@LunarCataphract

Saryn, the newly hired virologist in the immortals had to find a place for herself. Much like any other employee in the immortals she most likely has getting her lifeline device wich was an emergency warp device with smartphone features. One day though if she ever checked on the voicemail of it she would find that head science overseer Klaut Goldmantle has left her a message. "Hello! Welcome, how has the life here treated you so far? anyway. We got a mission for ye. We have recently taken over a planet with a zombie virus, we already have to data on the strain and everything we needed to weaponize it, but we have yet to find a cure for it. Wich is why the bio-weapon department is refusing to store it so far. So, yer mission is to go down to scythe-145's research lab and research the pathogen for a cure. We have arranged a bodyguard for you who is more than eager to help you. So, call me back at yer convenience or come to my office for further instructions and information as soon as your errands allow you to do so."

In the depths of her small sized laboratory, in fact it was technically Saryn's house but she had simply converted the living room into a laboratory, the clone was busy working away on the latest project of hers. She was working on a strain of carnivores flower that would prey upon rodents to serve as an alternative to exterminators. There was no real reason why Saryn was working on this project except for the fact....well she HATED rodents. Mice, hamsters, guinea pigs all of them were nothing more than frustrating fur balls who should stay out of her laboratory. Plus she needed something to do to keep her mind busy as...well she didn't really have many hobbies nowadays. Looking into her microscope Saryn peered at the DNA of the plant she was working on and sighed; it seemed the cells weren't replicating correctly so that meant back to the drawing board.

As she leaned back from the microscope Saryn heard the automated message system ring and groaned. The only people that ever contacted her were Immortal's upper management and Sylvia but it was most likely the elf. Knowing that if it was Sylvia she would most likely be asking some sort of foolish question. Rising out of her chair the clone made her way across her laboratory and pressed the play button; she never took calls she wasn't expecting and so made everyone leave a message and depending upon the content of the message she would decide to reply or not. "Hm...a mission huh? So they want a cure for a virus that reanimates corpses in order to weaponize it....idiots." Saryn sighed and picked up the phone ringing Klaut's number. "I'll accept the mission but do not except me to protect your escort from the virus. You do realise I am not in need of an escort correct?" Saryn had more to say and more to ask.

"However I must insist against weaponising something like this not due to the ethics involved, although it is obvious it is highly unethical from the perspective of others, but due to the risk. I helped create something very similar to this virus you want me to study and it was responsible for eradicating my entire race. My friends, family and everyone I ever knew died as a result of it getting out of control. I have no qualms creating a cure for it but I will not allow my research used for weaponising this." Saryn waited on the phone for Klaut's response and of course information regarding travel arrangements, the details about her unnecessary bodyguard and of course the most important question.... "Where is your office?" Were it not for the fact Saryn had brushed up on her knowledge of the Immortal's command structure she would have no idea who this Klaut fellow even was and she definitely did not know where his office is. For now Saryn had not bothered answering the personal question regarding how life had been treating her due to it being simply...well pointless. Klaut was not her friend.

About ten minutes later the phone went over again. It wad the dwarf calling back to Saryn. "Hello, Saryn? It's me Klaut again. My office is near the extraction point's landing bay, where the ships are stored. Follow the main corridor until you see a big red door that reads "legendary offices" enter that and you'll see a few differently colored doors. Behind the orange door between a red and a purple one is my office. We'll take your point into acount and make sure to have enough failsafes until we use it, it has not been scheduled for use anytime soon so the research on security will be kicked up. All of the legends have their own color. I hope i'll see you there. About the security though, since you're not listed as a combatant it is standard protocol to give you a bodyguard." Assuming Saryn had no questions over the phone, Klaut hung up and waited for her to arrive in his office. Inside his office, Klaut was going through files about other projects on bio weaponry and other scientific advances within the faction. Saryn's name came up quite frequently wich induced some hope into him. Perhaps she could handle the cure so well that other assignments could be given to her. He'd have to discuss it with her in person though. If Saryn found her way to his office she'd find him paying close attention to a tablet on his desk.

