Thyx kept his sidearm holstered as he stepped out of Blackmoon Rising. He looked at the foliage and briefly wondered at the mists of Nakondis, everything looked like a smeared watercolour. He marched forward but tried to stay in view of the captain. His hunting rifle was in hand as he tried to keep to good cover.
Kamiya gathered her gear as they prepared to go planet side. She wanted to travel light but she also wanted to be prepared.
"Kamiya, you really should get yourself a small sidearm. We need you safe and in one piece."
The lashunta smiled at Thyx’s concern, ”Thanks, Thyx. I will look into getting one once I have a few credits to spare.” She pulled back her long jacket to reveal her belt of grenades, ”But I’ll be fine for now. Provided whatever is trying to hurt me stays at a distance.”
Before leaving the ship, Kamiya sought out Kip and asked in a quiet voice, ”Any way to make Honu extra safe by rigging some surprises should anyone but us try to fly him away?”
Kamiya took a step off the ship onto Nakondis and peered uncertainly into the mist. She could feel the electrical energy in the air like her body was constantly buzzing. ”Such a bizarre feeling.”
She caught sight of Kip and burst into giggles. All of Kip’s fur was standing on edge making her look like a round fluff-ball. ”It’s a good look for you, Kip. It looks like you’ve grown two inches.”
Before leaving the ship, Kamiya sought out Kip and asked in a quiet voice, ”Any way to make Honu extra safe by rigging some surprises should anyone but us try to fly him away?”
Kip laughed, then realized TortAce was serious. "I wouldn't dare try, I'd be afraid to hurt Blackmoon. I'm not good enough for that yet. But we have the key, both digital and physical, she'll be safe here."
Stepping onto the surface, Kip wrinkled her nose, then sneezed. Then sneezed again as her own fur went up her nose. "Agh! It feels like I got washed with the woolies!" Trying to smooth down her fur, she only succeeded in shocking herself, and soon gave it up as a lost cause.
Scampering ahead of Thyx, she said, "Hold your bolts, metal-man. Let the pros lead the way." Slipping into the strange shadows of the damp planet, Kip focused on her senses and moved forward.
Kip laughed, then realized TortAce was serious. "I wouldn't dare try, I'd be afraid to hurt Blackmoon. I'm not good enough for that yet. But we have the key, both digital and physical, she'll be safe here."
”Besides, we might have to leave in a hurry, so let’s not make things too difficult for ourselves,” Robert grunted, checking the clip of his sidearm. ”We get too creative, we might be still trying to defuse our own traps while the goon squad runs up the ramp to mow us down.”
Scampering ahead of Thyx, she said, "Hold your bolts, metal-man. Let the pros lead the way."
Robert was more than happy to have someone else lead the way through the forest of horrors. In fact, he was having a severe allergic reaction to something in the air – alien pollen, who know what the local fauna produced and how his body would cope with it. He knew enough that the local settlers hadn’t had to resort to heavy slash-and-burn terraforming or gene-tailoring themselves to survive out here, but that didn’t mean some of this crap wouldn’t be harmful – just that it wasn’t immediately lethal to most of the species.
The captain's eyes flicked through various colours as membranes relaxed. "I could get used to this. Moist. Dim. Seems nice." His tongue flicked out "I take that back. Ozone and Sulphur. Smells like someone tried to cook a rotten egg with a taser."
”Yeah, right up your alley,” the technomancer growled, wiping his nose. ”Rotted through and through. Just give me a nice, sterile habitat any day of the week, and you can keep this planet-bound horrorshow.”
Sigirijus stepped poorly, and found his right foot a foot deep in a puddle.
"What?" he asked "This is living, this is where we're supposed to be. Vesk against Nature." He sighed "Though I do have to admit doing this in my under-armor feels a little more... risky."
Seeing everyone get down to business, Kamiya focused. Any small bit of distraction could mean the difference between leaving the planet again and not.
Neither particularly quiet or observant, Kamiya moved forward with the rest of the group. She appreciated the trees around her and had to admit that it felt more like a hike through nature than it did a possibly perilous situation.
Read the OOC.
Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?
Game on!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
May you spend it in peace with your loved ones.
Thyx pointed at his eyes signaling back to the Captain. As they moved closer he held up his hand and tucked in his pinky to indicate four. 'Are these soldiers Azlanti to?' Not far in front of him was a wide leafed frond so he stepped forward a bit to get a better look around it. As he levelled his rifle static skittered down his arms unpleasantly to the barrel of the gun. The android waited for Kip to make her move or hide, not wanting the sound of a gunshot to alert them too soon. 'Hmm, I should invest in a silencer,' he thought off-hand 'I wonder how far the noise will travel in this fog? or if the static might ignite any gsr?'.
