Isolated IC

[MrKill]

Current UNSC Military Strength

Vessels:
- None.

Ground Forces:
- 350 UNSC Personnel (Marines, Army, Airforce)
- 5 x Pelican Dropships
- 2 x Albatross Dropships
- 2 x M850 Grizzly MBT's
- 12 x M41 LAAG Warthogs
- 5 x Gauss Warthogs
- 2 x Transport Warthogs
- 2 x M808B Scorpion MBT's
- 2 x GA-TL1 Longsword Interceptor

Current Covenant Military Strength

Vessels:
- None.

Ground Forces/Fortifications:
- 3 x Creche of ground forces
- 2 x Wraith Tanks
- 25 x Ghosts
- 5 x Banshees

UNSC Objectives:
- Survive until October 11th, 2547. (Primary Objective)
- Hold the FOB. (Primary Objective)
-- Maintain a presence in the city. (Secondary Objective)

Covenant Objectives:
- Find and kill the heretics! (Primary Objective)
- Take the city! (Secondary Objective)
-- Destroy the human base! (Secondary Objective)

Reminder

(What to expect on this 'frozen' planet)

Thick snow - As a colder planet, the snow is often quite thick. Not thick enough to stop humans, or Covenant, from moving through it but the thickness is consistent, meaning it will take a lot of effort to clear off areas that hadn't been cleared before.

Weather - It's often below the freezing point... Better have packed heavy.

Local Wildlife - Wildlife has adapted to the environment. Creatures, predator or not, nearly blend in with the white covered landfall of this planet.

United Nations Space Command characters start at the Forward Operating Base. All officers and senior NCO's (E-5 or higher in paygrade) are in the command building set up within the Forward Operating Base. The Forward Operating Base houses four primary prefabricated buildings. A Headquarters, a field hospital, a motor pool and a barracks. Generators provide heat for the troops.

Covenant Empire characters start at their camp, which is a series of twelve human buildings that once used to belong to the human workers working on the Titanium Mines close by. The mine its-self has been sealed as it collapsed shortly after the Covenant arrival.

---

Everyone starts five days into being left behind/abandoned, meaning that the bases have already been built.

PC Characters participating:
UNSC Playable Characters:
- Colonel Johnathon B'Sheau Killinger (MrKill)
- Staff Sergeant Jessica Willowbay (@tracker)
- Private Elizabeth Elms (@tracker)
- Second Lieutenant Mkvenner (Soulstep)
- Petty Officer 3rd Class McGreggor (Soulstep)
- Lance Corporal Jacob Riley (Martial Virtue)
- Private First Class Daniel Mendoza (Wax)

Covenant Playable Characters
- Cad (Kig-Yar Major) (Faclan)
- Cerberus (Brute Chieftan) (Arbiter124)
- Sorsa (Sangheili Field Master) (Spartan 999)
- Kahnu Brothers (Hunter pair) (Spartan 999)
- Gratus (Brute Captain) (BetaWülf)

[MrKill]

Colonel Johnathon B'Sheau Killinger
Frozen Planet
Headquarters

"Thanks for gathering on such a short notice," Killinger addressed the rest of the officers and NCO's that were present. The Colonel opted to stay behind with his troops instead of being recalled to the Iowa like Admiral Klix had requested. He had a duty to these Marines and he had made it a mission to get every one of them back home alive. Things were starting to sink in, though. It had already been five days and the UNSC were running out of gasoline reserves to power the generators that were providing heat in the pre-fabricated buildings they had placed up. In front of him were a series of officers and NCO's, mostly Sergeants. The Company had been short on officers. "We need to start considering making supply runs into the city to gather food, supplies and resources so we can survive for a couple more weeks." The Colonel said.

He unrolled a paper map over the holographic table. "We need to conserve power now, we're running out of fuel for the generators." John commented, before placing his sidearm on one side of the paper map and the magazine for the sidearm on the other to keep it from rolling up. "Here is the town, we're roughly two clicks south-east of it here." Killinger said, his finger landing on their rough location, then sliding it towards the city. Links with SATCOMM had stopped, the weather was starting to get bad and it was jamming the signal.

"We need to scavenge the city to find supplies for the troops. We can't feed ourselves on rations for much longer and the generators are running on fumes and I'm not going to dig into the fuel reserves that the vehicles and aircraft depend on," Killinger said. "Our goal is grocery stores, gas stations and if they are around a weapons shop so we can replenish our ammo. The likely-hood of finding matching ammo however is low, but regardless it can come in handy." Killinger said.

He produced a pen and circles four different areas.

"These areas highlight the places our recon patrols have detected Covenant presence. Make no mistake, we have yet to visually confirm that the Covenant are around these areas but you can't mistake a footprint that is the result of a ton of armor. We know they are operating out of a camp, because the city is relatively unoccupied, but we do not know where it is, I repeat, do not know where that camp is. While we need supplies, I want someone to volunteer for the job." Killinger said.

John produced a second pen, this one blue. He circled four different locations, smaller obviously. "These are the rough locations of the grocery and gasoline stores. I'll mark the areas on your maps. Don't rely in the HUD. I need two platoons to do this, forty men per platoon. That's eighty soldiers going into the city. You'll deploy on two albatrosses here and here," Killinger said, creating two more circles and crossing them out. "From there you'll split up into two squads per location. Keep quiet, stay low and go fast. The Albatrosses will power down and wait for you to return, before heading west and then back to the FOB."

"Any volunteers?"

Killinger straightened and looked out towards his officers and NCO's, waiting for someone to step forward.

"I realize we don't have many officers here, so anyone with a grade of Staff Sergeant or higher may find themselves leading a platoon of men."

[TinCanHitman]

Jiralhanae stalker 'Silence'

Frozen hell hole

Unknown

Silence opened his eyes, feeling the cold wind whipping against him, he growled. He was quick to his feet as he looked at the wreckage around him. Bodies and burning metal, pinging and popping in the cold air as it cooled. His phantom had just been out of range of the blast of their ship to not be destroyed. It's gravity boons had failed and thus sent it tumbling down to the surface of the barren ice planet. Silence looked himself over, checking that he was fine. Once assured of such he began to search through the wreckage. He found many weapons, and many sangheili and unggoy bodies, but none of his comrades. It wasn't until a loud creak filled Silence's ears did he realized that the phantom had split, it's aft end resting not to far from him.

Silence was quick to reach the area, finally finding exactly what he had hoped for. Stillness and Sight, both of which up and about, it was a miracle that they lived. With them where two of the special operations unggoy, Silence knew neither, but didn't care. "With us." he said quietly, at which both of the trained unggoy gave somber nods. His file took the time to search the area and gather weapons and and grenades, before checking their position. 

