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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
20, 3
Total: 23 (2-40)
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 Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 5:52 pm
Blistery snows obscured Vitahli's vision from the driver side of her Santa Fe. With winds rising non-stop, she surmised that maybe, indeed, this wasn't the most wise day to choose to do her Holiday shopping.
"But the kids! Remember the kids," Vitahli reminded herself as she carefully pumped the brake pedal over a particularly nasty patch of ice. In the back seat lay several crumpled nylon bags--waiting to be filled with the excess only a market driven, consumerist addiction could inspire: clothing, electronics, toys. Okay, well maybe not so much the toys as her boys were well into their teenage years--if you counted fourteen and seventeen "late teens". Which, she wasn't sure, you could. Perhaps Esquishire, she thought, as she imagined the look of righteous indignation her son would spare her with if she so much as hinted at him being a child.
'Maybe a new guitar for him?' Vitahli wondered, jiggling the steering wheel slowly while the tires of her SUV tried in vain to retain some sense of linear orientation.
"Well, in any case, I suppose I'll see what's on sale..." she murmured to herself.
It was at that precise moment when her attention strayed that she felt the front bender of her car hit an unfortunately solid sounding object. "Fender bender! What in Gaia's great nation--?" Vitahli swore, craning her head back towards the front windshield, where to her horror she saw a vaguely human shape materialize from in front of her vehicle... Zero Bot ArmyAC: 10 HP: 40 Die Role:
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 6:01 pm
Fear flooded Vitahli the instant she realized that she hit a man. On the other hand, the tin man in front of her car looked worse for wear. He was laying some meters away, sprawled in an ungainly heap, neck bent oddly from her angle of view.
But to Vitahli's continued horror, the head of the tin man slowly turned as it righted itself upon the neck she was sure she had accidentally severed. The head continued to turn all the way until it was facing her car, and the deeply indented bumper the tin man had created from the impact.
Slowly, the tin man got up. Vitahli winced, feeling mildly nauseated and befuddled as she watched the strange creature--for that was what she suddenly realized---struggle to reach its feet.
Eyes widening, and a real sense of vomit crawl up her throat, she saw that the tin man was missing part of its lower right arm from the hand to the elbow. Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 37
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
10, 8
Total: 18 (2-40)
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:22 am
The tin man managed to right itself before turning malevolent eyes on Vitahli from across the glass of the front windshield.
Feeling a tick of sick-nausea, Vitahli quickly unbuckled her seat belt before opening the driver's door. Slamming it, she moved towards the wobbly looking oddity, apprehension a tightly coiled snake in her gut.
"Hey---hey buddy, you alright there?" She had to raise her voice, the wind was so loud. The tin man did little by way of responding, or even to appear as if hearing her. Vitahli felt her face pinch a bit, both from the cold and the unusual behavior of someone who had just been hit by a car and lost their forearm and hand.
Realizing this, she darted a quick look to the tin man's missing appendage and what she saw baffled her. There was no blood.
"There's no blood."
Indeed, instead, a silvery, almost translucent liquid sporadically dribbled out what Vitahli could only discern as steel tubing projecting rather gruesomely from the severed elbow. It reminded her vaguely of bone shards. As she moved closer to the tin man, the lights from her headlamp illuminated the face of the tin man better, and Vitahli coughed in surprise when she realized that the face had a metallic gleam to it.
"A robot?"
She shouldn't have moved closer though, for as soon as she was within five feet of the tin man, hand outstretched in a manner of assistance, the tin man swung.
It was by sheer luck that Vitahli missed the outstretched hand, a hollar of alert ripping from her throat. When she scrambled back to her feet, the tin man made to advance on her with a grinding squeal of its metallic joints.
Running back to the car, Vitahli hopped in, swiftly shutting the door and locking it. Headlights still projecting a solid stream of light onto the tin man, she saw it move then towards the vehicle with all the purpose of a single-minded intent.
Eyes narrowing, Vitahli took the car out of park and revved the engine... Army Bot:AC: 10 HP: 37
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
1, 4
Total: 5 (2-40)
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:28 am
The SUV let out a horrendous squeal as it surged forward, Vitahli's hands bone knuckled on the wheel as she rammed the front end of her car into the approaching tin man.
The tin man lurched in one sickening moment before it went down again, as Vitahli pulled the car over it some ways.
