Xion
Silvermasque
Saila
Mithas
Sharp The Red
Dead Bolt
Van
Slate
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 08:02, Thu 05 Oct 2006.

While magically digging through the earth not unlike Zephram :

"When we pierce the surface - we need to secure the building and secure a defense at the same time. We have to avoid getting tied up in battle for too long, they tend to use explosives within six seconds of the first shot. Stay calm and take in your surroundings. And if you hear the screams of jets, for god's sake take cover... they have SAMAS armours."

Slate looks at Xion, then continues talking.

"The minotaur and the juicer will secure the building, while the rest of us secure a ground defense and attemp to locate any CS positions. Then we will work on a way to attack it."

Xion nods, "Sounds good to me, we have any idea of how many of them there are...other than alot?"

"There are maybe 3 dozen - all better than the average soldier."

Mithas is ready... rifle in one hand, vibro blades extended, he waits... seconds slipping by...his body begining to heat up again... a strong feeling of de ja vu... This could be the last moments of the mighty Minotaur... he thinks of his family and why he's here... his body heats up... the air getting hotter...

"Do they have much of a Dog Pack?" Van asks, trying to be as informed as possible by the time they breach the surface.

"We couldn't really tell... they kept their dog-boys hidden but we know they have them, and at least 4...."

Slate has nearly reached the surface...

The light from the sky creeps through the dirt as Slate reaches the surface.

The roof of the building is gone...

Silvermasque, Mithas, Dead Bolt and Sharp are the first into the open room... ready to kill any Dead Boys they find, but instead find several dead bodies... burned to a crisp...

Slate, Xion, Van, and Saila follow...

there is no sign of the Coalition... anywhere... the radio is silent...

 Switched out for extreme close-up weapon-play, 'Masque appears in more or less the centre of the whole, two /very/ large (currently non-humming) swords and a pair of NG P-Beam handguns sweeping through the room as he runs through the gamut of visual and sensory options packed into his ever-loving Russian cyberskull.

 "Clear."

 He silently instructs into the 'comm, flicking both swords into their back-scabbards but keeping the pistols steady as he hoists himself up with a distressing creaking of floorboards and stone. Quick as a flash, he's down on four limbs, swapping out the P-beams for the cannon, moving along the most solid-looking of the remaining walls trying to get a feel for the world around them.


 [ Those bodies... Coalition troopers in armour, civilians, humans? ]

Bringing up the rear of the group, Van sees the bodies as he emerges, giving him the mixed feeling of relief that combat hasn't started yet, an anxious anticipation for something to happen any moment, and disgust for the atrocities of the Coalition. This little anytown in old Minnesota could have been the hometown of any one of us that unfortunately found itself situated on the edge of Coalition expansion, a strategic point in a battle between two powerful nations.

But there was no time to be thinking about this, and what is more pressing at present is the foul smell of charred bodies. Van grabs his air-filter and puts it on as he activates his Armor of Ithan. The pale glow surrounds him then settles as a nearly transparent aura of protection. He finds a wall to set his large backpack up against and removes the sentry gun loosely sticking out of the top. He begins to set it up, turning on it's hovering function and interfacing with his pocket computer which he uses as a remote and video screen.

Van quietly says "I'll be able to scout out the next building undetected with this..." with that he presses a button and the unit disappears.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Mon 16 Jan 2006.

Saila moves to cover, beside Van. She is breathing heavily, but is still in focus.

She closes her eyes and is likely using mystic abilities...

"Masque, eyes up, if you have infrared use it." Xion says to his squadmate as he levels his pistols and surveys the room once more.

 "Yes sir, and eggs to be sucked narrow-end first, sir..." replies the big Tiger softly, spreading his weight across two hands and two feet as he /peers/ with the wide-angle optic visor around the corner of a window-sill, trusting on his low-emission augmentations and extensive stealthing to protect him from most active observation...

 It may be noted that, in addition to being extremely silent, he barely registers as a ripple to thermal sensors. That's infiltration 'Borgs for you...

 The Plasma cannon on the other hand is a steady cherry-red glow, even on standby - and as a consequence is currently being held low and 'ready' out of line of the window, so the rising drifts of warmed air don't give away the 'Borgs location.

 He's plainly done this sort of thing before.

(OOC GM: What caused the fire?/Burned victims?  As a Burster, he can discover the cause, whiter it was magical of natural, if the person who caused it is still near by, etc.  very similar to object read.)

While everything is quiet, Mithas bends down to touch one of the burned corpses.  He expects to discover that they were blasted by some Rocket launcher or equivalently cowardly weapon, but you never know in war.

After confirming or denying his theory on the fires, he looks around the building and begins to think about the squad's next move.  Right now, the CS don't exactly know we're in here.  He moves to crounch below and to the side of a window.  His body begins to heat up the air around him.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:24, Tue 17 Jan 2006.

Leaping up out of the hole Bolt almost slams his head against the ceiling. He tucks and rolls holding the chainsaw he borrowed from his new buddy Ajax tight against his chest. Not seeing anyone in the immediate area that needs chopping he pouts like a little kid and slings the TW monstrosity around his back letting it hang on it's sling. The jucier turns his nose up at the stench of burnt flesh but he still pulls out a ration of granola bar and starts munching it as he walks towards a window. Smacking the granola loudly he will unstrap his wilks rifle and use the scope on it to look around outside. They all run back to Chi-Town I bet.