Stillness checked his holo-receiver, checking their location against the primary target. They where several major units from the primary goal, but Silince, nore Stillness or Sight complained. The simply readjusted their gear and set off, their light trot forcing the unggoy to jog. It was some trek, but the rest of their forces seemed to be gathering ahead.

[BetaWülf]

Garatus, scouting for glory and honor!

Garatus was feeling invigorated by the cold, his normally relaxed personality had become zealous and beastly, he gave off low inhalation caused growls. His eyes were alert and wild as the chilly air ruffled his fur, his predatory nature was shining through greatly, the winter months when you had to kill without hesitation to survive, he watched an Unggoy walk past and he nearly pounced upon it before recognizing it for an ally. He looked away wide-eyed in shame, he was barely in control of himself and was worried he might hurt one of the other warriors.

He scented the air as snowflakes caught in his fur, the were Sangheili, Unggoy, Kig-yar, Mgalekgolo and other Jiralhanae about, many of the races were present. He inhaled again and detected the scent of a nearby Kig-yar, but no humans, at least not close enough to worry about. He looked around and crouched, placing a closed fist on the ground while his other hand held his bruteshot out to the side, it was chilly he thought.

[Faclan]

Cad, Kig-yar Major.
Not in a good mood and freezing his spines off

The cold...that god forsaken, dammed it all COLD. Hugging his arms tightly around his torso Cad looked out through the goggles he had strapped around his face toward the only barely visible buildings in the distance. He thought after a few days he would have gotten at least a little used to it but that certainly turned out to not be the case as he rubbed his jacketed arms and slowly kept moving forward toward the objective. Perhaps his kind just wasn't good with the cold, or he just hated it, either way it was putting him in a right mood. It also didn't help that for the second time in only a few milestones the ship he rode in on happened to get destroyed or crash...just his dam luck.

On top of all that the Kig-Yar was starting to feel the first pangs of hunger as he walked, the Sangheili higher ups had decided that another ship would not come around this patrol route for a good Milestone if not longer, so their supplies were already being rationed. He suspected that some of the larger races were getting their normal share of the food regardless, while he and his brethren were forced to go on a good bit less than average. At least the Unggoy were in the same boat as them...regardless Cad hoped that the seemingly abandoned human city would have some supplies in it to scavenge. Even human food would be better than going hungry he told himself as he kept trudging on - a few files had been sent to explore the outer edge of the city, see if they could find anything useful or any indication of the human presence here.

Cad, being the good soldier that he was, had volunteered to be part of the scout force, the rest of his file back at the Covenant base preforming minor tasks and staying warm. This at least meant he was able to take some of their cold whether gear for himself rather than let them use it. Because of this he was a very odd looking Kig-Yar to be sure. Rather than the lightly armored appearance his race normally subscribed to Cad had on a thick jacket over his light chest armor, his normal arm armor unable to be worn with such a coat, as his scarf was wound tightly around his neck and he wore tinted goggles over his face so his sensitive eyes wouldn't be damaged by the snow and cold. His head was mostly uncovered, some kind of warm hat would be hard to fit over his spines but by now Cad was wishing he had tried. His legs were armored the same as they were normally, but his feet were enclosed in much thicker armored boots then he would normally wear, trying to keep the feeling in them as he trudged through the snow. He still had his shield gauntlet on and his needler was still on his thigh, though rather than his normal six or more needle canisters he was only issued two as well as the one already loaded...more rationing.

Tripping over his own feet in the snow he went beak first into it, quickly getting back up as he spit out some snow and looked around at some of the soldiers around him. A particularly large mound of fur approaching fast catching his eye. Slowing down a little he watched for it to reach him, ready to salute if it was a Jiralhanae major or higher, and he was pleasantly surprised to see it was Garatus. Still giving him a little salute regardless he brushed some snow off his arms and nodded.

"Greetings Garatus...y..you volunteered for the ssscouting as well?" He replied as he started to walk again, trying to keep the blood flowing so his teeth wouldn't chatter as much. The city outskirts getting closer and closer, hopefully a chance to get out of the snowfall and wind.

[Spartan 999]

Field Master Sorsa Ra'ha Je'at 'Xirsasai
'Hoth' Planet
Covenant Camp

Sorsa was on one knee while he surveyed the immediate vicinity atop a roof of the primary building in the Covenant-controlled area. The lightly falling snow was repelled by his energy shields, but he could feel the cold wind even through his environmentally regulated armor. It all reminded him of home, at the primary Xirsas Keep. This area was far less mountainous though, unless you counted the buildings. He huffed and clicked his mandibles, not overly bothered by the chill that managed to penetrate his armor. Satisfied for the moment, he rose to his feet and made his way back downstairs to the second floor. Essentially, the second level had been repurposed into a war room, with a decently sized holographic map of the city displayed on the table in the middle of the largest room. Numerous monitors were set up all around to monitor each creche and lance's position and status.

The five Banshees were currently powered down in a makeshift hangar, just in case the predictions of a heavy snowstorm approaching within a few hours were true. The two Wraiths were patrolling the nearby area, protected by a few Ghosts each, while the rest of the rapid scouting vehicles had split into three groups and were doing long distance scouting to the north-northeast.

All scouts, footsoldiers and vehicles alike, had been issued orders to immediately inform the base if they spotted humans, and fall back afterwords. Engaging humans in one of their cities could prove to be a costly mistake, as the aliens could have set any number of traps or somehow concealed their troop numbers. Plus, it would reveal the Covenant's presence, which would probably allow them to narrow down the general location of the camp. Otherwise, they were to locate any human supplies they could, which might prove useful even if they were deemed somewhat heretical by the Hierarchs.

He folded his arms across his chest, eyes flicking to each of the most likely spots the humans had set their base up at. Sorsa had a feeling that something interesting would happen very soon now. Then again, something interesting happened almost every day around here, so he would just wait.




Kahnu Bond Brothers
'Hoth' Planet
Scouting

Lertannhe Kahnu Borso and Mutorra Kahnu Wuteg walked next to one another, not bothered in the slightest by the cold or snow. They were strong and heavy enough to simply plow right through the snow, and Lekgolo were naturally immune to intense levels of cold. One thing that made them even deadlier in this environment was their neural sensory net; already impressive by Mgalekgolo standards, it allowed them to perceive objects, allies, and enemies through even the thickets blizzard. Of course, heavy snowfall did impede and dampen their senses somewhat, but they could still sense enough to give them a large advantage in combat.

