Savage Rifts and the Tomorrow Legion

Game Master Shadow Bloodmoon

Jaq Repair, scrounged parts: 1d6 - 3 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) - 3 + (1) = 41d6 - 3 ⇒ (5) - 3 = 2
Spare Parts Remaining: 1d6 ⇒ 3

The next morning, after a few hours and a lot of scrounging through debris and garbage through the building and some surrounding ruins, Jaq and the rest of the team is able to do some work that allows you to continue on driving with less of a problem. She uses an old hydraulic press and some rods of steel to give the Mountaineer a better suspension, at least for the rest of the journey, hopefully.

November 4th, 109 P.A., 22:32 pm. 30 degrees, Cloudy, Light Wind. 76 miles to Garnet Town. 98 miles to Castle Refuge.

Most of the afternoon is spent driving on the road through the forest that was found earlier. Private Casey pushes it a bit and Jaq has to spend a few hours putting a heat sink back into place so that you can continue on. Unfortunately, that means that all the spare parts have been used up and you will need to find more and probably soon. Luckily however, while Jaq and Casey were dealing with that, Shakti, Burgurk and Anya came across a herd of antelope and were able to bring down a couple to add to your food supplies.

November 5th, 109 P.A., 18:27 pm. 32 degrees, Cloudy, Light Wind. 59 miles to Garnet Town. 80 miles to Castle Refuge.

The next day, you find a rather large natural dam and have to find a route around it. After doing so, you are able to easily navigate into the Ozark proper. The sheen of snow glistens in the sunlight as you travel on full bellies and fresh water. You know that you are still closer to Garnet Town, but you continue on to Castle Refuge to get the Mountaineer fixed up and replenish your supplies.

November 6th, 109 P.A., 14:27 pm. 30 degrees, Partly Cloudy, Light Wind. 46 miles to Garnet Town. 68 miles to Castle Refuge.

The next day is fairly uneventful at first, driving through trees and having to stop every so often to clear a fallen tree not withstanding. You have to stop mid-afternoon to replace a battery in the Mountaineer. As Jaq and Private Casey work on that, Ariel is in the back going over the inventory. Shakti is off by a tree meditating when her eyes snap open as he senses detect something coming. Burgurk is stalking an opossum to add to the food reserves. Anya relaxes on top of the Mountaineer. Though it is cold, the wind washing over her reminds her of flying. As she is doing so, she spots a cloud of snow in the distance, just past an opening in the trees. As she looks closer, she sees what appears to be an insect the size of the Mountaineer and two creatures that appear to be bipedal dinosaurs racing towards them. When she looks with her binoculars, she sees that someone is riding those creatures. They appear to look like Burgurk...

Okay... there are three Simvan riders on mounts heading right for your Mountaineer. They are about 100 yards away from the Mountaineer before you can react. Jaq and Anya are up first.

Initiative:
Jaq-KH
Anya-JD
Simvan Riders-JC
Ariel- 10H
Casey-8C
Shakti- 6S
Burgurk-3D

Are there any spare weapons in the ATV?

Private Casey will hand you his pistol, since he is working with you when this occurs. You will be restocked with your current gear list when you get to Castle Refuge. All you currently have, other than Casey's NG-33, is the set of Camo Clothes and Hiking Boots that you are wearing.

I nearly panicked when you said "all you have", until I realized that you probably meant just Jaq? The rest of us have all our listed stuff, yes?

Yup, just me and Ariel, her friend from the previous squad she was with. I doubt the Coalition let them keep their stuff. I'm actually surprised they let them keep the clothes instead of replacing them with prison orange.

Jaq, if they are out of range of your weapon, you can spend this round Aiming to get a bonus next round when they are probably in range.

"Hey, any of you guys wanna try shooting them with guns and see how that works?"

Rolling over into her own prone position on top of the Mountaineer, she takes her own advice and sends a pair of shots downrange at the lead rider.