 "Think maybe we could do with scout..?" mutters the big Russian, when nothing immediately occurs to cast them all into urgent, flaming death and momentarily catching Xion's eye with his visor and tilting his head at the Juicer...

 Scouting : Skout(ing) : The process of getting shot so that your allies know where the enemies are.

 Ahhh, old-school soldiering... though truth be told, 'Masque is almost certainly joking. Though maybe if Arven were around - assuming you could get him to do any honest soldiering.

"I agree, but I can't give any orders. Slate's in charge right now. Although I would recommend we scout at least a little, we are going to need to know where we are in relation to the CS troops at least."

The deep rumbling voice of the Minotaur is heard by everyone in the room.  I think our little buddy Van may have beat you to that. Mithas says while nodding in the TW's direction.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:24, Wed 18 Jan 2006.

 Masque simply gives one of those large, heavy sighs that can only really be demonstrated when you've a sophisticated subsonic-range capable 'voders rigged up to a chest the size of a small family runabout.

 Somewhere deep inside, his internal monologue ticks off the following:

 (i) Team is not full of soldier, therefore does not know 'scout' is way to say 'send someone to get killed'

 (ii) Those in team who are soldier are officer, and therefore need map and psi-hound pack to find backside.

 (iii) No-one else seem to think Juicer is strange.

 (iv) Do not to make joke.

 And yes, if it's possible his internal monologue is even more thickly accented than his external one - with all the 'R's backwards (since everyone knows that's all that Russian really is anyway).

Deadbolt knocks out the few little pieces of glass that are still attached to the window with the end of his rifle. Hearing the important job of scout open up he quickly volunteers. "Oh-Oh pick me...but only if I can borrow a fusion block or a couple of plasma grenades. I used up all my explosives making a big car-bomb last week.

Van continues to use his mobile sentry gun device to scout the area, paying attention to the screen and mostly ignoring the conversation of his comrades. It may seem an unconventional and tacky way to scout, but then Techno-Wizards tend to have their share of querks. Besides it's a hell of a lot better than putting his own ass out there. But he'll let the higher ups decide how they want to run their troops, he'll stick to his inventions.

Sharp readies a pistol in his waist holster. He draws a huge sword covered in ancient runes. It seems to glow, yet there is no light.


"Dead Bolt, do not go scouting - it will be a suicide mission. At least don't go alone..."
This message was last updated by the player at 18:25, Sun 22 Jan 2006.

The sounds of gunfire are coming from Razgrizs' direction...


even worse... two Coalition Terror Trooper power armours are making their way up the main street to the church... they are currently crossing to the church in the open. They are eleven feet tall and look like this :

http://img506.imageshack.us/im...terrortrooper7of.jpg

behind them is a CS: Hellraiser. It looks like this:

http://img506.imageshack.us/im...ftshellraiser3or.jpg

pairs of other ground troops are quickly moving from building to building along with the power armours. Very cautiously and very quickly... some of them appear much larger than most humans...
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:38, Sun 22 Jan 2006.

Deadbolt slowly adjusts his sniper rifle taking careful aim and adjusting the dial on his scope ever so slightly. What say we concentrate firepower on that big Hellraiser for our initial flurry. If we can manage to take him out quick-like maybe we can cause his buddies to panic a little. With his finger resting lightly against the trigger the jucier makes micro-movements as he tracks the Hellraiser. Aiming at the funny little skull face in the middle of the thing he waits for the go ahead.

 "What say we come up with plan that does not involve us all being in blast radius of return fire from missiles all his little buddies carry, khorosh?" the big tiger asks, looking back to Xion.

 "Not too sure about taking on three heavy armour plus infantry at this range in this cover... maybe if could distract or split their response, sure... but as is, is inviting devils grandmother to come dance on our bones, youbet."

 'Course, that doesn't mean he won't stand and fight with the team... just that he has a very fine idea of what is and isn't good odds - and taking on that little patrol at point-blank range doesn't quite fit his whole 'shoot and scoot' philosophy of modern warfare.

 Unless someone has got a /plan/.

"But those power armours are on their way to Razgriz and the others... they are in trouble... I can feel it..."

"Masque, can you clear the gap between buildings? If you can, and do it with me on your back, we should move down a few, and try to get them in a crossfire, perhaps disorient them."

Xion pauses, "I think we should get rid of the power armors first, they are more manueverable. They will pose a greater threat I am certain."

 "Of course... could carry small tank if did not have to get airborne..." he states, giving a fierce grin... "Might be best to go out back door instead of get technical though - do not want to be in air in ballistic path in front of three big metal suits all packed full of radar and ranging gear, da?"

 The large 'Borg starts moving low away from the window, backing up enough to give the far side of the house a quick glance-about... and then nodding.

 "Should get couple with smaller, rapid-fire guns to surpress infantry... do not forget to light fires, here and there in buldings to throw off IR, or they will shoot you in face, right through wall that is to them like mist, yes?"

Van parks his still invisible sentry gun in an out-of-the-way spot on it's way south, puts away his computer and readies his demon-glove, hammer and short sword, turning his attention towards the direction of the power-armors.