Each had their senses stretched out and roving around in all directions, attempting to pinpoint any possible hostile electrical signatures through the buildings nearby while their artificial eyes kept watch on the path ahead. So far, nothing had been located except for the others in their scouting party. Pity.

A Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar were immediately ahead, the former almost looking as though he was going to pounce on an unfortunate Unggoy as it passed. The Kahnu brothers rumbled softly. As it had been an Unggoy and the Jiralhanae seemed to be somewhat on edge, they didn't try to make anything out of it. But if it happened again, they would take action.

The two Hunters walked by the conversing aliens, their bulk casting a long shadow over the two. They had refocused their senses once again, attempting to pinpoint humans once more after stomping past.

[Martial Virtue]

Lance Corporal Jacob Riley, ODSTs

Jacob walked along the frozen terrain with the rest of his fireteam, watching the other ODSTs as they moved out of the corner of his eye. He didn't remember seeing them before, but that wasn't particularly strange considering the environment. In any case, they were all stuck here together now. It was time to make some new friends.

Feeling the chill entering his bones, the young lance corporal picked up his pace a little and tried looking up ahead for contacts. He knew there wouldn't be any yet, or shouldn't be, but it was good to be aware of the possibility - and it kept him busy. He didn't notice his fellow squadmate approach from the other side to clap his back. Riley would've jumped a foot in the air and had a knife at his friend's throat if it'd been warmer, his reaction times taking a bit of a dive in the uncomfortably cold weather.

"Jesus, Steiger," Riley said, rolling his eyes at his buddy. "If you haven't learned it yet, now's a good time. Never sneak up on an armed man."

Steiger laughed. "Man? Where?"

"Yeah, that's funny, Private."

"Aw, I'm just kidding. You see where Corporal Tavonov went?"

Jacob gave him a curious glance. "She's scouting ahead, why?"

"If you want the title of man, shouldn't you be up there with her? You know, for protection?"

The lance corporal shook his head, cradling his M7 submachine gun close at his side. "She doesn't need my help, Paul, and you know that."

"Yeah, but maybe she'd like some company - "

The PFC's words came to a screeching halt when Riley playfully punched him in the ribs. Jacob didn't like to talk when he could easily make his point by way of action.

Finally, Steiger seemed to give up. "Okay, okay. I'm done yanking your chain for today."

"Good," Lance Corporal Riley said simply.

Then he let out a long sigh as a gust of terribly cold wind blew across his heavy battledress uniform, once again freezing him bone-deep despite the extra layers. This was going to be a difficult mission, in more ways than one.

[BetaWülf]

Garatus shifted slightly as Cad approached, he looked strange in all his gear to keep warm, though he was a reptile so it made sense. He listened to the words but didn't retain them, but got enough to respond.

"Yes friend, I couldn't stand to stay at the base with my idiot subordinates, all they do is brag about bedding females and their battle prowess's." Garatus said sighing slightly, he barely felt the heavy foot falls of the Mgalekgolo pair that approached.

They stood over him and Cad, casting a shadow upon the two as they conversed, they seemed to be staring at Garatus more than Cad, they might have seen his near outburst upon the hapless Unggoy who had no idea the Jiralhanae almost mauled him. The Mgalekgolo pair passed, Garatus glared at them for eyeing him like they did, they'd be pulled apart if they harmed him for killing a lesser member of the Covenant, the Jiralhanae had power, more than they knew.

"Now that they've passed, I think there might be some interesting things in the stores throughout the city, would you like to investigate them with me?" Garatus said to his friend who seemed stifled by the cold, poor, fragile creature, it was the job of the higher races to care for the lesser ones, getting Cad inside would be a good start Garatus thought.

[Faclan]

(I find your post a little humorous BetaW since Cad is older than Garatus )

Cad, Kig-yar Major.
Mood improving slightly as the city gets nearer and nearer.

Shaking his hands around a bit to get some of the snow off them Cad nodded in response as he pulled out some thick gloves from his coat pockets and stuffed his three fingered hands into them. For once he actually hoped they wouldn't meet any Humans, it would be hard to handle his Needler with these on, and getting them off would take valuable time.

"That seems just like your kind, no offense meant friend, I would think they would want to prove their claims rather than just boast. My file is back there as well - staying warm by helping to maintain the base, apparently they were content with their current rank and didn't want to go for a brisk walk for supplies and honor." Thinking back on it he was actually surprised that Pad had stayed behind as he would have thought she would take any chance to elevate her rank. Perhaps she had a more deep seeded hatred for the cold than he?

Freezing, his walking position in addition to most of his body, as large shadows passed by him he glanced to the side and quickly moved out of the path of the Lekgolo and stood to attention as they passed. He was glad to see that they were assisting the few soldiers that had left for the scouting, they could also be helpful in getting supplies back if they happened to find any. Cad quickly reminded himself that he would need to be on his best behavior, lest the Lekgolo become angered and see how far they could throw him with a shield bash. Once they passed him bye he hopped up and down as he shook his feet a little, the cold snow starting to seep into them a little as he looked back at Garatus and the fast approaching city.

"That was my plan, a chance to get out of the wind as well. Do you know what buildings are stores? It would help narrow our search down if you happened to read their disgusting language. But I'll scout them with you of course. Better than going alone and perhaps getting stuck or lost." He replied with a nod as some of the scouts started to enter the outer city limits. Cad looking all around with his orange tinted goggles for a good place to start looking. Maybe a food store building or perhaps a human military outpost could be found, both seemed equally good to the Kig-Yar.

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Natalie Cooper, UNSC Marines

"Well, this sucks."

Captain Cooper said the words aloud to her XO as she slogged along in the snow ahead of the hastily assembled, mixed unit of Marines and ODSTs. She had no doubts that a lot of them wouldn't get along simply because of their nature, but was equally sure that if - when - they encountered the Covenant, none of that would matter anymore. For the moment, however, no aliens were shooting in their direction, as they were still fairly far from the objective areas likely to be patrolled by the Covies. So all there was left to bitch about was the weather.


Her XO chuckled lightly over their private COM channel. "I'm not entirely sure what I hate most, to be honest, ma'am. The snow, or the fact that we were nearly left to die here if Colonel Killinger hadn't elected to rescue us."


Natalie snorted. "Hell, we might still die, Lewis." She gripped her weapon loosely between her hands, fighting the urge to bring her arms up around herself and rub some heat into her battledress jacket. "If the hypothermia doesn't get you, the plasma might."


