User blog:Dargoo Faust/Halloween Special! Dusk till Dawn Survivors vs Strigoi

'''Halloween is approaching, folks, and you know what that means! '''Supermarkets have stocked up on cheap plastic decorations, Starbucls Pumpkin Spice Lattes are in season, and supermarkets are selling those little cookies in the shape of pumpkins. Vampires have always been a classic horror monster of All Hallow's Eve, and they have evolved greatly in media since the very first Nosferatu movie. With the release of The Strain comics and TV series by Guillermo Del Toro, they take a more scientific feel akin to modern interpretations of zombies. Can a classic band of vampire slayers from a bar in Mexico go toe-to-toe with monsters turned from magic to pathogen? Or will crosses, stakes, and the occasional crotch gun fail to hold up to a more realistic vampire?

The Dusk till Dawn Survivors, a rag-tag group of criminals, priests, and weirdos bound together against a vampiric menace.

VS.

The Strigoi, the result of a parasitic strain of vampirism that alters the very nature of human biology.



WHO IS THE DEADLIEST?!

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

SEASON 1 EPISODE 11

From Dusk Till Dawn Survivors
The Dusk till Dawn Survivors are a group of vampire hunters forced together to fight for survival in a vampire-infested strip club in Mexico. Their story started with Seth and Richie Gecko, two runaway criminals with hostages told by a consultant to meet with them in an unremarkable bar across the Mexican border. However, as a fight breaks out in the bar, one of the patrons is injured, leaking a black viscous fluid. Unexpectedly, the strippers and bartenders emerge as ancient vampires who lure in unwary truckers and bikers, feeding on their blood in a massive frenzy.

The few to survive the initial attack grouped together to fight off the vampire menace through exploiting weaknesses in the Vampire's nature, such as wooden stakes and crucifixes. After two bloody firefights with the Vampires, only Seth and Kate survive the night, with the rest of the survivors succumbing to the vampire's bite.

The survivors will win this battle if either condition is met: Only one of the survivors needs to make it out of the club alive for the group to win, but either condition is mandatory. You can vote for each member in their likelyhood of surviving the night.
 * They survive from Dusk till Dawn™ and escape the strip club.
 * They kill every Vampire infesting the club.

Meet the Crew


 * -| The Leader=

Seth Gecko



"The world's my oyster, except for the fact that I just rammed a wooden stake in my brother's heart because he turned into a vampire, even though I don't believe in vampires. Aside from that unfortunate business, everything's hunky-dory."

- Seth Gecko

Not much is known about Seth's history other than he has an extensive criminal history. He and his brother, Richie, set the plot of the film into motion by taking two hostages across the border to a bar/strip club in Mexico that unexpectedly was infested by a host of ancient vampires. Seth has a pragmatic attitude and speaks his mind frequently. He isn't entirely heartless as a criminal, however he puts himself and his needs over that of the group on many occasions. Seth's also one tough mofo; he tanked a hit that sent him flying several feet into the air, and managed to decapitate a vampire by only using Sex Machine's whip.

Main Weapon - Astra Terminator

Seth is a crack-shot with his .44 Terminator, and used it to head shot a vampire running towards him and used it to shoot down a chandelier nearly a dozen meters above him. The Terminator is a double-action revolver with a six bullet cylinder, using .44 Magnum shots. Seth will have six bullets loaded into his gun as well as a spare set of 12 bullets to reload from.

Secondary - Jackhammer Stake

While building improvised weapons to take down the Vampires, seth attacked a wooden stake to the end of a jackhammer, and despite the logical problems in a using a jackhammer as a melee weapon, he was able to tear apart many of the stripper/vampires wielding it.


 * -| The Wing Man=

Richie Gecko



Richard is the brother of Seth and partner in crime, who was one of the first members of the group to kick the bucket after getting bitten from behind. He has a submissive attitude towards his brother, however he has a major problem with paranoia, possibly so much so that it could be called schizophrenia. He has little care for any other group members other than Seth, and could easily be described as a psychopath.

Main Weapon - Norinco M1911A1

Richie uses his signature Norinco with a nickle finish to attempt to shoot down some vampires as well as threaten shop owners and barkeepers. While not as impressive as his brother with his weapon, he is capable of using it effectively. The M1911 is a semi-automatic pistol that uses .45 ACP ammunition, with a 7-round box-detachable magazine. Richie will have two spare magazines he can reload into.

Secondary - Improvised Weapons

Richie dies too early to really get integrated with the rest of the group, however just like every other member he will have access to any improvised weapons he can find around the strip club, such as broken bottles, fire axes, and wooden planks.


 * -| The Veteran=

Frost



"I came to my senses. I realized I killed the entire V.C. Squad singlehanded. There was blood... and chunks of yellow flesh clinging to my bayonet. To this day, I don't remember..."

- Frost

Frost is a mysterious Vietnam War veteran that joins the survivors for the first half of the film. Unlike Seth, Frost cares more for the lives of others, and attempted to save innocents from the initial surprise attack of the vampires. He has a gruff, bad-ass personality, and had no issues diving head-first into combat with the blood suckers.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combat

Surprisingly, Frost never used any weapons in the movie, perhaps due to his PTSD from the 'Nam War. However, he is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, and was able to keep up with the superhuman vampires of the strip club with little difficulty.