"Got it, we'll work on the ground infantry if you think you can incapacitate the mechs. Mithas, give us some fire in the building the troops are by, then we'll come from behind them. If shit gets heavy, we bail, but it'll split up their troops, then we regroup and go again. Shoot and scoot," he says looking at Silvermasque.

He will wait for 'Masque and Xion to start crossing over to the church (along with anyone else who thinks they can do some damage to the power armors), while he will be coming up behind in the direction of the ground infantry along with the rest of the squad. He is also not letting Saila out of his sight.

Light this bitch on fire on your way out too Mith im hanging here for a bit. Looking down at his wristwatch Deadbolt pushes a small button and then resumes his firing position. I start shooting in 120 seconds so you all start the scooting!

"Xion, sir, no mean to be arrogant. We don't know where the enemy is - and you want to put three power armours in a crossfire? we are all effectively surrounded - the CS could be anywhere and everywhere. We cannot flank 3 guys. It is too dangerous. Not that I have a better idea... but the other two teams each have a  power armour,... but then again it is a better plan than Dead Bolts'. We should stay together buddy, if we split up our own guys, we are helping the enemy. But Xion, sir, if you travel from building to building alone or with just Silvermasque you risk walking into a Coalition squad. And while I am sure the two of you would put up a good fight, you would ultimately be cut off and seperated... you are the officer... sir..."

 The big Tiger chuckles softly, reaching into one of the belt-pouches around the back of his armour (it should perhaps at this point be noted that a number of his 'salvaged' items have been left with the APC... he's going in stripped for /action/) to fish out a small block of NG-2 grade plastique... from which he removes a couple of small sections... a second hand produces a handful of tiny microtimers... "Press timer into putty... every press of red button is ten seconds, every press of black is one minute... hold down red and press black to start timer." he states, offering it around... "Lay down as you move, to start fires." - he gives Sharp and the Juicer a pointed look "Not much good as weapon, since I am only giving out small amount, but good for distraction."

 He then indicates the building complex to the 'right' of the one they're in, facing the Coalition... "Looks like volatiles" (and what his pronunciation does to /that/ word is just terrible to hear) "Should go boom nicely, provide us with cover if comes to it... and can flank up street... only problem is, probably dead boys parked inside thinking same thing, youbet."

Steam hissing from Mitas' nostrels, he speaks in short, reaspy breaths, finally tearing his thoughts way from the sword. Mithas risks looking out the window to try to locate the troops Van speaks of, while thinking "Any to the left?  Any to the right?...."  His eyes grow wide and suddenly a tinge of fear enters his heart at the sight of the Coalition Monsters.  He crouches back down,  His deep voice is heard again over the noise. "I.. I..." he coughs and seems to collect himself. Where... exactly... are they? I can certainly burn the buildings down around here... but remember... if I burn this building down... I also burn down our access to the tunnel...  Unless you want to prevent those maggots from finding it as well...
This message was last edited by the player at 10:10, Tue 24 Jan 2006.

XIon nods to Sharp, "You are right Sharp. In the spec ops group we weren't quite in situations like this. They never knew we were there. I am used to having the advantage of surprise." Xion takes a few deep breaths, "So we start fres to distract them then?"

Deadbolt removes his eye out of his scope long enough to turn and regard Silvermasque. He takes the small portion of exposive putty and affixes the wad to his bio-comp collar just at the base of his throat. Sticking in the timming device he quickly depresses the black button three times for thre minutes and the red on a couple of times for good measure then activates the timer. Taking up a firing position once again. He says casually, "I'm thinking about shooting at these assholes in about sixty seconds if you guys are done jabber-jawing."

"Dead Bolt!!!"

Saila reaches out her hand and the piece of plastique is torn from his neck and floats through the air to her hand. She holds it and looks out the window for a suitable target to throw it at... then she turns to Silvermasque, glancing quickly on Van, and offers the plastique to 'masque.

"Our team that went north, will soon be swarmed by the enemy. The juicer has the right idea."

Slate opens his arms facing one of the windows, the power armours are traveling fast, and will be out of sight soon. A small hill about 3 feet tall, and 6 feet wide/long appears outside the window. It begins moving, like something under the ground, making the dirt look like a cracking blanket. A low inhuman growl is accompanied by the small hill... it speeds towards the power armours.

Deadbolt chuckles some but doesn't take his eyes off the prize. The timer on his digital watch continues to cycle through the countdown. Geez I had three minutes and twenty seconds....women...hmmph.

Van's actions will be decided momentarily...
(I may scrap that last post I made, since I didn't realize the direction the PAs were heading...)

"WOOOO-HOOOO!" Deadbolt yells when the mound of earth begins ambling towards the powerarmor. Laser pulses fire rapidly from his rifle with the precision of a marksman striking the Hellraiser exactly where he said it would. "Betcha you all move your asses now!" He says off-handedly not slowing his rate of fire. Deadbolt will stay knelt down firing directly into the power armor unttil the return fire begins hitting the building hot and heavy and then he will try and exit right before the whole thing comes down on his head.

 'Masque reaches out soberly to take the little blob of material from the young mystic, bowing his head in serious fashion before doing something rather more complicated than 'black button red button' to it and cutting the time down to about a minute, then leaning back and pitching it blind out of a side-window, vaguely in the direction of the buildings to the left of the one they occupy.

