The Shattered Blade

Fed by the energising agony from the youth, I jump through the shadow of a truck and appear half way through the one that is given by a frightened scavenger who is pelting through the sands and blind-firing over his shoulder with a fully automatic slug thrower at the incubus pursuing the ones bringing up the rear. His panic gives me the chance to pull the pin on a grenade strapped to his belt as he runs deeper into the group. Fading back to the one I came from, I look on in amusement as he realises what has happened and drops his gun in frozen horror. He and three others are torn appart by the resulting shrapnell blast that nocks those others nearby to their knees, including the leader.

Greatly enjoying the pain of his dying victims and amused at the mon'keigh fear Gwyn casually stands up and sends some shots towards the fleeing group to keep them running.

Dusting off the rifle and rechecking for more damage Gwyn carefully shoulders it and wanders towards the closest downed biker for a bite and to search for any water or interesting bit of gear while idly wondering if any of the dead mon'keigh snipers had a barrel that could be utilized for his own.

The Mon'keigh Leader hearing the men nearest him scream as Venra shoulder checks him out of the way. The leader spins suddenly, slashing blindly, as he turns and faces Venra. Venra uses his momentum to jump over the blade. The leader starts wildly thrusting at Venra who just slide steps back, and snaps his great klaive off his shoulder and through his opponent as he is sliding back. "Archon-son do you want to kill them all to remain hidden, or let some live to spread fear?"

Vivi emerged from the shadows and strutted to Manix.

"Archon-son, next time you decide to think on your own, just remember that it was only for my plots that you lived through today."

The haemunculous turned to the nearest vehicle and began familiarizing himself with the human vehicles control mechanics.

Normally I would let them flee but today we need discretion... Kill them all save one... I want one alive...

As for you flesh crafter, remember your place. I don't take orders from any one. I suspect you may need me to pilot one of these vehicles for you so you had best play nice.

With a twisted grin, manix turned to see if the monkeigh in the turret had survived the haywire grenade

"Heamonculi, or Sniper please detain one of them. I and the Mandrake will do mop up" He takes off cutting down the monkieghs as they flee, using the two blade function of his Klaive.

With a chuckle of muffled laughter I heft my massive blade and start sprinting at the other survivors. I quickly manage to catch up with the klaivex and leap onto a nearby scavenger who is in the middle of reaching for his pistol after using the last clip of his slug thrower and discarding it. I land on his back with my scimitar plunging into the back of his pelvis, rupturing kidneys piercing intestines. I rip my barbed blade out of him and leave him writhing in pain to hunt down the ones left. "Lets have some fun, sir klaivex!"

Dragging 2 unconcious monkeigh from the vehicle he had hit with the grenade moments ago, Manix quickly binds their hands behind their backs with rope found on the crude vehicle. He takes their weapons from them and tosses them to one side, caring not for the filthy tech.

Grinning evily, he moves the 2 slumped forms to about 10 feet apart. The female he hoists up and binds to the side of the truck. The male, he ties to a broken mast from a raider with the monkeigh on his knees.

Still grinning, Manix crouches infront of the male...

"wakey wakey"

Dusty eyelids flutter open, his white scarf fluttering in the breeze, the mon'keigh glances around with the slow moving and dull expressions common to the race. Behind the red dust stained skin his eyes are pale blue.

When he spots you he squeals in terror through his chapped lips and tries to stand, only then noticing he is restrained. He tugs at the bonds a bit and then snarls at you in his low garble speak.

Having wiped out the rest of the scavenger scum, I sheath my blade through the scabbard on my back and walk over to manix and the captive.
"What do we do with them now?" The mon-keigh starts to shiver with fear in in its purest form and so I play on it by crouching next to the beast and staring into his eyes with a baelful glare which makes him shut his eyes and wimper as light frost coats his cheeks.

Breathing in the terror, manix stands up and moves over to the female drawing a skinning blade. In the crude tongue of the base species, manix demands 'who sent you?'. He gently caresses the blade across the females face, drawing a small trickle of blood from her cheek then licking the blade clean with a grin.

'Sweet'

After picking through the nearest dead Gwyn pockets a couple of small glinting items and takes a pull from one of their water bottles.

Heading over to the group Gwyn smiles at the smell of fear. " What do we have here? Playthings or information? They hardly look intelligent."

"Hopefully both." breathes Vecrelonis with a grin as he continues to mentaly torture the captive.

The man kicks weakly, feet tossing up small clouds of dust as he whimpers, babbling in his garbled mon'keigh speak - it sounds like begging, which is probably appropriate for a menial herd meat to do in front of its masters. In moments his face has gone chalky from the rime of frost on it and he can't even move his lips, just pleading pathetically with his eyes.

The female awakes with a start as the knife cuts into her cheek. She struggles at her bonds for a few moments and then slumps helplessly, trying to press back away from Manix even though she is penned in place. Wide, fear-filled eyes twist around as she listens to his mon'keigh speak question and immediately babbles back in the same dialect, the coarse sounds crude and barely worth noting.

She does seem to be pointing rather insistently back in the direction of the Hive City and making violent hand motions, her eyes fearful.

Can any of you understand more of this gibberish than I?

I grow bored of their mewing but we need answers...

That said, I feel like we should leave the area quickly...

Manix hauls the female into the back of the truck and gestures for the rest to join him in the crude vehicle

I grab the male and hurl him into the back of the truck while I jump up onto the flatbed and pull my cloak around me to drown myself in shadow.
"Lets get going."