((O))

[Lezrahi]

[center][img]http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad63/Lezrahi/Flags/FlagofOO.png[/img][/center]

::REPORT::

Day 1, 22:37 hr

Successfully infiltrated Draconian territory, not that much effort was needed: the borders are empty, and all heavy gun emplacements are unmanned and not automated. Inactive, essentially.

Something is very wrong here, too. We have found no corpses. Just an overabundance of mushroom clusters. We can smell the corpses, though, mixed with the stench of fields upon fields of fungi, and it only gets worse as we penetrate deeper.

Silence. We're intercepting no transmissions, aside from thick blankets of static. Before, we got some brief, garbled, frantic series of noises that could be distress signals, but we couldn't make them out. They were cut off abruptly after a minute or two.

We set up camp a few miles in. Still no contact.

Day 2, 18:57 hr

The men are getting unnerved. The mushroom clusters are only increasing in size as we go along, and some are even merging together. It's like a disease of the land. No instructions were even necessary: none of the men seemed even close to considering the prospect of picking and eating them. Some of the individual mushrooms, we noticed, were getting pretty large: about the size of our boots. And they were getting larger still. The stench is still in the air, but we've gotten used to it now.

In the distance, near the direction that the sun was setting in over the mountains, we could swear that we saw something moving. It might have been human, but it definitely didn't look to be healthy, based on how it was swaying back and forth. We would have pursued, but nighttime was coming, and we weren't about to risk getting lost in the dark, under the conditions. We're posting extra sentries in case whatever that...thing was comes calling.

Day 3, 16:25 hr

The mushrooms have gotten huge. They're now about as tall as an average man, and pretty green. The men are advised not to make any skin contact, even with the smaller ones. The clusters are now no longer clusters: just one big mass, and it's blanketing the grass. That, and the air smells...wet. We're at full readiness now. Some of us are half-expecting that thing from yesterday evening to jump out from behind one of the 'shrooms and ambush us.

We started getting the garbled transmission again, same as before. It appears to be set on automatic loop, and its point of origin may be nearby, based on the fact that it's not cutting off this time. We still don't know what to make of it, though. It could be anything from frenzied screams to a vicious animal. Maybe it's both.

We didn't encounter the swaying figure again, but we're not taking any chances. We're surrounded by large mushrooms now, and pretty vulnerable to ambush.

Day 4, 08:07 hr

No contacts in the night. Everyone is accounted for, though we are missing some rations. None of the men admit to making any raids, and the sentries saw nothing. Something else is out here with us, is reasonably stealthy, and is stealing our food. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be interested in attacking us...yet. The men have been advised to be more diligent in watching their packs at all times.

Day 4, 15:11 hr

The mushrooms are now taller than the men, and are many. Still no contacts, though the transmission is getting clearer. Still hard to make out, but it does sound like a screaming woman, or maybe a eunuch. Either way, it's probably safe to say that the person in the recording is dead by now, based on a very faint, yet noticeable roaring noise.

The men are on edge. The landscape just gets worse and worse. We're starting to notice that the bases of the mushrooms are...bleeding. Based on that, we're beginning to get a good idea of what the hell is going on here...

Day 5, 16:43 hr

We encountered the swaying creature again, this time much closer. We aimed for its..."head", shot, and it dropped. We went to investigate the remains.

It was definitely human, but it was horribly disfigured, discoloured, and mutated. We can't even tell if it's male or female. Its musculature suggested that it still had the strength to move with some quickness, and it still retained some teeth. Otherwise, it was quite emaciated and malnourished. We suspect that this is our culprit for the missing rations.

We heard strange screeching noises in the distance, probably aggravated by the gunfire, and at that point, it was decided that the formerly-Righteous Draconian Lands were now a dead zone, except for these...creatures. We radioed for pickup, and when it arrived, we withdrew. We left what remained of our rations behind.

::END REPORT::

Edited February 11, 2010 by Lezrahi

[Trout]

Good stuff.

[R3nowned]

Coolios. This is the most interesting withdrawal from a war that I've ever read.

[Strykewolf]

Good read. Well done.

[Vilien]

You're a pretty good writer. I enjoyed the work, and hope to see more tales from the front.

[Shurukian]

Okay, that was cool. I don't know what's going on IC wise, but that was really cool.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Shurukian