After a lively and relaxing morning at the First Call, you're called to your initial briefing for the 8th Special Exploratory Team. Clint "Hawkeye" Brock has a reputation for success against overwhelming odds through sheer guts and maybe a sprinkling of borderline crazy risk-taking. His last field mission cost him his eye but he still managed to take out some nearly mountain-sized Thing-That-Should-Not-Be in the middle of its meal (which consisted of a sizable village, land and all) with a suicidal charge on a mountaineer rigged with a huge arcane-explosive. How he escaped the blast radius is the topic of much debate; he has never weighed in. Word has it that he refused both arcane and cybernetic assistance to repair or replace his eye. "Badge of honor" he calls it.
You each find an appropriate seat in a small briefing room. The man stands at the head of the room in front of a large projection monitor with a map of the nearby region displayed. "Morning. Smells like you've been at Ricky's. Don't blame you." He lifts a mug to his lips and takes a sip. FIRST CALL is emblazoned on the front.
Setting the mug down, the veteran warrior begins explaining the purpose of your team. His voice carries a deep tone with a hint of grit and enough character to keep you listening. "Highups have need for a crew to run remote explorations. We know the territory near the castle well enough but further out is foggy. Even when we map something, some damned rift pops in and gives us new terrain or new critters to worry about." He murmurs a little bit of disgust at the idea. "Expect not to make regular stops at home. Expect to handle your business while you're out by any means necessary. The Legion's mission is a noble one. Act like it. But we'd just as soon have you make it back alive if you got a choice."
He turns back towards the map on the wall. "Need you to head out south-southwest. This region here -" He punctuates the location with a finger against the wall monitor. "- needs a fresh walkthrough. Some of the seers are getting some funny vibes out that way. Maybe go give it a look, see what you can see, check it against our existing maps. You're a multi-tool team. Meet people, reach out and make positive contact. Meet critters, make sure they're not hungry for our kind. Don't start fights, but end them if you need to. Once you've got it mapped out, bring it back. Easy enough. Motor pool is loading some mapping software into your ride. No muss, no fuss. Just make sure it's on." He picks up his FIRST CALL mug and takes another sip. "Questions?"
Instructions
Fire off any questions and RP with Hawkeye and/or your team you think are pertinent, but the mission is simple enough. We will run the next couple weeks in-game as a Quick Encounter / Travel hybrid. Roll 1d4 to draw a situation. (1=Enemies, 2=Strangers, 3=Treasure, 4=Obstacle) Pick a skill that comes into play for your character and describe a situation your team runs into that you can contribute to using primarily that skill. If the team earns 8 tokens, we move on to the next situation with no hindrances. Fall short and you'll pickup a handicap for the next scene. Score 12+ tokens as a crew and the GM will find something nice to throw your way as a bonus somewhere along the way.
(note: nobody's picking up a Battle Fury Blade or anything similarly ridiculous for drawing a 3 and succeeding on their roll)
“Guuh… Turns out it wasn’t infinity set after all…” Klaxie says dejectedly as she sees all of the familiar faces from the First Call in the room with her, at some point coming to the conclusion that her communications pad had indeed been tilted sideways. Well, she supposed it wasn’t all bad. They seemed a decent bunch even if they were kind of teetotaler. Not that it mattered all that much since it wasn’t like there was usually a lot of opportunity to get drunk during a mission regardless.
As they were presented with the various seats in the room, Klaxie stubbornly decided to sit on one. Resting her lower half on the biped shaped device, as the thing creaked backwards and bent in half, resulting in her hind legs pointing upwards and back in what looked to be a very awkward position. The entire time she did this she made eye contact with Clint, as if confirming that -yes- she was really doing this.
“Look at you calling us a buncha tools. Well I guess it’s not any worse than calling us Juments I guess.” Klaxie said after thinking about their assignment for a few moments. “Sounds easy enough to me. Until something goes wrong that is, but that’s how it always goes right? How long will it take to get there? Can we get some MREs for the trip from supply before heading out?”
The mechanical centaur glanced over to her companions seated next to her. Two elves, a cactus, the nice mons bons guy and the super ugly guy from Madhaven (who was also a nice guy) - guess it turns out he ended up here as well. Poor guy didn’t have any luck at all, did he?
