Using his blueprints and knowledge of the topology of the large machine, Occux tries to determine the approximate location of the strange thump noice.
Tech Use
JT takes aim and tries to back away to concealment, but is ready to drop this yahoo if he spots them or makes trouble.
"Everyone keep down and keep quiet. We need a plan. My suggestion would be to distract him, lure him over here, gang up and dispatch him quickly. Simple enough, save for the one pitfall. If he's making scheduled reports on the intercom over there then if, after awhile, he doesn't check in again somebody's going to come looking.
Not much we can do about that however if we want to get past him."
"Do you think the machine spirits are angry? Also there is another option here. We can simply go back and check the right side."
Agreed, let's go check the other way before we start anything that can't be undone.
"I concur, Treadwell's observation is sound."
"Fine then, right it is."
Skrate leads off as before, going the other direction from our entry point.
Again attempting to remain stealthy.
Deciding that discretion is better than bravado you back track all the way to the ladder and head the other direction. This path follows the pipes for a short while before being blocked by a solid, pressurized hatch. The hatch isn't locked so you carefully and slowly open it trying your best to keep quiet incase someone is on the other sidebar it merely leads to an access ladder going up. You are forced to all move into the cramped ladderway and latch the door behind you while the tube pressurized and then unlocked the hatch up above. Following the new tunnel for three hundred metres and through two more pressure hatches finally releases you onto a raised platform looking out over a large cleared out room with various terminals and furniture sparsely spread throughout the room while the far side is dominated by a large hole with various tubes running down into it. The room is full of dozens of men and women in strange robes mulling about and chatting while they seemingly wait for something. More and more move into the room as you wait knowing full well that attacking now you,d be completely over run and your mission would fail. Close to an hour after you first arrived the atmosphere seems to change, the idle chatter stops and everyone is moving closer to the edge of the hole. A few minutes later you can see a silhouette begin to manifest inside the hole, roughly the size of a man but moving as if on all fours. The form remains in the shadows roughly eighty metres away from you hidden within the pipes. Though you hear nothing the cultists gathered below begin to move as if commanded and part to allow two larger cultists to drag an unconscious woman into the hole when they lay her down then backup and kneel. As one the rest of the cultists kneel as well and wait, watching the form move out slightly to grab the woman and drag her deeper into the hole before disappearing with her. Letting out sighs of relief the congregation again start chatting and celebrating slowly dispersing over the course of two hours. There are two cultists still inside the room between you and the hole. There are three ladders moving down from this raised platform into the room and lots of furniture to use as cover.
What do you do?
After watching in silence for hours JT finally breaks the spell of silence that had fallen over the group whispering as loud as he could dare, "Wtf was that, that . . . Thing?! Was that the murdering son of a b+!*@ that has been killing the victims? Any idea if we can use this building itself as a weapon? We need to burn this place and anything living in it down to the core of this planet. That was f#~@ed having to sit here while that thing came to get that gal down there., its probably going to eat her soul! What should we do now? We have located a way in. Do we fall back and call in the cavalry? There has to be someplace here Occux can jack in and get a schematic of this place or a better idea of its workings. You said something about methane right? We can ignite that in a heartbeat. Equus, I hope you can think of a plan here buddy. We could nab one of those a-holes down there too I guess, but then what?"
Destroy it! If that is doing the killings and controlling the cult, killing it will shut things down.
Now there is a plan I know how to do! Infiltrate, kill, escape and avoid capture.
Jacques is stunned into disbelieve as the monstrous creature performs its vile actions and disappears back into its hole. "Emperor preserve us," he says quietly, grasping at the red collar laced around his neck, the mark of an Calixian Arbites detective.
"Indeed, it must be destroyed, but stealth now is our greatest ally. We must find out what these bastards mean to do with this beast; only then can we defeat them. If we attack them now, we may perish, but that's irrelevant. Even if we succeed, many will be able to escape, and there they will be able to commence their foul practices elsewhere. We need to find out what they're up to, escape back to the surface and then we shall in the might of the Emperor's loyal Arbites and this planet's PDF forces to scour clean this pit. Every single one of these cultists must be eradicated."
Jacques moves to get a better line of sight to the two cultists still in the room.
First things first, we need to eliminate these two hostiles. We need a distraction, someone to draw their fire while the rest of us move in behind them and take them by surprise. We can't have them raising any alarms. Input anyone?"
If we kill two won't that alert the others to our infiltration. If you want them eliminated I have a silencer, perhaps Nebel you do as well? Lasers will cauterize the wound, no blood puddles left behind, we can dump the bodies in the soap pool or whatever that stuff is, then we can get a look down that hole if that is what you would like to do. We can take aim and take our time.
I don't have a silencer, but I could try to get close enough to take one with by blade. Or I could be the distraction.
I have a mono blade and a scilencer. I am assuming you are a better sniper than me. Would you like Las Rifle with the scilencer on it for the shot? I am going to defer to your expertise in this tactical situation.
It hurts to admit it, but from what I have seen so far, you are a bit better of a shot. I was taking the time for controlled precise shots while you were going for quantity of flying metal in the air. If you take the time to aim, you should do fine.
"Logic would state that I serve as the distraction. My capabilities for combat are more limited." Occux says surveying the room. He tries to determine the original and current function for the room.
