Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I'd have loved to be here for the little picnic, but I had reinforcements to call in and important exercises to plan for an entire army," Bakkar unleashed a loud brazen laugh, he didn't even notice that the rest of R.I.O.T. "I'm a very busy man, of course, I thought dispeling this curse would have been routine for profesionals like R.I.O.T., so I mistakenly left it in your hands. Now, since you'll be staying, why don't you properly introduce yourself to my team so we can get busy?"

(Don't worry, if the general was a permanent RP character I'd have posted him in the database. He's strictly for this thread, a temp, and I'm just using him to frustrate you, and it only gets worse. Here goes, this will be a bit long.)

"Captain Lasselle," Bakkar said, pushing the balding man in the sports coat forward. "This is Proffessor Templeton from Barton university. He's an expert on ancient artifacts."

"H-h-hello," the professor said, "G-g-good t-to make your acquaintance."

During the breif introduction that followed the General strode away and ordered one of the tanks forward, barrel aimed at the door. The professor stopped talking, dropping his suitcase in front of Captain Lassalle as he walked nervously towards the General.

"No, you you c-can't d-do that!" the professor said.

"Relax, it's not like we intend to blow the door away," General Bakkar laughed. "You were'nt paying attention from before, but I'll explain my tactics for Captain Lasselle's benefit."

"B-but before I was...."

"Would you shut that freakin trap for once and listen for a change!" Bakkar snapped, taming the professor, "Good, Now you see, these tanks are loaded with speacial amunition. To be precise, finely calibrated titanium harpoons hardened by depleted uranium. Launch by a modified tank muzzle, these babies can peirce over thirty centimeters of cement. Once though, hooks along the side of the harpoon will open, attaching the door to the chain. We hook the train to winch of an M1A1, and there uo have it, no more door!"

Bakkar waited, as if expecting applause. The professor tried to protest but was immediatly put down.

CLANG!

The first hook bounced off the door.

ClANG!

The second hook bounced off the door much like the first.

The tips of the spears were not blunted, but the hooks had opened. The General reddened before ranting about the incompetance he was dealing with for a full five minutes. It would have taken a full fifteen minutes to reset the spears for another try, but the doors opened by themselves two minutes after the rant, while the General was pacing and catching his breath. At that his mood changed, he quickly lightened up.

"Well, looks like luck is shining down on you people,"The General shouted. "Captain Fallujah, send your company in to secure the interior. Be careful now, the artifacts inside there are bound to be worth anywhere from five-hundred million to a billion credits."

"Wait," The professor shouted, "Y-you can't do this!"

"W-watch me," the General grunted under his breath, purposely mocking the professor's stutter. Only the professor was close enough to hear, at least he was the only human close enough. It was to late for any further protests, the point men were rushing toward the entrance. They were just outside when the door slammed closed, dragging the first two men and crushing them between the two thick doors. A small tidal wave of blood and twisted body parts gushed over the men behind. Three soldeirs vomited, the General went pale, but no one entered the compound, at least no one who was still in one peice.

"W-why d-din't you li-isten, to me! You have to sp-speak a code in Runic tongue or you, you d-don't g-get in!" The professor said, half in tears.

"We got ourslelves another damn mystic here," the General yelled in fury, grabbing Professor Templeton by the arm and dragging him up the temple steps. "You're job was to asses the antiquities inside the temple, but since you want to be such wise a$$ big shot go ahead and open the damn door!"

The General threw the Professor Templeton amidst the blood and gore that had spread from the entrance.

"Now open that door or be charged with making fraudulant claims before an officer of the military! Understood!"

The Professor's entire body shook like jello on a freight train as he tried to kneel and attain some level of dignity. He pushed up his glasses, which had practicaly fallen off.

"I I I n-n-n-need m-my n-n-n-oats," he stuttered. "D-dropped them!"

"Would someone please get the new big shot mystic his damned notes so he can show us how it's done!" the General yelled sarcasticly.

Colonel Sallea approached the General calmly, "Sir, no disrespect sir, but I think you've been pushing yourself to hard, sir. Maybe you could use some rest, sir?"

"One more word and you'll be Corporal Sallea, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir." Sallea said, resignedly.

The General merely grunted at her words as Lieutenant Faulkner bought the case to Colonel Sallea, who in turn handed it to the General, who threw it at the professor. Professor Templeton pushed up his glasses, examining his papers and leaving bloody fingerprints, then the door, and doing so over three dozen times over a period fifteen minutes, exhausting the General's patience.

"Well," General Bakkar grunted.

"It can be opened with t-three words in the ancient t-t-tongue, said in an upright p-p-posture with hands in the air and p-spread across the d-door."