At the very least they seemed to be an interesting bunch, so at least she wouldn’t be bored during the trip. A few minutes later…
“Auuuugh! I’m so god damned bored!” Came a scream from the rear of the Mountaineer Mk2. The rugged terrain vehicle was thankfully large enough to fit Klaxie, but she had to enter from the rear cargo hatch and it was still a relatively tight fit for her. Not to mention when the thing had the ECC enabled, it was extremely stuffy. Her less cybernetic brethren probably would have died by now due to the intense agony of being cooped up inside.
“Stop the thing right now! I gotta get out, I gotta get out, I gotta get out I’m so bored! let me out, I gotta pee, let me out or I’m gonna pee in the truck!” Came a sudden rapid fire succession of demands from the back, which seemed to be a cascading flow of nonsense. But still, it was likely that Murpf and whoever he had designated as his assistant driver would abruptly slam on the brakes and open the rear hatch, as the pouring rain from outside immediately splattered those close to the back of the vehicle.
Without any hesitation, Klaxie sprung to her legs and bolted outside, galloping away several yards in order to clear her head. Of course she hadn’t really needed to leave that urgently, but it was definitely time for a breather. And while it seemed like they had been traveling for days at this point, her watch only showed that they had been gone for 45 minutes. One could actually still see Castle Refuge off in the distance amidst the clouds and falling rain.
As the centaur kicked a clomp of mud in frustration, there was a series of surprised shouting's up ahead from above a ridge where the trail dipped between two large rocky outcrops. What would have been a perfect ambush spot for a large set of bandits, who had their eye on acquiring a partially damaged Mountaineer Mk2 for a very reasonable price. But by sheer dumb luck, Klaxie had halted the vehicle early and foiled their plans for a perfect ambush, as they took the delay to mean that they had been spotted. Several of them scrambling to change their tactics and reorganize, while others among them fled as they assessed the situation to be too dangerous.
Thankfully their would be ambushers hadn’t been the incredibly disciplined and organized types, as Klaxie sprung into action, as all four of her arms extended with a different ranged weapon in hand. Strafing her piston legs in a zig zag motion as a massive hail of laser blasts, plasma and launched grenades came from her all at once, peppering the entire ridge with a near endless supply of suppressive fire.
Hitting them and ending the threat immediately wasn’t her immediate goal, but keeping them panicked and on edge for long enough for her teammates to realize what was going on was. Proving to be effective enough that they were able to do just that.
“We get scabs lookin to bone without buying us dinner first! Get out get out get out get out!” Klaxie yelled into her headset, a stray blast from above hitting her in the shoulder, but thankfully not being enough to penetrate her armor.
Once the others of her group were able to respond, they were able to thankfully make short work of them. But unfortunately the ridge up ahead had collapsed during the fire fight, and more than likely due to Klaxie’s overzealous use of grenades from her launcher. The resultant landside causing the team to slow down somewhat as they had to find a way to circumvent the rubble and use an alternate route to continue onwards.
When the fight had finally ended and they had all loaded back up into the Mountaineer, Klaxie admitted to the others at that moment. “I didn’t really have to pee back then just so you know. I was just using my warriors intuition and such, cause I felt in the back of my neck that those guys were there and had to do something about it. She finished, jerking a thumb towards her chest as she offered them a big grin.
“Also… I actually do gotta go now. Can you pull over again?” Came a sudden ask not 5 minutes later.
Break ground and blazing trials is second nature to Gangleri who moves through the rugged wilderness with a grace that belies his physical mutations. Although the Mountaineer is an all terrain beast it still makes slow going off road. Whenever the going gets slow, Gangleri dismounts and creeps forward to scout a better route or look out for trouble. And, as it often does, trouble finds him. Moving from the trees to what looks like a clear pathway he finds a group of bandits lying in wait. Seeing a lone traveller they strike quickly for easy pickings.
"Gives us everything you got!"
Raising his hands slowly Gangleri pulls back his hood revealing his mangled visage.
"You don't want what I got. Wasting disease, pretty contagious from touching. Even my own family cast me out. Catch it and your pricks will fall right off!"
The bandit leader takes a few horrified steps back before signalling to the others, "Come on, this freak doesn't have anything worth taking anyway."
Shrugging Gangleri raises his hood gain and gives a crooked smile as he waits for the Mountaineer to catch up.
