I thought that this would be a nice social thread for this group, a thread where we swap stories of our greatest triumphs and tragedies on our time in the zone.

I was travelling back to Yanov station from the asphalt anomaly when a blowout occurred. With the station in sight I made a beeline for it, hoping to avoid the deadly wave of psionic energy that would kill me otherwise. I barely made it inside when the emission started and as I turned around and looked outside before the door closed I saw a group of rookies collapse. A shed a tear for their fate before steeling myself and vowing to be first to get their loot.
Such is life in the Zone.

Here is my greatest achievement (warning, long post incoming).

It's from call of pripyat played on master difficulty (chimaeara 1shot you unless heavily armored, and bloodsucker 1 shot you with the "drinking" attack unless medium armored)

I had just made my first trek from the relative safety of the Skadovsk, down to the Yanov area. My trusty Bear detector, my AKM-74/2 modified for enhanced precision and my spsa-14 by my side. I had recently completed all the hunter quests, and was now trying to get my hands on a bubble artefact. Just as i walked towards the anomalous grove a pseudogiant attacked me. With only an upgraded stalker suit, and 5 medkits to keep me alive i KNEW i couln't risk getting hit.
Thus started one of my longest fights for survival yet in the game.
I grabbed my shotgun, and charged him in an attempt to deal as much damage as possible. And boy did i hurt him. The entire mag right in his face. i backpedaled towards The Bitumen anomaly hoping to reload. Now with a fully loaded shotgun i was ready to take him on again. Except for i suddenly heard the crack of a PKM machinegun and what sounded like assault rifles.
Perfect, i'm trapped between high level zombies and a pissed pseudogiant. Just great.
I turned towards them and charged them heads on in an atempt to take them out with a single mag.
3 shotgun shells later, and the zombies with assault rifles (luckily only weak 5.45 weapons) were dead. I now turned towards the Zombie with the PKM. He got an exosceleton, just perfect. At least he's slow.
I charged him, and pumped his skull full og 12x70 buckshot. The last shotgun shell dropped him. Just a shame he got some real good hits at me, and i was dying.
Damn, that was 2 medkits and a bandage down the drain. I glimpsed at my ammo. 30 shotgun shells and 300 4.45 rounds left. And i am to kill a pseudogiant with THAT? NOT a chance in hell. And i stil got that pseudogiant to kill.
So, what do you do with an angry pseudogiant, and almost no medkits and amo left.
You run o course. Right into the center of an anomaly field. It might sound completel retarded, but the center of the Bitumen anomaly is among the safest spots in the zone. As long as no blowouts occur that is.
Wait, i shouldn't have mentioned that.
Yes, the zone decided to send an emission after me. Not only do i sit in the only safe spot IN THE MIDDLE of an anomaly with an angry pseudogiant waiting outside of it, but i also got an emission incomming. My anabiotic pill could save me but the heat in the anomaly would kill me, so that's not an option.
Now it was all down to PERFECT timing. The first emission wave would kill the pseudogiant, but i would survive it. So i wait at the anomaly edge.
The emission hits with full power, and kills the creature. I got almost no life left, and eats the anambiotic pilll. Finaly safe?
Apparently yes. I starts the trek back to Yanov station. OK, sprint is more covering.
I should be safe now!
Lol nope.
I awake to what? Zombies! Again! Seriously?
And those bastards are blocking the entrance to Yanov station.
2 medkits, 1 spsa-14 with almost no amo and an AKM74/2 with 300 round? It should work.
And i attack. The first two bastards end up stone dead, and i sprint to the next cover. Great, a zombified duty guy. Not cool. But nothing my shotgun can't handle. I rush him, and kills him. That's when i catches a burst from his buddy, that i totally forgot about. I hit the medkit hotkey on reflex an d turns arround slamming the fire button untill he's stone dead.
I change back to the assault rifle and picks of the last zombie standing between me and the door. He's not the last of them, but i can outrun the others. The coast is clear, and i run. Ak's, viper5's, handguns, shotguns was that 5.56 i heard? I don't care and run like hell towards the door.
2 meters from the dor i gets hit by a stray shot. I tear the door open, and rapidly closes it.
The stray shot took away some hp, and i heads to the medic to patch me up.
Safe at last.