 "Thankyou." he states, before replying to 'Mithas... "Was forgetting you are firestarter, is good - more small blazes, not big ones throw off thermal vision, fancy targetting and things... throw a few around, is all down to mark one eyeball..." - at that, he indicates his visor with a fingertip, grinning "Or mark two, yoube..."

 ZipCrackZipCrackZipCrack...

 The sound of capacitor charging and sharply ionised air brings his head around with a snap... "Oh dear." he states, for once his English perfectly comprehensible.

With a last ditch effort and hoping to help out Deadbolt.  Mithas' body catches fire again.  He fires a few rounds from his rifle out the window at the powerarmours.  He stops and raises his hands from the ground to the ceiling.  Like a lever crashing down on a detonator box he brings his arms crashing in a downwards motion.  As he does this, a wall of fire 15' tall raises from the ground about the width of the street about 50-60' in front of the building they are in.

He turns away from the window and makes his way back towards the tunnel.  Drips of fire, melting off Mithas, singing the ground and burning any cloth, or flammable materials, unlike the last time he was on fire at the church. Stopping, he says to the group "The fire will not hold the powerarmours, and if they don't, someone else will likely bring this building crashing down.  We need to relocate.  Any suggestions.?  This may be the first time that a feeling of urgency has been heard from the giant Minotaur.

The Hellraiser will soon be through the flames and within sight to open fire upon the church.

Before it does, the building to its' right explodes, but only the closer half. A giant humanoid in heavy armour and two human sized troops leap through the dust cloud and smoke and open fire on the group. They aim for dead Bolts' window and end up destroying that entire section of wall. Rail gun slugs and pulse blasts come tearing through the walls. Saila is hit twice, but are absorbed an invisible force field that shimmers with each strike. Saila jumps but regains herself quickly.

more rounds tear through the walls...

dodge - move or shoot back... decide now... (some rolls could help)

As suicidal as the Jucier may seem to be he has no desire to charge the power armor troopers. At least not head on so decides to vacate the disentegrating building. Still firing his Wilks rifle rapidly out the window he aims his body for a rear window and pulls off an amazing backwards leap clearing over 20ft in the process. After exiting he runs like a man possessed at a speed of 107. His goal is to get to some good cover about 3000ft or so away from the enemy where he can snipe away at them. If this is not possible he will try and use the buildings to cover his advance and move to hand to hand range.

]

 Shoot and scoot, as the big Tiger has already made a point of saying - most especially in a combat enviroment such as this one, where there is no hard cover of any kind, just various degrees of 'plywood'.

 As Deadbolt apparently panics and runs the hell away from the fight, (After all, the 'Borg doesn't know he's looking for a safe firing position two miles away) 'Masque nods firmly, pushing up and off his lower hands so that he rears out of the collpasing building and starts to /move/, painfully aware that he's one of the better 'targets' in the group.

 He moves swiftly and erratically, ducking and weaving with more than human reaction speed as he levels the gaping mouth of the his cannon on the largest of the three visible soldiers (on the assumption that that's the fellow with the railgun) before triggering one, two... a third rapid-fire blasts, the sharp, brief sound of plasma discharge almost drowned out by the communications squeal from the magnetic firing mechanism.

Van immediately puts himself between Saila and oncoming fire, using his forearm buckler to parry any oncoming slugs. He will also fire a volley of three fireballs from the end of his short sword at one of the approaching deadboys while moving toward the window that Deadbolt so quickly cowared out of.

"Out back. Make for the wall," he says motioning in the direction of the (possibly mega-damage?) wall beside this building, left-wise on the map. Once Saila gets out, Van will do the same, trying to keep this fire-fight on the move. He will fire more volleys whenever he finds targets.

Xion, as the shots start coming in decides its best to slow these big bastards down or at least try to. The elven battle mage begins to chant the arcane words to power his spell, and then with a gesture of his hand he begins to follow after Masque, dodging, dipping, diving and dodging to stay behind cover as much as possible, and firing off as many shots as he can before moving each time.

Sharp moves to fire several times at the infantry while strafing across the building to follow Van.

"Come closer... let your flesh feel my blade"
This message was last updated by the player at 18:12, Fri 27 Jan 2006.

Dead Bolt runs...

Van moves to cover Saila, and deflects two shots away into the wall and ceiling of the building.

Xion finishes his spell and follows Silvermasque out the building.

The Hellraiser clears the flame but is stopped by a man-sized creature seemingly made of Earth that grows from the ripple Slate sent forth. It begins to hit the power armour in the legs and groin, causeing it to stop and move the elemental rather than pass by it. It simultaneosly fires its' shoulder cannon, and its rifle into the elemental, and drills it with its' vibro claw hand.

Bits of stone fly out of the elemetnal but it presses on.

The other three troopers seem stuck, and can no longer move their feet. Distracted, yet they do not let up on the fire...

Van strikes one on the chest three times with fireballs from the end of his dshort sword. They continue to burn on the soldiers' chest but he continues to fight. Before motioning for Saila to move towards the window. She fires twice more at the power armour and then runs to the window, followed by Van and a blasting away Sharp The Red.

Xion follows Silvermasque out the opposite window to continue firing on the troopers now that they are stuck.