"Always inspiring, our young company commander," First Lieutenant Dean Lewis retorted.


"It's nice to be realistic sometimes. Makes the unexpected not so much, and it means you won't be running around like a chicken with its head cut off when crap hits the fan because you already know it's coming." She frowned. "I didn't expect to be shot in the back with a plasma bolt last year, and I suffered for it. Now I know better."


The truth was a little more serious than the chipper young captain made it seem. After getting shot in a harrowing and horribly outnumbered battle with the Covenant, she'd been medevaced from the field and spent the next forty days recovering from her wound in the intensive care unit of a military hospital. It'd been a blur of pain and burning and surgeries to get her back to shipshape. It wasn't something she liked to remember.


Her thoughts were interrupted then when Lewis's voice came in through her helmet once again. "So, Captain? Where do we hit first?"

"Huh?"

"The colonel made it clear that our food and gasoline reserves are in need of replenishment. The same goes for the right ammunition if we can find it. And there's still the Covenant camp somewhere as well. Which are we moving towards first?"

Cooper grinned to herself despite the circumstances, her face aching with the motion as the bitter cold bit through her equipment. "Both, Dean."

Before her XO could reply, she opened a channel to the two platoons of Marines/ODSTs behind her. "Marines, Troopers, this is Captain Natalie Cooper. We're heading to the point where we'll soon be stationing our albatrosses. After that, we're splitting our forces into two groups - the ground-pounders will head into the city for supplies, while the Helljumpers will scout the area beyond for the Covenant camp. We keep in contact as much as we can at frequent intervals - you never know what might crop up out here. 

"And stay sharp, because the weather's fierce, and the Covies are around there somewhere. Good luck."

[MrKill]

Colonel Johnathan B'Sheau Killinger
Frozen Planet
Marine Forward Operating Base

The officers quickly dispersed after Captain Cooper had volunteered what had been organized into her company, which was good enough for the Colonel. She nominated herself and the soldiers below her and it was exactly what John needed at the time, since no one else was volunteering for the job. He could respect that, and it was hard to 'earn' respect from Killinger.

"How many units do we have on the field?" Killinger asked, taking a sip from his coffee. It had gotten cold an hour ago, but John was tired and needed the caffeine in his system to stay aware for the day to come. There had been a fresh pot consumed by other soldiers twenty minutes ago, but now they were out of beans. Who knew coffee was so popular... oh wait, it was because it was cold out.

"We've got two scouting units both roughly half a click away from the base," A Corporal said. "They are both roughly six hundred meters out, one lead by Staff Sergeant Willowbay." The Corporal finished. The man was responsible for maintaining communications with the whereabouts of other units, and in this case there was only two he needed to be sure about. He looked bored, and since the buildings power had been cut a few minutes before the briefing, looked rather cold too.

The Colonel nodded and stretched his shoulders out and activated his communications channel. "Staff Sergeant Willowbay, Colonel Killinger here. I need you to redirect towards the city and provide a quick scout for the troops we will be deploying. Move towards the city at best possible speed, further information as it comes. Killinger out." John said, before leaving the headquarters building. The weather was nippy and any warmth his body had was drained as soon as he left the building. It was negative Forty Celsius with a wind chill that made it much, much worse.

The found Captain Cooper shortly after and approached her, shaking his arm armor in an attempt to generator some warmth. Truth was, while he did have Canadian decedents, this weather was bullshit and it was truly annoying the veteran marine officer. "I'm going to tag along, Captain, if you don't mind." Killinger said, trying to avoid clattering his teeth. "I won't interfere with your command, but I'll be bringing my own security force ob- obviously." Killinger said.

He tried to respectfully angle the vapor from his breath so he could see the Captain's face, having recognized her as someone who had held onto a city with a company after her CO and XO had been killed, and that was when she was a First Lieutenant. He was proud to have someone who appeared to know how to fight under his command.

[Huka]

Field Master Til Je'at Ra'ha 'Muramai
Human Colony World
Enduring Death's Breath

 Standing on one of the several buildings in the Covenant's occupation, Field Master Til looked around the area like a hawk seeking a scarce meal. Instead of wearing his more light-armored and intimidation-factored harness, Til was forced to wear the ornated harness of his rank. Still pale-gold from his time on Harvest decades ago, the Field Master had his armored respirator placed over his mandible guards since his last arctic world's investigations for a Forerunner artifact. After a few units of sentry, he alarmed a couple marksmen to return to their station as he made his way to the command center.

 Passing to the camp's requisition officer, he saw a couple of his hunters drop their acquired meat; a small pride of felines with camouflaged fur, powerful bodies, and spade-like heads to shovel through snow and help deepen their ambush spots. A tactic that severely wounded one of the Jiralhanae and would have killed one of his Sangheili if it wasn't for his energy shields. Rolling his shoulders, Til walked through the small collection of occupied buildings, keeping himself strong and upright infront of the soldiers despite his grave disdain of being on this blood-freezing world. If it was a desert, he might have a different view and attitude.

 Given a salute by the command center's guards, he walked inside to find Sorsa. Stepping up the stairs, the Zealot came to the war room and shook the snow off of him with a burring growl. "Feeling at home, Brother?" He asked with some playful sarcasm, looking down at the war table to observe the holographic surroundings.

[Soulstep]

Second Lieutenant Geoff Alexander Blake Mkvenner
Planet 'Balls Freezer'
At the Marine FOB, freezing his balls off

"Is this everyone, Staff Sergeant?" Geoff asked Braeburn, the bitter cold making it a bit difficult to concentrate on counting every member of the 3 squad platoon he commanded. The snow glare didn't help either, nor the fact that everyone was moving to try and keep as warm as possible. This planet could, in his honest opinion, to quote a certain chap from basic training, 'suck a gigantic motherfucking dick'.

"Yes sir. All Marines accounted for." She briskly said, nodding to the other Sergeants. They'd each checked their own squads, and no-one was missing, surprisingly enough.

"Good, t-to your posts, Marines. We're on lookout duties again." Geoff ordered, correctly anticipating the groans of the troops. Guard duty was bad enough, doing it in the cold was worse. And blizzards were a very real possibility here, meaning you could be fully alert and still not see shit. Fantastic.

As the Corporals lead away their grumbling, trudging Marines to the 'watchtowers', (read: a ring of sandbags they had set up on top of some of the nearby hills with some basic survival supplies), Geoff hung back with the Sergeants and their fireteams. They would patrol the perimeter the watchtowers represented, in part to provide or arrange rapid reinforcements if needed, but, honestly, it was just as much to check no Marines had tried slipping away to find somewhere warmer. Geoff trusted his platoon, but they were human, after all.

