Terry turns the heater fans in his armour on high so he dries off, and warms up. , but kind o
Wishing I didn't have to do that. but it is kind of necessary.
Gummitch volunteers to scout as he has described earlier, change form to something like a river otter that could swim across and under the barrier, and then scout about.
When everyone is ready to try to bring the beast under, he can return and create a distraction on the far side of the area to draw guards that way.
"With your shape changing you are the best scout for this but... maybe I should cross over with you in case you need backup. We'll need to bring buckets of water over or something to get back through..."
Burgurk spends maybe 10 minutes watching the humanoid activity under the shield. His goal is to determine whether everyone inside is human, and if not, what kinds of species are working there (and how common they are on the planet).
= 16, Raise
As you are preparing to enter via the water trick, the ever cautious Burgurk pulls out his binoculars and takes one last sweeping look. While the energy field is translucent, there are times when it appears clear enough to see through as it cycles through its phases. Burgurk has instinctively determined this cycle and is able to see all the goings on in the facility. Numerous people in armor mill about the area where two main warehouses stand. Several of them are in Coalition armor, but most are in a mishmash of types. Burgurk counts over twenty armed individuals on the outside. The ones who have their helmets off are all human. The patrols that walk the perimeter are two person groups. They come through each area every fifteen minutes.
A few times, Burgurk can also see some of the armed people herding slaves towards or away from the warehouses. Most of them are human, with some humanoid D-Bees mixed in. However, you do not see any Faelerin so far. What you also notice is that there seems to be one person that all of the soldiers are reporting to, mercenary and Coalition alike. She is a middle aged woman with streaked gray hair wearing armor festooned with runes. Every time the energy field pulses, so do the runes on her armor. As you watch one particular interaction, one of her men take their helmet off and starts pointing towards the outer perimeter. Burgurk recognizes their race immediately. Psi-Stalker. They seem to be having an argument. The Psi-Stalker then storms off, apparently disturbed by what was said.
It is then that several Coalition soldiers and an officer approach the woman. The officer shakes her hand and a handful of Faelerin are brought out from one of the warehouses. They are then placed into the transport that came through. The Coalition appear to be ready to leave.
While Burgurk is watching, Gummitch finds a place that he can easily slip through if he became the size of an otter.
Terry's armor warms up and he is more comfortable than he was earlier.
Bart weighs the options of how to get water back and forth through the barrier.
The others spend their time deciding how to get the Glitter Girl and the Mammoth in without raising an alarm.
Terry sets the heaters back to normal, now that he is mostly dry, and he crawls up to Burgurk.
Anything on the go in there that we need to be aware of
"This appears to be a place to purchase slaves of many races, including Faelerin. I can see about 20 people, some in Coalition armor, but most seem free-lance, and all seem human. So I would stick out like a sore thumb. Also, I don't know how many slavers might be inside the buildings.
However, there's at least one Psi-Stalker, my racial enemy. He's going to be a problem, since he can automatically sense anyone with magic, psychic, or supernatural abilities or items, up to maybe 60 feet away or so, depending on how good he is. That includes at least me, Gummitch, Terry, and Ounce. And if he gets close enough to us, he can drain us of our sources of power.
There's two-man patrols that walk the perimeter of the shield from the inside, crossing any given point about every 15 minutes.
The person in charge is a human woman wearing armor with runes on it that pulsate in rhythm with the shield, so it's probably the shield's power source.
Bart - someone could stay on the outside of the shield, and throw buckets of water at the shield when the recon/assault team wants to get out. But I don't think we're going to get the Mammoth or Glitter Girl inside without immediately drawing attention to ourselves. Heck, they'd probably see the machines long before we can even get close to the screen."
Burgurk relays that the psi-stalker was pointing to the outside of the perimeter, but not in your direction specifically.
"Well, shall we commence Operation Small Helpless Little Animal Scouting? I'll stay hidden here and keep a bucket or two of water above freezing for the return splash."
Ounce asks, "Can these psi-stalkers detect beings who can use magic or only beings actually using magic? If Gummitch uses his innate shapeshifting ability, will that make him detectable? Or would he also have to be using magic or have some magic cast on him?"
Burgurk remembers noting that the field extends 200 yards in all directions from the center of the two main warehouses.
You think you would stand out. I know I would probably set off the psystalker as I have Inherent Psi abilities myself.
I think that, and the boss would have to be the primary targets. after that.
Do you think there would be any chance of making one of the patrols disappear, or ambushing a truck as it leaves in an attempt to get them to come to us?
"Well. Starting to look like i'm on scouting duty then. How's my camo looking?"
Addressing Terry, Burgurk says "Depends on how smart they are. They might not take any action if we ambush a truck as it leaves, as it would probably only contain clients, which they might not care about, and choose to stay behind their shield. And that would only alert them to our presence.
Attacking a patrol would depend on how far from the shield the patrols walk, and we'd have to splash the shield with water each time we shoot at them - depending on how fast the shield closes, the timing might be tricky."
"Well, we need to make a decision - either we send in Gummitch to scout around (altho maybe as an animal that's more native to this area), or we all go in, without the Mammoth or Glitter Girl, and hope we can take on 20+ soldiers, all the while trying to stay away from the Psi-Stalker.
Actually, from what I know of our races I think I can hit him with telekinetic bolts before he can get close enough to me to feed off of me. Also, he can't feed off of any of us until we're wounded, which helps.
So, shall we take a vote? Any information Gummitch can learn, like how many soldiers are inside the tents, would be helpful. But he'd have to keep an eye out for the Psi-Stalker. If he's game, that's my vote."