Wilk’s 447 Laser Rifle, 40/80/160 3d6 Notes: Semi-Auto

Shooting!: 1d12 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (7) - 4 + 1 = 4
wild Shooting!: 1d6 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (2) - 4 + 1 = -1

Double tap Damage!: 3d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 4, 3) + 1 = 9

I have an extra C-12 Heavy Laser rifle i dont use. If Jaq had asked for a weapon, Shakti would have no problem lending it. Of course this would be only if she asks what the extra guns in the ATV are for. Shakti does not believe in helping creatures that are not smart or bold enough to ask when they need help. Her Mystic philosophy is a quasi Survival of the Fittest, and while seeking aid can be a sign of intelligence/cunning, she would not offer if someone is ot fit enough to ask. 3d6+1 RoF 3 30/60/120

"Hey, is that working," Jaq asks as she nods to the spare rifle on the weapons rack.

I would assume that Shakti would be alright with me taking it, but I'm getting tired of getting burned when I do that, so I'll be caveating this with a big ol' The following assumes that Shakti says it is and doesn't object to her using it.

Jaq opens up a firing port and takes aim. She's not an amazing shot, but she's good enough and sends a bolt of searing-hot energy into the next rider in line.

Shooting: 1d6 ⇒ 21d6 ⇒ 5 *5* That's a hit
Damage: 3d6 + 1 ⇒ (3, 6, 2) + 1 = 12 *16* That's gonna leave a mark.
ACE!: 1d6 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16

FWIW, 100 yards is 50", so Anya's roll is at -2 instead of -4 (unless that's from something other than range, in which case it's an *extra* -2), and Jaq's roll is at -2.

Jaq, unfortunately, while normally that would be a hit, you are at medium range for the weapon and thus at -2 to hit. Also, Anya, unless I'm counting wrong, your penalty for range was only -2 as well. 100 yards equals 50 inches of range.

Jaq and Anya open fire on the riders bearing down on your team. Jaq's shot would have hit dead center, but for a tree she didn't account for at that range that the Simvan raider and his mount bolts past. The tree will never bother anyone again.

Anya's twin shots strike home on the lead rider, but his armor seems to absorb most of it. The riders level their rifles across their mounts and return fire as they close the distance.

Laser blasts pound on the doors to the Mountaineer and skip across the roof towards its occupants, one winging the shoulder pad of Anya and leaving a burn mark. They continue firing as they close the distance.

Shakti and Burgurk are up! Range to the Mountaineer for them is 80 yards (40 Inches). Anya is prone on top of it, Jaq and Casey are in the back of the Mountaineer using the doors as cover. Shakti is 5 inches away from it and Burgurk is 10 inches away. I'll probably do a map for this short one to throw up on Roll 20 if needed, but we've been doing good without it so far.

DM SBM, you said "range to the Mountaineer is 80 yards". Is that saying that the range from Burgurk to the enemy is 80 yards?
Also, if Burgurk is out in the open, he'll look for cover (trees, boulders, etc.) Anything available, and if so, how far away?

nuts, I forgot my RDS. Also, since I'll be slumming in the Huntsman armor I've updated my toughness. Also also, GM I have the Dodge edge and ive updated my RATN (ranged combat target number, a ZenFox invention, to 5 =]

Oops, my bad. Forgot to check for range penalties. I assume we're all in the Mountaineer since we're travelling it seems like.

I'm using the Mountaineer as a central point in range finding. The Riders are 80 yards from the Mountaineer, Shakti and Burgurk I ruled were out doing other things while the rest were fixing up the vehicle as all 6 of you in the back of it trying to fix it didn't make sense. So, Burgurk is 20 yards from the Mountaineer on one side, so (quick math) approximately 83 yards from the bad guys. That also puts Shakti at approximately (more quick math) 81 yards from them. As for Anya, the hit didn't do any damage, so it's a wash, but I'll remember that next time. As for cover, there are plenty of trees that anyone can run to for 3 inches of movement. It will grant Medium Cover (-4).

Burgurk will take cover behind a tree, and wait for the riders to get close enough that he can do his psionic thing.

-4 to be hit by Ranged weapons.

I'll bot Shakti later if she doesn't respond today, but I almost forgot: since Ariel and Private Casey are both NPCs that are part of your unit, you guys can give them commands and basically choose their actions. They have d6s in most everything if you want to roll them, otherwise I will. Casey is the baseline soldier and Ariel is a medic who does not like to commit violence. They are both up along with Shakti.

I'm here; been busy doing lockdown stuff with the kids. I will be posting in a few minutes. Posting this so you don't bot me while I'm typing...

Shakti moves from her meditation position in order to be closer to both Burgurk and cover. Once there, she reaches out to him, with a powerful enhancing enchantment.