"Neoke would approve, I'm sure," she thought with a sense of vicious glee. 'Just like one of Squee's video games'.
Stopping the SUV, Vitahli cranked the console stick to 'reverse', and turned her head around as she wrapped her arm around the headrest of the adjacent seat. Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 29
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:31 am
Snow flew haphazardly as the tires of her Sante Fe kicked up the crystalline ice. But as Vitahli aimed to back up over the freak of nature that tried to swipe at her, it rolled to the side avoiding her attempt at tin-slaughter.
Or, well, intentional tin-murder. However you wish to view it.
"Gaia----," she cursed, and immediately backed the SUV to the left, preparing for another round of chicken with the tin man. Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 29 -Reverse Sleigh failed-
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
10, 15
Total: 25 (2-40)
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:36 pm
The engine roared with a thirst for a tin-dental enhancement when Vitahli began to pump the pedal, her eyes glued to the tin man as it looked about wildly for her-- Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 29
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
13, 4
Total: 17 (2-40)
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:40 pm
Stomping hard on the gas pedal, Vitahli let roar a battle cry as her car suddenly squealed foward in a cloud of snowy debris. The tin man had no time to get out of the path of trajectory. Upon impact, Vitahli grunted in both satisfaction and slight discomfort when the sensors in her vehicle tightened the seat belt until it pressure bit into her collarbone when she stopped the car after running over the tin man a second time-- Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 13
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:45 pm
Immediately after plowing over the tin man, Vitahli quickly slammed the console stick into reverse, determined not to let the tin man have a second chance at evading her now-deemed "Reverse Sleigh".
The wheels once again squealed and kicked up clods of snow and debris, as the Sante Fe zipped backwards, smashing once again into the tin man.
"Gotcha, bast--d!" She crowed in triumph. Pulling over the lumpy surface, Vitahli backed up a ways until her headlamp illuminated the prone form of the tin man. Despite her confidence that she had caused some serious damage to the hulk of walking metal and robotics, Vitahli had that queasy feeling that the tin man was not quite done.
Waiting with abated breath, she squinted her eyes...
Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 9
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
3, 6
Total: 9 (2-40)
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 11:25 am
Her hopes for smashing the life out of the tin man were thwarted when she saw the thing lurch to its side, having finally located her car. Not about to give it a chance, Vitahli prepared to unleash the 12 V engine on her enemy-- Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 9
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
17, 7
Total: 24 (2-40)
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 11:28 am
The car lurched foward, but the sudden spritz to Vitahli's hands shocked her from being able to run the tin man down successfully. Confused, she shook her hands wildly for a moment to get rid of the tingling sensation she felt.
Did the tin man just shock her by using her car as a conductor? 'Never mind that, I'll just Reverse Sleigh him again', she thought. With that she prepared the SUV-- Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 9 -Reindeer Assault-
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 11:31 am
The Reindeer Assault worked, and Vitahli grinned with full teeth as she felt the back wheels roll over the tin man. 'Being run over three times ought to do it,' was her thought, but to her horror, she saw movement from the front of her bumper where the headlights pinned the tin man to the snowy ground. Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 2
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
18, 2
Total: 20 (2-40)
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:33 pm
Vitahli shifted the gear, and the car roared with a squeal of the engine back over the tin man twitching on the ground-- Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 2
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:44 pm
This act of vehicular manslaughter seemed to be the final trick to stopping the tin man cold. With a sickening crunch that vibrated through Vitahli's ears and the metal frame of her SUV, she pushed her foot onto the brake pedal, slowing the vehicle down before putting it into park. Turning around in her seat, she observed the remains of the tin man--sparks flying every which way and contorted metal twisting out in some gruesome parody of spilled intestines.
Reaching out to her radio, Vitahli flipped the knob, her son's gPod blaring to life as the speakers booted up. Fittingly, the victory theme for one of his favorite series "Gaia Fantasy" stroked the sound waves within her vehicle.
Smiling, Vitahli narrowed her eyes in contempt. "Teach you to mess with a mom on a Christmas mission," she concluded.Zero Bot Army:AC: 10 HP: 0
-VICTORY-
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
16, 4
Total: 20 (2-40)
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:43 pm
The drive down to town was uneventful after the tin man, and Vitahli thought little else of her act of potential manslaughter. Turning onto Clara Street--the busiest street in Barton--she maneuvered the Santa Fe into the parking lot of Ruby's Closet.
