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You all have been really cool about this, as it was painful for me to come to grips with ending this. Hopefully I can pick this up, and of course you all will be automatically in, as long as you want to. I really, really liked your characters, so it was one of those things that was surprisingly difficult to do. You've all been really understanding and I appreciate that, as I feel disappointed by this. Thanks again :)
Kinda, I'm sorry my posting has been very sporadic lately,
Jacquelin fires off a shot with her rifle, but the sniper is well protected by the rocky cover around him.
Action Order
William is up
Hey everyone, hope you had a great 4th :)
The grenade fired from Mikhails mech hits the corner of the machinegun nest, exploding and sending bodies everywhere. As Alec rushes forward bravely, his EMP grenade goes off, crippling the Achillies...
Reflex Save vs Emp Grenade = 4; Failed!; [occ]Fort Save: 12; Failed! The Achillies is Stunned for 1 rd.
Action Order
Jacquelin is up
The emp grenade goes off infront of the Achillies, causing electric bolts to flash across the mech, its movements jerky and staggered as the pilot tries to regain control.
The enemy Achillies fires off another round at Mikhail, impacting his armor with a sizable explosion before boosting up in the air over the mg nest to seek cover behind the rocky hills.
While the Achillies boosts over the mg nest, the soldier manning the gun opens up on Mikhail; dozens of bullets cover the area around him.
Shots ring out as more rounds come from the surrounding hillsides, nearly hitting Zaviera and William in the crossfire.
Action Order
Mikhail is up
Oh yes it was fun/good, but very hectic, not too restful from all the activity. I'm still catching up with things at work and whatnot, so once I'm off work I'll update as much as possible :)
Whew, and I'm back. FYI, just gonna be resting up for today, had a long drive from Florida, but I'll be posting tomorrow or possibly late night tonight, thanks for your patience everyone :)
I will definitely allow you all to make the appropriate rolls or even let you just do it outright for the next mission. This is kinda what the purpose of this "test" mission, to work out the kinks and come up with ideas for what you may need on your real assignment.
I actually had'nt thought of that possibility. Do you have items that allow you to do that specifically? If not, how about this: For now you can't, but for the next combat mission, you can have it hooked up to the Ajax for that occurence where you can patch in to his sensors, providing your local mech monkey can make those adjustment rolls to hook it up...eh Alec? Yes I'm looking at you... :P
Zaviera rushes forward, using the rocky hills as cover.
Action Order
Mikhail is up
Glad you're enjoying though, I'm still a little new at running a PbP game in the sense that I sometimes try to keep up a good pace at posting, but real life sometimes overwhelms me. So I hope you all are fine with the pacing of this one, it might be a little slower then usual just cause I'm juggling more enemies at one time and d20 modern has some rules I need to get used to. On another note, I'll be going on vacation again from June 25th thru the 29th, so I'll be unable to post till then. I hope you all can bear with me on that; if I can I'll definitely post if I can access a cpu, but since I'm visiting family in Florida, it might be hectic.
The grenade goes barely past the soldier William targeted, landing directly behind him. A cry of alarm goes out from the soldiers as the grenade goes off, sending bodies to the ground. When the smoke clears, four soldiers lie dead and dismembered. , ; Hit!
Shots ring out from the hills, sounding distinctly like bolt action rifles, nearly hitting Zaviera and Alec...
The Achillies moves directly towards Mikhail, firing off a round of its recoiless rifle, giving off a massive concussive blast. The shell goes steaking thru the air, hitting Mikhails suit squarely. Hellion Recoiless Rilfe, , Hit! ; Damage: damage to Mikhail The men in the mg nest open up on Jacq, peppering the area around her with concentrated mg fire and hitting her with a round in the arm. , vs DC 10, Jacq Reflex Save vs DC 15 Hit!; Damage: to Jacq
Action Order
Zaviera is up
Jacquelin catches the squad of soldiers in an enfilade, filling the area with fire, hitting two of the three men.
Action Order
William is up
The soldier reels back from the shot, nearly falling over, but mananges to keep his balance. Shouts of "taking fire" and "contact" can be heard coming from behind the rocky hill nearby.
Action Order
Jacq is up
Turning the corner, Mikhail sees the extent of the fortified compound before him. A squad of enemy troops leans up close behind the rocky hill before them, weapons at the ready. While behind them at the base are two mg nests with sandbags around them to provide cover, as well as several soldiers positioned on the 2nd floor of the concrete bunker. Nearby a Achillies heavy suit can be seen moving ponderously towards your positions...
Action Order
Mikhail is up
Thats up to you all, and if you like you can elect someone to handle that. I didn't want to give anyone rank over any pc to prevent any possible bossing around without a players consent, but if you work that out amongst yourselves, then thats fine with me.
The wind continues to blow strongly as you enter the hilly region. All is quiet still as you sit behind and near the rocky hill that shelters you from the heat of the oppressive sun. Sweat begins to streak down your cheeks and into your eyes, while dust continues to fill your nostrils and mouth.