Gr. Boost B's Psionics: 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 131d10 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
+4 Dice
Gr. Boost on her own Shooting: 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 141d10 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
+4 Dice

3rb at Leader -2 range: 1d12 + 1 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 2 - 2 = 51d6 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 - 2 = 3
Damage (2 AP): 3d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1, 4, 3) + 1 + 2 = 11

That's okay, the lockdown has me busy, especially on weekends too. That said, let's get back to it.
Ariel Support Casey Shooting with Notice: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Pvt. Casey Shooting at Rider M.Range: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 2 = 3
Simvan Leader Riding Hold On: 1d10 ⇒ 10

Burgurk runs towards a large tree and Shakti makes it to the cover of the Mountaineer as the riders close. Shakti sends a few laser bolts down range, managing to wing the leader with one of them. He has to reaffirm his grip on the reins of his Fury Beetle, but he manages to hang on. Private Casey and Ariel attempt to take down another rider, but the trees make it difficult.

Shakti-Joker
Jaq-10D
Ariel-8D
Anya-7S
Pvt. Casey-5D
Riders-4H(Leader Shaken)
Burgurk-2S

Everyone except Burgurk is up, Shakti got a Joker, so +2 to all the things!

EDIT:I also updated the Roll20 map if you want to take a look.

Jaq takes aim once more and goes for the same rider as before.

Shooting: 1d6 ⇒ 61d6 ⇒ 3 *8* That's a hit and possible raise before penalties.
ACE!: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Damage: 3d6 + 1 + 1d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4) + 1 + (3) = 17 *17* if above was a raise, *14* if not.

Anya keeps looking down range and firing at another rider, glad that she's pulling the trigger on something.

Double tap Shooting!: 1d12 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
WILD Double tap Shooting!: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Double tap Shooting Damage!: 3d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 5, 3) + 1 = 13

Ariel Helping Pvt. Casey: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Pvt. Casey Shooting: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (4) - 2 = 2

The team shoots downrange, converging fire on the riders, taking one off of his mount. He goes crashing and rolling into the snow, his saurian steed veering off to the side. The other two riders press on, lasers firing.

Shakti, you are still up and have a Joker!

Activate Farsight: 1d12 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 2 = 101d10 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 1 + 2 = 11
Feature of my Armour; halves range penalties and doubles range increments to 50/100/200. I believe they are within 50 inches, so it should now count as short range/no penalty.

As her targets come more sharply into focus, Shakti draws a bead once more on the leader.
3rb: 1d12 + 1 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 1 + 2 + 2 = 161d6 ⇒ 5
Damage AP2: 3d6 + 1 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (1, 1, 4) + 1 + 2 + 2 = 11
Raise: 9 + 1d6 ⇒ 9 + (5) = 14

Counting on the beast's size to work in the favour of more sporadic fire, she lays down a stream of laser fire towards one of the raptors with the rifle in her lower arms.
1d12 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 2 = 91d12 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 2 = 91d12 + 1 + 2 + 1d12 ⇒ (12) + 1 + 2 + (1) = 161d12 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 1 + 2 = 141d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Damage=AP2: 3d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1, 5, 3) + 1 + 2 = 123d6 + 1 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 1, 1) + 1 + (3) + 2 = 143d6 + 1 + 2 + 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 6) + 1 + 2 + (2) + (4) = 203d6 + 1 + 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 6, 3) + 1 + (3, 2) + 2 = 23

Shakti focuses on the riders, her divine senses telling her exactly where to point the muzzles of her weapons. The first burst drops the leader off of his mount, sending up a cloud of snow and steam. His fury beetle keeps coming however, its mind only on one thing. The raptor she targets with the other rifle charges through the blasts until one finally sends it rearing up, its rider swinging from one side to the other before regaining control of his mount. He levels his rifle at Shakti and opens fire, but is unable to make contact with anything but the ground, sending geysers of steam into the air near her. As he does so, he starts to circle around as he notices that his companions are down, turning for the cover of the trees, leaving the fury beetle to its own fate.

Burgurk is up!

After the riders have moved during their action, how far away from Burgurk are they now?

From Burgurk, the remaining rider is turning and running at 82 yards. The fury beetle is at 62 yards and closing fast. The other ostrasaurus has run off and the other two riders are down.

this round started on Monday. could we bot Burgurk to move ahead for now?