Inhuman Strength

More comparable to the vampires of From Dusk till Dawn, Frost's strength can't really be described as anything other than superhuman. He was able to casually rip out of heart of a charging vampire and threw a turned Sex Machine flying a number of meters in the air and through a wall.


 * -| The Priest=

Jacob Fuller



"I'm a mean servant of God."

- Jacob Fuller

Jacob is a priest that was taken hostage by the Gecko brothers, who eventually assists his own kidnappers when the vampire menace becomes apparent. It's unknown if he has any form of formal combat experience, however he was able to handle his Model 1912 fairly well (he was even able to use it one-handed) against the final horde of vampires, forming a crucifix with his baseball bat while using it.

Main Weapon - Winchester Model 1912

Jacob uses a Winchester 1912 he scavenged from the trove of biker gang loot that the vampires had collected over the year. It is a pump-action shotgun with a 6-round tubular magazine, and uses 12-Gauge shells. Jacob will have 12 spare rounds to reload into. He's a pretty good shot with the it, landing multiple headshots and even one-handing the weapon several times.

Secondary - Baseball Bat and Improvised Weapons

Jacob has a baseball bat that he uses to form a crucifix with his shotgun at a long distance, that he can pull out as a melee weapon for short distance combat. He also has access to any improvised weapons he can find around the strip club, such as broken bottles, fire axes, and wooden planks.


 * -| The Wacko=

Sex Machine



"Sex Machine. Pleased to meet you."

- Introducing Himself

Sex Machine, as he calls himself, is one of the oddballs at the bar that ends up joining the survivors to fight off the vampire menace. Not much is known about him, however he has an impressive skill in hand-to-hand combat, and survived the initial encounter with the bloodsuckers. He's also pretty skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and grappled with vampires without much difficulty in the beginning of the fight, jumping around tables and impaling vampires with a pool stick.

Main Weapon - Barbed Whip

Sex Machine is pretty good with a whip as a weapon, using it to snatch beers from across the table as well as grapple with Vampires. Sadly, the revolver on his crotch is purely decor, so we're not going to see someone thrusting bullets at vampires today.

Secondary - Improvised Weapons

Sex Machine will have access to any improvised weapons he can find around the strip club, such as broken bottles, fire axes, and wooden planks.


 * -| The Chick=

Kate Fuller



Kate is the second hostage taken by the Gecko brothers who also joins the fight against the vampires as the movie progresses. Despite her lack of combat experience and inferior weapons and skills than the rest of the crew, she was one of the only two surviving members at the end of the movie, the other being Seth.

Main Weapon - Two-Bolt Crossbow

Kate utilities a modern hunting crossbow modified to shoot two bolts at once. While lacking any form of formal combat experiance before the events of the movie, she was able to use the weapon with reasonable success, even head shorting one vampire. Kate will have four other crossbow bolts attached to her weapon to reload her weapon, as well as two spares.

Secondary - Improvised Weapons and Silver Crucifix.

Kate never really used that many other weapons in the film other than her silver crucifix, which while effective against the Strain Vampires due to their weaknesses is impracticable as a weapon. However, she will have access to any improvised weapons she can find around the strip club, such as broken bottles, fire axes, and wooden planks.

I usually provide a video at this point, however DtD is very over-the-top in terms of nudity, violence, and gore, and I don't really feel comfortable uploading anything here. So I urge voters to either look up fights on YouTube or otherwise, just realize it's some pretty messed up stuff mixed in with cheesy practical gore.

Strigoi (The Strain)


"This is what the beginning of the end of the world will look like."

- Guillermo del Toro, The Strain

The Strigoi are a modern interpretation of the vampire as a pathogen/parasite that alters human biology, seen in Guillermo del Toro's The Strain. Initially started by a creed of thousand-year old vampires, the Strigoi are the result of massive genetic reconstruction of the human body after infection from an equally pathogenic and parasitic affliction, caused by a capillary worm.

There will be a total of six vampires infesting the building the survivors are in.

For clarification, these are the vampires from the TV show, not the comic books.


 * -| Vectors of Infection=

The Stinger



The Strigoi's primary form of attack and vector for infection is an adapted stinger that latches around the neck or limbs of a target, ejaculated through the throat and mouth. While attached, the stinger will rapidly drain blood from the victim while also inserting parasitic worms that propagate the affliction to the poor sap on the receiving end. This extendable 'tongue' has a range of around six feet, and can be deployed to full length in nearly half a second. The stinger is also extremely muscular, and can hold grown men in the air while feeding.

Capillary Worms

Transmitted through its blood and the stinger, the capillary worms that propagate the vampire pathogen rapidly dig into the flesh of any nearby humans and begin to feed on blood. Once a worm has fully made its home inside a host (a process that can take anywhere between days and weeks, depending on the number of parasites), the human's physiology is drastically altered into that of a Strigoi.