Answering the phone almost immediately Saryn listened to what the high ranking Immortal had to say before responding curtly. "Understood." Saryn cared not that these Immortals where research adequate security as she knew from experience there was no such thing as adequate security when it came to dealing with things like this. You would go to massive amounts of effort to keep it secured putting in expensive security systems and well thought out plans but then one idiot would do something stupid and boom months later the whole city is infected. People were immensely stupid and as the old saying goes "to er is to human" which, as far as Saryn was concerned, proved you could not trust them with something as destructive as this.

Taking her sample out from underneath the microscope Saryn stored it away inside the fridge, locked it with the finger print scanner and code lock then left her residence locking the door behind her with the code and fingerprint lock from the fridge. She followed the directions and would eventually arrive at the offices of the "Legendaries" a stupid and pompous name if there ever was one. Saryn would march into Klaut's office ignoring any body that tried to stop her and pushing her way past them if they did physically try to deny her access. She was here to meet with Klaut not waste her time exchanging words with uninformed reception workers. "I'm here so let's get this over with. I need to know who my security is but more importantly I need to know about the planet. Location, environment, animal life, habitat. Everything." She stood in front of Klaut's desk arms folded an irritated scowl across her face.

As Saryn entered Klaut's office, she was met with a friendly smile. "Hello, Saryn. Glad ye could make it. So, yer new mission: We have recently added a planet to our system named Scythe-145 wich is hit by a most terrible zombie plague. While this affliction can make for a devestating weapon we have heard your concerns and we shall certainly take them into account when developing it and give you full authorization to overview the R&D. But for now, the people on the planet are still suffering from the plague, and the countries that havent been hit yet have a hard time developing a cure without the pathogen available in plentifull amounts. And that's where you come in, your mission is to develop two substances. The planet is mostly urban cities and flatlands. The planet life is very much like a regular 'earth-like' planet and you will be have your lab placed in the highest concentrated quarantine. We've carefully selected a bodyguard for you and her name is Sylvia Roothearth. She is our sharpest archer and has never lost a client."

Saryn stood eyes piercing through the dwarf with a predatory gaze more akin to a hawk eyeing the rabbit running through the fields than anything else. It was a cold stare to say the least. "Terrible name for a planet but what do you know about this plague? Is it viral? Bacterial? Fungal? A parasite?" The questions burned away at Saryn her mind refusing to simply let her be lacking in important information. She supposed overview would be enough for now but in fact as she thought about it the more she approved of the idea; it would provide a perfect opportunity to hamper weaponisation efforts. "Two substances? The first being the cure and the second being what?" If this tiny little man thought she'd simply agree and do as she was told like a little sheep without all the details...well he was dead wrong. It was a mistake that could very easily bring about one's death. Being controlled and commanded like some mindless simpleton, or the assumption that Saryn could be, would always drive her to murderous rage.

"You must realise I've never visited Earth nor know of the planet. Describe it in terms I am informed of." Her gaze did not change once nor did she blink or divert her gaze from the dwarf; it was almost unsettling really at least that was how most people would find it. "No. I have personally met her and she's utterly idiotic. Additionally I very much doubt she has any immunity against this infection you want me to research. If it's airborne based she could be infected from the very moment we land. If I must be escorted at least make it something mechanical like a combat robot." Yes that would be perfect. A robot would do what it was told when it was told, wouldn't require food or water, would be immune to infection and best of all wouldn't require the social contact many mammals did as by god Saryn did not want to be stuck in a laboratory with Sylvia for god knows how long having to make inane conversation with her. "If you insist on Sylvia know this. I will not be responsible for her safety. If she falls behind she is left behind. If she succumbs to infection she will find herself on my autopsy table." The cold edge to her tone made it clear she was deadly seriousness.