Silvermasque strikes the large trooper in the chest three times burning three large war-stains into his armour. He returns with 3 shots from his rail gun, hitting with the second (a natural twenty - but a low damage roll)


The other two grunts open fire on Silvermasque and Xion as they move to evade and cover. They miss, and miss, one nearly hits Xion, another strikes Silvermasque in the side.


The wall is concrete.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:43, Sat 28 Jan 2006.

Slate speaks in an echoey voice, that seems to rumble the earth, and rattle the building. The Hellraiser seems to have stepped into a pool of quicksand and struggles to move free of it.

Van makes for the wall with Saila and Red and whoever else follows. Upon arrival at the wall he throws off his backpack and his extra gear. He'll quickly use his pocket computer to reposition his sentry gun to be able to see if any other troops are coming from the compound beyond the wall. Then he will continue firing with his short sword from the cover of the wall, trying to get an idea of if the wall will provide any sort of hard cover from the rail gun rounds. He will occasionally look down at the computer screen the way one uses one's rear-view mirrors while driving.

"Keep an eye out for backup."

 The tearing sonic crackle of railgun fire shredding air rings out in response to 'Masque's fire, stitching a neat of impact craters across his BDU-covered chest, synthetic blood spattering in the moments before mechanical capilliaries seal each impact site, the laser fire being almost sedate by comparison it lashes over his flanks, searing into metal, ceramic and artificial flesh alike.

 He curses in soft Russian, the words drowned out once more by the electromagnetic squeal of plasma fire disrupting the radio as he puts a final round into the 'Railgunner, the weapons firing powercell dropping into red as he does so.

 "Reloading!", he calls out, accelerating into a blur of motion as with a clatter, the spent clip hits the ground and a second is produced and slammed home, the action performed with the smooth expertise of long practise as he unhooks a grenade with his lower-left hand and smoothly tosses it underarm towards the Coalition infantry... "Fire in the hole!"

 And all the time, he's moving, evade and overcome... knowing that to give the enemy time to find their tactical footing is to lose.

[

Private to GM: Yes, I know that in Rifts grenades are a waste of time... but if you have a clustered target, you throw a grenade at it... those are the /rules/ ^_^

 Okay - getting out of the way is rolls:

09:05, Today: Silvermasque rolled 23 using 1d20+17.
09:05, Today: Silvermasque rolled 29 using 1d20+17.
09:04, Today: Silvermasque rolled 22 using 1d20+17.
09:04, Today: Silvermasque rolled 26 using 1d20+17.

 And boy, am I in trouble... This is the plasma shot (and damage)

08:58, Today: Silvermasque rolled 22 using 1d20+9. Emptying the clip.
09:02, Today: Silvermasque rolled 5 using 1d6. Frying Tonight.

 Wheras this is the plasma grenade, 4D6 to a 12' area.

09:04, Today: Silvermasque rolled 10 using 4d6. Eat Plasma Sphere, Deadboy!.
09:02, Today: Silvermasque rolled 19 using 1d20+7. Shake, rattle and roll for damage.

]

"Van, Sharp... if we run to the next building we can fire on these guys from the side and start clearing out that warehouse".

She peaks over the wall...

"It's clear. Cover me... and be right behind me"

Saila jumps and raises herself over the wall then slips and lands on Vans' back.

Van almost laughs at first until blood pours out of her cheek onto Vans' lap...

She is already dead and her eyes look blankly into Vans'

Sharp, who was about to follow Saila over the wall ducks when she falls back down. He looks down at her, and sees what Van sees...

"I do believe we found the sniper"

Mithas looks to Slate who seems to be the last in the building.  "Time to leave. is all the large minotaur says as he moves towards the opening in the wall.  As he walks, the footsteps he leaves behind in the floor of the building ignite from the fire surrounding his body.  They burn naturally and may extinguish themselves or they may spread.  Everything Mithas crosses on his way to the opening catches fire and burns in a similar respect.

The Minotaur stands in the opening facing the Hell Raiser.  He can hear the gun fire off to his left, and he can see the Hell Raiser is distracted by... Mithas can only guess.

All the anger he feels for the Coalition, fueled by the stories of prejudece, treachery, and murder enrage him beyond control.  His arms raise into the air towards the ceiling of the building and the minotaur roars as his body begins to set fire to the remaining structure around him.  Suddenly, Mithas' arms point toward the Hell Raiser as a fire ball almost the size of the minotaur erupts forth and flies towards the enemy.

You rolled 33 using 1d20+14 [19]. (Strike)
You rolled 18 using 4d6 [1,5,6,6]. (Damage)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:08, Sun 29 Jan 2006.

Without a word or change of expression, Van watches Saila's lifeless body fall to the ground. He looks down at her, oblivious to everything happening around him. The blank look on his face suggests that it hasn't hit him yet. Sometimes these things take time to sink in. So he takes his time, the calm before the storm that is brewing behind his not-so-innocent eyes.

He waits...

Hearing the call of "Sniper on the Warehouse" come across the radio Deadbolt halts his blistering runs and drops behind a large rock. Propping his sniper rifle up on the rock he lays prone and uses the high powered scope to search for the sniper on the warehouse. If he is not in an ideal location to perform this task he will move to one that allows him to do so. Provided he can acquire a target he will open fire.