Snake Eyes wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 8:47 pm
He turns back towards the map on the wall. "Need you to head out south-southwest. This region here -" He punctuates the location with a finger against the wall monitor. "- needs a fresh walkthrough. Some of the seers are getting some funny vibes out that way. Maybe go give it a look, see what you can see, check it against our existing maps. You're a multi-tool team. Meet people, reach out and make positive contact. Meet critters, make sure they're not hungry for our kind. Don't start fights, but end them if you need to. Once you've got it mapped out, bring it back. Easy enough. Motor pool is loading some mapping software into your ride. No muss, no fuss. Just make sure it's on." He picks up his FIRST CALL mug and takes another sip. "Questions?"
Murpf raises a hand, "I don't suppose while the tools jockeys are fiddling with Zazie's code they could stick a gun on her? A nice rail gun maybe, or even a little AP laser?? No? I promise there won't be another "misfire" incident. To be fair, who parks a sewage trunk next to a parade route anyway?" The look from their new CO leaves him doubting he'll receive the weaponry.
"Speaking" over Zazie's internal speakers Murpf addresses the latest request from @Klaxie to pull over. I would but your friends from earlier are back for more. Everyone hold on tight, time for some defensive driving." Pulling into a section of forest with thick scrub growth but few large trees Murpf puts the hammer down and slaloms through the obstructions losing a few mercs on bike but a buggy looks to not only keep up but is closing until the cactus man deliberately clips a small tree and with a quick burnout of the rear tires, sends it like a missile through the smaller vehicles grill.
Having evaded the various attackers (during which fights he stayed safely in the vehicle, though he was ready to have the lwa mess with anyone foolish enough to attempt a boarding action), the 8th goes through a relatively dull patch of Arkansas landscape. After attempting to flirt with Klaxie, who seems to think most of his terms of casual affection are culinary descriptors, he looks over the map while sitting in the Mountaineer. After a bit, Raphael gives a hearty chuckle. "Hey, mon ami, if you think we can bank a little further to the West, along the ruins of the old highway there, I think I might be able to be of some use to the group."
As they run along the long-destroyed roadway, they see a battered green sign covered with bushes, with the letters "P-A-R-T" being the only ones peeking out from behind the greenery. "Here, it is grand fortune we are passing this way!" His exuberance only grows as they come into a sight arguably more incongruous than Castle Refuge in the Arkansas landscape--a large Greek ruin, sitting on a torn up base of marble tiles! A relatively minor Ley Line runs overhead.
"Here, pull over about 100 yards from the ruin. Let me go alone, but I would greatly appreciate if a few gun-tips were pointing out from the hatch as I get close; sometimes having camarades bien armés helps to make a transaction go smoothly." With that, he hops out and strolls towards the impressive edifice, holding his staff in his good arm and calling out, "Ah, it is your old friend, Raphael, here to finish notre accord, yes?" A somewhat dodgy-looking human steps out from the pillars, carrying a small box, and hands it over to Raphe.
The houngan uses the strap on his staff to sling it over his shoulder, then looks into the box for a moment, smiling broadly. He says something quietly to the man (the Mountaineer's SRS picks up him saying, "A bit light, it seems? Ah, well, no matter, I think this will still suffice."). The man he's speaking to actually seems a bit disgruntled about how jovial Raphael is, but, noting the vehicle in the distance, just steps back into the pillars, while Raphe turns around and walks back to the vehicle, hopping in.
If anyone asks, he explains, "Oh, that is just a man who will do a thing for a price, but usually manages to find a way to make more than he charges; still, he can be dealt with, if you know ahead of time to include his overhead. Now, let us see...."
He opens the box again, revealing a motley assortments of random wearable trinkets. He gives his trademark grin. "Belle chance! As I said,I think I am now establishing my usefulness. Everyone, please, take the item you think best suits you!" He drops the box on the seat next to himself, and plucks out a skull-faced silver ring, slipping it onto his index finger, using his thumb and middle finger, with only a little difficulty.
What's all this then?
Describe the item you got. Should fit the description of a small, wearable bauble, no larger than a hat. It bestows a +1 to one particular Skill of your choice when worn, as an Enchanted item. (So it's worth about 10K Cr.) Enjoy!
I suggest both a post here describing the item you pick, and a write-up of the game mechanics in the group forum.