Braeburn and Alvarez took their Marines west and north-east respectively, with Geoff to accompany Third Squad's Sergeant Becker and her men to the south-east. But first, he wanted to check in with the Colonel.

Colonel Killinger wasn't hard to find, and Geoff gave a short salute as he reached his CO, managing to overhear the last of the Nothing too fancy, but they were in uniform and not in a combat zone, so regulations required a salute. Not like anyone was going to care too much about the regulations here for much longer. "Sir, who will be in command here while you're in the city?" He asked, realising two of the most senior officers present were leaving the FOB.



Petty Officer 2nd Class Selina McGreggor
Planet 'Balls Freezer'
At the Marine FOB, feeling very glad she has an almost warm room to be in.

Due to the need to save on fuel, the pelican pilots were grounded until shit hit the fan. Not that Selina, her crew, and her fellow pilots seemed to mind. She had to pull occassional shifts assisting with maintenance or guarding something in the FOB, but for quite a lot of the time the pelican crews were pretty comfortable, at least compared to the footsloggers. She grinned at the thought of Willowbay, that arrogant ODST Staff Sergeant, swearing as she made her way through the deep, energy-sapping snow. Not that she wanted the Helljumper to die, obviously. Just suffer a little.

But, if push came to shove, Selina would be happy to get out there and pull anyone's ass out of the fire, or in this case, snow. She was almost hoping for a blizzard, just to make things a bit more fun.

[BetaWülf]

Garatus, covered in snow

He looked over towards Cad and nodded.

"I read and speak it, best to know what they say in case it's important. It isn't too dissimilar to my tongue, just debased and weak just like them." he sneered slightly as he thought about them, his breast plate still carried the bloody smear from where his prisoner had been killed, by its own people, disgusting.

He walked to the left side of the street and looked at the signs on the buildings, the words confused him, they didn't state what type of stores they were, just strange names.

"Wa... waled mert, Walmart. What is a Walmart I wonder?" he puzzled over it while he read other signs, "This one! It is called Target, it must be a weapons supply store, let us investigate it!" he said pointing.

He ran over towards the door with zeal and glee, he raised his bruteshot and looked towards Cad.

"What say you brother? Ready to adventure into the filthy Humans culture?" Garatus said looking into the darkened store.

[Faclan]

Cad, Kig-yar Major.
Hopes the buildings don't have any nasty surprises in them.

"Interesting Garatus. I had no idea their language was anything like yours - it would make sense that you would have a handle on it then." He responded as they kept walking, thankfully he didn't have to raise his voice that loud. The humans could be anywhere...though he doubted even a Jiralhanae could stay still under the snow for this long. Looking down the road as the buildings started to get closer and closer together he wagered that IF any humans were still around this place they were probably closer to there. Shrugging a little he kept moving behind the snowy lump of Garatus, glad that the walking was keeping him from freezing too much and that Garatus was acting as a great wind shield for him.

Reaching up to his goggles as Garatus bounded around reading the signs Cad pulled them off his head and attached the strap to his belt as he moved over to this Walmart place and stuck his head through the destroyed doors. There wasn't any sign of combat so the doors were likely smashed down from when the humans ran. Squinting his eyes so he could try and see into the dark interior, his eyes still set up for the very snow bright outside, he could see that there were indeed items on the walls of the building. The name seemed truthful at least. He was tempted to go and look and see what he could find as a lot of the items were strewn across the floor, humans probably trying to steal like the scum they were, when Garatus called out something about a weapons store. Ooohing a little he quickly left the Wall Store and jogged over to the building across the street where Garatus was waiting for him.

He gave a smile despite his still foul mood at being called brother, he had been told it was rare for his kind to earn the respect of the Jiralhanae and it made him happy that he seemed to have gotten at least a little. But blinking past that and returning to the moment once he was beside Garatus he nodded but put a hand on the top of his grenade launcher and tried to lower it a little.

"Yes friend, but you should save those for the actual humans, not just their constructions. It looks like the doors here have been broken as well. Same as the Wall Store over there, apparently the humans ran in a hurry when they heard The Covenant were on the way." Tromping through the last bit of snow to reach the doors Cad again poked his head in and took a quick look around. There we're big red pillars on either side of the doors and metal boxes on wheels just inside stuck together in a big row. Humming a little he stepped fully inside and sighed happily when he could feel the slightly warmer inside temperature as he looked back at Garatus. "The power seems out here like it was at the other store. I can see in here but I hope you brought some kind of light?" He asked as he stood up straight and looked around again; his eyes were starting to adjust and he could see what looked like human clothing straight ahead with some tables to the left of the entrance in what looked like some kind of eating area, to the right was a line of counters with human numbers on them. Though since they entered on the far left side of the building the left, middle, and right back of the store in addition to the far right side he couldn't see.

Who knew what supplies could await them here?! If its name was anything like the Wall Store then weapons aplenty would be here.

(I don't know why by a Brute and Jackal snooping around shops is just too funny to me XD. The basic layout so far for Target is also based on the one closest to where I live.)

[Spartan 999]

Field Master Sorsa Ra'ha Je'at 'Xirsasai
City of Algid, Boreal (For lack of a better name until Kill comes up with a real one)
War Room, Covenant Camp

"Oh yes." Sorsa answered in reply to Til's query. "Fewer mountains, somewhat warmer, and considerably less dangerous native fauna than on Sangheilios, but more or less like home." He looked with a wry glance at his fellow Zealot, though it was obscured behind his helmet; then again, Til probably knew enough about body language, especially Sorsa's, to tell the expression that was on his face. "I can't say the same for you, though. Would you like the guards to fetch another heater or two for your personal use?"

To anyone else, it would have been a sardonic jab, but to Til, it was more akin to a brother teasing the other--which, in fact, it was. Til had done so when they were on hotter, more desert-like worlds as well.



Kahnu Bond Brothers
City of Algid, Boreal
Searching the human shopping plaza

The Kahnu's glanced at both the "Wal*Mart" and the "Target", assessing probabilities and needs. After a few seconds, they started pointing for individual lances to go into each store and search for supplies. The Mgalekgolo themselves would be heading into the "Target", mostly since they couldn't be sure if one of the Covenant warriors would find a weapon and go trigger-happy on accident.

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Natalie Cooper, UNSC Marines

Cooper was still trudging along through the snow after issuing orders when she caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye. Gripping her rifle tighter, she turned to see what it was, but kept the weapon with its barrel pointed low when she saw it was only a fellow Marine. She was more than a little surprised, however, when she noticed just who it was: Colonel Killinger.