Thyx let a shot ring out and the bullet pinged off of the armour of the soldier before him.
"What?" he asked "This is living, this is where we're supposed to be. Vesk against Nature." He sighed "Though I do have to admit doing this in my under-armor feels a little more... risky."
”Please, don’t remind me,” the technomancer grunted, fighting another sneeze and losing.
”Anyway, tin can,” Robert changed the subject, turning to Thyx who was hovering close by, ”you seemed pretty distraught back then when the little squirt confirmed Azlanti boots on the ground here. Got some beef with the expansionistic racial purists?”
Action 1
”Crap,” Robert grunted the moment he spotted the troopers ahead. ”Got company.” With those words the bald man dove into the cover of the offending foliage, hoping one or more of the others would be brave (or slow of uptake) enough to stand there in plain sight for long enough to draw the soldiers’ attention and hopefully making them miss Robert’s own presence.
”Anyway, tin can,” Robert changed the subject, turning to Thyx who was hovering close by, ”you seemed pretty distraught back then when the little squirt confirmed Azlanti boots on the ground here. Got some beef with the expansionistic racial purists?”
Thyx started to move out front but as Magnusson spoke he stopped. Without looking back he answered in his deadpan voice, "I don't know. In the moment it felt like a glitch, an involuntary spasm. It was too brief for it to feel like a memory. I'm sure I had a profession. I'm sure I had more skill sets than I can currently access. That information doesn't seem gone. It's more like it's shattered. Maybe that's too dramatic a term. It seems extremely fragmented. Already much of it has defrag'd but I don't think it'll be the last sudden recall I have." He started marching again as he tried to keep the Ysoki in view.
OOC: everyone gets a move or a standard action. Only Robert and Kip had seen them (now Thyx has seen them as well because he rolled perception).
That isn't water, its' the 'coagulated' mists that collected at the low areas. It is not difficult terrain but kind of freaky because you don't have a clear view of your 'floor' as the mists part and move with your stepping.
The 'island' in the middle does block LOS..
Questions?
Game on!
Kip crept stealthily through the unsettling mist, her low mass making it easy to pass quietly.
She drew up suddenly when she spotted the enemy infront of them. Enemy? Or colonist? No...that emblem...Azlanti!
Her pistol was up in a flash, and she was sighting down the barrel. The soldier turned enough that she could see the girl in profile - she was young, probably human...barely more than a pup.
With expertise born of practice, Kip stuffed the emotion that discovery triggered down deep inside her. Aiming carefully, she squeezed the trigger. However, the cadet moved at the last moment, and the bullet whined harmlessly over her shoulder and into the jungle beyond her.
Kamiya took her cue from Kip and Thyx as she heard their shots ring out. She moved up through the mist thinking briefly about how unnerving it was to not be able to see where she was walking.
As soon as she was close enough to have one of the cadets in view, the lashunta released a burst of psychic energy to daze them.
”Crap,” Robert grunted the moment he spotted the troopers ahead. ”Got company.” With those words the bald man dove into the cover of the offending foliage, hoping one or more of the others would be brave (or slow of uptake) enough to stand there in plain sight for long enough to draw the soldiers’ attention and hopefully making them miss Robert’s own presence.
Nine lives looked around wildly, then followed Robert's play and dove into the brush. Vesk doctrine was not keen on running away, however, and he ran to the hump in the middle of the mist, bracing himself against it and closing his eyes to better hear the approaching enemy.
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Game on!
Diving for the relative cover of the "island" in the middle of the mist stream, Kip kept her eye on the same soldier. As she rolled to her feet, the ysoki aimed for the middle of the girl's chest (she'd turned to face the sound of gunfire), and shot.
This time her aim was better, and the bullet impacted her squarely in the chest. The girl rocked back a step, but Kip couldn't tell if it had penetrated and found the flesh beneath.
Has Sigirijus now seen the soldiers?
OOC: the mist is not that 'deep' (knee high at most).
Sig has seen the soldiers.
Questions?
Game on!
Thyx widened his stance as he turned sideways and fired again this time hitting the soldier full on in the shoulder. As the Azlanti tried to catch his balance the android ran in deep bounds through the low mist, every step setting off a little spark that, in turn, burnt off a tiny eddy of the fog. In three seconds he had crossed the distance and was toe-to-toe with the self-same soldier.
Kamiya did her best to keep to being within partial cover while moving steadily forward.
She was fairly certain that she was still out of range of any of the cadets unless they moved towards them. She watched the others and waited for her opportunity.
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Game on!
, miss
Kip kept her sights on her target, and the girl didn't get enough cover to spoil Kip's shot. Taking a step forward (one square S), the ysoki sighted and squeezed again, finding a rhythm in the combat that she found strangely soothing.