Dead Bolt watches the roof top, he has a pretty good view of it, but cannot make out anybody...

Van stares at Saila, Saila bleeds out...

Mithas steps into the opening, and ignites the building. He hits the Hellraiser singing its' paint, and leaving tiny puddles of naplam, dripping down its' bulk.

The Hellraiser continues laying into the earth elemental... but fires its shoulder cannon at Mithas striking him in the chest.


Seemingly from nowhere, to the right of the Hellraiser (your point of view) a stream of grey spongy netting. It covers the Helraiser from head to Toe, and it slowly sinks into the ground. The small Earth creature sinks back into the earth wounded and crippled.

Silvermasque blows actual holes in the large troopers armour, yet he keeps firing...
Silvermasque throws a grenade into the center of the three troops. They seem unable to dodge, but fire back as the fuse gets near to its end. They each fire at least twice, and only manage to hit Silvermasque twice. Xion races around with Silvermasque, although he is drawing all their fire...


The grenade explodes and if these soldiers were not in environmental armour, their ankles would be broken, as they descended to the ground, while their feet stay in place by some mystical means. The three troops are knocked off balance, but their armour keeps them from bending in such ways. The one on the far left drops their rifle. The large one hardly budges when the cherry bomb goes off...
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:26, Sun 29 Jan 2006.

 People die in war, friends and enemies alike... If the big 'borg has noticed Saila falling, he has not yet reacted - and that's as it should be, for there is a disproportionate amount of fire coming his way.

 He moves with the speed of the utterly inhuman, far beyond any possibility of flesh-and-blood to track or follow, and yet the sheer volume of fire from pulse laser and railgun alike makes it impossible for him not to take hits, individual rounds clipping him here and there, yet gradually becoming more serious as they mount up, ceramic and metal surfaces becoming exposed under the flaying weaponsfire as a small town disintegrates behind him from missed shots.

 Once, twice more his cannon replies, sending superheated energy slamming downrange with that same electrical crackle of radio static and superheated air.. It's the big one now, the disarmed man fading in his threat assement-filled view as he's automatically downgraded, whilst other parts of his vision fill up with damage warnings and heat indicators from the cannon, which is momentarily given a rest as he dips low, both lower arms snapping out level in a throwing motion as man-made lightning snaps between the two of them and the large figure, the bright electric blue of paired partical beam fire tearing the very atoms of the air asunder...

 "We cannot be keeping this up for long!" he calls to his commander, grim now in the rush of combat.

Mithas takes cover behind the "burning timber" which was once a wall.  His breath coming quick.  He thinks to himself, "It's still standing... (huff, huff)"  He readies his grenade launcher, turns into the opening in the wall, and fires a grenade at the Hell Raiser.  Sending it sailing to the feet of the "monster".  He drops the gun, the shoulder strap keeping it close to his body.  Mithas' eyes close, as he seems to almost swoon.  Parts of the building fall around him, small chunks bouncing off his shoulders and to the floor.  His elbows bend as he leans away from the Power Armour...  He seems to throw his weight behind this next ball of fire as the sun iteself seems to erupt from Mithas' body...  It flies towards the Hell Raiser...  He watches for it to hit or miss.

You rolled 13 using 4d6 [1,5,6,1]. Damage for Fire Ball.

"I agree," Xion says through a bit of heavy breathing. Not because he is tired or out of shape, simply because his finely trained body has kicked itself into overdrive and the adrenaline levels are almost too much. Beads of sweat trickling down his face, a smile crosses Xions lips, "Let's light 'em up!"

With that said, Xion holsters his pistols and, in one flui motion, brings his rifle to bear quickly firing 3 grenades at the soldiers trapped on his carpet.

07:53, Today: Xion rolled 16 using 4d6. damage 3.
07:53, Today: Xion rolled 11 using 4d6. damage 2.
07:53, Today: Xion rolled 20 using 4d6. damage 1.
07:53, Today: Xion rolled 7 using 1d20. grenade 3 strike.
07:52, Today: Xion rolled 7 using 1d20. grenade 2 strike.
07:52, Today: Xion rolled 8 using 1d20. grenade one strike.

Silvermasque moves for cover, evasively, and launches two more blasts of plasma into the Coalition Borg. It reaches forward with one hand and yells in a very human sounding yet still booming and metallic : "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Five grenades explode almost in perfect sequence. Three from Xion, one from Mithas, and another from the soldier who dropped their rifle.... which landed in the house by Mithas.


The Cyborg falls to its' back, while its feet are still on the ground, keeping his knees bent. He continues to root on his companions, and yell obsenities, and something along the lines of - he aint dead yet, and will be back to kill more Tolkeen scum... innocent, Tolkeen scum...

The soldier on the adhesive carpet had been firing at Xion after Silvermasque bolted off to the side, while yelling ferociously as he desperately tries to drop at least one more piece of shit that plagues his countyside...


The grenades blow him off balance and he drops his rifle as well onto the carpet. He regains heimelf and draws a pistol, and has it aimed upon the bold Lieutenant.

The other officer collapses either from death, or loss of conciousness, either way she is stuck, and unarmed.

It would seem as though danger is easing up if it weren't for that engine sound getting closer, and rising upwards.