Action Order
Mikhail is up
Sounds good, I'll do your checks that would apply, and Initiative rolls. Wasn't waiting on ya Mori, just had a very busy weekend working on the house and running around with the girlfriend/wife :)
You move in quickly as a group, taking cover near a large rock. Peering around it you still can't place what Alec briefly noticed. Meanwhile, Mikhail moves directly towards the rocky hill before you...
Zaviera and Mikhail begin to move forward, the Achillies kicking up a fair amount of dust and noise as it moves across the hard desert floor. Fortunately the strong wind helps muffle the noise of the machinery, although the dust that it brings doesn't help your vision. As Mikhail checks his sensors, he still has nothing...something definitely must be jamming the sensors in the area... William heroically looks out from behind Jacquelin's shoulder, seeing nothing but the steep, rocky outcroppings, but little more.
Scipion: Nice, I might have to just simplify the enemy icons so that it's easier to see their numbers for record keeping purposes. I like to give them fancy icons but on a huge map like the one you're on currently, it makes the seeing their individual numbers difficult...not that there are any enemies out there.... Me'Mori: As far as intersquad communications, you have headset com units, I'm sorry if I never mentioned that, but you can communicate just fine with each other. As far as line of sight and movement, you can rp it as you prefer.
I use a free program called Inkscape to work my pictures and what not. It let's me set the document size and resolution super easily. My battle maps never end up more then 1mb. I might have to try that out. I think the main issue is when I'm at work, I only have access to Paint...and paint is...well not very good. So it can't handle resolution that well, and when I bring a file in of the size of the map you're on, it makes the finer details very hard to discern. Otherwise I don't usually have too much trouble, but you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between cannon fodder 1 or cannon fodder 2 the regular why that I do it.
The landscape before you all is bleak, desert badlands, with a large outcropping of steep, rocky hills that rise some 30 to 60 ft above ground. All is silent except for the constant sound of the wind, whipping up bursts of dusts westward; its howls the only constant. The hills before you are intimidating, and seem to be a good natural defense against attackers...
Before you enter the "coffins", five technicians arrive at your side and escort you into a secluded changing area, where they hand you each a very sleek-looking black, body suit. The suit itself is very form fitting, and covers your whole body up to your neck. The interior of the suit is covered with various "dots" of some kind, supposedly to track your vital signs and assist with the virtual reality. The technicians then hand you each rubbery, underwear-like shorts with a sheepish smile. "Sometimes it feels too real..." says one of the techs. With that they point you to the nearby changing stalls. Once suited up, your taken back into the main chamber to enter the "coffins". The process is a convoluted one, as the technician helps you in and plugs, straps, and slides all the necessary devices into their proper places, while your head rests on a cold, metalic head brace. Once strapped in, the coffin slides shut with a hiss, and a goggle-like display descends onto your face. A sharp pain is felt in your arm and then suddenly you're no longer in the "coffin", but are standing, with your mates, in a non-descript, bland, gray room twenty by twenty feet, with low ceilings with dim lighting. No doors can be seen, but all of you are in the room. The sound of Lt. Rolheim’s voice can be heard thru your com-link in your helmet, as you are wearing all your gear. “All right, everyone, this is the staging room. Do any last minute adjustments you need, and when your ready, give a shout. And don't worry, there's no spawn killing here" says Rolheim with a laugh. The non-descript-looking room slowly fades away, revealing a sunny, barren, desert landscape. To the south, east, and west it stretches on as far as the eye can see, but to the north, you see several steep, rocky hill outcroppings, along with some impact or blast craters. A strong wind pushes across the badlands before you, its howl the only noise you can hear for miles...
No problem, DQ. Post when you can, and I hope you had a great vacation :)
Rolheim gives a short laugh, his expression somewhat more at ease then usual. "I'm sure you'll all do me proud. You can begin when you're ready."
"Do we requisition equipment now, sir?" Zaviera changed her focus from straight ahead to the Lieutenant. "For now you'll keep the equipment that's been currently assigned to you, as those capabilities have been programmed into the simulation. The upside to this is that units that perform above the normal standards will get an increase in requisition upon completion and review", says Lt.Rolheim.
Lt.Rolheim shakes his head negatively. "Not this time, Serra. To simulate the fog of war and accentuate your role as a recon unit, you will be forced to gather whatever information you can on the ground and make your decision based on that."
Lt.Rolheims smiles at Jacquelin's statement, saying "That's what I like to hear, Serra." With a circular gesture, Rolheim motions for everyone to gather round him in your typical briefing huddle. "Alright boys and girls...girl, this is your second big moment. This is your warm up, your graduation test to make sure you all still have what it takes to be recon. This is a piece of cake; it's nothing you can't handle. That being said this will most likely be a very difficult assignment. Here's the scenario: You will be inserted near a enemy position surrounded by steep, rocky hills, while the terrain is desert badlands. You are to find the enemies compound and eliminate the occupants. Collateral damage should be a non-issue here, as the destruction of the opposing enemy forces and gaining entrance into the compound is your objective. There may be unknown surprises as well, so be ready for anything. Force composition is estimated to be several squads backed up by armor, although numbers there are sketchy. Any questions?"
