Instead of stepping backwards, Gerard stepped forwards and grabbed the arm holding the axe. He pushed and managed to keep the axe from falling, despite the inhuman strength of the Dremora.
,,Quite impressive. Now how long will it last before you tire? Five seconds, ten, twenty, perhaps you’ll even manage to hold back my arm for as long as a minute. Let’s find out.”

Behind his helmet, Gerard gave a preditorial smile.
,,I don’t think so. I’ve still got a few other tricks, wimp.” He taunted, jumped up till he was directly above the Dremora while still holding his arm and then used his Flying suit to lift the Dremora off the ground.
,,Don’t you love those huge holes in the walls here? Why, I bet I can fly through and teach you a simple lesson about gravity.” He joked while he dragged the Daedra along and exited the tower.
,,And the lesson is: Gravity kills. I hope you didn’t forgot to make your last will. Tell Molag Bal I said hi. Bombs away!” With those words, he let go and watched the Dremora plummet to his doom.

He returned to the room and landed on the floor.
,,That takes care of mister demonic armour. Now let’s see….I bet I’ve got to knock that shiny crystal out of place. Yup, just a few seconds of power left. I seem to have talent for narrow victories that land me in trouble.” He grinned, sprinted towards the floating crystal and rammed it at the same moment the Elerium powering his suit was used up.

In Kvatch, the first of the Daedric invasion machines had done a good job of levelling the city. The second of the three machines had just passed the gate and was moving towards one of the last few buildings that had survived. The city had been mostly evacuated, with the exception of several isolated areas. These areas now came under attack by the army of Daedra.

Then, everything seemed to happen at the same time. The gate shattered and the passage between Oblivion and Tamriel ceased to exist. All beings that had made use of the gate were returned to their porter place. The army of Daedra vanished, clear for those that had come through a second, smaller gate. The machines vanished as well, pulled back to Oblivion. In the center of Kvatch, a humanoid shape emerged, lying on top of a strange glowing crystal.

Gerard looked at his display. Something was wrong, if only he could figure out what. As the adrenaline was purged from his veins, his mind cleared up.
,,Hey, since when does Elerium regrow?” He muttered, looked down at the crystal and laughed.
,,Well call me Santa, a fancy magic rock that regrows Elerium. I think I’ll chop up this fellow. I’ll put part in my suit and another part in my gun. Unlimited power and unlimited ammo, love it.” He got up and grabbed the crystal before searching for a place to hide.

Several hours later, he came out again.
,,Note to self: If I meet an alien again, I’ll first thank him for making his tech so easy to modify before I turn him into vapour. Now let’s blow up those filthy Daedra. One-man-army, run while you still can.” He laughed and raised his Heavy Plasma. His finger squeezed the trigger.

[The Metal Mallet]

Thanks for coming back and providing us an action-packed update! Nice one liners

Well it seems Kvatch is safe for the moment... wonder if Gerard is going to try to find a way back home or continue on with some crusading?

[Lord Revan]

One little sigil stone? That wouldn't give him ifinite ammo?

.....Would it?

[The Metal Mallet]

I think it was a Great Sigil Stone, just because the gate he went through had the siege engines running through it ala the one gate that you go through in Oblivion to get the Great Sigil Stone. I figure Jack has the creative authority to say a Great Sigil Stone can supply infinite ammo and energy

[jack cloudy]

The story has ended. I might pull Gerard out of retirement someday but I'm not sure at the moment. It would be fun to see him fight Mehrunes Dagon. Fly like a butterfly, sting like a nuclear missile.

And for the stone. Ahem, let's begin with our scientific research, shall we?

Elerium = Strange glowing rock with fancy properties including antigravity fields and overheated plasma.
Sigil Stone = Strange glowing rock with fancy properties, including a really long list of posibilities.

Two glowing rocks from different dimensions = A perfect situation for weirdness.

So unlimited power and ammo is the path I take. (It also gets rid of his resupply problem.)

[The Metal Mallet]

Sounds reasonable enough to me, Jack. And I can't wait to see what you're coming up with next.

Though, it would be great to see Gerard come out of retirement for something, even a cameo would please me. I wanna see more action in that suit!

[Lord Revan]

Well does it have to be infinite? Why not just super-long lasting, like maybe for six monthes of cont. fire. oh well...........

[minque]

Story ended?? Hmm why? It was a good read....but ypu probably come up with a continuation soon......I´m sure of it!