That entire sequence lasted me 45 minutes in real life. It is per now the 3rd longest period of continious combat caused by random spawns. It's per now the most thrilling experience i have had, and survived
th

707068
Damn, I had badass stuff like that happen before but never on that scale. I applaud you Stalker!

708649
The longest one includes 10X spawns, and 4 hours straight of fighting monolithians and mercenaries in pripyat.

Well, i use a few mods. Among them CoP complete and a mod to increase spawns (why 3 zombies when you can have 9?). Once i did a "no respawn" (of the mods i only used CoP compete at that time) on Master difficulty just for the heck of it
Took me 6 tries to make it, but was worth every second. Kudos to whomever does it on the first go (or just generally manages it on any difficulty)

I remember...

I was a fresh Rookie, just starting off in Cordon armed with only a half broken AKS-74U, a real piece of shit: heavy recoil, poor accuracy and jamming like a bitch American weapon.

I was tasked to help the Loners, who had just taken control of the military checkpoint, to take their village back from the bandits. Accompanied by half a dozen bros, we marched on and finally reached the village. Little did we know, the bandits had reinforcements. We had barely engaged in the gunfight that at least 15 bandits came out of the buildings and retaliated. I tried to help, but my gun kept on failing me. I kept missing and the rare bullet that landed on target hit an arm or a leg.

That's when Lorma got hit. I could only watch in horror as he dropped to the ground, clutching a bloody wound in his stomach. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. Yelling his name, I rushed to his side and frantically searched through my backpack for a medkit. Unfortunately I had none. I felt powerless in this instant. I could do nothing to help my friend who was bleeding to death on the rotten ground.

A bandit yelled something. Without thinking, I took Lorma's gun and fired. Again. And again. And again. One after another, I killed the bandits, their lifeless bodies hitting the ground with a thud. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to kill them all. I quickly looted a dead bandit for medical supplies and ran back to where Lorma was.

Unfortunately, he was dead. I had been too slow. Looking around me, I noticed that everyone was dead. Bandits, Loners, everyone. Everyone but me. I sat there, examining my newly acquired rifle. It was a custom AKS-74M - the paratrooper version of the AK-74M - fitted with a Kobra sight and a suppressor. The gun was camouflaged in a woodland patter in various shades of green. Simple yet very effective, and kind of beautiful in its way.

I then gathered the bodies of my fallen comrades and gave them a proper burial. I did not know them but I felt like we could have been friends, had fate not been a bitch. They deserved some respect. After that, I returned to the Loner camp and announced that the bandits had been wiped out. They cheered, not even caring about the fate of their friends who died there. Were they even their friends? I still don't know.

I kept the AK, it was undeniably a great upgrade over my old jam happy piece of shit at the time.

I've been in the Zone for quite a long time now, I have much better equipment, armor, detector, binoculars... I even have a military grade sniper rifle! Sure, there are better assault rifles out there, but I still use this AKS-74M as my primary. I got her upgraded a bit, I even got my hands on a GP-25 grenade launcher, but at her core, she's still the same. I keep her as a reminder of this stalker I barely knew, and as a reminder that no matter how well equipped you are, in the end, the Zone will kill you. It's just a matter of time.

Besides, I like this gun. It won't jam on me anytime soon. I trust her with my life.

Only cracks from the campfire could be heard, with the occasional gunshot or mutant howl disturbing the quietness of the night.

The first stalker raised his bottle. "To those who died," he solemnly said. "May they rest in peace."

The other did the same. "Amen."

Stalker Call of Pripyat with SGM 2.2, artifacts are OP as shit and being a millionaire is 'normal'. Also I like being well stocked on ammo. It prevents bad surprises.

The AK in question. I really did pick it up from a fallen fellow Loner in Cordon. She's been accompanying me ever since, to Pripyat and beyond.

708898
Sounds like an awesome mod if it includes the old school locales in CoP. Link?

I remember this one time when I had to run from the brain scorcher lab all the way to the freedom base in the army warehouses to escape an emission, in an exoskeleton. Fun times...