The dwarf visibly thought on how to describe the planet. "The planet has all sorts of regions and environments. Though, your lab will be nearby a small city surrounded by rural zones. You will probaply be fairly active in either regions. We have not figured out what the plague is...Down it wasdetected far too late and knowledge on it is limited even native to the people of Scythe-145 all we know is that it's transmitted through bodily fluids and that one of the symptoms is headaches, insomnia and sweating. Suppresants have been made and are being dropped down around the planet so if our archer got bitten, she would not be in greater trouble. The other substance you will be researching is a healing gas. Agent Roothearth is at the lab already and has the research so far on the gas, Scythe-145 is native to plants that can increase healing. There are already security droids down there but Sylvia will accompany you on field missions where the droids cannot reach."

Saryn sighed her frustrations rising. It was pretty clear that Klaut here was not a scientist and clearly didn't understand the question asked of him. What the scientist needed was a VERY in depth list of weather patterns, habit, population count, population diversity, genetic diversity, how populations were spread out, animal life, plant life and generally all of that as when it came to dealing with new diseases no avenue could be left unexplored. "Headaches, insomnia and sweating sound pretty standard. I know thousands of things which could cause that." She listened as Klaut said the second item she wanted him to work on was a healing gas which was a point of contention to say the least. Saryn wasn't even sure what Klaus wanted this healing gas to heal or did it want it to be a cure for every possible sickness in the world? As that was never going to happen.

"A healing gas.....right. What do you want it to heal?" She hoped that the short man wouldn't answer with a stupid answer but given his lack of a scientific background Saryn strongly doubted that was the case. Judging by how this planet apparently had plants which increased healing, which if Klaut meant healing physical injuries sounded utterly moronic, Saryn indeed felt he wanted a gas that increased the body's natural healing rate which was such....no. It might have been possible but the amount of work involved and the expenses associated with such a thing would mean it wasn't viable. "Don't tell me you want a gas based system that will speed up the natural healing rate of physical injuries." She really really hoped that wasn't the case but Saryn, as had been said before, felt that wouldn't be the case. The short stack of a man was by no means a scientist after all and just throwing ideas out to earn himself some points for being "innovative."

Despite feeling the tension, the dwarf stayed friendly to Saryn. "Aye, but as i said we dont know too much yet about the plague. About the healing gas: our agent has the recipe for it so far. Im an engineer and not a scientist so i dont know how the healing exactly works but i know that it forces in a powerfull regeneration effect. Additionally it has the potential to destroy hostile toxins inside the lungs, though it must be researched further. But you'll see how it really works when you get the blueprints for it. I normally work machinery..." He turned his monitor around to allow Saryn to see what's on the screen. There were pictures of the planet on the monitor, it looked like an ordinary planet, it also had pictures of the minor factions that were on the planet who also looked like ordinary humans. There were many cities in the picture but also alot of rural areas and a picture of her lab. 

The lab was massive and had the faction symbol on it and turrets place around it to keep off the undead. Sylvia was on one of the pictures apparently hanging flowers on the lab, like she would do of course.

Saryn was flabbergasted her mouth agape and her eyes wide with sheer shock at the danger posed by this "healing gas." It may have been possible, even though she wasn't a doctor or geneticist so it wasn't really her field, but that didn't change the fact it was dangerous. When the tiny man turned the screen for Saryn's viewing pleasure her eyes briefly scanned it taking in the undead and that foolish elf. Once she was finished Saryn gripped the top of the screen as acid began to seep from her fingers slowly eating through the screen. "You.are.an.idiot. Let me tell you this the only way to increase the rate of healing would be to accelerate cellular division, the body's method of replacing or repairing dead tissue. Of course as the body does this, in the case of humans that is, the body begins to break down and age. Not only that but it could easily lead to tumours developing. Whoever thought up these "plans" you speak of doesn't know a single thing about how cells work." She tightened her right hand's grip suddenly crushing the acid eaten remains of the monitor. 

"I trust I have made my point." Saryn rose from her seat and turned to face the door walking towards it except she would pause before leaving. "But before I leave know that the toxin neutralisation should be possible if massively impractical and resource consuming to actually produce and maintain." Did the dwarf not release every time a new toxin was discovered the gas would need to be recalled, remade and then rolled out to be reproduced? For front line equipment it was not exactly the best idea in the world. It would be MUCH more practical and efficient to simply assign soldiers anti-toxins relevant to the planet they were on. "Next time you have an assignment for me get a scientist to deliver the orders not a mechanic." Saryn walked out of the room dismissively shaking her head amazed at Klaut's total lack of understanding; did he not realise humans already had one of the most impressive healing abilities among most if not all animals? They could survive wounds that would spell death for most other life forms in the galaxy. When it came to repairing your own body it was often best to let your body handle it by itself that was why most human health care centred around prevented further damage and making it possible/easier for the body to heal itself.

