Back in Binary's office,  Binary takes a step back, both hands behind his back.  He responds to the Agent in his most innocent voice, "What disks?"

The Agent hears the demolitions team coming down the hall after their descent down the stairs.  He takes one step back and closes the door behind him so that the demolitions team will not disturb his work with you.  Twitch, Lazarus, Jade, and Binary now stand in a closed 10 foot by 10 foot room with the Agent, who appears completely nonplussed by the chaos outside.

The Agent raises his pistol.  His voice still calm, he says, "Give them to me now, Mr. Peterson."

"They're in that drawer," Binary lies, nodding toward one of the desk drawers and buying you a few more seconds.


Meanwhile, the battle at the other side of the facility rages on:

TURN 1
The soldiers are ripping off their nightvision goggles.  One of them is lifting something in his free hand as he tears off the goggles with the other.  It is a grenade.

Grid fires on full automatic on the nearest one.  The first two groups of his firing are off, but his third is a critical hit on the soldier's arm, doing 39 points of damage and taking the arm completely off.  It is the soldier's weapon hand.  He stares a the stump in shock.

A hit to an arm takes up to HT/2 damage.  Then the limb is crippled and the rest of the damage is lost, so this only did 6 damage total (12HT/2=6).  A crippled limb, however, causes stunning (the technical game term for the "shock."

Viper fires from behind the three soldiers, including the sergeant, catching them by surprise [Surprise is mental stunning.  However, it will not last more than 1 turn with them because they were already prepared to fight while they are ripping off their goggles. Normallly, a complete surprise will require an IQ check to come out of the surprise, which is counted as confusion.]

Since the soldiers were moving forward in a crouched position, they are slightly harder to hit.

Example:  Viper's to hit with this weapon is 16.  There is a -3 penalty for the targets being approximately 7 yards away (side by side).  There is a -2 penalty because they are crouching, leaving a to hit of 11.  Because he is aiming at successive groups, each "group" in the burst after the first gives the Accuracy bonus (+7, up to the normal to hit off 16), plus he gets the +1 aiming bonus (because it is considered aiming to direct your stream of fire like a hose).  This means his to hit is as follows:

Burst Turn 1:
Group 1: 11
Group 2: 17
Group 3: 18
Burst Turn 2
Group 1: 19
Group 2: 19
Group 3: 19  (Total max aiming bonus is +3)

Viper's stream of fire at the three soldiers goes in order of the groups (i.e. one soldier for each group and then back again).

Vipers first group misses the soldier. Viper's second group of bullets in the stream and each successive group hits the targets.  This is what happens in Turn 1:

Soldier 1: missed by the burst
Soldier 2: All four bullets in the group hit (see chart above for making the to hit roll by 5 or more).
[Damage is 5d+1 per bullet minus armor protection (4 for flak jacket).  (Hits were made in the torso region.) Bullet 1 =16-4=12 dmg.  Bullet 2=24-4=20 dmg.  Bullet 3=15-4= 11 dmg. Bullet 4=20-4=16 dmg.
This soldier is hit for a total of 59 points and falls to the ground.
Soldier 3 (Sergeant): Both of the two bullets in the last group hit the sergeant.  The hits are in the left hand (no flak jacket protection).
(Normally this would be 34 HT damage.  However, a hand wound can only sustain up to HT/3, and then excess damage is lost but the hand is crippled.)  The sergeant now has a crippled left hand, which will prevent firing his M-16 with two hands and cause a penalty.  Because he made a HT roll, he is not stunned.

TURN 2

Initiative went to soldiers.

The soldier nearest Grid flicks the pin out of the grenade as he tosses it behind the wall where Xan fled.  In the confusion and echoing in the facility, he probably thought the firing was coming from that direction.  He does not seem to notice Grid behind him.

You hear the clump, clump as the grenade hits the ground on the other side of the wall...where Xan now stands.

With the fire behind him, the Sergeant dives for cover behind the wall and rubble.  You hear the clatter as he drops his M-16 to the ground and can only assume he is reaching for something else.  "Take cover!" he screams to the other soldier.

But it is too late.  Viper finishes another turn of firing.

Soldier 1:  Although missed before, this soldier is now hit with all four bullets in the group.  The bullets hit his far leg.  With a far leg hit, damage over HT/2 cripples the leg.  Excess damage is lost.  In this case, it would have been 80 points of damage, but it is instead reduced to 7 (1/2 of 13 health).
The impact to the leg is so harsh that the soldier is literally flipped and rolled by the impact, but he makes his HT check and is not stunned.  Most of his leg is torn away and he crashes to the ground.  However, he lands on his back and could technically fire at Viper after one more turn of recovery.  His M-16 is still clutched tightly in his hands.

Viper continues his stream of bullets to Soldier 2 (whom he hit but is not sure in the split second he has debilitated yet) and then on to the corner of the building where the sergeant just jumped.  The second soldier is clearly dead now, but the sergeant is safely behind 100% cover.

Grid turns his fire on the grenade-throwing soldier.  6 of his 10 bullets hit.  (Group 1 hits the torso for 61 points of damage after flak jacket deductions.)  The soldier falls to the ground unconscious and almost dead.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:06, Sat 22 May 2004.

The sound of gunfire erupts from behind Grid and he turns briefly in its direction, his gaze catching the prone form of Mitose upon the floor as he does so.  He had to choices it seemed.......

Grid runs towards Mitose, hell bent on providing some sort of first aid to the man before he flatlined.  Black eyes turn to look at the soldier with the missing arm.