Of course, that would change if she was injured.
Unfortunately, this time her bullet went astray.
Thyx tried to follow the soldier into cover with the sight of his rifle. He pulled the trigger and watched as a dud bullet slid harmlessly out of the barrel and landed in the mist two feet away. The android looked down where it fell, "Huh." 'That was from the clip they found me with. I wonder how old that bullet was?' He looked up at where the foes were 'There's a nice patch of cover just between those two guards' but he remembered the captain was without a sidearm and left the spot for him ... though he forgot to say it out-loud. Instead Thyx bolted for cover of his own. He was surprised to find himself shoulder to shoulder with Kip. "It's nice to visit new worlds and meet new people", he said as he cleared the breach of his rifle. His sarcasm, like his bullet, slid out flatly and landed somewhere at his feet. "Ah, Robert, I thought we'd lost you? Don't worry, you haven't missed anything. I think this party is just starting to 'cook'."
Sigirijus sprinted towards the furthest target, diving to the ground, rolling, and springing back up with his powerful tail - emerging out of the mists to snap at the face of the soldier, even while his venom spur lashed out.
The soldier simply took a step to the side, half-hiding behind the neighbouring tree.
Moving to the square right above Kip's would take 40' of movement so you would not have a standard action left to attack. You could always attack from cover but I'm not sure what range your attack is.
The cadet in question used the 'withdraw' full action to get away, which precludes the initial square he's in from being considered threatened so you don't get an attack of opportunity.
Notice that since it was a full round action, he did not get to attack this round.
Questions?
Game on!
Moving to the square right above Kip's would take 40' of movement so you would not have a standard action left to attack. You could always attack from cover but I'm not sure what range your attack is.
Well, his plan was working. Sort of. Certainly he wasn't attracting any bullets, but the way the positioning was shaping also left him too far away to effectively fight back. Muttering a curse, the technomancer drew his sidearm as he sprung from cover, running fast and low to keep behind physical cover as he dove into cover next to Kip.
"That's the spirit - force them to choose whom to take cover from," Robert growled, spitting out something that passed this verdant hellhole's plants for leaves - his headlong charge had brought him all too close to the local plantlife... but it certainly beat raising his head to bite bullets.
Sort of. I don't want to complicate it so 'soft cover' is directional. That is, if someone were to shoot Thyx from the south then Sig would provide cover for Thyx.
However, once you are in a square that has some vegetation then you have soft cover from all directions.
Questions?
Game on!
Yes, I would agree with what you said.
Questions?
Game on!
Kamiya pushed aside a large leaf and caught sight of one of the cadet's in the foliage a little ways ahead of her. She focused her psychic energy at the cadet and waited briefly to see if the slack-jawed look a dazed creature gets showed on their face before moving forward. If the cadet was dazed then she should be able to restrain it, or at least disarm it, before it could harm the others.
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Game on!
, pass
, hit
, hit
, hit
The first bullet rung off the android's skull ever so gently but the second shot impacted his chest and nearly knocked him backwards into Magnusson. The android raised his rifle and fired quickly trying not to expose himself to more. The bullet most certainly gravely wounded a lot of plant life. "Well this isn't working." At that he shouldered his rifle and drew out his battered baton, a metallic-crimson carbon alloy rod with a side-mounted handle.
Seeing that the soldiers were disciplined, and ganging up on the captain, Kip abandoned her tactic. Jamming the pistol in her belt, she dropped to hands and feet and ran four-legged through the mists towards her opponent. The soldier's attention was trained on her target, and she didn't see the ysoki's tail sticking up as she ran.
Popping up in front of the girl, Kip could see the utter surprise on her face. Drawing her dagger and lashing out in one smooth motion, Kip was sliced cleanly through the armour of her thigh and hit something important, judging from the arterial spray that suddenly soaked her fur.
The captain coughed, and wished he hadn't. 'My lung? That's bad. That's [I]real bad. Too used to heavy armor... but I need to finish this now."[/b]
Sigirijus looked at his opponent through a narrowing tunnel - then saw Kip appear out of nowhere and take the cadet down.
"Good... work... Kip..." he bubbled, sinking to the ground and snatching at the cadet's weapon. "Just need ... catch my... breath..."
Sigirijus looked at his opponent through a narrowing tunnel - then saw Kip appear out of nowhere.
"Good... work... Kip..." he bubbled, and somehow found the reserves to move to flank the enemy. Understandably distracted by trying to damn the tide of life leaving their body, the cadet was too slow to dodge, and the spur slammed into an eye with the full mass of the Vesks body behind it.
sinking to the ground and searching for the cadet's weapon. "Just need ... catch my... breath..."