She nods at the instructions they are given and has no questions. She makes her way to the front seat of the vehicle as if it were a given she'd sit there. When they are ambushed, she sighs. She is about to get out to help with the situation but finds that they are already scrambling away from her deformed companion. She smirks at the story he gives them and the fact that they believe him so readily. When Raphael finds a person he knows on the road, even just as a procurer of goods she takes note. Best to befriend this one. He could be incredibly...oh! That necklace is LOVELY. She reaches out and picks up the chain and examines the pendant. It is a lovely celtic harp worked in an unusual green stone or mineral of some sort. Along the body of the harp is intricately detailed knotwork and the word "Baird" in a stylized calligraphy. The puts the necklace on and looks at it on then nods. This is the one she will take. She hums to herself afterward and the sound is rich and full. (+1 Performance)
Afterward she starts back for the truck and spies something on the ground. She picks it up and dusts it off then pulls out a cloth it give it a more thorough cleaning. It's a periapt with a dangling pendant of that same green stone though this one carved into just a standard square celtic knot. Perhaps dropped by someone. Or maybe her luck just makes it a matching set. Either way it draws a bit of a smile to her lips. She winds it into her hair and gets in the truck, ready to head out when the others do are also ready. (+1 Research)
As the truck takes off again, she keeps her eyes open on the landscape around them watching for further ambushes or other dangers that could pose a problem for them. She also suggests course corrections here and there if they are getting too far away from whatever it is she senses up ahead.
roll-treasure||Notice 5
1d4: [3] = 3
Notice 1d6!!: [5] = 5
Wild Notice 1d6!!: [5] = 5
Last edited by Eldariel on Sun Sep 29, 2024 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The trip into the wild is not short on adventure. Dodging ambushes, meeting mysterious contacts, and scoring treasures mix in with days of boredom and exploring the topography of a region prone to importing new topography from other worlds and dimensions. Two weeks of exploration later and, noticing the state of your ration stores, you opt to return with a geolocator full of data.
The terrain in southern Missouri on your way back to the castle is hilly and the forests are thick. Even with the skillful driving of Murpf and the navigational assistance of Eldariel, the going is very slow. Adding to the complication now is the path you've been following opens up to a clearing in the forest approaching a significant river. You hope to strike a little bit of luck with a bridge.
Eldariel
Your sense for the magic radiating from ley lines alerts you to the presence of a line running east and west about a mile north of here. The line runs into a nexus about two miles further west/northwest from where you would reach the line heading due north.
But before you can begin a scan for such a thing, the vehicle's sensors pick up a high-pitched voice screaming in distress! Off to your right, your hoped-for bridge spans the river, across which you see a young humanoid. The humanoid is running in a panic. A moment later, you see why. Several (6) large red-skinned humanoids are chasing him at a pace which will overtake him in mere moments!
Notice
A successful notice finds that the youth is a d-bee, human-looking but with pointed ears and bright, jewel-colored eyes.
You would guess him at 12 years of age if he ages at a similar rate to humans.
The several humanoids behind him are very obviously bionically enhanced and are all carrying laser rifles and other heavy weaponry but they are not shooting at him.
Also, you are not confident that the bridge will hold your laden vehicle.
There is a sketchy bit of debris in the river across which you could make a direct walk/run towards the boy. There is no chance of driving the vehicle across here.
The group of red-skinned brutes are howling at the boy. "NO WITNESSES!" the largest one shouts.
Occult or Common Knowledge
These are brodkil, a particularly violent kind of demon known for a lust for combat and a penchant for taking cybernetic enhancements.
The large humanoids haven't noticed you yet but you don't blend in, having pulled up out of the forest into a clearing. What are you doing?
Setup
The bridge is approximately 6" across, wide enough for the mountaineer to fit, barely. It runs northwest across the river from your side. You are 2" from the southern edge of the bridge. The boy is about 6" east of the bridge and his pursuers are 6" behind him. As the crow flies or the laser shoots, you're 10" from the boy and 16" from the aggressors.
She doesn't Notice anything special about the kid. Heck she barely notices him at all.
Professor if Brodkil Studies
Occult 1d8!!: [13!!] = 13
Wild 1d6!!: [5] = 5
However, she begins to rattle off important details about the demons weaknesses, etc in that posh English voice before leaning out of the window. Based on her knowledge of these things and that No Witnesses scream her target is clear. She focuses on the one who screamed first, sending a bolt of holy energy directly at him.