Burgurk tries to distract the fury beetle using his mental bolts :

Psionics+Boost-Range,ROF 3: 1d12 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 - 4 = 51d12 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 - 4 = 41d12 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 - 4 = 31d6 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 - 4 = 3

Doing
Damage: 4d10 ⇒ (4, 8, 7, 2) = 21
Damage: 4d10 ⇒ (10, 8, 4, 10) = 32
ACE! ACE!: 2d10 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4 = 36

NOTE : from now on, Burgurk's Force Aura will always be activated (no ISP, stays on until unconscious, so he activates it every day when he wakes up. It adds 2 to his Parry, which I've noted in my stat list above my icon.

Burgurk steps out from behind his tree, pine needles and snow coalescing in a swirl around him. His eyes focus on the charging fury beetle and suddenly a line of energy tears cracks through the ground, sending snow and branches and debris flying towards the beast. As if an invisible wall went up, the large creature comes screeching to a halt just short of the Mountaineer. The other rider keeps going, off into wherever he came from.

Unless you want to chase the other rider, combat is over. The lead rider is still breathing, barely, but the other is dead. The fury beetle is also dead.

"Well, I guess that's that. Time to get back on the road!"

"Man I really wish I could chase that guy," Wraith muses as she hopes down from the cartop.

"Put 'er in neutral, Jaqie baby. Can't just leave 'em squirming."

She approaches the breathing leader. Her rifle hangs casually from one hand. There's no need to pull an amateur and point it at him.

"Make with the talking, big guy. Who are you an' what are you doing here? You rode a long way just to get shot."

Intimidation!: 1d6 ⇒ 2
WILD Intimidation!: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Shakti walks up beside Anya, "I downed this one, first right of claim is mine. Oh, he's still alive? That'll make him a little harder to roast. Well, dinner-mine, any reason I should heal you? Or should I skip straight to cleaning your carcass for the spit?"

I thought about adding to Anya's indimidation, but then, she doesn't really need to intimidate, as she's just being completely honest ;)

The leader looks up at the two women looking down at him and then over to his rifle that is just a bit out of reach. Breathing a huge sigh of defeat, he looks back up at you. "Our tribe, hunted by armored humans, take food. We hunt to take for our own. Is simple rule. Take only what you can keep." He looks around and notices Burgurk. "He not one of us. Outcast. He claims new tribe. Your tribe. You win fight. Take me for trophy. That is way."

"A trophy, hmm? For ransom? Or will you swear to serve as slave? Or perhaps you mean trophy in the literal sense; your corpse as an adornment, strapped to the front of our vehicle?"

"Idunno, I kinda like this 'slave' idea.

Can you drive?"

At any questioning looks she just shrugs. "He rode that beastie pretty tight. I got soybeans-to-nuka colas that he could handle the Mountaineer to the max."

"Animals and vehicles are, pardon the pun, two different beasts. I can drive, but I know nothing about riding an animal, and taking him as a slave? Really? That's not any different from the Federation," Jaq says with a sigh. It wasn't that she couldn't see the benefit, but this was a person, not a pack animal. "If we take him, we take him back as a prisoner, not our persona slave, got it?"

"If he does it willingly it's not slavery.

Also, you know how to drive? How long has that been going on?"

"Is it really much of a choice if it's between that and dying? And I learned to drive three years ago, thank you very much!"

"Sweet! You're our new driver!

Also, he volunteered. Right of conquest. Hey, he started it!"

"Okay, now I know you're screwing with me," Jaq grumbles, "you know what I meant. And just 'cuz I know how to drive doesn't mean I'm better than Casey. He's got at least six years on me and probably has driven in places other than a nicely paved city."

Ariel chimes in as well, kneeling down to look over the Simvan. "He's not going to die any time soon, unless one of you decide to change that. I'll patch him up and then you can decide what to do with him. I for one vote for the non-slavery thing though. That's just, that's just mean. I say we take him back to his people."

The Simvan looks at Ariel and then back to the rest of you. "Right of might. You defeat, my life is yours."

Private Casey looks on from the Mountaineer, but he doesn't say anything.

Jaq throws her hands up in the air in exasperation and walks back to the Mountaineer and climbs in. Hopefully they have enough supplies to get them back home.