 * -| Vampire Physiology=



Talons

As a vampire ages, the only noticeable change they go through is the elongation of the middle digits as sharp talons emerge from former fingertips. The strigoi here will have talons of a moderate length, and will be able to use them as an alternative melee weapon.

Enhanced Speed and Strength

Strigoi are stronger and faster than humans, although feral members of the species aren't nearly as strong as the ancients. They are capable of casually outrunning humans and are strong enough to incapacitate even trained athletes and bash in human skulls.

Altered Senses

Strigoi are nearly blind, however they make up this loss in vision by having an enhanced auditory and olfactory system. All of this put together forms a sort of 'thermal vision', where the Vampire can locate humans based on the beat of a heart, and sense the carbon dioxide emissions from human breath. Granted, Strigoi aren't usually smart enough to employ stealth and surprise attack tactics.

Fused Organ Systems

Strigoi aren't particularly durable, however their altered biology makes killing them through conventional firearms extremely difficult. Nearly all of the essential organs of the abdominal and thoracic cavities (digestive and respiratory systems) are fused to form the processes that deploy the stinger, as the Strigoi only need to feed on human blood to survive. This means they can't really die from bleeding out or internal damage to the limbs or trunk, and are only temporarily incapacitated by bullet fire to that area.


 * -| Weaknesses=



Spinal and Cranial Injury

The most effective way to kill a Strigoi is through fatal trauma to the head or spine, either through a headshot in gunfire, or through enough bludgeoning force to break the neck or spinal chord. This is due to their altered circulatory system that makes bleeding out a non-problem for vampires (their blood is thick and has higher regenerative properties than human blood), however their nervous system is still particularly vunerable to damage.

Sunlight/UV Radiation

Sunlight is extremely lethal to Strigoi, and intense UV rays can cause death within seconds to feral members of the species. Due to this, if the Dusk till Dawn survivors manage to stay alive until sunset and at least one member leaves without being infected, the Strigoi will have no way to pursue them, or will just die on the spot from light flooding through the windows.

Silver

The antibiotic properties of silver makes it remarkably effective at killing Strigoi. While conventional bullets that miss the head or spine mean very little in harming one, silver bullets and even small pieces of silver cause them immense pain, leaving them vulnerable and recoiling on the ground in a fetal position.

Feralism

When not directed by a Master Vampire, typical Strigoi members are feral, and only operate on instinct and bloodlust. This means that they can be easily tricked and put into disadvantageous positions, nor do they make any effort to avoid gunfire.

Like with DtD, the strain is also a very mature show in terms of gore, and a lot of the scenes with the vamps aren't things I'd want to casually upload here. I once again urge you to either watch some episodes of the show or look up some fights online.

X-Factors
I'm not really doing conventional X-Factors this time around due to some ridiculous gaps in terms of tactics, physicality, and experience/training, which would just be restating facts that are already obvious. I will, however, analyse the survivors as a team.

Teamwork - Moderate

While Seth and the Fullers worked very well with each other in the final battle, and there was good coordination between Sex Machine and Seth during a skirmish with a vampire after the initial fight, the group doesn't really coordinate itself as a whole that much. Wildcards like Frost and Richie might not listen to the rest of the group reliably and try and do things their own way, and Richie's paranoia and psychological issues might cause tension in the team later in the night.

Leadership - Poor

Seth is the defacto leader of the team, however his pragmatic attitude, independent nature, and distrustfulness makes him a bad candidate to lead the survivors. While he is a good tactician and led himself and the Fullers to victory against the final wave of vamps, Seth has rarely deviated from his selfish attitude, and will most likely look out for himself and his brother above the rest.

Physicality - Good

Frost, Seth, and Sex Machine are bordering superhuman in terms of capabilities, however the over-the-top nature of the film makes this hard to discern. All three of them grapple with vampires that could casually break necks, with Frost having the most potent physical feats. Richie, Kate, and Jacob are generally less physically fit than the rest of the group, but not so much so that they hamper the overall rating here.

Experience and Accuracy - Great

Surprisingly, for a group of people with unknown backgrounds, everyone but Richie displayed skills with their respective weapons that looked great. Kate, Seth, and Jacob consistently land headshots with their weapons, and Frost plus Sex Machine both excel greatly in hand to hand combat, making up for an otherwise unconventional arsenal they carry.

Setting
The Strip Club

The survivors will be fighting in the same topless strip club they fought in the first movie, however the building is eerily abandoned with the lights on. The battle will take place at the beginning of night, as the survivors take shelter from a small group of attacking Strigoi that eventually break into the building. They have enough time to organize themselves and acquire their weapons, have rooms they can lock themselves in temporarily, and have a number of melee weapons such as pool poles and fire axes that can be found around the area.

Can the survivors get through the night and live to tell the tale, or will they join the ranks of the Strigoi and help spread their infection across Central America?

Voting
You can vote as you like on this one, edges format or not (Since this battle is different than my normal battles), although I encourage votes that analyse the probability of each Dusk till Dawn member surviving the full night.

Try to make it detailed, and any unreadable votes won't be counted. If a vote isn't detailed enough, it only counts for half.

The Battle
TBW

Expert's Opinion
TBW