Greater Bolt with Extra damage, with onslaught and AP 6, 26 MegaDamage and AP 6 21 MegaDamage on a second
Oh these guys. Gangleri thinks to himself as he sees Brodkil chasing after a small child. He is not typically one to shoot first, but he has seen this type before and knows there is little hope for a peaceful resolution. Already ahead of the Mountaineer in his scouting role, he takes a shooting position and fires at the first Brodkil to step on the bridge, then hustles toward the boy (moving Pace 8).
Surveying the scene, he calls out, "We probably need to keep that bridge—and boy— in tact easy on the heavy stuff."
Failure! (3)
Common Knowledge 1d4!: [3] = 3
Wild Die 1d6!: [1] = 1
“Woah, if we ain’t looking at the same bridge there guys. This things a rotten piece of shit that we’re not driving across unless you wanna get us nose first into the drink. You’re gonna get my mons bons all wet if we do that and I really hate it when my mons bons gets wet when I’m not in the mood for it!” Klaxie blurted out as she looked through the STS and scanned the general area.
“Check out that pile a’ slag at the bottom of the slope there though. I betcha I could hoof it across there real quick and maybe get there before they do. I think it’s pretty clear what's going on here.” The centaur explained as she let go of the scope and pressed the button which raised the viewer port back upwards. As tall as she was, she had to kneel down on all fours to ensure that she didn’t hit her head on the top of the vehicle.
“Obviously these guys were out getting tans, and turned all red cause they were baking out in the light for too long. Then this little shit shows up and starts laughing at them, probably called them sun dried tomatoes or something and then maybe threw some clay at them. Now they got it in their heads to kill em to avoid embarrassment, because you just don’t live that one down when it gets out.” It becoming abundantly clear that the smug head-hunter who still was taking several ineffective swings at figuring out Creole lingo, also amazingly had no idea what a brodkil was. Perhaps she really was from far away.
“Look, the point is, I got new turbo boosters installed on my legs a little bit ago and I’m itchin to try em out. So I’m gonna run over there quick as a bird and try to get em out of there. Or at least get in front and make an ass of myself so they hit me and not the goober. The rest of you pick em off while I try to get him away from the fray. Sound good? Great!”
Then without waiting for an answer, Klaxie popped open the rear hatch of the ATV with intent to bolt towards that area of fallen rubble in the river. Halting briefly before she looked at the distance across the entire thing. Then looking back at her hind legs for a moment and squinting her eyes once more at the ledge. "Wait... I got a better idea..."
Common Knowledge d8!!: [3] = 3
Common Knowledge Wild d6!!: [3] = 3
of who or what is chasing the kid is non existent. He can see the cybernetics festooning the creatures though so after Klaxie and Raphael hop out he guns the engine and pulls up next to the bridge, leaving the open back door near Gangleri. Talking through the moutaineers speakers he calls you to the mutant "Hey G-man, Zazie's back door will cover you better than that shitbox of a bridge." Then he gets ready to jam any calls for support the hostiles may make.
Raphael, seeing the situation--and in particular, the Brodkil--mutters something under his breath, then puts a hand on Klaxie's shoulder as she's about to get out of the vehicle. "Mon Chere! Can you get me across the river? I can shield the boy while the rest of you deal with les monstres rouges!" If she accepts, he moves to get upon her powerful back and cling for dear life as she makes to cross the river.
Klaxie stares blankly at Raphael for a few moments as he speaks. After a few moments she would look over her shoulder to see who he was talking to, eventually just shaking her head at him. “Sorry guy, I don’t think Chere is here. But I’m gonna try and do a jump, so if you wanna go with me instead you can. Don’t worry, nothing could possibly go wrong! I’ve practiced this lots of times in my head with shorter distances.” She says reassuringly, hoping that she’d be a sufficient substitute for whomever the man had in mind.
“But it’s a good plan!” Klaxie adds, helping Raphael up onto her metallic frame. The priest would find himself somewhat uncomfortable and pinched in various spots however as he would have to find a spot amid the vast arsenal the centaur carried strapped to her back. “I don’t know much about what these things like, but it’s probably a little early to assume they’re all les rouge, I made that mistake with you and Ricky back at the First Call. Though you probably know more about these things than me, I couldn’t even tell they were female from here. How many times have you tangled with the likes of them?” She’d ask, cracking the knuckles of all four of her hands (including the metal ones for some reason) and her neck in preparation for the jump.