While listening to the conversation Bart is still thinking about the shield and water. His big brain comes up with another possibly amazing thought so he acts on it.
He picks up a chunk of snow, mostly frozen water, and chucks it at the shield...
While Burgurk discusses with the others what to do next, Bart’s random snowball flies through the air. As it hits the barrier, it shatters, leaving only dirt and debris behind, the snow and ice, being all water, passing through easily.
"Huh. Well, that solves the water problem..."
I can heal, probably not well, but I can provide healing.
Bart sits back, thinking of ways to get enough snow or ice on the Glitter Girl to get her through the shield...
"So is it magic or tech? If it's a tech-generated field... maybe the energy-distorting properties of the Glitter armor's refraction plating will affect it. It's possible I could just walk right through. But I wouldn't want to test it openly, obviously."
Bart, why were you throwing snowballs at the screen?
Terry inquires with a puzzled voice.
Bart smiles, packs two more snowballs. He throws one at Terry, aiming for center mass with very little 'oomf' behind it.
"Watch carefully..."
Then he makes a lazy under handed toss of the other one into the shield.
"Think we can cover a mecha with enough snow?"
Ounce, after conferring with Gummitch in his cat form, offers, ”Gummitch can create a field of snow large enough to cover the Glitter Girl, but it will take all of his concentration. I will have to help him with it. We cannot create one big enough to cover both vehicles.” She pauses, thinking about what the others have said. ”It will also be a big white target too, so as soon as they notice the giant snow girl walking through their barrier, the ‘guns blazing’ option will have been decided for us.” Another pause and then she looks at Barbara. ”I wish it were tech, but the magic behind it is too powerful for even both of us to bring it down. It’s tied to the land and that ley line over there.”
As she speaks, a snowball splatters snow across Terry’s front chest piece as another snowball slips easily through the barrier.
"Well, either I can stay back and provide covering fire when everyone makes their exit, or I can leave the suit behind and try to slip in as a foot soldier with the rest of you," says Barbara. "Which is it gonna be?"
I am kind of disinclined to leave the vehicles here without security, but I am also not inclined to leave individuals without support.
I am thinking that we try to get you all covered in Ice and Snow, so you can stroll through the barrier. We can test with a small part of the GG to check if it works.
"I strongly suggest that Gummitch goes in first for a recon, in order to find out exactly how many troops we'd be up against, and maybe he can tell us when the Psi-Stalker is far away from our point of entry so it will take some time for it to get near us after we enter.
And Barbara, I'd rather have them notice a big white Glitter Girl right away than not have a Glitter Girl on our side in this fight.
And if they do see us right away, at least that means we'll have the shield behind us so that we can't get surrounded from all sides - I see that as a good thing. It also means they have to come to us, and we can be picking them off as they do."
"Agreed, Burguk. We need more intel. Getting us in and out isn't too much trouble. While Gummitch is the best option, I think I should go in with him, find a good hide just past the shield and be there in case he needs help. We haven't seen any heavy armor so having a Glitter Girl is, as always, a good thing."
He glances back at Barbara and smiles.
The Glitter armor gives Burt a large thumbs-up.
Look, we can go under the shield by swimming. But that would take us time to thaw out once we are clear on the other side.
He looks around.
Wait, isn't that vehicle waterproof ? He points at the mammoth
If it is, how many can it hold in the cabin?
"Bart, my only concern about you going in to support Gummitch is that you're a much larger target (and a humanoid) to notice than Gummitch is going to be, and if the enemy notices you, we'd have to scramble to get inside the shield while the enemy's attacking. Gummitch can go in as a small local creature, and wouldn't draw any attention even if he was noticed."
"Terry, the Mammoth would probably be spotted before it even reaches the shield a lot easier than we would be as individuals, giving the enemy more time to prepare and close in on our entry point."
"Eh. Sounds like we have our plan then. Gummitch, if that stalker sees you, haul ass out of there. I'll have the special of the day, Grenade a la Barbara ready for them. Backed up by a boom gun, of course."
Gummitch nods and suddenly becomes a significantly smaller feline, about the size of a house cat, all black, except for a white stripe down his chest. Ounce says some mystical words as the small cat approaches the barrier, a cocoon of snow surrounds Gummitch. They pass through and Ounce lets the magic fall. Gummitch quickly scouts the area, sneaking in and around the camp. While you are waiting, you check out the Mammoth’s seals. Only the main cabin and the troop cabins are environmentally protected.
About ten minutes later, Ounce repeats the words and the snow covered cat returns through the barrier. Shaking it off, he returns to his larger form and with the help of Ounce, creates an image of the two warehouses and surrounding environs. Little red dots popup that show the locations of all the bad guys and blue dots where all the slaves are. Besides the troops outside, there are five men inside each warehouse. Each warehouse also has about thirty slaves. One red dot flickers green. Ounce explains, ”That’s the psi-stalker. Steer clear of him and you should be okay. Unless you go in shooting, in which case, all bets are off.”
"I'd suggest once we enter, we stay near the shield to protect our backs. But we should spread out just a little bit so they can't hit us all with one big attack. Then we pick them off as they come to us. Sound like a plan?"
Bart pats his sword.
"Not sure if everyone has a silent option so... try to get in, take out one group of five and go from there?"
"As soon as we attack anyone, we will be approached from all sides. I still think it would be better to stay near the shield and let them come to us.
Votes?"
Ounce and Gummitch both nod in agreement. ”We can provide arcane support as needed.”
Bart smiles, "How about we stir up the hornet's nest,exit the shield post haste and when they come out, have a Boom Gun reception awaiting? We set up some defensive positions to support and mop up anyone left."