XCOM: Enemy Unleashed

Game Master JDPhipps

"Then that begs the question. What spooked him too bad to wait for his reinforcements?"

Gavril, meanwhile, starts flipping through frequencies on the radio, first checking just to see if anyone's broadcasting, and then cycling back through while giving his own brief call. "This is Senior Corporal Gavril Vasilescu with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. We're currently on task to rendezvous with air support. If anyone's there, respond."

Kristophe, himself a helicopter pilot, says Helicopters don't leave scraps...

Despite the situation, Borax laughs at Kristophe's comment.

"You're with Lieutenant Winger, am I right?" A voice comes over the radio, finally answering the broadcast being sent out. "I'm not far east of your location, assuming you're wear I dropped that damned thing; you won't miss me, I promise you that." The transmission cuts out for a moment, but you still hear the echoes of chatting; it seems he put down the radio to speak with his survivors. "I'll have of the soldiers sittin' off the side of the road, waiting for you. Those things did a number on us before I shot one down and ran. We dropped the radio when one of those things shot me in the wrist and it fell out."

As Kristophe makes his astute observation, it does dawn on the others than any helicopter with debris this large off of it probably didn't fly away from the scene. This metal appears to be something important, but it isn't a part of the plane at all. It seems like some sort of armor plating, but it wouldn't fit a person right at all.

Jacob listens to the radio comm and simply says "Straaaaaaange." before walking up to the "debris" again and closely inspecting it.

"20 bucks say we talked to greys, but I hope I lose this bet."

"I'll take you up on that, if you're serious," Gavril replies. He then speaks back into the radio. "We are with Lieutenant Winger, yes. We'll be there soon. Make sure to let your man know we have six friendlies." With that he nods to the others. "Let's get moving."

"This is about to be bad. Very, very bad..."

"Copy that; they'll be waiting for you. You might not see them at first, since they'll be hunkered down, but they'll send you a signal over this radio frequency so you don't shoot when they pop their heads up." The voice crackles in and out a bit as the pilot talks, his voice somewhat garbled due to the condition of the radio and the strength of the signal. "Once you're here I'll fill you in, but I'd rather spend time working than talking." After that, the radio signal stops.

Borax speaks in a half-question half-statement manner, "If the helicopter didn't land.....then it went up?"

Borax takes a look at where the radio landed and tries to determine if the fall of the radio left marks along the ground.

If the radio fell from a moving vehicle, then it would roll and tumble, leaving skid marks. These could be used to determine the direction of travel of the chopper.

[Dice=Tracking]1d6;1d6

[dice=Wild Ace]1d6 Total =10

Was wondering if Borax ever got a read on which direction the chopper was headed in.

Jacob waits for Borax to give an order, but when the group starts moving, he scouts ahead with his rifle prepared.

Stealth: 1d8 ⇒ 81d6 ⇒ 3
Ace: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Sorry Borax, I missed that. From what you can tell, it does looks like the radio was dropepd by someone in a moving vehicle, and from a significant height, meaning it adds up with the pilot's story. In addition, the direction the helicopter was traveling in matches up with where they asked you to go. It seems as though either the pilot is who he claims to be, or your adversaries are doing a very good job of luring you into a trap.

Borax communicates what he knows to Kristophe and the rest of the group and waits for the signal to move out from Kirstophe.

Stealth: 1d6 ⇒ 31d6 ⇒ 2

Kristophe, just for future notice, if you don't have anything you feel you need to add in a situation like this you can either post that OOC or just wait for me to update; if we're waiting on a signal from you to move out and I haven't heard from you in 24 hours (assuming you haven't informed me that you'll be away or something similar), I will move the group along. Just wanted to let you know, so you don't feel as though you need to add anything if you're just ready to go.

Ready to go.

Just so you guys know, after alliviating himself, Jacob is ready to go too

As the squad heads east they don't encounter any resistance, although they certainly encounter some difficult terrain that takes them a while to cross. After about an hour of traversing several more broken down buildings and other debris, they all see a small flare being tossed out into the path from a side-street, before another soldier like yourselves waves you towards him with quite a bit of urgency; he seems almost panicked about something. He doesn't speak, and after a few seconds of waving you forward he disappears around the bend again.

Notice: 1d6 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1
Wild Die: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Although she doesn't see anything suspicious, Jackalyn is still cautious as she rounds the bend with the rest of the party.

Notice: 1d6 ⇒ 61d6 ⇒ 1
Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Total=5

Borax shouts, out, "Everyone take cover! Something is in-bound!" Borax looks for a place to shield himself from the direction of the sound.