As you all filter into siimulation chamber 6b, you are greeted by Commander Martin and Lt. Rolheims, who each give a sharp salute, but say nothing. The chamber itself is an intricate maze of computers, vid-displays, and a command-center-like adjoining room, where orders and information are relayed to the participants. In the main chamber are twelve 'coffins' as they are infamously dubbed, due to their enclosed nature, which tends to give those with any tendancies towards claustrophobia the hibi-gibi's. Each 'coffin' has a number marking it from one to twelve, while the digital display near the numbers have each one of your names on it. Huntington- Seven; Manougian- Twelve; MacGregor- Eleven; Serra- One; and Zamora- Six. As you stand there in near silence, only the occasional sound of staff members in the command center or the constant hum of computers can be heard.
Just waiting to see if Jacq is able to post before posting my next entry. Not a slight against Jacq at all, just want to give you some time, as I understand you're having difficulties at the moment. If I do post to move on, feel free to post in the sequence as you catch up, I don't want to rob you of your rping the scenes.
lol whoops for some reason I had it in mind Alec had a mecha too, oh well :)
Yes it will be a [finger quote] VR simulation [/finger quote] but what that means in game terms is that any items/equipment you normally would have would be represented in the scenario and does not get used up if it has limited supplies. So any ammo you use/med kits/etc you need to keep track of for the mission only, and will not be really taken out of your inventory at all. Mikhail and Alec will be in their armored mecha as well, unless for some reason they feel really really brave and want to take on enemy armor with their bare hands...Mikhail is Russian after all...he might be able to.
As Alec nearly finishes his comment to Jacquelin, he is interrupted as he says "grim sense of impending doom", as the image of Lt. Rolheim (your company commander) flashes on the screen of your quarters vid-com display. He appears in his usual USMC desert B.D.U. (battle dress uniform), which he fondly wears as a reminder of his time spent in the civil wars in Africa; sporting a marine's high and tight haircut, and his usual semi-bored expression. He is a man in his early thirties, and a distant but dependable man who's by-the-book leadership style tends to pass him off as someone lacking in imagination when it comes to unorthodox situations. Still he is a fair and competent leader. "Alright 22nd (your reconnaissance squad's number), your squads due to undergo the 'Gauntlet' in thirty minutes. You're to meet up in combat simulations chamber 6b, and from there you'll be briefed on the nature of the test. Be ready for anything and I'll see you there shortly. Rolheim out."
Oh that's just up to everyone else. XD Since Jacq said she wasn't going to be around this weekend and you said you're scarce on weekends anyway, I figured it'd be something cool to do to tide us over. Besides, I seem to scare people off for a few hours every time I post in the IC thread, anyway. >:3 lol no worries. Like I said, I didn't want to interrupt a cool session and good read, so keep it up and I'll probably jump in after a little bit. I like downtime sessions for players to flesh out their characters more, instead of just objective, objective, objective.
Nice Reycied, I like that rendition of Mikhail. I'm really enjoying how you're all developing your characters. They're coming along very well and their interaction with one another is very tight. The card game rp'ing session is an awesome idea. Keep running with that for as long as you guys like, and let me know when you want to move to the next scene, it's there when you need it.
The next two weeks, which are filled with constant training and therapy, pass rather quickly aboard the Gilgamesh, and in that time you slowly recover from the effects of being in cryo-sleep for so long. Aside from your squad-mates, you only see a handful of people aboard the ship, as the rest are in stasis, awaiting the return to Terra, but that still does not ease the feeling of living aboard a ghost ship.
Glad you're enjoying yourself Reycied, that means a lot to me. Hopefully Chainsaw will come back, but if he's having a emergency then it probably won't happen, but I'll still keep a slot open for him just in case.
"I don't see why that would be a problem, Serra. I'll check with the scientist assigned to that project to see if I can get you some information", says Martin. Sorry Jacq, missed that questions earlier.
Martin clearly looks disturbed by Alec's proposal, nodding his head slowly as he exlains his theory. "That is a very imaginative theory, MacGregor. Unfortunately those 'eggheads' from the 'World Scientist Committee' would say otherwise. They seem to think that the world will be completely devoid of human life, due to the downward spiral Terra was on. I myself could care less. My job is to make sure we get the intel needed on the status of the planet, and then let high command decide what to do. That's all we can do at the moment." "Huh...what if Alec is right? Maybe we are out of date." "I very much doubt that, Manougian. The ability to enact violence is never out of date. We have a claim on Terra, and by god if those that are left on there say otherwise, we will take whatever action is needed to ensure the safety of our billion plus strong citizens and I did not spend the last eight years of my life sittin' and spinning' for nothing." |