Turning the shift to park and flipping the both the headlamps and the ignition, Vitahli hopped out of the SUV and slammed the door shut. She opened the backseat door to grab her nylon shopping bags. Nothing more honest like saving Gaia from more plastic bags, after all. Humming, she stepped onto the sidewalk outside of Ruby's, took one look at her front bumper, and scowled.
The fender was pretty badly bent inward. Vitahli groaned, and didn't think about looking at the backend. Jon was going to be put off by this, she knew, but she figured that explaining the much needed delivery of whoopass to a homicidal man made of tin would justify all of her actions. Never mind the car was in his name.
"At least Neoke would appreciate the story," she grinned, before turning around again and entering the store. Silence met her which threw Vitahli off a bit. Weren't people usually scurrying around like mad during this time of the year? Stepping in past a metal basket full of wrapping paper rolls, she scanned the various aisles that divided up the main floor of Ruby's store. Spotting a woman in the back, Vitahli moved towards her with the intent for asking help.
But as she got closer, she began to smell something mighty foul--it provoked a grunt from her as her nostrils filled with the scent of rotten egg, boiled brusselsprouts, dead roadkill, sour and diseased and just the tiniest hint of badly cooked Christmas ham. That ham smell was just shameful.
Slowing down, Vitahli winced as she made her way over to the woman, who was beginning to look less like a lady and more like some dastardly dressed Kesha-inspired enthusiast. The hair, for one, was all tangled and matted and upon closer inspection, she noted with a blip of wry amusement, looked particularly synthetic. The clothes the woman--cross-dresser?--wore were too big, revealing ghostly pale flesh and bruise spots. Vitahli made a small frown at that realization.
But what really caught her nerves was the ungainly gait of the woman. She limped slowly, as if one foot were permanently fixed at an uneven angle. Reaching out to now help the woman, Vitahli almost touched for her right shoulder when a shrill voice hollered out--
"Don't touch it, lady!"
Startled, Vitahli whipped around to find a small redheaded boy crouched low and partially hidden behind a wooden and glass display case. Unfortunately for her, the weird, bad smelling and horribly dressed Kesha-impersonater staggered around at the sound of that voice too. When Vitahli looked back across her shoulder from the movement, she felt her eyes widen and her jaw lock open.
The 'woman' was no real woman at all. It was some diseased, dead walking creature of the likes she had only seen in her most favorite movie genre: zombies!
"What the hell!" Was all she could sputter before the thing lunged at her with surprising acceleration. Knocked harshly to the ground, Vitahli threw both arms out to prevent the thing from making a move towards her neck with snapping teeth.
"Lady! Watch out!" She heard the red headed boy yell from his position, thinking that he was perhaps a bit off with his timing of well-meaning intentions. But with a quick twist of her eyes, she realized that his frantic warning wasn't for the zombie currently atop her, but for the slowly emerging zombies creeping out from the aisles of Ruby's store.
"Oh shi--" she cursed, the red headed child's eye widening at the profane admittance.
"Hurry lady, they're coming our way," the child said with all the composure of a terrified animal. 'Same here, kid!' Vitahli thought wildly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the zombies stop to crane its head around towards one of the racks. Reaching out a rotting right arm, it began to finger a particularly familiar looking top. One, Vitahli realized, was the very same top her son Neoke had asked for for Christmas.
Realizing that she might indeed lose not only her life, the stranger-child's, and more importantly that gift, Vitahli let out a she-roar and cocked her right arm back as far as she could allow while holding off the zombie with a death grip from her left. No cross dressing wannabe-Kesha zombie was going to steal her Christmas gift while she was around.
Rocking her fist forward, she let fly her fist of fury into the temple of her dead opponent-- Zero Zombie Army:AC: 13 HP: 60
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Vitahli rolled 2 20-sided dice:
10, 14
Total: 24 (2-40)
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:45 pm
The attack worked enough to faze the zombie above her long enough for Vitahli to slip out from underneath it, grimacing as she felt the squelch of rotten flesh ooze onto her shirt during the brief contact she had with the thing.
Quickly scrambling to her feet, Vitahli reared back a leg, aiming for the things head before letting loose-- Zero Zombie Army:AC: 13 HP: 56
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