Search Posts
Going to put together a statblock for Ashora Kail, a Zemyati Sniper I will also try to get a Medic secondary so we have that base covered :) I'll probably have a relatively slow ramp up, sorry--new system plus I already GM three PBP and a Roll20 game on Saturdays. I'll get caught up ASAP!
As the vox transmission from Jutr comes through, Ashora grimaces from her position at the window but doesn't look up from her scope.
"We get all the best jobs," she mutters after the transmission is ended. "Sir, permission to commandeer any ammunition I can find for the sniper rifles? Running low and this sounds like it'll get ugly fast."
Still not showing in my Campaigns page, I'll ask the admins and let you know what they say.
Not sure what's up, but this campaign still isn't showing in my games. I have to find it by pulling up Ashora's alias and then going to her most recent posts. Weird, because usually posting in Gameplay/Discussion is enough for it to pop up.
"Mind if I tag along, Sarge?" The independent operating of the last few weeks may have rubbed off on Ashora because she doesn't wait for a response before falling in next to Olways. "Hey Simmons, glad you're not dead." When the group gets up top she finds a perch and keeps a lookout through her scope, trying to get a feel for the area and building a mental map.
"Hey Thud, go to see you t--OOF!! Yep, ahaha, yes good to see you too," she manages when the ogryn releases her, face a bit red-face and out of breath. As the ogryn moves off to examine the refugees she indicates his priestly garb with her thumb and whispers "What's with the robe?" to the others.
Glad to be back, team! @Ghost of War, hope you feel better soon, and when you're back could you contact me about that AMR we discussed in PMs?
Ashora stands and trails Adge at a distance, not quite believing her eyes. "Of all the squads on this planet, I get stuck back with yours, hey Sarge?" she calls affably. "Emperor knows I'm glad to see some familiar faces, how fares the 1st?"
But I LIKE Sneaking!: Ashora sighs. She'd been hoping for a few hours shuteye and a chance to wipe away the worst of the grime. As she she made brief eye contact with a child too young to fight and too scared to cry as she hurried away, the sniper feels her jaw tighten. "Yes, I'll fight for you, what's your best vantage point--away from the bolter crew. I'll set up a crossfire with them." Taking position in the spot Capt. Martins indicates, Ashora lets her breathing slow and her mind clear as the train draws near.
LOGISTICS TESTS
Okay...well, nope. Got a charge pack though! Does it only come with one? I'm thinking that high Pen will be helpful if we ever come across an Ork in meganob armor...
Sidling up to Celephix, Ashora clears her throat and awkwardly fidgets for a moment before speaking. "So...I know I'm not part of your amazing religion and all but, uh, where does the machine spirit of an M77 Marksman Lasgun live? I mean, *cough* , would the spirit mind overmuch if I...er..."fiddled around" with the grip?" Eyes wide, the sniper decides she's already committed and plunges ahead. "No offense meant of course, please don't turn me into a servitor! It's just, you know, I have these long fingers and the grip doesn't feel quite right, same for the stock really it's too short--and I just thought that maybe with a few, um, adjustments me and the spirit could work better together...please don't make me a servitor..."
It's late & I'm now headed to bed, but I'll get my Storm Trooper fully statted ASAP Arrana "Adroit" Kamerik Hot-Shot Volley Gun (Subject to GoW approval): Basic, 60m, S/3/5*, 1d10+4E Pen7, Rld 2 Full; Salvo* *Salvo: When this weapon uses the Full Auto attack option, the weapon gains the Overheats rule
Okay, just put up Ashora's new purchases: Dodge [Known] (200)
So she'll be tinkering around with her weapon and spending a lot of time at the range in order to nab those upgrades over the next few weeks (also not sure how long our downtime will be). I'd like to do some RP with 'Phix to attempt to subtly find out how harsh the Tech-Priest will come down on her or if she is more open-minded about the Omnissiah's will :p Assuming she won't get lobotomied, I could see Ashora modding others' weapons in exchange for favors and/or Logistics bonuses. She's a pretty pragmatic sort. Pimp My Sniper Rifle: Custom Grip (+5BS for me, -5BS for anyone else using the weapon) Modified Stock (+2/+4 to BS from Half/Full Aim) Quick-Release (Reduce reload time by a Half Action; stacks with Rapid Reload) Trigger Adjustment (+1 on Initiative; -5BS for anyone else using the weapon)
Ashora sits slumped in the turret as the adrenaline drains away, taking up her usual role as lookout. As the vehicles roll up she does her best to look calm and lethally efficient, snapping off a salute to the commissar and counting the reinforcements. Glancing over at the other girl in the truck, "Hey Petri, you got your marksmanship lanyard yet? After watching Simmins tear up that walker I'm thinking we oughta get a few more sharpshooters in this platoon--but one of us should have an anti-vehicle gun! That'll put some fear into these ugly green f@&#s, hey?"