Jackalyn swears and dives behind whatever cover is available before the dust-up starts.

Rosa frowns as the soldier waves them ahead. "Sh*t. That's the last thing we need right now..."

Gavril looks to Borax with a startled expression and quickly moves for cover. "Are you sure? Shouldn't we get up to those men, then?"

Kris doesn't wait, or ask questions. He dives for cover and raises his rifle scanning for threats.

Notice: 1d6 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4 1d6 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

Shh. Sound discipline. I hear it too.

"Do we follow the guy up there or do we try to get cover on our own? For all we know, either one of them could be a trap."

Notice: 1d8 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 1 - 2 = 21d6 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 1 - 2 = 2

Jacob doesn't hear no s#**, what with having been too close to explosions for so long, but he does notice Borax alert and immediately starts running to the soldier that greeted them.

"Oi mate! Tell me we aren't hiding from f%~&ing spaceships.... everything but spaceships."

"Not spaceships!" the soldier yells, popping out again frantically to wave the party towards the alleyway again, this time pausing afterward with his rifle pointed towards the sky, in the direction of the sound. "I'll explain when we get to the chopper! Just hurry; if you're still around that flare won't fool them for long. They're stupid, but not so dumb they won't spot the lot of you hanging around."

"Da! Let's move!" Gavril motions for the others to take the lead, planning to move last and watch their rear.

Jackalyn curses under her breath and follows Gavril's lead.

Borax joins the others, trying to localize the direction of the sound.

Notice: 1d6 ⇒ 21d6 ⇒ 1

"This is going to end badly, I'm sure of it..." Rosa moves out with the group, her eyes peeled for anything hostile.

Notice: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 2 Total: 8

Kris nods and begins hustling towards the man and the alleyway he indicated.

As the party sprints down the alleyway their fellow soldier indicated, they can clearly see what looks like almost a dozen shapes veer through the air towards their previous location, before swarming around it and searching the area. While they don't have a clear view, they can see these things are clearly both organic and mechanical; it looks as if cybernetic parts had been grafted onto their bodies, including some sort of propulsion system to allow them flight. After failing to locate the group, they emit a series of guttural cries as the veer off into the distance.

"Like I said, they're not too bright," the soldier remarks, leading you farther down the alleyway. After a few more minutes, he leads you to a sort of clearing in between all the debris, in what appears to have been the corporate sector of Basra. Around you, both collapsed and partially standing buildings give some amount of cover from the air, and in the center of the clearing sits a somewhat damaged helicopter, with a score of black burn marks along its flank. While a few soldiers are working on repairing what damage they can, the pilot who flew you into Basra stands up from beneath the chopper, covered in grease.

"Well, look who made it," he says, forcing a grin. "I heard the noise, seems you met our new friends? I've taken to callin' them Floaters, personally."

"We saw them, but no real meeting. Thankful for that, huh?" Gavril glances back in that direction but shakes his head. "What can we do to help here? Farrell's good with tools, and Vasquez can check your wounded, but the rest of us are better at shooting. You have a perimeter yet?"

"You're... looking at it," the pilot says, a sour look on his face. Other than the two soldiers helping him to repair the helicopter, the other several are patrolling the small clearing. While they periodically check the few passages in and out by foot, by and large they seem to be watching the sky for any signs of hostiles. "Those things aren't too bright, but once they find you, they're vicious little bastards. They can't see us from far off, so we're camped out in hopes they won't fly right overhead... it's worked so far, believe it or not."

"One of my men took a nasty shot to the shoulder, but we already took a look at it. As for repairs, I could definitely use the help." The pilot waves Jacob over towards the chopper, before crouching underneath it. "Most of it's just scorch marks, but this one did some real damage. I've been tryin' to patch it up."

Jacob, you can roll Repair to help repair the chopper. The rest of you can either talk with the pilot, the soldiers, or the few refugees they picked up, or reinforce the perimeter. If you choose the latter, roll Notice.

Jackalyn takes stock of the camp, and makes the astute observation that with her rather... lacking social skills, she would be of more use shoring up the perimeter. She spends some time looking for a good nest, then gets to looking around through her scope.

Notice: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Wild Die: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Borax joins Chase on patrol.

Notice: 1d6 ⇒ 51d6 ⇒ 5

Rosa moves forward, looking at the scorch marks on the chopper. "More god d*mned laser guns. Your injured man has more burns that bullet wounds, am I right?"