Tech Use
"Alright Occux, then the plan is simple. Occux will emerge from the pipe first and come out, weapons undrawn and arms up in front of the two men. Meanwhile, each hostile will receive attention from two of us. Skrate, you're with me. We'll take the hostile on the left. Octus and J.T. you'll have the guy on the right. We have to work with what we have, but we have to syncronize things as best we can. Usually, given an Arbites task force, we'd have a map of the area and run drills until each corner could be cleared with razor precision, but we don't have that kind of luxury.
Nebdel, use your silenced weapon and mark the your man. Octus, you cover him. With both men facing Occux, Nebdel will have to creep up behind the one and dispatch him quickly. At the same time, J.T. must dispatch the other hostile. If we do this right, there will be nobody to raise an alarm and we can explore the confines of the area freely. If things get to hot, we must escape out the same way we entered, through the pipes, and back to the surface. What do you all think?"
Jacques begins looking for a way out of their current position. Are there more than one exit and where are they located in reference to the two cultists?
... Nebdel, use your silenced weapon and mark the your man...
Skrate looks for the quietest least obtrusive way down to the floor. He plans to work his way unseen to figure on the left to attack him with his sword.
Occux nods to Jacques his acceptance of the plan. He waits until the others are in position before making any approach towards the cultists.
Tunnel is 80 metres, cultists are 50 and 35 metres. Platform has three 10 metre ladders down to the room below.
In whispered tones as JT checks his mount and weapon, "Yeah sounds like a plan, lets do this! Nebel when you pick off the closer target I will take that as my mark to take the further out target." Then he puts down his go bag, gets into prone position resting the action on the bag. Legs set he begins pacing his breathing and notes the rhythm of his heart. "This is just like the battle of Malvenous VI, heh, hope this plan goes better."
Quietly, Agreed.
Nebdel observes the cultists from his hidden position for a few moments before proceeding.
Nebdel leaves his rifle and pack with the others. Slowly climbs down to the floor. Then draws his sword and creeps toward the closer cultist. He will try to keep blocking equipment between him and both cultists at all times.
Jacques nods his head, first to Julian and Octus, then to Nebdel and finally to Occux before moving as silently as possible into the back of room, giving himself a bead on his assigned cultist, not in the path of being able to shoot only Nebdel. He draws his laspistol and gets into a stable firing position, ready in the case that things go haywire and hell might break lose. He draws his arbites club and places it next to himself, all just in case.
Of course, in a close quarters fight, he's hardly going to shoot at Nebdel and his enemy whilst their both engaged, but it's best to remain ready.
Nodding to Jacques, Occux takes notice of his companions firing arcs and positions himself so that he does not compromize any of thier efforts.
With an involuntary grunt , he levers himself down the nearest ladder, taking no pains to be quiet. Once down he begins to limp towards the pair of cultists, attempting to appear even more damaged.
It takes the guards almost no time to notice Occux climbing down the ladder and they immediately draw pistols and level them at him, "How'd you get in here? Who are you?"
Hummm, I think I would have just let Nebel see if he could have just whacked the dude without the decoy. That guy is pretty stealthed out. . . . okay here we go first contact with the enemy. Safety off, primed charged and 2 1/2 pounds on a 3 pound trigger. . . .
Initiative
BS 47+20 Aimed Shot with silenced Lasgun on the 50 meter target. High ground bonus +10 not added in.
Body Hit Location
Damage
Skrate attempts to bring down the cultist with a mighty sword strike.
As the cultists notice him, Occux will fall to one knee, giving those behind a better view.
As the cultists are about to fire on Occux, Nebdel sneaks up behind one but somehow misreads the man's movement as his sword swings down through empty air. Acting on cue, Julian fires a quick burst. Three rounds connect with the one cultist, grazing his head and face then punching through his chest into his vitals.
"Oh damn this," Jacques hisses under his breath as he drops his pistol picks up his club and charges the cultist going straight for the face and stopping him from pulling any firearm on Skrate.
Hit Location: Body
Edit:
Jacques seeing Nebdel fail drops his pistol and with practiced precision draws and extends his collapsible police baton in one swift action as he steps out of the shadows and swings at the remaining cultist. The blow lands heavily on his collar bone but isn't enough to drop him.
As the reverberations of Julian's lasgun burst echo through the metallic structure you can hear commotions from several areas outside the room.
"S~!*!" JT switched over to his stubber pistol. people might ignore one loud noise, but not several more.
Jacques's muscles tense and his old bones almost audibly creak as he continues his furious assault.
[ooc]Assuming Nebdel was able to kick the bastard's ass before him:
Jacques runs over immediately and tries to shut one of the doors to the place, motioning for the rest of the group to do the same. He tries to seal the door to prevent anybody from outside from getting in.
If any of the cultists are still up, Occux reaches into his robes and grabs his knife.
With a deft flip of his wrist, the knife flies thought air at the cultitst.
Knife Throw
Nebdel takes another desperate swing at the cultist.
Nebdel chops into his right arm!
Switching to pistol would make it a long shot, but after screwing up so badly and using a lasgun inside of an enclosed space, JT knew he could not afford any more noise. I guess with all the other battlefield noise I didn't realize how loud a single shot would be.
His always trusty and scilencer mounted Orthlak Mark IV bucked in his hand. This shot was 50 meters, the pistol was set for 30, JT would have to adjust. "Emperor guide this flight so that I might smite your enemies in your name and mercy."
First shot
first shot BS 47 base, +10 high ground -10 for range
hit location
Second shot
first shot BS 47 base, +10 high ground -10 for range
hit location
Explosive damage