So Ashora would definitely fall in the "weapon tinkerer" category, I'll probably put some Armorer skill points in there shortly. She's interested in creating the perfect sniper rifle for herself, but would like to suss out whether 'Phix will turn her into a Servitor for Tech-Heresy first :p I never did get a ruling for something like Called Shots on the hydraulics of a Walkers legs... :)
Also: can "fire bombs" (Plentiful) which as written are basically souped-up Molotov Cocktails be exchanged 1:1 for 40mm incendiary grenades for launchers?
Since Choon nabbed the Melta...GoW...would you be willing to homebrew a Hotshot Volleygun as something that my Stormtrooper could tote around? TABLETOP STATS: S4 AP3 24" range; Salvo 2/4
I understand if that's not something you want to do, I'll just carry around some other weapon I can get my mits on.
Gonna roll up a Storm Trooper w/a breaching & anti-vehicle focus
We're also looking at its front armor right now, maybe Thud could strafe around it? I think most Walkers have equal Front/Side armor but maybe it'll get dumb/angry enough to show us its ass? Also @GM: how are we doing the Called Shots on a vehicle? With my post before I was assuming the vehicle targeting rules worked as written, with "Weapons" being one of the four vehicle categories and Size still applies--but that also includes having to fully bypass the Armor of your facing so as-written my first shot wouldn't have done any damage (second might've if the missing third d10 was a good roll). I'm fine with whatever, but it'll help make calculations in the future if I know how to assess my chances. @Group: the execrable xenos use lots of vehicles it seems, we should invest in the Tank Hunter talent (from Hammer of the Emperor) when we get the chance.
Screaming, Ashora screws her eyes shut tightly and shakes her head, but the daemonic susurrus cuts through the noise and sears into her brain.
As the voices fade she pants, eyes wild and beads of sweat running down her face. Still, the drill teams on Serenus had done their work well, and muscle memory guides her as she lays her rifle against the edge of the truck and places her eye to the scope. Clicking on her combead, she pants out, "Notch, Leni, get that big lunk away from there! He's gonna block the autocannon team's firelane!" Hoping to repeat her trick with the other machine-gun barrel, she fires.
Also having a character/NPC who can use the Trade (Armorer) skill is a relatively cheap way to get a lot of small bonuses from customizations if your local Techpriest/Commissar cares more about results than--*BLAM* There's a list of them on Pg. 190 if the Corebook, Quick-Release combined with the Rapid Reload Talent would give most of us Free Action reloads for our Basic & Pistol weapons
"I really hope that's freaking out the Orks as much as its spooking me..." the sniper mutters to Malchior, but the both of them try to put on a brave face as much as possible for the other troopers. To test her hope, Ashora trains her scope on the xeno-held hills, not even sure what it is she's hoping to see.
A superheavy company actually sounds a little dull to me...it's either a lot of "well, I guess I rotate the turret XX degrees and fire," or it's a lot of "holy shit the Carnifexes ate our Baneblade I don't have any Talents or Skills for surviving outside a tank!" You're either way over-powered or way under-powered. Mechanized infantry is the sweet spot IMHO.
I haven't run it yet for any of my groups, but "No Surrender" is f$~+ing monstrously brutal & gives like 3,000+ XP per player even if the same characters don't survive all three chapters. That one includes fighting multiple Superheavies without any special plot-assistance (amongst other nasties), so it might be an outlier. It's also not session-oriented and instead plot-oriented.
Highly variable! The "Against the Savages" sample mission in the Core Rulebook provides over 1,200XP for an adventure that includes about 5-6 combat encounters and 2-3 potential diplomacy/RP encounters. Admittedly, the encounters detailed there aren't quite as dangerous as the ones we've faced, but we had a lot more NPCs than that one did.
Just in case we complete this mission and get our XP while I'm gone, here's what Ashora wants, in order: 1,000XP's Worth of Advances: Stealth +10 (200XP) Dodge [Known] (200XP) Awareness [Known] (200XP) Ambush [Tier 1 Talent] (200XP)
"Nope! Which, given the size of the explosion those things would probably make that can only be a good thing!"
Out of curiosity, are we in the Spinward Front or Calixis Sector or somewhere homebrew? Maybe the Jericho Reach? (*shudder*) but it's not known for having lots of Orks around so... What's the sector in 2e Dark Heresy? Askellion or something like that?