Half the squad doesn't even know they have lost one, and continue fighting. Sharp caatches himself staring at Saila as she bleeds, feeling sorry for her, and anger towards the Coalition for the way she went out.

Slate puts his hand on Vans' shoulder and says
"She is dead. And they must pay. Fight with us and stop these brutal murderers from continuing on. For the bodies left behind here, for this girl, kill these savages!"

The source of the sounds become visible, as 4 (yes four) SAMAS-type power armours land, while floating on top of the roof.

(One is a "super" SAMAS, two are "Smiling Jacks", and the last is an old style, patched up and modified several times)

They peer out over the battle field and decide on their coarse of action. The Super SAMAS points over above Mithas and the others, then at the northern-most group. They run a few feet and take flight as they turn towards The group at the wall and take aim, while they ascend to nearly 100 feet in the air before moving closer to the Tolkeenites behind the wall.

The building blazes above Mithas' head, but all he can think of, all anyone near them can think of (Van, Slate, Sharp, Dead Bolt, Silvermasque, and Xion) is :

"this is where I die in the war..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:34, Thu 02 Feb 2006.

 "Bojmoi!" calls out the battered combat 'Borg as sparks and droplets of moletn metal pour out of the shattered hole in the Coalition augments' armour and the roar of jet turbines grows loud enough to drown out all other concerns.

 "Incoming!" he yells, dropping the barrel of his cannon as the strafing run begins and trigger two rapid bursts into the building just before him, looking to fill the air in his vicinity with a rising fireball that will throw off a few of the SAM's sensors, he then looks with serious intent for somewhere to throw himself the hell into cover, because if the PA suits open up with missiles, he's toast and so's everyone else.

Seeing the SAMAS Deadbolt knows his fellow soldiers are about to be in trouble. In a seemingly stupid move he opens fire at the old style SAMAS hoping the sistance he placed between himself and the others might buy him and them some time.


OOC: Just use my previous rolls since they were never applied towards anything. Woulda been a shame to waste that natural 20

OOC:  This post is for my next few actions.  If something occurs before the end, then I will edit this post to make more sense timeline wise.

Mithas might have reacted to the grenade/rifle sooner had he remembered it was there.  Unfortunately, the leap of faith he was about to make behind some rubble was cancelled out by the fact that he made it at the same time as the grenade explosion.  He lands with a roll up to one knee.  Good thing his father had taught him how to fight when he was young and how to take a fall.  The noise from the blast however, has his ears ringing.... "I must have bumped my head too" he thinks to himself because he's only now seeing Samas' in the air.  His head clears and he realizes there are four Samas'.  He scrambles to his feet... and begins running for cover.  His body still ablaze, as he looks to his left, at the three Coalition soldiers that are being subdued.  He charges towards the building in that area. (map wise)  He heads for the door and without stopping, lowers his head, and charges right through the door shattering it with all the weight hitting it.  He looks around the room that he's in and positions himself defensively.

Xion will remain as calm as one can when facing down ones own death. Quickly he realizes they need a distraction, and as he runs for cover behind the building they are closest to, he casts a few blinding flashes between them and the SAMAS' trying to at least hinder them, hopefully making them hesitate...trying to mimick grenades or another type of explosion. Also he casts chameleon on himself trying to disappear into the background. Once this is done if he still lives, he will try to make his way to another building for more cover and a chance to think.

Slate moves his right arm as if he was slowly throwing a snow ball. At the same time a stream of earth rises from the ground and covers over Slate, Sharp and Van like a sculpture of a tidal wave.

He raises his left hand and creates a second one on the other side, pushing the old wall out of the way and to pieces, it bends like a wave, just under the first one...

Slate looks at Van and says "If they fire missiles, the second wall should stop most of the debris..."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:26, Fri 03 Feb 2006.

Van is still fairly expressionless, the situation is too chaotic for him to really wrap his head around what happened, but there is still danger, and the survival instinct is stronger than all the emotions he could be feeling right now.

With Saila still on his lap, bleeding out, he subtly goes back to his pocket computer, not moving much from his present position, as if he feels that he is completely invisible right where he is. He begins to control his sentry again.

Dead Bolt fires and hits the original-model SAMAS three maybe four times before it responds with two mini missiles.

(roll for dodge - damge is 60 if you fail... and I am not sure if you have environmental armour on...)

Silvermasque, Xion and Mithas make a run for it.

Silvermasque makes it into his house which ends up being empty... except for a dead man, with a chewed up face. (literally chewed up by some animal).

Xion turns and runs for cover, as the standing soldier fires at him with is side arm. Xion dishes out a couple blinding flashes causing the intended distraction... but also assisting in one, much more fatal...


As Mithas runs for the building, he too is distracted by the mystical flashes... but then he stops dead in his tracks... Xion is now behind the burning building taking cover, and Mithas forgot about the carpet of adhesion...

The other three SAMAS armours open fire with their rail guns, pelting the minotaur several times before flying over him and circling around above squad three.


The grunt, then turns his weapon on Mithas and continues his blasting.

for note:

the lower most grunt on the map is the knocked over, but swearing cyborg. The middle one is the other one that fell over, and the top most one is the one firing with his pistol.

Seeing the mini-missiles screaming towards him Deadbolt laughs wildly. Jumping 12ft up and 25ft across he never stops firing at the SAMAS. Some shots are wild but after he lands he is paying more attention to shooting the SAM than dodging. You cannot kill me I am destined to blow up Chi-Town!

