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The snow covered mountains that stand watch over the badlands. Much like the tundra, these mountains are often covered by forests of pine and evergreen trees. The temperature here is much like it is in the badlands, and due to the higher elevation, even colder at night. All in all, not a bad place to find yourself in if you enjoy the beauty of nature. Then again, there are the hostile creatures.........

Ethan heard Ryder's yell from outside. He dragged himself out of the chair in the cockpit and headed back to the swordfish, where he lifted Wo'Jula's body out and carried it out into the snow. He set it down and began looking around for anythign flamable, pereferably wood.

Ethan looked around and started towards the nearby forest, picking up fallen branches as he went along. Once the pile was bing enough, he trudged through the snow back to the cliff. He began making a small flat pire out of the wood and then placed Wo'Jula on top, waiting for Ryder to reappear with the canister of oil.

(in Czerka Outpost) As Andrea was walking out of the Rare Items Shop, she stopped dead in her tracks. She sniffed the air a few times, walking around as she did this. "A body.. oil.. fire.. possibly a body being burned?" Andy decided to find out what was going on, so she immediately transported herself to the Mountains, where she was sure this was all coming from, by the sound of it.

(in the Mountains) She was transported behind a tree, staying hidden. Looking carefully toward the crackling sound of the fire, she saw the body, along with two other men standing before it. Andrea quickly pulled her head back behind the tree, her back to the bark. "Who the heck are they?", she whispered silently.

Ryder stood completely still, with his head bowed down, as he was mesmerized by the hot fires of the cremation ceremony. By now, the entire makeshift altar was almost burned to the ground. Turning his head to the right to look at Ethan, Ryder's amber eyes caught sight of the sorrow and determination showing on the other man's face. That's when he thought he heard a faint whisper. He snapped his head back up and towards the forest to his left, scanning the area for any signs of life. There was nothing. Must've been the wind, the outlaw said inside his mind. Suddenly, a deep rumbling broke the snowy silence. Birds from all around cried in warning. The trees near the pyre and starship snapped down like twigs. Thud. Thud. Giant footsteps sounded through Ryder's ears as he located the source of the disruption. It was a Colossi emerging from the wilderness, towering over the pines. The monster's hulking stone figure crashed onto the cliff, stopping short of Ethan and Ryder. It dwarfed the Strahl, easily surpassing it in height and density with its solid body. One of the giant's fingers was in exact proportion to Ethan's frame. Rumbling once again, the thing lifted its club up and brought it down towards the duo.

((see monster list))

Ryder's irises had just turned red, in response to the activation of his cybernetic eye, when he felt Andy push him from behind. As he stumbled forward, he let out a little "oomph!" in surprise. The outlaw recovered and turned his stumble into a front flip forward and back onto his feet, the snow underneath him giving off a loud crunch. Though the Colossi had missed the two of them, the force of his clubbed blow was so great, that a shockwave rippled across the cliff, sending Ryder reeling again. Regaining his senses, Ryder whipped out his dual Jerichos and spun around to face this giant threat. It was then that he saw the girl, bleeding and injured by the Colossi's blow, in a defensive position. How the hell did she survive that!? The young man knew that getting hit by a Colossi's club was like getting hit by a hovertruck. Shaking his head and focusing his vision onto the beast, he sprang into action and started sprinting after the benemoth. Using his superhuman speed, he was almost on the Colossi when he recalled something he'd picked up during his travels. The Colossi, if I remember correctly, only have one glowing weakspot that you can attack. Anything else is just a distraction to them... Cursing under his breathe while running, the outlaw realized this was going to be harder than he thought. When he was just behind the monster, he skidded to a halt and slugged a few rounds into the thing's spine. Driplets of black blood sprayed out, seeming to have no effect other than make the Colossi stop, turn around, and swing its cleaver sideways towards Ryder. The young man ducked just in the knick of time, feeling the air rush over his head. If he hadn't predicted its movements with his cybernetic eyes, he would've been dead.

Ethan didn't even have time to react to the colossi before a sharp impact to his chest threw him sprawling a few feet into the snow. He rolled over as Ryder had begun firing away with his pistols. Seeing the rounds have no effect on the monster, Ethan ran up the ramp and into the Strahl, heading for the Swordfish. He reached the docking bay and quickly pulled his rifles and Wo'Jula's energy sword out from the storage compartment. He then sprinted back to the hatch and rammed a magazine into the sniper rifle before pulling the bolt back and putting the first round in the chamber. As he reached the hatch, he saw the colossi looming over Andy, about to drop his club.

Ethan charged in front of Andy and raised his rifle to his shoulder, firing two thick, 50 .cal sniper rifle rounds into the creature's eye. The eye burst wih a supernova of blood and rock, tainting the snow around Ethan and Andy black. Unfortunately, the creature was not wounded enough to stop its swing, which continued on its path toward the two.