Jul 23, 2015

Phreelancerz: Skolas's Revenge pt. 2

Read this first.

"Prison of Elders welcomes you..." Variks' voice booms over some external comm system in the airlock as FreakyBalloon, Zwazo and I drop in from our ships. It's a simple circular room, four large doors dispersed around it at even intervals. As I check my weapons, my HUD links up with Freaky and Zwazo and I catch the tale end of a conversation.

"We're gonna get it done," says Freaky. Zwazo is nodding his head.
"Should have killed him when they caught him," Zwazo say. I agree. A lot of good Guardians went down trying to capture Skolas.
"Let's finish the job," I say as one of the doors opens to reveal a large glowing servitor.

Variks says something about undead Hive and then the servitor disappears. I turn towards the door and begin to jog down a tunnel that ends in another door. Freaky and Zwazo catch up to me as I move down the tunnel. We reach the far door and it opens onto an arena that reminds me of parts of Crota's Abyss. The ground is littered with bones, and debris from past battles. There is a murky haze in the air which makes me glad my helmet has air filters and purifiers built in.

My ghost gives me a quick layout of the space, there are three other doors in the arena, each of them registering enemy activity. I can hear the unnatural sound of thrall screaming and clawing behind a closed door I run past. There are a lot of them. We jump onto a ledge in the left corner of the arena and prepare for engagement. My ghosts begins to say something to me, but I can't hear it. The two closest doors open, and thrall  and acolytes come pouring out in a swarm. Void energy shots careen off the ceiling and floor as the Hive locate us and begin to hone in. We return fire, My Abyss Defiant spits bullets, rapid fire, cutting down thrall as they attempt to take us down using their claws. We don't let them get that close.

Suddenly, there is a roar. "Ogre!" Freaky yells over the fray. Large beams of void energy strafe my body pushing me back and down. An ogre, the Hive's heavy artillery, has appeared. I check for damage and realize my shield has taken the brunt and withstood it. Odd. That many direct hits from an ogre should have put me down. I'm not complaining, it's just strange.

I crouch behind cover waiting for my shield to recharge. "Wizards too," says Zwazo. I never know how he manages to sound so calm. My shield isn't recharging. Now I'm concerned.

"Check your shields. Make sure it's working," I say. My ghost speaks up again and explains that shield recharge has been suppressed, but will take more damage before breaking. Also, apparently, our melee strikes are stronger. Typical. As if fighting hordes of enemies isn't enough of a challenge, Variks has added modifiers. Oh, and there are web mines. I'm a little pissed off.

We fight through three waves of enemies, each one getting progressively harder. I'm not sure if my shield will ever recharge, and these thrall don't quit. I snipe an acolyte from across the map. Next to me, Freaky stabs a thrall. Suddenly, Variks is speaking to us, his voice wheezing through the translator device over his mouth.

"They are dead... You are not..." Variks says. "Need you back in the airlock, Guardian," he finishes.

We run towards the airlock.

"How many more rounds of this?" I ask no one in particular. Zwazo answers.
"Five."

F#$k....

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