Ashora stares in transfixed horror at the fleet of burning...somethings...flinching as the roar and pressure bears down on her as they pass overhead. "Righteous Saints," she breaths and makes the sign of the Aquila. "Is that what an orbital bombardment looks like? We don't have HAZMAT gear!" She gives Leni a rushed salute and sprints to the xenos truck, clambering back into the turret and doing her best to ignore the smell of the gretchin corpses. "Orks to the west, f~+&ing meteor storms to the east...the Emperor's servants have their work cut out for them..."
Shield of Humanity has it.
Sometime after we find ourselves knee-deep in Chaos Space Marines I imagine. :p
I want a Stalker boltgun too. It's the sniper variant, imagine what a team we'd make Thud!
"Field promotion?" the sniper offers. On the subject of Kommandos she shrugs. "They've got some kind of heat-shielding effect that makes them hard to spot with the photo-visors, but it's not perfect so you just have to stay focused."
"You can't hold a line that has been broken already." "The next two positions north are confirmed wiped, and we haven't gotten any word from the south. The line feels pretty broken right now, Corporal."
"You guys and gals got any AP weapons or sharpshooters with you? Also check with our Techpriest before wandering anywhere, we've been planting some mines."
"Where is he not? Poor bastard took a direct hit from the xenos artillery on the second barrage. As for who's in charge, Cpl. Tivnan's been giving the orders and we've been following them, so I guess she's acting command." Ashora feels a tickle of guilt as she looks over the wounded newcomers and in her own squad alike--but contrast, other than some scrapes and a rapidly-healing cut from the Ork she'd gotten off light. She hopes the others don't resent her for it.
Hesitating as she sees the other group spreading out in a combat formation, Ashora decides to take a risk and prevent a potentially horrible tragedy. she shouts out, then ducks down below the lip of the trench in case any fireworks start.
"Pick off the heavies first, I've got [] so the rest of you find someone else!"
Awakened again, and none too happy about it, Ashora stifles her impulse to complain in favor of stealth. Quietly picking up her longlas, she moves away from the group a short distance, hoping to get a slightly different angle on the approaching group if hostilities break out. As she focuses her scope on the group (finger off the trigger for now), she clicks on her combead and whispers. "Guys...I can't tell for sure if they're friendlies, but even badly injured Orks don't act like they're hurt. Someone should hail them." All the same, she keeps the crosshairs on one of the figures that seems to be toting a heavy weapon...but exhaustion and the memory of the platoon-mate she'd killed two days ago takes the edge off her battle lust.
"Simmins, where are these bikes? I don't have visual."
Ashora opens her eyes, not sure at first what had awakened her but trusting her instincts. As she hears the distant "music" and rev of engines she rolls to her feel, longlas already in her hand. Sprinting up to the top of the trench for a better view she places the scope up to her eye for a better view of the vehicle column and clicks on her combead. "Hey Leni, Phix, we've still got those artillery assets on-call, right? Let's light up the bastards." Carefully gauging the xenos' speed, distance, and heading she feeds the info to the others in a calm, steady voice.
As the shift ends, Ashora carefully crawls out of the xeno turret and climbs down. "Completely quiet shift, just how I like it," she murmurs, then quiets as her voice seems far too loud in the eerie stillness. Tiredly trudging towards the trenches, she and Malchior and Petri set up their sleeping gear in a little leeward spot out of the wind, and after a quick check that the new watchers don't need anything all of them are quickly asleep.
Wriggling in a vain effort to find a comfortable spot in the metal turret, Ashora makes idle conversation with Petri, though the sniper's eyes never stop their roving. She asks about the other girl's home on Serenus, why made her join up, and hoo-boy did the weather here suck or what? While not exactly a consummate charmer, Ashora hopes to calm her comrade-in-arms and steady her nerves.
Ashoras voice comes over the combead. "Stand down, no contact, no contact! Dead greenskin in the vehicle, just making sure. Some of the little ones are wired into the truck, looks pretty permanent."
Been a mess the last few days.
Ashora is startled by Petri's burst of fire, and grabs the girl's shoulder. [b]"Easy Petri, easy! It's already dead. I admit though, that's pretty f&+~ing horrible. Kinda looks like a servitor but don't tell the Engineseer I said that." Waving to the rest of the squad to indicate that everything's okay, Ashora hauls herself up into the truck bed. Malchior helps Petri up, then starts picking through some of the detritus for something worth noticing, while the sniper climbs into the turret itself for the 360-degree view.
Ashora nods at Leni's orders. "K. I'll take Malchior and...her." the sniper points at one of the soldiers from the southern trench who looks more alert than the others. Giving her a light kick on the boot she says, "You can finish eating that on watch, we're going to go climb into one of those xeno trucks if it's safe. Nice armored place to keep watch in every direction. What's your name, Trooper?"
|