Gavril moves to the refugees upon finding out where they are. Speaking in the local language, he checks to see how they are, if they've gotten food or water, if they're wounded, if they need anything. Once he's gone through the basics, he tries to see if they know anything more about what's been happening here: often the local eyes have a good deal more knowledge than Intelligence back at base.

Persuasion: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 4 Total 10.

Kris takes a look at the Chopper to see if its something he is familiar piloting in case things go south.

Jacob greets the pilot with a purely irish handshake, and grins at the mention of repairs.

"Gotcha there, boss. No need to wait till they bring up the spaceships... because now I'm f+*#ing sure these b!!*#*!s ain't rusky or chinese made."

Repair: 1d8 ⇒ 71d6 ⇒ 5

"No, they damned sure aren't..." the pilot mutters, handing his tools over to Jacob. "They've had that technology grated onto their bodies, too; that's no small feat, no matter who you're talking about. You probably ain't got a good look at them, but what's left of 'em doesn't look human either, that's for sure. And with that wreckage, well... I don't think it could be much else." The pilot leans down, helping Jacob as best he can with repairing the helicopter. "Winger's doing his best to get us all the hell out of here, but I'm not so sure that ain't a lost cause. They'll have to get past those flying freaks to land, and then everything else'll descend on us like a plague." After an hour or two of grueling work, Jacob manages to perform the necessary repairs with the help of the crew.

In response to Rosa, the pilot nods. "Yeah, some sort'a weird green sh*t. His body armor took the worst of it, but he'll need a few weeks off to nurse that wound. It burned right through the vest, too; melted it like butter."

Gavril, while speaking with the refugees, doesn't learn much. The pilot found them while on the way back to the lieutenant's position, and picked them up. While he was grounded, the strange creatures swarmed the helicopter and opened fire. While the soldiers managed to drive them off, the pilot said the helicopter was damaged. After finding somewhere secluded to touch down, he told them to stick close to the soldiers and keep from getting in the way.

While the others work on repairing the helicopter, Kristophe takes a look at it for himself. While he's never flown this exact model of helicopter, it appears to be similar enough to those he has flown that doing so wouldn't be difficult.

For those of you who didn't roll Notice because you were doing something else, you may roll at a -2.

Jackalyn whistles. "Get the refugees and wounded to cover! Floaters incoming!"

Notice: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1
Wild: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (4) - 2 = 2

Gavril looks to Jackalyn and nods, then quickly ushers the refugees to any available cover. "There's probably going to be some shooting soon. Please keep down low to the ground and stay quiet no matter what happens. We'll keep you safe to the last, trust us." He pats his peacekeeping insignia and nods to them, then moves to some cover himself and sets up his machine gun.

"I knew there was going to be trouble," Rosa mutters, hearing the incoming sound of the flying creatures. She checks her weapon and moves to try to get at least a little cover if the creatures arrive. "I knew it."

Borax takes a position providing him cover and tries to gain the element of surprise.

Stealth: 1d6 ⇒ 11d6 ⇒ 1

Kris nods to Gavril We need to get out of here. This place is a trap.

Jackalyn likewise slinks into the shadows, looking for a good hiding spot.

Stealth: 1d10 ⇒ 7
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Borax responds to Kris, "Sir, if we're going to take the chopper, then we have to take out the flyers. If they find us on foot, we're sitting ducks to any type of bombs they might drop."

As Gavril speaks, the refugees run for the relative safety of the chopper, taking shelter inside the vehicle. As the soldiers take cover and prepare for the creatures to attack, the pilot clambers into the front of the chopper. "If she's working, we're gonna want to make a quick exit once we've dealt with them. There could be more comin', and I don't think any of us want to be sitting around waiting!"

As he shuts the door, the roar of the creatures' strange propulsion system grows even louder as they descend into the clearing with the chopper, howling and screeching in some strange, guttural language. Closer to them than before, you have a better view of the sickening nature of the 'Floaters'; the disgusting monsters seem to be both organic and machine, with cybernetic pieces grafted onto the creature's skin in an effort to make it more suitable for war. Their limbs seem to be entirely machine, with long hooked appendages attached to their cybernetic exoskeleton. Much like the other creatures you've encountered, these creatures appear to have some sort of energy-projecting weapon. As they swoop in for the attack, the other soldiers raise their weapons and shout in defiance.

Jacob spits his cigarette as he scopes the closest thing with his rifle.

"For f@~% sake! You are an ugly aon of a b*@%! too! Don't ye have prettier things, E.T. army?"

Using 3RB
3RB: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 91d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Damage: 2d8 + 3 ⇒ (4, 2) + 3 = 9
If raise: 1d6 ⇒ 5