"I'm going to tag along, Captain, if you don't mind," he said, while Natalie tried to avoid standing there gaping at his presence. "I won't interfere with your command, but I'll be bringing my own security force ob- obviously."

"Uh, yes, sir," the young captain replied. She couldn't think of what else to say. It was as if the cold had frozen her mind...or maybe the fact that an O-6 was voluntarily choosing to be out in the field with his Marines. In her short career, Cooper had known mediocre commanders or even flat-out awful ones - COs like the one who'd cost most of her former company's lives back when she'd been a first lieutenant taking orders from a dimwit who'd charged into a Covenant stronghold when the odds were against them three-to-one. It was how she'd acquired her nasty plasma injury to the back a year ago.

It'd been a long time since she'd had a truly great leader. Simply because of his desire to be here, Natalie instantly decided she liked this Killinger. She got up the gumption to talk to him again as she kept her eyes scanning the terrain beyond.

"Feel free to come along, sir. We're glad to have you."

The captain would've said more, but another Marine came jogging up at the same time. It was a second lieutenant wanting to know who'd be in charge of the FOB while the colonel was away.

[MrKill]

Colonel Johnathan B'Sheau Killinger
Frozen Planet
Marine Forward Operating Base

Uh, yes, sir." Cooper said. "Feel free to come along, sir. We're glad to have you." She added.

Second Lieutenant Mkvenner approached and saluted and said, "Sir, who will be in command here while you're in the city?". John turned and returned the salute, but wasn't startled by the question. He honestly hadn't thought that far but he expected every single soldier, Marine or other-wise at the FOB to follow whom ever was put in charge when the FOB. There were three hundred and fifty souls on this planet Killinger had to worry about.

"If you're the ranking officer I guess you are," Killinger said bluntly, but with a hint of humor in his tone. "I don't know who, Lieutenant, but I know I can't sit around and wait for my ass to freeze to a wooden chair." Killinger added. Asses usually never froze to a wooden chair, but in this temperature Killinger was debating if it was a possibility.

[BetaWülf]

Garatus, trying to get some lights on

He trudged into the store with Cad and looked around, they were to the far left of the store it seemed. He shook his great shaggy coat of fur and proceeded to look around, to the left it seemed there were Human rest rooms and on the wall adjacent to them a large gray metal box. Garatus walked up to it and ripped the face off, it smelled of heated oil, perhaps a lubricant was used on it?

He looked it over and thought for a moment, he then grabbed two wires that he then pulled out of their places on one end each. He crossed them and they sparked slightly and the lights flickered throughout the whole store, though they seemed dim. He clapped his hands together and turned away from the backup generator to Cad.

"Well, Lets see about the weapons friend" Garatus said to Cad, the two Mgalekgolo from earlier entered as well which caused Garatus to roll his eyes. He walked around looking at various things but he saw no weapons, he picked up a green see-through thing, the tag said underwear, Garatus tossed them away in disgust and moved on.

He reached the back of the store and saw many things, electronic devices were against the wall and to the right there seemed to be children's toys, and quite so ways away at the far right side there was a large orange gourd hanging from the ceiling .

"Where should we go first Cad? There are so many places?" Garatus said stroking his beard as he contemplated.

[Faclan]

Cad, Kig-yar Major.
Impressed by his friends skill and searching Target.

Walking further into the store he acked and started to brush the snow out of his hair spines and off his head as Garatus shook out near the door. Rolling his eyes he mantled over the small partition into the table area and heading toward the long counter at the end. A lot of the chairs were tipped over and what smelled like residual food scraps were smeared in a few places. It seemed like some of the humans were here eating when the alarm was sounded. He imagined humans clutching their children and trying to re-assure them it would be ok, it made him smile a little though probably for the wrong reasons as he hopped up onto the counter. Knocking over a container of small spiked wooden shards as he dropped down to be behind the counter. Crouching down he started to root around in the cupboards behind. By now his eyes had adjusted to the low light so he could see inside the dark spaces. There didn't seem to be much useful in them. A few wipes as well as some eating utensils, but near the end there were some wrapped...things in clear wrap. Curiosity got the better of him and he reached in to take one of the bags out. There were four more bags still in there as he brought it closer to his face to examine it. Whatever was in the bag was stacked five high and despite the cold they felt fairly squishy. Shrugging he stuck a claw in the plastic and tore it open, giving a contents a cautionary sniff before picking one up and taking a little bite. It tasted very sweet and....oddly very good. Humming happily he took another big bite to make sure before stuffing the rest in his maw. Chewing and swallowing he smiled and nodding. Betting Garatus would like them to.

But as he stood back up the lights flickered and went on a dim setting. Shielding his eyes a little he nodded at Garatus from behind the counter and smiled. "Impressive friend, guess those human skills work out sometimes." Storing the opened bag of circular sweet things in the backpack he was wearing for important items he reached down to grab another packet as he slid back over the counter and approached Garatus. Though he stopped when the two Mgalekgolo forced their way through the doors and into the store. Waiting for them to pass he tried to see Garatus again but he had wandered off toward the right side. Shrugging he slipped the unopened bag into his pack and headed towards the back of the store on the left side. Giving the hulking walking tanks a wide berth and letting them go their where they wished to.

He sound found himself in the Home section, though Cad didn't know that as he couldn't read the big sign hanging from the ceiling, so he just slowly walked through the stands of metal pots and pans slowly. All the light reflecting off the polished surfaces un-nerving to him as he moved through the section. There were a lot of chairs around here as well but Cad resisted the urge to sit for a little as he moved into a new section, one for the yard in the middle back of the store.

This appealed to him more than the light show from before with all the axes, hedge trimmers, and rakes. Cad moving over to examine them a bit and smiling when he noticed that they were indeed sharp. Sniffing again he could smell Garatus around here again as he picked up a axe and headed to find him. He eventually did find him near a bunch of powered down screens as he nodded and greeted him.

"For a place called target I didn't find much in the way of weapons, the first place was just lots of metal bins and flat things though the last area had a lot of stuff like this." He said as he offered the wood chopping axe. "Looks similar to your peoples weapons, only smaller. I also found some food behind the counter at the entrance. I suspect there may be more but there are what I found before I went to look at the rest of this place." He added, offering Garatus one of the circular sweets out of the already opened bag.

(Yay, Cad found cookies XD.)