711173
Sorry for the late response, it didn't show up in my alert box thingy

FYI: the mod is here

>SWARTZ 1.3
>be ballin
>fully upgraded AS VAL, M24, M1911 A1
>go gas the bloodsuckers
>everything goes as planned
>kill the two bloodsuckas that show up, M24 hipfire yo
>go to oakpine to get the Kolobok for Garry
>grab dat shit
>go to the cavern under the burnt farmstead to get a meat chunk for Garry
>grab dat shiet too
>go to skadovsk
>trade some things
>go outside
>suddenly Snork out of fucking nowhere
>kills me in one strike
>wtf.png
>load save
>its' before I killed the suckers
>kill them again, get hte artifacts again
>Mercs outta nowhere, kill me with their OP M14
>reload save, kill suckers, get artifacts
>loners fighting against bandits
>decide to help them
>kill all but one bandits
>friendly grenade out of nowhere
>dead
>reload save, kill suckers, get Kolobok
>fall from tree
>ded

Some days I wonder why I wake up.

837519 I also apologise for the late reply. Thanks for the mod and the laugh

Not so much activity in this camp... Everyone, come closer, I have a story to tell you. And could someone tell that guy with the guitar to shut up...

Rainbow Dash entered a large room filled with rubble. She made her way to a large blue-ish crystal. she had finally found it, the wish granter.
"I... I want to become a wonderbolt." she said, and with a bright flash, her wish came true.

A few days later Strelok walked thru the corridors of the old nuclear power plant, A flash of light caught his eye. but the only thing he saw was a old rusty bolt. He picked it up and continued walking.

After a while he approached a anomaly field. He picked up a bolt and threw it.
A loud bang was heard and a path was lit up with a rainbow. curiosity got the best of him and he followed the path carefully.
The bolt had landed right next to a artifact and he picked it up, it was a goldfish.
Another bang was heard and a path out of the anomaly appeared.

He picked up the bolt and made his way out of the anomaly.
When he got out of it he said to himself "That really is a wonderbolt"

982514

Hah, that was actually pretty clever.

Marked One dropped to the ground in pain, clutching his right arm desperately. Several Equestrian Guards were closing in on him and one had even managed to slash him with a spear. Now behind cover and applying several bandages, the stalker pulled out his secret weapon.

"Eat this!"

He promptly pulled out a ripe banana, peeled it, ate the potassium-rich interior, and threw the peel over the small barrier he was using. An explosion suddenly wracked the corridor. He peeked over the cover and spotted all of the guards now on the ground, bleeding profusely.

Marked One was about to comment, only to be interrupted by Dima Mutagen, the local bandit.

"Looks like... they slipped up."

1022337 I find your short story, slightly appealing...

Would it be fine to post some prose I wrote, but didn't actually happen to me? It's not even a gameplay story, just something I wrote up.

1047476 I guess so... as long as it's somewhat related to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

1082186
Of course it is.

“Come on, you used to love this when we were kids!” a man complained to another, hefting his AK-74 onto his shoulder, while his partner groggily crawled out of his sleeping bag with a deep scowl on his face. “Being out in the woods, poking and pointing sticks like they were guns...”

“I’m sorry, Pasha,” the second man replied. “But if I remember correctly, the woods outside your mother’s house did not have bloodsuckers behind every other tree.”

Pasha chuckled to himself, “And she would cook fresh borscht after our little adventures, too.”

The remark earned a deep chuckle from his friend as they began their way through the brush. Misha, careful not to trip over a bundle of branches, went around through a clump of dead plants. “And I remember that ‘fresh’ did not necessarily mean ‘good’ either, Misha.”

“You better watch your mouth, or Mother will climb out of her grave and-”

Pasha’s world exploded in pain as the grenade went off, peppering him with small shards of shrapnel, but luckily not enough to kill him. He shakily climbed off the ground and brought his AK to bear, firing wildly into where he thought the user was hiding. Nothing.

He turned around, firing once more. Nothing.

He replaced the spent magazine with a fresh one and calmed himself down. He examined the scenery around him. It was quiet save for the calls of birds and roars of distant mutants, and it smelled of ozone and cheap gunpowder. No one was around. It must have been a booby trap or a mine. But how long has that been there?

Stupid, stupid, he scalded himself. They had neglected to clear the site.

He bent his neck downwards and looked at himself. He was bleeding in a couple of places, but normal movement of his muscles proved nothing a simple bandage and antiseptic couldn’t fix. There were screws, nails, and an assortment of other metal scraps stuck in his armor, but they did not penetrate.

He was lucky. He wondered what Misha would-

“Misha?” he called. He ran towards his downed partner. He tried to choke back the tears, but they flowed regardless, cutting clean lines through the grime on his face. He reached Misha, who was motionless face-down on the ground. His right leg was blown off just below the knee, leaving a jagged bone and strips of muscle and vein in its place.