“Hold on or you’re gonna get your mons bons wet as well!”
Murph turns his attention to Zazee's comm suite, quickly channel surfing through frequencies to lock in on the ones being used by the hostile cyberdemons. Once he has them the technopath then
their comms to keep them from calling for reinforcements. "I'm trashing their comm channels, unless you like headaches avoid the frequencies between 6 and 7 hundred killowats. Particularly the 660s for some reason."
The 8th SET wastes little time springing to the aid of the innocent against the demonic. The brodkil are immediately alerted to your presence just in time for the one that looks (and sounds) like the leader to catch a holy magical bolt to the chest from the direction of Eldariel. The blast sizzles with radiant energy and the leader screams as his unholy existence is ended. The second blast, too, finds a similarly damaging mark on a second demon.
Gangleri takes aim and firers a blast from his JA-11, striking one of the nearest brodkil. The demon manages to shrug off the attack, none the worse for wear but now driven to rage.
Murpf wisely uses his electronics onboard Zazee to prevent the brodkil from transmitting an alert to any of their associates. Now their only hope for reinforcement is to yell really loud.
Brodkil 1 returns fire at @Gangleri,
Brod 1 Smarts: 1d4!!: [1] = 1
Brod 1 ROF 3 Shooting Gangleri: 1d8!!+2: [11!!]+2 = 13
Damage Gangleri raise AP 2: 5d6!!: [16!!, 2, 2, 1, 9!!] = 30
in retaliation. Not the brightest bulb, he also
Brod 1 ROF 3 Shooting Klaxie: 1d8!!+2: [2]+2 = 4
Brod 1 ROF 3 Shooting Klaxie: 1d8!!+2: [6]+2 = 8
at the heavily armored @Klaxie. The laser blasts bounce predictably off the cyber armor.
Brodkil 2 remains on task,
Brod 2 Grapple Von: 1d8!!: [12!!] = 12
in his cybernetic arms. With the other pair of arms, he points the rifle at the child and turns to face the 8th SET!
Brodkil 3 takes an ill-advised pop shot at the mountaineer. Zazee
and gives @Murpf a little bit of a start.
Brodkil 4
Brod 4 run: 1d8: [8] = 8
now held by the 2nd brodkil and prepares to rush away from the fight with his precious cargo in hand!
The rest of the 8th makes their moves to stop the escaping demons!
3 Actions (map reduced to 0 due to cybernetics, two gun kid and two fisted)
Action 1: Athletics for jumping 6 inches across the river. Raise required.
Raise (9)
Athletics d10!: [9] = 9
Wild die d6!: [3] = 3
Action 2: Moving remaining 4 inches and using Improved Sweep with Giant Vibro Sword
(hits all enemy targets in Reach 2 circle. Friendlies unaffected.)
Damage to brodkil 2: 21(23 if a raise) AP 16
Damage to brodkil 4: 15(16 if a raise) AP 16
Action 3: Offhand shot with BB-6 Revolver At brodkil 1
Raise 8 (5+2+1 from shotgun effect and multi optics helmet)
Damage to Brodkil 1: 15 AP 3 damage (if short range)
5 AP 3 damage ( if target is > 6 inches away at medium. Raise no longer applied and damage reduced 1 die)
Brodkil 1 is now Distracted and must roll strength to avoid getting pushed 2d6 inches back.
2d6: [3, 3] = 6
Klaxie is now Vulnerable for shooting a target outside of Melee if any of the brodkil survived Action 2
"Huh??" Klaxie said with surprise as she was hit in the chest with a barage of laser fire that plinked off of her Titan Plate armor. It wasn't easy finding something large and durable that fit her frame in such a way in a world dominated by human manufacturers. But it seemed as though she was able to find something reasonably affordable given the niche desire for oversized juicers needing protection, and the subsequent oversized d-bee aftermarket that existed from that. That, mixed with her cybernetic plating seemed to do the job of having the blast bounce off harmlessly from her frame.
Still, she wasn't the issue here as it looked as though the red skinned figures had grabbed the fleeing child and was about to shoot it in the head! With a huff, Klaxie sprinted into action as she charged towards the edge of the river with Raphie in tow.