[Doc the Mother of Dragons]

HN Samantha Jackson
Frozen Planet
Hiking through the winter wonder frozen hell
Oh god oh god we are gona die


"Hypothermia...w-when your body looses heat...." she muttered to herself as she followed a little behind everyone else in the group that was looking for supplies, "Faster than it can produce" HN Jackson paused in her walked to adjust the scarf she had wrapped around her face. It helped to keep her face a little warm, as she kept walking she went over the various symptoms of hypothermia, yes it was something all of them faced being out in the elements, but it kept her mind from the cold. She had already told several people to keep a eye on how they felt, and to make sure they never lost feeling in anything. Last thing they would need to worry over was cutting off dead fingers. 

The light snow was actually pleasant, if they all had been on the planet under different circumstances, she was sure they would be enjoying it. But they were not. "Okay Elms, but if you don't improve I'm going to pull you back." Jackson glanced back to see what looked to be a Corporal talking to another marine, it was hard for her to tell with everyone being bundled up so much. The Corporal kept walking past, Sam moved to walk next to obviously chilled Private"I take it your not a snow person?" she asked, shifting her hands on her rifle to make sure she could still move them.

[Soulstep]

Second Lieutenant Geoff Alexander Blake Mkvenner
Planet 'Balls Freezer'
At the Marine FOB, suddenly in strategic command


"If you're the ranking officer I guess you are. I don't know who, Lieutenant, but I know I can't sit around and wait for my ass to freeze to a wooden chair."

Well. This was unexpected. Although Geoff wasn't quite sure why, in hindsight this was obviously going to happen, as far as he knew there were only 3 officers. Shit.

Wait, wasn't he meant to do something here? Oh, yeah. Talk.

Luckily, the full-face covering arctic gear covered his blanching face as he replied, "U-understood, sir," he consisely replied, saluting once again before hurrying off, Becker and her surprised fireteam doing likewise.

Once they were at the south-east exit of the camp, he turned to Becker and, counting on the more experienced Marine to give him the clarification he needed, asked, "...Did you hear that too, Sergeant?"

Geoff guessed she grinned under her gear as she replied, "Yes sir, Lt.! I take it you won't be joining us on our little hike?"

He didn't even notice the slight insubordination there, and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. "I... Don't think so, Becker. Dismissed." He managed, the Marines swapping salutes before Becker led her men away onto their patrol. Geoff stood there for a few moments, before making his way to the HQ building. Might as well get started...

[BetaWülf]

Garatus, "Shopping around"

He watched as Cad approached with a small weapon, though it looked decent sized while in the Kig-yars hands.

"Yes, the lack of weapons makes me wonder about the Humans naming schemes." Garatus said glaring at the dubious Human panties

He took the weapon when it was offered to him, it was a small axe to him, only taking one hand to wield. He cut at the air with it and spun it around a bit, decent balance he thought, he then hooked it into his belt for latter use.

"Yes it is, these Humans are disgusting little creatures that seem to have been made in mockery of the Jiralhanae. There language, technology, even their weapons are like ours, but weaker and less useful." Garatus said with disdain.

"Though, what better use for one of their weapons eh?" Garatus said tapping the axe head with a grin. He looked to see Cad opening a plastic bag, the Kig-yar then offered him a round food item of some sort.

Garatus took it from Cad's hand and sniffed it hesitantly before popping it into his mouth. The deliciousness was unbelievable, he had never tasted anything so good. He took another and gobbled it down, soon the bag was empty.

"There were more weren't there?" Garatus said before lopping off towards the food area. He paused as he passed a toy display, when he looked back he was aghast to find the weapons cleverly hidden amongst children's playthings. There were boxes of brightly colored weapons lining the shelves, he pulled one down and ripped the packaging off, it had some strange purple headed darts with yellow shafts. He tossed another to Cad and loaded the one he had.

He pointed the weapon towards a human clothes dummy of some sort and pulled the trigger. It fired the darts in a chain reaction, one after the other, they hit with a light popping sound, Garatus frowned and walked closer. To his surprise there was no damage done to the dummy and when he poked one of the darts it simply fell off.

"What devilry is this?" He said raising his eyebrow as he looked towards Cad.

[Faclan]

Cad, Kig-yar Major.
Dreading leaving the store for the cold white beyond.

Cad shrugged as the axe was taken from him, he was tempted to grab what looked like a short sword from the axe place but his crystal saber would be far superior to something the humans would make. It would still be good to mark the location for the main force though if they desperately needed weapons however. Or a place to watch in case the humans did the same. He smirked a little at the thought of some humans finding one of their own dead in the snow, a human axe in his skull, before his attention was brought back to Garatus.

"It just means we can't rely on the shop names and will have to scout them out regardless. At least its out of the cold." He added as the sweet was also taken, Cad quickly letting go of the packet as the remaining ones were snatched from his hand by Garatus. Flexing his fingers a little Cad watched the Jiralanae devour them, glad that his hand didn't get stuck in them. Nodding once they were all gone he gestured over his shoulder but then held up his other hand. "Yes there is more, but we should save them in case the supplies don't hold out. Remember to think about the long term Friend. There is probably other food back there as well, but we should probably move to the next building."

He had chuckled a little when Garatus compared his race to the humans, but luckily the big alien was too busy stuffing his face full of the food to see it, managing to get his face back under control before he was seen again. Falling into step behind Garatus he seemed to be heading back towards the entrance - made sense. Except for the melee weapons there didn't seem to be much in this store that was helpful, possible food not withstanding of course. But then suddenly the furry giant stopped and grabbed boxes off the wall. After some ripped he was tossed a very light semi gun looking object as he stared oddly at it. He kept what he guessed was the barrel pointed away from both him and Garatus regardless as he turned it around slowly before giving it a few shakes. It rattled a lot and all of the little darts from his fell out onto the floor. Carefully picking one up he tapped the end before slicing it in half with his claws. Rolling his eyes he took the device that shot them in both his hands, raised them up, before throwing it hard on the ground and watching it shatter.

"A human novelty, a mockery of the designs of the Gods." He spat out as the slick and glowy design shattered at his feet. Straightening up he nodded toward the exit again as he took his goggles back in his hand. "Shall we continue scouting?" He asked, glancing around a little as he wondered where the Mgalekgolo pair were in the store...should they report in to tell them that he and Garatus we're moving on?