"Get the HELL outta here 'fore I finish you." he screams at the man, though its clear that the soldier is in shock and probably didn't understand him, let alone cause him further trouble.

Laying his AK-47 beside him, he kneels and quickly provides first aid to his comrade.   "Hold on man, help's on its way."
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:05, Sun 23 May 2004.

Here's a tactical map of the battle:




The sarge and the soldier with the wounded leg are the only active ones, although the soldier with the missing arm may well be active soon.  There is a live grenade by Xan.

Note that the rubble provides cover.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:26, Sun 23 May 2004.

Please Note:

Groups and Hit Location: To maintain consistency with the game rules, hit location for automatic weapons will only be one per "group" of bullets.  This seems to make some sense considering the steady stream of bullets too.  I didn't see any rules denoting this one way or the other, so this is a house rule until I say otherwise.

Ammo:  Please keep in mind your available ammo.  For example, AK-47's have 30 to a clip.  That means after just 3 bursts you need to reload.  M-16's have just 20 shots (but ROF is 12).  This means after 2 bursts (one of 12 and one of 8) you will have to reload.  (As you notice, the M-16 will give 3 groups of four bullets in the first burst, and 2 groups of 4 bullets in the second burst (without any third group.)

Cover Modifiers:  Here are the modifiers for firing at someone behind cover:

Head exposed: -5 to hit
Head and shoulders: -4
Half of body: -3
Light cover (bushes, trees)=-2
Behind a person/hostage= -4
Lying prone with no cover= -4
Lying prone, minimum cover, head up=-5
Lying prone, minimum cover, head down= -7
Crouching or kneeling, no cover= -2


This message was last edited by the GM at 14:42, Sun 23 May 2004.

Laz knew he wasn't in a good situation, he was worried and this was a bad thing. Lazarus looks to Binary, his expression evidently clear that he needs some direction.

Outside the office door (and over the earphones), the party can hear the demolitions team commander responding to the automatic weapons' fire to the south.

"Gunfire!  Gunfire!  Alpha team head south.  Beta team, follow me."

Footsteps can be heard running past the office.

X pipes in, "Okay, guys, the demolitions crew is on the move.  We've got 6 heading south toward their sergeant and six more heading east to the next hallway.  They're packing all sorts of weapons and explosives.  We need to get you out of there!"

Then he says, "Binary, Lazarus, Jade, get out of there.  Take those disks and get to the southwest elevator ASAP.  Your only exit point is up through the elevator in the southwest corner."

[6 soldiers are moving east just past the office, and other 6 are moving south toward the main battle where the Sergeant has jumped behind cover.  They are moving full speed but slightly crouched.]

[My apologies for any timing inconsistencies.  This got much more complicated than I anticipated...especially since I never anticipated any actual combat with the soldiers when I created the adventure.  I'm trying to keep it fair while keeping it moving.  If you're in doubt as to the timing (between speaking, moving, etc.), chalk it up to the chaos of combat.  Now that the marine squads are in play, I'll try to keep timing accurate too.  The main reason for having them move out was actually to clear out the area behind the office door, so now it is clear for the party to move out...if they can.  I never expected the party to split up, so I was a little off guard.]

Viper scowls and dashes back towards the corner he'd just rounded, letting fly with the last of his ammo towards the wounded soldier as he goes. "This definately isn't working out!"

Once he makes the corner, he doesn't stop, but runs full tilt to the next corner and hangs a left, keeping up his running until he reaches the next corner, where he can come up behind where he thinks the sergeant is. As he runs, he reloads the AK.

Turn 4
Grid is binding Mitose's wounds.

Viper runs back.  His suppression fire misses the soldier, but helps keep the soldier from fully recovering enough to fire.

The one-armed soldier collapses unconscious, blood still seeping out of the wound.

Turn 5
Grid continues to bind the wounds.

Viper runs north down the hall to the left of room 129.

The soldier scoots himself over toward the emergency exit.

Turn 6
Grid continues to bind.

Viper turns west and is just above the "EW."

The soldier makes it to the wall and holds his M-16 ready, his leg still bleeding.

Turn 7
Viper is now halfway down the hall.  Grid continues, tying on a bandage.

The soldier waits, moaning softly.

Viper notices the sergeant moving quickly north 50 feet down the hall.  He is crossing the intersection in the corridor and heading up toward the demolitions team.

Meanwhile, Binary is slowly reaching down to pretend to take out the disks he already gave to Lazarus.  The Agent has one hand extended, palm open.

Finishing his bandaging of Mitose, Grid quickly moves to the fallen soldiers and gives them a cursory search, taking several grenades and retrieving an M-16 in the process.

Moving back to his wounded comrade, he picks up the man as if he weighs nothing and puts him over his shoulder, carrying the M-16 one handed and ready.

"X, I've got Mitose and am heading for the hardline.  Can I get him out on that?"

Jade grabs Lazarus in one hand and the doorknob in the other and rushes out the door with the disks safely in his possession.

Laz feels Jade's hand around his and he takes off without thinking about it. Seconds later he realizes what is going on and tries to stop her. "We can't leave him behind, he could die."

Jade says, "Once he realizes we have the disks, maybe he'll forget about Binary.  I don't know what other answer there is."

Twitch, half conscious, raises his AK-47.  "Run, guys!" he yells.  Then he takes a step toward the Agent to allow them to pass behind him and says, "Die, you bastard."  Then he unloads everything he's got on the Agent.

Laz starts talking into his mike, "X, Jade and I need the hardline now, I got the disks."

Viper lets the Sergeant pass, and darts around the corner as soon as it's safe, heading for Grid and Mitose.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:17, Wed 26 May 2004.