Saryn marched through the corridors of the planet her armour venting a harmless green gas as an indicator to stay out of her way. She eventually reached her ship, punched in co-ordinates and took off flying to the planet known as Scythe-145. It took her many days but eventually she arrived her vessel breaking through the cloud cover before flying over the laboratory set up for her usage. Instead of landing Saryn's vessel merely flew over allowing her to jump up and crash to the ground landing with a hearty thud. She looked around the landing site and brushed away anybody that ran over to her ignoring them as she walked into the facility proper. One of the downsides of Saryn's long life is that she had the nasty habit of holding into things especially when her own temper had risen to the fore; she was still frustrated with that foolish little man. "Elf where are you? We have work to do." She bellowed out for the attention of her useless bodyguard and would search for Sylvia if the elf failed to respond promptly. A continual failure, if any, to find Sylvia would only result in Saryn's frustrations growing in intensity a bad sign indeed given her already foul mental state.

Obviously, the dwarf had no idea what he was talking about. He constantly had to read up on a file whenever Saryn had another question. "Aye, we have used magic and alchemy for a long time to heal our troops and.....Eh, i needed a new one anyway. So yeah, Miss roothearth will have the research on it so far. Our alchemy has done that for many years, we just need to find a way to have it keep it's effects after vaporizing it. We can assign her to the gas grenade." The dwarf didnt bother calling after as he knew she wouldnt listen. 

On Scythe-145 Saryn wouldnt have to look for Sylvia too long, she was busy watering some plants outside when she saw Saryn land on the ground. She looked over and smiled before running over to her and handing her a bunch of papers. "im here! HI! so....Here is the blueprint for the cure research we've done so far wich isnt much, and this one is the gas wich is for me. There is a pc inside you can use to contact orbit and i will never be too far if you ever need me. There is an alchemy setup in the lab wich is mine but you can use it." While her little smile and her presence werent too annoying right off the bat one could notice there was a distinct lack of animals in her background wich she usually kept around. Would this mean she would do research the whole time and be quiet? hopefully...

Saryn found her next to useless guard pretty quickly and took the plans off her. She scanned them over reading rapidly understanding the cure but also not understanding it; sure she knew how the cure worked but with zero knowledge of the actual cause of these zombies it may have well been useless. "Yes leaving the gas to you does make more sense. It's not my field after all and I do not understand a word of it." Alchemy was a word that while it existed in Saryn's own society was not in fact a scientific field either real or fantasy. Other people may have taken the lack of animals as a bad sign but from Saryn's perspective it was a good thing; wild animals should NOT be in a laboratory what so ever. Poor Saryn had no real idea how Sylvia could be without a cute animal to pet or a plant to look after. 

"I have a job for you. I need ten adult males and ten adult females. I need ten teenage males and teenage females. I need ten male children and female all of which HAVE to be infected and in the zombie phase of these infection. I shall need subjects for autopsy and tests. They need to be alive now go collect them for me. Ensure they are all from the same ethnic group." If Sylvia WAS here to be Saryn's bodyguard and partner for this mission then she should prove herself useful. Having given her orders Saryn sat down on a chair dumping the document regarding the healing gas to one side finding it useless. "Why are you still here? I gave you an order." She didn't look up once from the documentation on the zombie cure know actually reading it in more detail than her brief glance.

She smiled brightly at Saryn as soon as she started speaking, the young elf has been on Scythe-145 for a long time and the only company she had was the hunter, the natives and the other scientists who were gone now. This bright smile on her face was heavy foreshadowing on Saryn's time here on Scythe-145, most likely she wouldnt see many other expressions from this little girl. As soon as she got the order she ran off into the distance but she seemed to be reluctant to go too far. "There's little zombies out here... Especially children. But i cant leave you behind too far because i have to protect you. So want me to wait here or go to the city?"