"SEE!? It's just the way of his people! We'd be insulting him if we didn't accept his kind offer.

Come on, big guy," Wraith says as she helps him up. "You an' me are gonna have a long and beautiful friendship as you do my laundry and make me mai-tais.

You got a name, chummer?" Wraith asks, leading him into the vehicle. "My friends call me Wraith, but you may call me Mistress Wraith."

"I've seen the wageslaves of Renraku trudge along to their commun-i-cubes and plug themselves into their work-jacks. Rows and rows of so-called 'free' people in uniform servitude and malnutrition.

No persp, me hearty. Being my sidekick is gonna be SO much better than scrubbing on your own. Hey, do we have any--" Wraith searches through the supplies. "Hey! We do! Wizard!"

She gets out several handfuls of the monster-deer jerky she smoked and hands it off to her new friend.

November 7th, 109 P.A., 08:27 am. 29 degrees, Clear, Light Wind. 42 miles to Garnet Town. 66 miles to Castle Refuge.

After packing up the supplies and Anya taking 'Kellek' under her wing, you decide to travel for just a few more hours before finding a spot to settle for the night. You come to a burned out building that offers some shelter from the cold. It is probably a good thing that the Mountaineer can run for a while on its batteries. The night passes and you find your breath is rather visible in the morning. After a hurried breakfast, you get moving again.

Same plan as before? Casey Drive, Burgurk Navigate, Anya Lookout, Shakti Boosting Casey, Jaq Assisting Casey. Or would you like Jaq to drive with the Boost from Shakti and have Casey Assist? Kellek can help Anya on Lookout and Ariel can help Navigate.

Anya squeals in delight when the fallen leader tells her his name. "Oh! I love that old trid! Where the guy is like WHAH! and the other guy is like YAH! and then he's all 'now, begin at the beginning' and the other guy like EAT MY SHORTS BAM!

Also! Casey, if I ever see you in the driver seat again my new friend is gonna eat your liver. Hey, I don't make the rules. Jaq-ie baby! You get drive time!"

Anya keeps an eye out.

Notice!: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Notice ACE!!: 1d4 ⇒ 1
WILD Notice!: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
WILD Notice ACE!!: 1d6 ⇒ 5 = 13

Alright, we'll go with that plan. Jaq drives with Boost from Shakti and Casey Assisting, Anya and Kellek on Lookout, Burgurk and Ariel Navigating.

While not completely out of the woods, Jaq and Burgurk decide that skirting around them is faster than trying to drive through them and so you spend the day traveling through as many clearings and open trails as you can, getting farther than you had been. Each time you stop for a break, you notice that Kellek seems to be ever hungry and on top of that, some of the meat that had been hunted over the last few days has now gone bad and had to be thrown out. While you still have quite a few rations left, even they have expiration dates. You should still have enough to last you until you get home, but that's not the worst part though. That battery that you replaced yesterday was bad and your traveling spent the last of its energy. The Mountaineer is out of power and isn't going anywhere until you find some way of charging its batteries.

There is some bit of luck though. You do find an extra set of E-clips that were stashed under the Mountaineer's cargo bed while you were scrounging to count the food rations or find another battery. On top of that, Anya sees the glow of lights far in the distance, maybe a mile or two away. It's hard to tell as the fog from the cold night settles in. Maybe they have something to trade....

"A'ight me chummers. I got good news and bad news. The good news is that those lights means someone has electricity. And that's what we need. So there is the thing that we need.

And if none of us do? Well, by willful trade ain't the only way to get a thing."

Burgurk says "We still have all those weapons and things from the cave where we dealt with that inter-dimensional thing, perhaps we could trade?"

We *do* still have those, right? Last I remember, we went to some small town (Garnet?) and evaluated the possibility of selling them there, but then decided to go to a bigger town.

Correct, you have not yet found a buyer for those.

Drive (Assuming Shakti boosts my Driving skill): 1d8 ⇒ 11d6 ⇒ 3 *3* That's a fail. I'm guessing the mishap is yet to happen.

"That might work. I could clean them up a bit too, make them look nicer if we have a few minutes."

"Meh. Go ahead and try it. I doubt the nomads are going anywhere."

Anya had no idea there were nomads out there, but she was going to keep calling them that anyway.

@Jaq: No need to roll. The GM took care of it. You did fine. ^_^