"Who gave you permission to eat lead, you overgrown pile of shoe leather?" Robert growled in irritation, ignoring the fact that he rather believed that was the giant Vesk's main purpose of existence. But right now, he wasn't taking bullets meant for Robert, and that made a difference. Muttering curses, the technomancer rushed out of the cover he had gone to some pains to reach in the first place. He was acutely uncomfortable getting out in the open like this, but clearly someone had to save the day and none of the others qualified. At least there were plenty of things for him to use in this god-forsaken horror-show of a jungle. Heat, for example.
Murmuring an equation, Robert forced his will on the fabric of reality and forced a shift in thermal energies. Namely, gathering a bit of heat from every point in space all around him, collecting it, compressing it, and then releasing it in one fiery burst right at the two enemies hiding behind foliage. Very flammable foliage.
Kamiya’s antennae drooped a bit as she realized that the cadet had shaken off her attempt to stun it. Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to affect them again for awhile, and seeing both the Captain and Kip converge on the cadet closest to her, the lashunta knew that she would have to break cover to get closer to any of the other cadets. It’s not like she was about to throw a grenade with part of her crew so close and the others were too far away.
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Game on!
, fail
, fail
, hit
, hit critical
, hit
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
"Captian!" Kip screamed as the huge vesk dropped in front of her. Reacting quickly, she opened her mouth and contracted the muscles in her cheek pouch. The healing serum she kept there popped into her hand. He was in no condition to swallow it, so she reversed her hold on the vial and activated the subdermal application needle. Remember, Sara said that vesk skin can break those small needles, so find somewhere less scaly.
Scanning frantically, she couldn't find anywhere suitable. Desperate, the ysoki opened the captain's mouth and jammed the needle into the soft skin of his tongue. Ha! Oral and subdermal! Depressing the plunger, she saw the Captain's body spasm as the medicine rushed through his system, healing damage.
The ysoki then put herself between the nearest soldier and the captain, waiting for him to pull himself together and stand up.
Seeing the Captain drop and Robert hit by multiple bullets, Kamiya knew she had to do something. She freed one of the grenades from her belt and hoped that the cadets would be easily bluffed as she dashed out of her cover. She made for the cover where Thyx was pretending to draw their fire but at the last moment she pivoted, switched directions, and lobbed her grenade at the two cadets.
Thyx watched the captain fall as if by slow motion. "NO!" He made to run toward the enemy but suddenly stopped as he saw a grenade land. He yelled at Magnusson,, then watched the bast go off. As soon as he could get started again he bolted in a panic past Robert and swung out with his baton hitting the cadet directly and ineffectually on the helmet.
"Ow! Damn!" Robert cursed as bullet after bullet grazed him. He hadn’t really expected to just wipe out the soldiers with just a single equation but he had hoped to at least sap their resolve enough to make them run for it. No such luck, and now the damned Vesk had gone and keeled over to boot! He didn’t want to stand here in the open with his mouth hanging open, and he didn’t intend to, but at least before he retreated, he was still in a perfect position to repeat his earlier performance.
Growing out another equation that put himself in the proper frame of mind to impose his will upon the layer of reality, the technomancer gathered even more heat from around himself, causing hoarfrost to form briefly on the ground around him as he shot another jet of orange flames point-blank at the two Azalanti troopers before diving into cover in case they were still able and inclined to keep shooting at him.
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Game on!
, hit
Three down and one to go. Already having broken cover, Kamiya dashed forward and attempted to short circuit the brain of the last cadet. Even though its comrade had managed to shake off her psychic abilities, she hoped that this one wasn’t as strong.
Seeing that the captain was stable for now, and that Thyx was taking heavy fire, Kip ran into action again. Leaping through the mist, she bounded towards the final enemy, jumping into the bushes and approaching from his right. The soldier didn't see her coming, and let out a shriek of fear as the white ball of fur came hurtling towards him, knife drawn.
Wanting to disable his gun hand, Kip's blade struck deep into his biceps, severing muscle and artery, the gun dropping from limp fingers only to be followed by the human following his gun to the forest floor.
"Well, it ain't worth the scum stuck to the heel of my boot!" Robert shot back in the same language, then aimed his pistol in the general direction the helpful voice had come from and squeezed the trigger... and was more surprised than not when his efforts were rewarded with a fresh grown of pain. 'Talk about a lucky shot.'
The captain groaned, and dragged himself after Kip.
The cadet dodged, desperately avoiding Robert's pistol and Kip's knife. Her foot stumbled into a small, wet depression, and she raised her rifle to the sky to keep her balance as she fell backwards. Suddenly the static in the air grounded through her.