[Huka]

Field Master Til Je'at Ra'ha 'Muramai
War Room, Covenant Camp

Looking at the table, making quick references of the lance movements and building positions before looking up at Sorsa's question for heaters. Silent for a half-rook, actually thinking to take that offer, before letting out a shuddering laugh. "That would be a fine offer, Brother, but I am fine...for now. This Xirsas blood is saving me from hypothermia. I hope none of my clansmen are here, they would have worse trouble in this climate." He answered. Moving his mandibles, he risen his armor's heating capabilities a couple more degrees. While he was reserved when it came to rank's luxuries, having his armor modified was certainly something he refused to neglect. Widening the table's vision abit, he watched one of the Mgalekgolo pairs walk into a designated store after a search party. "Hmm...interesting." He said to himself before turning his sight to Sorsa, "Are we on the offensive or defensive this time?" 

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Natalie Cooper, UNSC Marines

"If you're the ranking officer I guess you are," Colonel Killinger said to the second lieutenant who'd approached. "I don't know who, Lieutenant, but I know I can't sit around and wait for my ass to freeze to a wooden chair."

Standing off to the side, Cooper couldn't help but chuckle at the colonel's words. She didn't have anything against the lieutenant, it was just all in good fun. Anything that could get you to laugh in this frozen-over hellhole she counted as nice. She watched as the junior officer stood in momentary shock at their CO's words, then he quickly saluted and left, leaving Natalie and Killinger at the helm of the unit once again. Captain Cooper held her her gun loose and started walking through the snow again.

"That's strange, sir," she said to the colonel then with a grin. "My ass has a fear of wooden chairs, too. Or chairs of any kind, for that matter. I like to freeze in the open air of nature given the choice."

She again decided that she and her new CO would get along just fine.

[BetaWülf]

Garatus nodded to Cad, they probably should go to another store since this one proved fruitless. He walked slowly through the store towards the exit, he scratched his chest under the bandolier, he looked towards the snow falling outside and knew he would be more dangerous once in the cold, his expression one of dismay, he looked over to Cad.

"Where should we go now? Since I picked this store so I thought you could pick the next one, would you like to do so?" Garatus said to his feathered friend.

(Sorry for the shortness, my replies will be a little shorter than usual for awhile because of the computer issues I've been having.)

[MrKill]

Colonel Johnathon B'Sheau Killinger
Frozen Planet
Marine Forward Operating Base

"This is staff Sergeant Willowbay, my fireteam has entered the city, and we are going to scout towards the middle, any particular spot you want us to check out? Over." Willowbay said over the communications network. Killinger nodded and thought for a moment before replying, but at the same time Captain Cooper spoke. It wasn't technically interrupting.

"That's strange, sir, my ass has a fear of wooden chairs, too. Or chairs of any kind, for that matter. I like to freeze in the open air of nature given the choice." Cooper said. Killinger managed to hear her through the radio transmission, but chuckled none-the-less as his hand went towards his ear-piece.

"Willowbay, we've got a few locations I'd like you to scout. First of all, based on your general location you'll see a gas station not to far. I want to know if any Covenant are around that area. Our first priority is getting gasoline for the generators here so Marines can get warm for a while." Killinger replied, before replying to Cooper. First, however, he ended his transmission.

"If I had the choice I'd probably be basking in the sun-light, Captain. My 'ass' doesn't particularly fear chairs, but it does hate them." The Colonel said with a laugh. "At my pay grade most Colonels spend there time sitting on a chair, but not me. Nope. One of the main reasons I lead from the front, and not the back." He added, smiling.

[Faclan]

Cad, Kig-yar Major.
Back to being cold and moving towards the city center.

Walking backwards toward the exit he looked to his friend as he shrugged and slipped his tinted goggles back over his spies and over his eyes. "The Wall store seemed similar to this, so we should try to find a different type of building. The second wave of scouts can scour the stores for supplies. We just need to find out what's here in general." Stopping as he reached the doors he looked back into the moderately lit Target store and called out to the Mgalekgolo who he assumed were still in the store. "We are going deeper towards the cities center to look for more supplies Comrades, we will see you back at Base if we don't see you in the city." Rubbing his coat arms a few times he made sure his boots were good before stepping back out into the falling snow.

He and his big furry friend passed a few other advanced scouts who were looking at the other stores around the Target so both of them continued deeper. Cad was on the lookout for any building that looks different than just a big box as he hoped there would be something different in it. They had soon left the other scroungers behind as the buildings started to get closer together and weird overhanging metal bars with boxes hanging from them started to become more common. Cad rubbed his arms again with his gloved hands as he watched his breath rise slowly out of his snout, but he pressed on knowing he had a mission to complete. Though on a four way street corner he stopped and adjusted his scarf to wrap tighter about his neck for some more warmth as he looked down the streets. There were what looked like a few human vehicles, some half buried by snow, that had been abandoned when they all ran. But those wouldn't be that important for The Covenant. But then something else caught his eye. It was a series of buildings that all had a old fashioned red criss-crossing design on it. There was also a large clock at the top of the building in the middle. He could only just see the hands of it move with his good vision as it gave a few quiet bongs, the longer one at the top and the shorter hand reaching around 1/4 of the way around.

Looking back at Garatus, who was leaving big holes in the snow he nodded up the road toward these buildings. "Those look important, a lot of the windows look broken as well so we can take a quick look before moving on." He said as he headed towards them, reaching back into his backpack to pull out some jerky like food and gnawing on it as he moved over to them - thankfully because he was moving around a lot the cold was being kept at bay for now. Though he was shivering a little, Cad making a mental note to try and find some kind of head warmer next time.

(Its a series of university buildings slightly based off the PSU campus, hope tas alright.)

[BetaWülf]

Garatus followed Cad as they proceeded further into the Human cities interior, the winds and snow fall had picked up and Garatus faintly felt the bite of coldness now. They continued onwards, he left large holes in the snow behind as he walked towards some barely visible buildings. He drew the axe from his belt and scented the air, the smell of humans was easily detected and made him wonder if any live ones were near as he looked around warily.

Garatus's stomach grumbled as he saw Cad chew on some jerky, he was in the mood for flesh, so he hoped they'd run into some Humans that he could eat, though he would probably take prisoners so he could slaughter them when necessary so they lasted longer. He recalled the last time he had taken a Human prisoner, didn't go so well, his breastplate still had the bloody smear from where the dead Human had slid down it.

As they neared the buildings Garatus squinted skeptically towards them, he raised his weapon and skidded to a halt next to Cad, he didn't want to be caught unaware in case there were Humans lurking.

"I'll follow close behind you brother, You see or smell anything let me know. I know not what this building is, do you?" Garatus said looking up at the tallness of its gray sides.

(I'm not very familiar with collages so I'm flying blind so to speak, so I'll be following Cad for the most part.)