OOC: only rolled a 12 to dodge
This message was last edited by the player at 08:34, Fri 03 Feb 2006.

 'Masque dives into cover ahead of sparking, concrete-crunching railgun fire and spins, both palms tracking the sky left and right through the doorway against the possibility of missile fire... And from the corner of his vision - which is a great deal wider than it has any right to be, he spots the struggles of the 'Burster as railgun rounds spark on and tear through his armoured form.

 "Laying down smoke!" he calls, over the team channel.

 With both palm-guns still tracking the sky, he drops the plasma cannon, who's cherry-red glowing barrel promptly crinkles paint and sets wood to smouldering in order to snatch a pair of grenades from his harness, thumb-activating both and hurling them with precise, underarm motions to land either side of his teamate.

 Within seconds, billowing clouds of thick, IR-drinking concealment billow forth, shrouding the psychic, the Coalition soldiers and just about everything else in their depths...

Alas, the strike was too high...



Dead Bolt is caught by the explosion, and vanishes from the face of the earth... permanently...

Mithas bends over as the shots impact across his body. His flame field around him dissipates and the rest of the shots are absorbed by an invisible field of protection around him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:06, Fri 03 Feb 2006.

A loud roar of pain bellows from the minotaur as he is pelted with railgun blasts.  From the depths of his soul, over the blasts and explosions, Aaahhhhhhh  Mithas responds to the Coalition soldier firing on him by erecting a pillar of flame around the soldier.  HEEEELP! Mithas roars. I can't mooooove!  He readies his rifle and sprays three bursts to the Soldier engulfed in flame.

Mithas tries lifting his legs... Stuck... Damn!

Mithas and the trooper fire into each other at point blank range. Fortunately the Minotaurs' armour holds true and the soldier drops. ALmost perfect timing as Xion peaks around the corner and deactivates his carpet of adhesion, allowing Mithas to find some cover.



Slate drops the first "wave of earth". Opening up the back, away from the snipers' last position.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:42, Sun 05 Feb 2006.

Xion watches as the carpet is aleviated, "RUN MITHAS!" he shouts into his com. Quickly ducking behind the wall again to avoid being seen if possible, trying to ascertain a better understanding of the situation.

As he continues to watch his pocket computer, waiting for a good moment, he asks Slate: "Can you burrow a tunnel from here into the other one? We can pop up at them from different positions, like a game of whack-a-mole," he says, giving away his circus background. He still seems too distracted to really acknowledge that Saila is dead on his lap.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:24, Sun 05 Feb 2006.

Hiding behind the earthen barricades with Van and Slate is not going to accomplish anything. Of course neither will getting your ass shot off. Sharp lays prone and belly crawls to the edge of the mound of earth and uses his C-14 to drop a grenade into the thickest clusters of C.S. soldiers. He will quickly roll back behind cover to avoid being killed.  "This is a bad situation."

Mithas had been continuously trying to free himself, in between bursts on the burning Coalition Soldier.  As soon as he realizes he's free, he almost stumbles as his leg lifts into the air.  He then hears Xion's call to run but Mithas' legs were already moving.  He charges the Coalition Soldier who he had set on fire.  Mithas lowers his head as he charges in an attempt to spear the Coalition scum.

If Mithas misses the soldier, he will continue past him and into the building for cover.
If Mithas does hit him, as he makes contact, he will raise his head, tossing the soldier into the air and contiune past him and into the building for cover.  What goes up, must come down.

You rolled 20 using 1d20+10, rerolling ones [{1}10]. Strike
You rolled 50 using 5d6+33, rerolling ones [4,2,5,3,3]. SDC (yeah I know)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:23, Mon 06 Feb 2006.

The entire building set ablaze by Mithas is completely engulfed in flame.

Slate looks down to Van who is drenched in blood, but hasn't completely realized as of yet.

"My friend. Wait here, take your shot. Our companions will take care of the sniper."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:08, Tue 07 Feb 2006.

Sounds of explosions can be heard coming from the warehouse at the bottom of the map. Instead of an even bigger power armour that might be more cinematic, the seven men look like a gang out “Road Warrior” a “Mad Max” movie, with one coalition psychic soldier. (identified by the spikes on his helmet).

They set down on the roof.

The six road warriors spread out and move to the edge to face the SAMAS hoping they will make a pass.


The Coalition psychic lands with the others but instead of focusing on the SAMAS, he looks for the sniper; or Sgt. Gross as he knew him.

Sgt. Gross is by the west edge, facing over towards the flaming building and the odd wave of earth protruding from the ground beside it.

He looks back to see what the bloody hell just happened...

 As smoke, flame and general chaos cover a significant chunk of the battlefield, Masque picks up the cannon once more, keeping it well back from the windows as he moves through the house quietly, visor sweeping through the various spectra in order to watch for possible threats.

 Slowly, and with careful deliberation he ejects the l-clip, and replaces it with another, fresh one... then slowly and as silently as he can, draws first one, then a second vibro-sword, keeping them at 'the ready' rather than powered up and humming, able to reach that state in the length of a single swing.

 On the team channel, he sounds off. "Masque, I am alive in building left of tunnel mouth, no enemies. