No you don't!
He then wheels around Melissa to keep wailing on the assassin.
Really, they didn't pay you up front, right?
He's really quite incredulous at their performance.
Guess? fires again at red.
Akh cuts down the closest assassin in a flurry of reality-ripping blows. Then Melissa and Guess? team up with a pair of well aimed shots to take out the remaining sniper! COMBAT OVER! You check the bodies. The half-elves each have a half melted plastic capsule under the remains of their severed tongue-stumps. It seems capture was not an option. Before your eyes their knives and rifles begin to fade into non-existence and tattoos reappear on their cooling skin. The four attackers each have a zeizerer diffractor III armor set, a set of 20 carbonedge shuriken, two mk 3 healing serums, an empty bottle marked sneak serum of enhancement , and Guess?'s favorite - a credstick (4,000 credits). In addition, the final sniper had a dossier detailing each of you, your known aliases - including a surprising number of your past disguises - photos of your starship, and your starship’s digital identification signature.
As you cooley ransack the loot, Elby begins to cry and hold Melissa's hand. "Please, please, you have to believe me! I swear, on everything I hold dear, I didn't want this! I didn't... I didn't orchestrate the ambush. They came to me, those… those assassins. They said… they said they'd kill me, too, if I didn't cooperate!" It takes some diplomatic words, but Melissa is able to calm her down quickly. Once reassured, Elby continues in a shaky voice. "I was already here waiting for you, when the Xun came down in their starship. There were more of them, lots more. At least a dozen. They seemed to know you would likely come to Orry, but they didn’t know where. They told me to play along, saying they’d kill me if I didn’t!" She pauses then continues in a hush. “After a few of them took up positions, the others left in their ship—looking for you, I think. I don’t know where they are now, but they’ll be back. They'll be back!”
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"Hey hey. relax. Its fine. They obviously were going to kill you and everyone else if you didn't cooporate. We're strangers. its fine. No harm no foul" some blood gets through her fur and drips down onto the ground "Ok not .. much harm. "
"We want to be here when they get back? They might have another cred stick. Jaraduk how do you feel about playing the part of Elby? Or we can take you on the way out..."
Jaraduk tunes his holoskin. A replica of Elby appears.
Yeah fine. The voice might be a problem, but I can not talk.
"No worries, Elby. It's pretty obvious you were coerced into this. And don'tcha fret. After a while, you kinda get used to assassins jumping ya before, after, or during every other time you leave the ship. There's almost a resassuring cadence to how clockwork it happens, y'know?"
Guess? tilts his head in sympathy and reaches out to shake Elby's hand.
"I'm Hugh, by the way. Nice to meet ya. Hey, if we get you through this alive, 10BP per lot for a total of 80BP. Deal??"
Looking over the dead bodies and thinking over Melissa's plan, Guess? says, "Hmmm.. Jaraduk posing as Elby will work. They obviously planned to kill Elby here and when the rest of them return and see her alive, they'll know for sure their plan went awry then just open fire and kill El-raduk.
[b]"I think best we leave these assassin bodies out here and we go hide. When they come back and check for clues to try and track us, we ambush them. Unless it appears they have way too much firepower - in which case we stay hidden until they leave.
"Whaddaya'll think?"
Play dead? Yeah okay. Just, uh... don't let them get too close or get in any shots before you ambush.
Akh looks skeptically at Elby, who seems to be suspiciously innocent in this whole endeavor. If HE was an assassin organizing leader, he'd ALSO plant one of his assassins as the "innocent" contact. Nevertheless, he figures the party could deal with that too if it happens. "At least a dozen seems tricky, but we finished four of them here. If we can get them split up an ambush would make dealing with the rest of them a lot easier. Lets hide, take a breather, and then see who comes investigating."
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"...No harm no foul" some blood gets through her fur and drips down onto the ground "Ok not .. much harm. " ...
The group is able to take 10 minutes to rest while you take turns talking Elby - who needs 10 minutes herself - down. "You want to be here when they get back? I mean, a dozen... that's a lot! Even for you!" She admires...
Guess?'s halfling form. "Though, maybe not for you, handsome. But if y'all wanted to lay a false trail, you could feed me a believable story and I'll stay behind to pass it on. Or maybe we just all disappear and leave a dead end behind." She shrugs. "Your lives, I can always head back to the commune."
"Speaking of, you didn't just come here to kill assassins and chew bubblegum. Cargo." She looks down at the halfling, rubbing a shoulder rather condescendingly before patting him on the head (even more condescendingly). "Cute that you think I have 80 Build Vouchers to rub together. I can do 5 per, 40 total. And I can bring in a few friends to help you unload here, if you'd like the support. Hopefully all of us together can get this out and gone before they get back."
You can tell that you could squeeze a few more credits out of Elby through the use of force or intimidation, but that would come at the cost of her respect and friendship.
Akh ponders the group's options "Wouldn't it be better we get rid of more assassins now? If we can trick them into splitting up we can fight one group first and then the rest later if they still want to push their luck. That way they don't show up later when we're already in the middle of some other awful mission."
"Some friends to help unload would be nice. We have our expert team, but it can't hurt to go faster."
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Elby claps her hands together. "OH! You only have one group of assassins after you? Yes, you should take them out! Once I'm safely back and away from here...." She shakes her head vigorously. "Wait, I don't want any more Golden League entanglements. Gimme the cargo now, hurry up hurry up hurry up. Die on your own time." The fear has set back in, and she starts buzzing with nervous energy.
The extreme distortions around Orry make it impossible to find the Xun starship. Thankfully that means that the assassins will be unable to find you either, as long as you're no longer here when they return.
"I like how you're thinking Melissa!"
"But it looks like Elby here's going to melt into a puddle if we take too long. Let's set up our trick quickly, take down some more assassins, and then unload our cargo?"
I'm still laying on the ground "dead", right? Looking like Elby? Remember... just don't let them get any shots off before the ambush!
He arranges his grenade launcher on the ground and covers it up with his body.
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"Alright, I'll stick around for your madness but it's going to cost you!" She scampers off a safe distance then hides behind a rock. You settle down into ambush positions and wait... and wait... and wait... eight brutally boring hours later, a ship comes into view and lands on the asteroid. Eight similarly dressed half-elf assassins pour out before the ship departs. They see your split trail and pause a few moments, discussing it. Then half the group heads south, tentatively. The other half moves north, towards the body of "Elby". You see one point towards Melissa's position, and they stop to draw their rifles before continuing. When they get within fifty feet, you open fire!
Everyone is up! Surprise Round
Melissa 0 damage
Jaraduk, 0 damage
Akh, 0 damage
Guess?, 0 damage
Pink, 0 damage
Red, 0 damage
Blue, 0 damage
Green, 0 damage
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Tired of relying on Desna, who has it in for her for some reason. "Look Saranrae don't take it personally but charging them in ablaze of glory isn't me and staying alive to do the right thing isn't you.... "
Melissa will run forward and then drop prone behind the bush.
Akh remember you can occupy her square if needed.
I just realized I didn't pick a feat this level.
Akh activates his thruster heels and boosts toward the assassins. He arrives in the air directly above them . He brandishes his claws. "One of us is going to come out of this regretting something."
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Jaraduk and Guess? send in their opening shots, and Melissa and Akh run into a better range.
The half-elves are more surprised than you expected and you continue your attack!
Everyone is up! Round 1.
Melissa 0 damage
Jaraduk, 0 damage
Akh, 0 damage
Guess?, 0 damage
Pink, 0 damage
Red, 0 damage
Blue, 0 damage
Green, 0 damage
"We're the ones doing the assassinating today! Ain't that right, Melissa?!?"
Guess? grins to himself as he fires at the blue assassin right below Akh.
Jaraduk hops up, suddenly very much alive to the would-be assassins.
Haha! Elby learned a few tricks while you were away! and maybe got a voice change... never mind that.
He takes aim just behind the line of assassins extending from Akh, who might see a very cold spherical explosion manifest just in front of his face.
Floating in place above the crowd, Akh has his pick of targets. Considering the absolute barrage of elemental attacks coming in from his allies, he figures focusing fire might serve the best way to dampen any counterattack. He aims for the most injured foe in his reach, based on what he can see.
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Pain washes over the attackers, and Akh focuses in on the same warrior as Guess?. The public comm spikes from a series of glottal signals. The attackers split into two hunting pairs, all four rifles dropping into an inky spray that floats to their arms while the half-elves draw a sleeve of shurikans. This reckless attack gives Akh his play of targets once again.
Everyone is up! Round 2.
Melissa 0 damage
Jaraduk, 14 damage
Akh, 0 damage
Guess?, 0 damage
Pink, 11 damage
Red, 30 damage
Blue, 113 damage, flatfooted
Green, 19 damage
Guess? begins to zero in on the red assassin standing over Melissa but as soon as Melissa shouts about getting the ugly one, Guess? readjusts his sights onto Melissa herself.
"No wait. She means the ugly assassin." Guess? mumbles to himself.
Guess? targets green then fires!
Okay, that's close enough!
Akh is a flurry of claws, punishing the assassins for their reckless attacks and movements with such speed that the black-wreathed paths of his swings begin overlapping one another.
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Then, as he's recovering from over-taxing his nervous system, he makes a single rippling claw slash at green. "That's an odd prickling in the spine. I wonder if that's supposed to happen when you start going very fast."
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The world around Akh ripples with breaks in reality and he tears into the assailants. Guess? adds to the fray; one half-elf drops while the second is heavy on his feet. The assassins respond to Jaraduk's doshko and the whirling claws with very accurately aimed metal stars into weak points!
Everyone is up! Round 3.
Melissa 0 damage
Jaraduk, 47 damage
Akh, 35 damage
Guess?, 0 damage
Pink, 11 damage
Red, 58 damage
Blue, 135 damage
Green, 112 damage
Jaraduk steps towards a would-be assassin and sees to his undoing with a strong slash downward.
How much are they paying you? He might have cleaned his clock, so the answer may not be coherent.
"That was a good throw." Akh slashes with one claw as he uses the other to pick at the shuriken lodged in his metal scales.
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With green likely down to Melissa's zappy assault, Akh floats over to hover above pink and red and slashes down at the more injured of the two.
It seems the remaining electric currents running through him via his hypernerves are leaving him more jittery than accurate. "Is this what coffee feels like for the rest of you?"
It seems the remaining electric currents running through him via his hypernerves are leaving him more jittery than accurate. "Is this what coffee feels like for the rest of you?"
"Yep! Well except for me cuz I'm always as smoooooove as silk! It'd take a gallon of coffee to get me jumpy!"
Guess? fires at the green otherwise fires at red.
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Guess? and Akh have a hard time aiming while dodging shurikens, but Jaraduk continues his duel and Melissa takes down a second of the half-elves. The two elves exchange a series of hand gestures then break apart! They swing shurikens through the air at the speed of light.
Your HUD lights up with flashing indicators to the south. The other half of the assassin crew has arrived on the scene!
Everyone is up! Round 4.
Melissa 42 damage
Jaraduk, 47 damage
Akh, 35 damage
Guess?, 0 damage
Pink, 51 damage
Red, 63 damage
Blue, 135 damage
Green, 137 damage
Akh slashes quickly, taking advantage of the assassins running away. Seeing red heading for Melissa, he aims there first.
He makes his attack flashy enough to grab the foe's attention.
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With a new set of assassins approaching, Akh heads south to start keeping them busy. He whips through the air until he's hovering just above green. He slices down with a claw that tears through space.
He makes the attack extra ominous to convince green to focus on him.
No you don't...
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And if that's not enough he follows the assassin
Guess? fires at red, "Your friends have arrived... Not much help they'll provide you though..."
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you can't usually whack someone with an AOO with an unwieldy weapon.
You CAN however Gore them , as your horns are always available.
"I clearly didn't use enough explosive. Sorry guys I'm used to working in mines where the air provides most of the explosive material..."
probably the last time she can do this but...
"GET EM ALL!"
Vs red and TEAL.
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The Akh, Guess?, and Melissa team up on the assassin coming for her - dropping him to the ground with a shell to the neck. Jaraduk and his duelist continue to grapple.
Jaraduk and Akh keep the attention of the fighters, none of whom can pierce their fierce defenses. Melissa suffers a bit more as the remaining two assassins swoop forward, their ninja stars flashing out ahead of them.
Everyone is up! Round 5.
Melissa 129 damage
Jaraduk, 47 damage
Akh, 35 damage
Guess?, 0 damage
Pink, 92 damage
Red, 182 damage
Blue, 135 damage
Green, 137 damage
Orange, 0 Damage
Green, 27 Damage
Yellow, 0 Damage
Teal, 17 Damage
Akh swipes at orange, scoffing at the attacks.
Jaraduk swings at the assassin is he tries to pull away again.
Then he takes his time fully circling around to block his escape path.
With new assassins closing the distance, Guess? mumbles, "oboy." and takes a shot at teal!