Saryn watched Sylvia walk out of the facility and start heading outside only to stop and yell back about some meaningless drivel. "You either do what I say or get.off.the.planet. I have no need for useless bodyguards such as yourself and I will not be baby sitting you." Saryn's ultimatum was clear. Sylvia would either do exactly what she was told to do when she was told to do or get off the planet. Saryn didn't require a bodyguard after all and the only use an assistant would have is saving time. "I don't need you to protect me so if you're not going to be a useful assistant then I may as well use you as a test subject. The choice is yours." She was partially serious on that front having no moral issues doing so but not wanting to deal with explaining things to the rest of the Immortals especially given how they wouldn't understand a damn thing.

Regardless of the threat directed at her, the smile on her face stayed firm. She came back to the lab for several seconds and left with a large tank like vehicle and a net gun. A few hours later she returned as evident by the roaring of the tank, she dragged in a group of zombies caught in a large net that she got out of the trunk of the vehicle and brought it to Saryn. "Here they are. I got some from several species but not all of them, some of them are much too dangerous and it was getting late so i had to come back earlier, because it was getting dark and it's dangerous out there at night." Of course she didnt come back with the amount that Saryn asked her. Yet she delivered the net that did have a decent amount of zombies with a big smile on her face.

"I'll go work on the potion a little bit now! if you want anything to eat just ask me!" Pretty soon, she ran off into the lab to her alchemy setup and began brewing and working on it. It didnt take too long for her to start humming and start being noisy in general.

Saryn had been hard at work while her bodyguard was away. She had been setting up equipment testing to see if it worked and taking stock of the supplies once she had finished reading over the documentation of the cure that is. When Sylvia walked in with the undead under a net she stared amazed at the awful security shown. ".....Why are they just under a net......put them in a cage next time." Saryn fought with the undead and shoved them into a sealed airtight room locking them in as she ripped the net off. It was fortunate she had such good reactions or else the undead would have escaped. ".....I see you failed in your mission. Did I not specifically request ten of each gender at the same stage of maturity and infection stage?" She turned to face the elf her arms folded with a disapproving expression on her face.

"This is why I don't like working with other people. Fine tomorrow I expect you to be up at the crack of dawn to collect the remaining specimens. On the subject of these other species you mentioned I will need the exact same amount of specimens of them." Saryn cared not if these additional species were dangerous or not. Saryn NEEDED them if she was to create this cure as it was no good making the cure if it only worked on a few of these creates. As Sylvia walked away to work on her cure Saryn's right arm grew into an elongated tendril, wrapped around the Elf's waist and pulled her back. "No. You are my assistant. My project takes priority." Realising it was just herself, Sylvia and a series of robots Saryn's frustrations began boiling up again at how ridiculously understaffed she was. "Even with the two of us working on a project we're understaffed. Yours has to wait." That was not something Saryn would accept any disagreement with.

"I'm going to get the morgue ready for an autopsy. Kill one of each gender of the teenage undead and bring them to the morgue. I need them damaged as little as possible. How you solve that issue is up to you however there is a series of medical trolleys you can use to wheel them to the morgue." With that Saryn walked away, grabbed an apron, washed her hands and set up a clean operating table made of metal in a cooled room. Did it seem like Saryn was giving a lot of work to Sylvia? Yes yes it was but there was a reason for that. First was the fact Saryn didn't trust the elf with maintaining the required standards of cleanliness a laboratory provided and secondly it was a test to see if she was worth a damn. Sadly so far Sylvia had failed to complete the first task given to her to a satisfactory degree and as such this second task was her last chance. Failing that Saryn would just try and get a FULL staff assigned to her. It was hard enough doing the work of ten people by yourself but it was even worse when your assistant was useless and incompetent!