“Misha!”

Pasha knelt down over his friend, grabbing and cradling his blood-covered friend. His own clothes were stained from the growing puddle of fluids, but he didn’t care. He grabbed a cloth from his jacket and wiped Misha’s face.

“Misha.”

---

He struck the ground once again, his shovel penetrating deeper into the clay that lay in front of him. He scooped a large chunk of it off to the side onto a large pile. It was getting bigger by the minute, but not fast enough for him. He went again, and again, until his back ached from the effort. He gave it a second to settle and went back to his task until the pain was too much.

After a few minutes of rest he grabbed the shovel again and walked back to his work. As he was about to jump into the oblong hole, the world around flashed a bright crimson. He looked up at the sky in horror. Bright clouds were forming, lightning crackling between them. He looked anxiously around him for shelter.

Blowouts were not something one would want to be caught in. Over time, the Zone would build up psychic energy in the noosphere, and would release it at semi-random times. The massive psychic blast would fry the brain of anyone exposed out in the open, and for them, their fate was worth than death.

That was why Pasha was clumsily sprinting towards the nearest gap in the ground he saw. He wasn’t paying attention to the sky like he should have been. Blowouts do not develop that quickly. It was going to happen any time now. He dropped something from his belt he didn’t have the time to secure, but he could get it later. No one would steal it between then and when the blowout passed.

He reached the edge of the crevice but quickly slipped on the moist, smooth surface and fell into a patch of mud. He hurriedly crawled deeper, trying to get as far away from the mouth as possible. The thunder built up and everything, even in the dank environment he was in, lightened up as though it was cloudless daytime. He pushed himself against the wall, praying for safety to whatever god or gods existed.

After a tense few seconds, it finished. He nervously lifted his head from the ground of the crevice, and poked his head out of the opening. It was all clear. The rain clouds were back up in the sky, the birds were back, Stalkers were shooting themselves somewhere in the distance, the mutants were searching for food...

Dammit! he cursed.

He reached for his machine gun’s strap and pulled it from his shoulder. He unfolded the bipod from the barrel and set it on the ground facing the pack of mutants. There were about eight fleshpigs total, and one was nearing his friend. He estimated the distance (about one hundred fifty meters) and set the alignment of his weapon’s sights accordingly.

He settled the front sight post on the head of the front fleshpig just like he used to one time with Misha, when they happened upon a group of bandits in a firefight with Duty-aligned Stalkers.

He squeezed the trigger, and his rifle fired true, blasting a gory hole through the mutant. The others were scared, but they didn’t run off. They stuck what they had for heads up in the air, trying to sniff him out.

Good luck.

He aimed for the next and fired again, killing another of the beasts. After a few more shots, the last mutant dropped dead. Pasha surveyed for a few more seconds to make sure, but nothing new showed up.

He picked up his rifle and began walking back towards his friend.

---

He dropped the last bit of displaced earth on the mound and pat it down. He strapped his shovel to his pack and pulled out a large bottle. He took a sip for his friend, and the hard liquid burned its way down to the pit of his stomach. Pasha sighed in appreciation. Vodka, like all alcohol, got better with age, and that particular bottle he found in a mostly destroyed building that had looked no younger than sixty years. THey had been saving it for when they finally decided to leave the Zone, riches on their backs and memories in their heads.

He looked back at the mound and took another sip. Another look, but this time a gulp

Soon, half of the bottle was gone. He took another glance at the dirt beneath him. He held it over his friend and tipped it over. “Here,” he muttered, “have your half.”

He poked the empty bottle in the ground so it was stuck, and repacked his gear. He began his long, and now lonely, trek back to the Skadovsk.

1082278 I say... that was an interesting story. and very fitting music.

Howdy ho, Everyone!
I’m currently working on a STALKER comic on DeviantArt, and I’ve stumbled upon a problem… I need ponified names for several of the characters from Clear Sky (don’t hate me).
And I’m now asking for your advice regarding the following characters:

1. Lebedev, the clear sky faction leader.
2. Sidorovich, the greedy little bastard.
3. Nimble.
4. Scar.
5. Uncle Yar.
6. Ashot, freedom trader.
7. Thunderov, duty technician.

If you have a DeviantArt account just tell me and I will credit you if I use your suggestion.