"What are you waiting for." Bakkar growled.

"W-who e-ever d-does this is off off offered as s-s-sacrifice to Ymir, sir," The professor said. "I I'm not p-p-prepared t-to lose my life f-for this."

"Now professor," Bakkar said, putting a hand on the professors shoulder with a menacingly tight grip, "You claimed you could open this door all by yourself, without any help whatsoever from my men, isn't that correct."

"N-not ex....."

Bakkar ignored the professor, overpowering him by getting louder.

"Now you know I would never allow any harm to come to such a distinguished gentleman as yourself. My soldiers will take care of any bogeymen, you just live up to your claim and open that door."

"B-B-b...."

Bakkars grap tightened painfully, he whispered so only the professor could hear, "Don't worry, you'll be a hero when this is through. Nothing's going to happen, but just in case, your family will be well taken care of. Certainly better prospects than a military prison for thirty years, ehh. Better yet, you run from this and there will be a little accident, understood."

The General frowned as he took a brisk retreat down the steps, leaving two men positioned behind, ostensibly to cover Professor Templeton. Meanwhile, shaken and shaking, the stood in the required posture, and readied himself for the sacrifice.

"If you want to try first then that's fine by me," the General said, holding back a big smile with every possible effort, as if this was exactly what he wanted.

Still shaking, the Professor screamed, "N-no! T-t-this is my mistake, and I'll c-c-corect it. It's f-fitt-iting. You're wrong General, I don't have a family! I'm just a lonely man with nothing to live for but his damn b-books and p-papers! I'm n-not worth this t-to any of you!"

With that he uttered his last words brilliantly, the praises to Ymir. His body combusted into ash before the next second, and Professor Templeton was scattered in the wind, the blood and gore around the entrance evaporated as well, caught up in the sacrifice.

The General shook his head. "Their sacrifices will be duly noted. Get a team in to search for any remains, otherwise just collect the possesions and we'll bury them. Send in the first company, approach that door carefully!"

Captain Fallujah's company was sent in again to secure the top floor, this time the doors didn't slam shut.

"Colonel Sallea, escort Captain Lasselle through the temple and see that she stays out of trouble. I have things to organize out here at the moment."

"Permision to follow the Colonel, sir," Lieutenant Faulkner asked, saluting.

"Permision granted," the General said, walking off.

It was musty, and oder of burnt flesh lingered with stale incense. There was no dust though, everything looked well kept, as if time stood here. In the minor sactum the two statues of the gaint Ymir, looking like an icy mixture of person and a gnarled tree of ice, stood holding the mini-Forsooth, who stared at them angrily. The Colonel fumbled with a cigarette, lit it and put it in his mouth.

"That will only diminsish your lung capacity," Lieutenant Faulkner said, "You should quit, sir."

"I've cut back, but now isn't the time to talk of quitting anything," Colonel Sallea said, picking up his radio. "Is everything up here secure, I'm not in the mood for more surprises."

"You wouldn't think they'd put traps in the sanctuary?" Faulkner asked.

"No sir, everything seems to be clear, floor secured."

"Good work, keep alert," Colonel Faulkner said, putting the radio down, laughed derisively at himself, "Missions like this make me glad I'm single. How about yourself Lieutenant?"

"I'm okay with it," she said softly,"Being single."

"Poor bastards," Sallea muttered, biting his cig. "Well, Captain, you probably know a bit more about this place then I. I'll let you decide what you'd like to see first. I'll take point as you are unarmed, but if you don't want to risk your life I'd recomend sticking with the General, he has a knack for staying safe in any situation."

Regardless, both the Colonel and the Leiutenant had their machine guns ready.

Colonel Sallea shook his head, "The General briefed me over phone, said you guys where coming here to attempt to dispel the curse. Our mission was to keep you honest and take over once you guys did the dirty work, enough said. We didn't receive any other information. The General feeds us on info on a need to know basis. Basically, we don't 'need to know' what he knows. Off the record, what was in this breifing from White?"

"Is that a good idea, we could get in trouble!" Lieutenant Faulkner said.

"No one else has to know," Sallea said, curious, "We'll just hear it and pretend we didn't."

He winked at Captain Lasselle, and waited for her response.

Sallea smiled, "Sometimes it seems like we're all pawns in a game, even the General. I wish I knew who was pulling the strings."

"That's pretty deep for you, even though you mixed your metaphors," Lieutenant Faulkner said playfully.

"So basicaly, we're playing with a couple of powerful bastards who like to play games with peoples lives. And you want to get the scoop on what might be going down. Well then, where do we go next, we should hurry before General Bakkar decides it's safe in here."