She Still smiled at Saryn and began pondering on how to kill the zombies. A few moments later she brought them into the lab, the zombie bodies were in decent state even if their necks were broken... Sylvia had killed them by snapping their necks apparently. She wasnt sure if Saryn needed the bones in good condition. "Here they are! i killed them by snapping their neck...Never unseeing that...But it does prove that even in their undead condition they have a requirement for oxygen wich is strange because a specific species spends the days underwater...Oh and speaking of the species, there are some species that are way too dangerous to catch and there is one that is way too big to fit into the lab..."

Saryn stared and listened to Sylvia as she spouted about how breaking their necks proved they needed oxygen which was surprising "Surprising. I didn't expect your knowledge of anatomy to be that detailed. Still do not break their necks next time. Doing that damages the spinal cord an important part of the central nervous system in fact no it is the entirety of the central nervous system." Despite how Sylvia had done a partial good job she had still messed up to a certain degree "I don't care if they are too dangerous. I require test subjects. As assistant I tell you what I need and it is your job to achieve that. If it's too dangerous then you're fired." She removed her gloves and pressed a few buttons on a terminal requesting a physician, a full team of medical staff and a proper mortician. How the Immortals expected Saryn to work without a full staff, not that she liked needing it, was beyond her.

"Next time you kill them Sylvia use a chemical agent. Try Pentobarbital. It's a seizure medication used to euthanize animals and causes the shut down of brain and heart functions. As for that species too big to remain in the lap..." Saryn tapped in one final request to the Immortals calling for a gigantic cage large enough to, hopefully, store the giant species in safely. "Hm turns out the virus weaponization has been shut down..good I don't have to destroy it myself." That was fortunate indeed as Saryn would have made her next stop the office of a certain dwarf to extract, forcibly if needs be, the required information regarding the location of the virus being stored. Still despite watching enough of the press statement on the subject Saryn was still going to confirm things with her own eyes. Her paranoia and distrust of everyone that wasn't herself demanded it. With that out of the way Saryn got to work dissecting the corpses brought in.

She looked at Saryn with a smile when she heard the suggestion. "I thought of poisining them, but it could be too dangerous to get into contact with their blood as the needle may break the tissue, besides. I thought traces of poison in their system during your tests could be bohtersome...But ill keep it in mind for next time..."

The next day, before Sylvia could go down to search for the other undead species as Saryn told her she witnessed the other troops being dropped down on Scythe-145. Though as is typical immortal customs, they were also accompanied with bodyguards just like Saryn herself. There were mostly juggernauts though there was also a pathfinder and a ranger along. They saluted Sylvia and led the team in, the other ranger though followed Sylvia out through the crack of down into the city...

"I understand your trepidation at such a thing but most chemicals eventually leave the body. A broken neck is not something that I can just put back together. Plus I know what effects Pentobarbital has so I can easily explain away any inconsistencies it causes in my findings." It was true that if you knew what effects the chemical had on a body after death, which should be little to none hopefully, then you could discount them from your findings but by that Saryn didn't mean she would fail to mention them in her report. "Pentobarbital isn't a poison. Now leave me to my work." She dismissed Sylvia casually uncaring if the elf expected thanks or congratulations; those things were meaningless to Saryn and so unless you REALLY impressed her you wouldn't see one shred of gratitude from her. Sadly impressing the embittered scientist was rather difficult on account of how very jaded she was nowadays. 

Over the night Sylvia may have worked or slumbered in her quarters but Saryn did not. She spent all night performing the autopsy on the first of the corpse and summarising her findings in a report. She was a little annoyed that she ran out of time to perform the other two autopsies that evening. The results of her finding had been incredibly enlightening as while she was dissecting the brain she discovered a small worm like creature firmly lodged in the limbic system the part of the brain responsible for emotions. Not only that but it also seemed to have extend a series of tendrils down to the amygdala the part of the brain responsible for the fight or flight instinct. From this Saryn's first assumption was that the cause of this "zombie virus" was a parasite and then that lead her to the question of how did it transfer? Her question was soon answer when she investigated the throat finding a series of eggs. She took samples of the eggs storing them in separate petri dishes along with the parasite from before. 