"Hang on to my mons bons or you're gonna hit the drink!" The centaur yelled back at the man sitting on her rump between the large arsenel she carried with her. In what seemed like an unlikey chance of success, Klaxies rocket boosters kicked in and helped propel all four legs into the air as she landed with a thud, just barely making it across.
Without missing a beat, Klaxie continued to charge forward in what looked like a terrifying mechanical horror of limbs, as she held aloft a massive vibro sword over head, while simultaneously brandishing a riot shield and a revolver that was so absurdly massive that it could only be called that by technicality only.
Thankfully the hand to hand reaction wiring embedded into her limbs seemed to be much smarter than her, as it seemed to understand that swinging a massive sword wildly while someone sat on your back, and while an innocent bystander was being grappled was not the best of ideas. It seemed to compensate for her reckless movements, raising itself to the exact height to strike at the brodkil's necks while narrowly avoiding the head of the much shorter child being held by it. The giant cleaver striking flesh and metal, though little attention was paid to the result of such as her lower arm used the large revolver to take a shot at the creature that had shot at Gangleri and herself.
The concussive blast that seemed to explode out the end of the barrel was awkward and barely did a superficial amount of hurt to the more distant target, but it seemed as though this was a secondary intent of the infamous big bore series of guns that seemed designed to knock over stubborn targets rather than taking them out completely.
"You wanna shoot at ugly guy you gotta get through me first!" Came a sudden defiant shout at the farther away brodkil. "You think he cares about wounds? Do ya? Look at him! He's already mulched up to hell and back, he's so badass and doesn't give a shit about nothin!" Came the well meaning praise of her ally who had taken the other blast from the series of shots that had headed their way earlier.
"You're up Raph!" Klaxie then shouted out... Without even checking to see if the man had even made it across the river with her first. The situation might potentially be an awkward one for certain.
Last edited by Klaxie on Tue Oct 01, 2024 9:33 am, edited 33 times in total.
30 AP 2 = 4 wounds.
Benny to Soak 1d12!: [11] = 11
Soak Wild Die 1d6!: [4] = 4
Soaked 3 wounds, takes 1
Rewarded with a hail of laser fire for his heroic Gangleri lets the intense heat of the blasts scorch his skin making it look even more pock marked than normal. Almost immediately, however, the burns begin to bubble over and scar. "Damnit that's itchy," he remarks as the last few laser holes take a moment to adjust.
Seeing the boy held in the Brodkil's arms gives the mutant pause, unsure what to do he takes a bead at the Brodkil's head but holds fire waiting for an opportunity (holding for a called shot to Brodkil head).
Slinging his staff over his shoulder, Raphe does his best to follow Klaxie's instructions as she prepares to make the leap, looping his hand through one of the straps on the harness holding her arsenal. Murmuring a prayer to the loa as they begin to move, he grips for dear life as Klaxie charges the riverbank. It's possible his voice went up a few octaves as they sailed through the air, but fortunately,
to keep his grip on the harness, sliding off just as she touches down on the far bank.
No time for celebration, however--once Klaxie has eviscerated the Brodkil who had the temerity to lay its bestial claws on the boy, he immediately reaches into his pouch and pulls out a cigar, which he places into a small holder on the side of his staff, making it easier to hold it while letting the built-in lighter ignite the tip, and blows smoke at the boy, while calling for Mama Bridgette to keep the child safe. For a moment, anyone paying close attention might notice the smoke resembling a pair of matronly arms embracing the boy before dissipating.
Rebuking the Brodkil
Casting Rebuke: 2 PPE, Greater +1, Strong +1, Total 4 PPE
Faith d12!!+1: [6]+1 = 7
Wild Faith d6!!+1: [11!!]+1 = 12
Raise! Any Brodkil attempting to directly affect the boy in a negative fashion must roll Spirit at -4. On a Failure, they lose that action and are Distracted; a Spirit critfail causes them to be Stunned, instead.
He then looks at the boy. "Okay, you as safe as you gonna get. Mama Bridgette can fend off the nasties. Now, run!! Run home and tell them what you see here!" Hoping that the boy has the sense to follow that instruction, he stands and turns to face the Brodkil that have survived his teammates' onslaught.