Next morning came and with it the series of staff Saryn had requested. She washed her hands and went out to meet the new arrivals taking stock of their names and field. The mortician she directed to the morgue and had him get to start on the two remaining autopsies while also informing him as to her findings. For the rest of the staff she got them working on analysing the eggs and the parasite she had discovered for the sake of confirming her findings and of course furthering their understanding of such a thing. "Sylvia. My staff have been given their assigned duties for the day and are on top of things for now. I will accompanying you into the city to track down this specimens but also we have another job. What I need us to do is set up a series of cameras and monitoring equipment in the city to analyse how these creatures behave in the wild. So before we capture the more dangerous specimens show me the natural habit of all previously acquired subjects." Saryn followed Sylvia into the city sporting a back pack full of cameras and as the scenery changed with nature being replaced with urban environments it soon became clear they were definitely in hostile territory.

"Okay Saryn, i'll use that against them next time but is there anyway the mutation of the pathogen may lead them to develop a ressistance?" She says as she searches through the closets for the substance Saryn mentioned. She searched for a little while until Saryn apparently needed her, she grabbed her bow and followed her into the city. During the trip to the city, Sylvia went ahead to tell Saryn the discovered zombie species...


"Okay, so far we have discovered that some zombies are very UV intolerant and that they need to stay inside to avoid getting burned badly. There's regular biter zombies and regular biters who wear armor from before they were turned. Spitters for some reason have an acidic saliva that is also infectious. Banshees are usually women or children zombies that are fast and they scream when they found a prey, wich will attract 'reinforcements' so to say. Tanks unsurprisingly are super strong hulking massive zombies who fortunatly are very rare. We gave the ogres their name because they behave mostly like the ones on Jeslore, though unlike the ogres they are smart. Ogres are the only zombies on Scythe-145 that are smart enough to wield weapons, though this is usually something they find lying around. Spiders are the most dangerous, they are fast, super strong and can spit, though they only appear at night and they can cling to walls too. If you want to document a more dangerous ambush predatory species you'll need to set up cameras on the beach or near lakes too: Toads are a nocturnal species that escape the sun by submerging themselves, wich is odd as the other species do need air to survive, but in addition to being super strong, their skin is also very thin wich makes it so that half of their almost liquified intestines will have leaked out by the time they reach the lab. And the most dangerous species they somehow have working mouth like openings for hands mostly because the fat around their jaw has rendered the mouth useless. We have nothing yet that can kill them except heavy weapons like flamethrowers and explosives, they fortunatly are very slow and noisy..."

"......No. Firstly it's a parasite not a pathogen. Secondly....just leave the science to me. It's painful hearing you talk about it." Saryn shuddered as she tried not to imagine Sylvia performing actual scientific work but sadly her imagination ran away from her. Simply put it was a true nightmare to comprehend Sylvia trying to be a scientist. It was a surprisingly long list of alternative species of zombies each with vastly different traits than the others a lot of which just..didn't make sense naturally. "....This sounds oddly made up. Parasites don't change their hosts physicality this much. In fact no naturally occurring virus, pathogen or bacteria would." A hypothesis was forming inside Saryn's head to explain the differences between these different undead and the only conclusion she could come to was outside interference. Changing normal humans into these additional breeds would just not be possible for a normal parasite to do by itself.

"Luckily I brought cameras but we would need to capture one of these toads...hopefully more than one. Fine when it comes to capturing them we'll just bring a vehicle and store it in a water tank." The acidic saliva that passed the infection around was still rather interesting given the eggs Saryn had found in the throat of the first subjects. What else she was curious in was the vulnerability to UV but it was unlikely it caused burning; it was more that the parasite just altered the hosts behaviour to develop an intolerance for U.V radiation. "Alright we're here. Now do your job and show me where to find them." Saryn tapped her right foot impatiently waiting Sylvia to show her to where these alternative species could be found. Why the Elf had decided to just stand on the edge of the city talking instead of being a guide and doing her job was beyond the scientist as was the apparent.....fantasised aspects of these alternative zombie types. They sounded too specialised for a parasite to have naturally created which again lead her to the hypothesis that an external party had purposefully developed them and released them into the city. Parasites just could not cause those kind of changes.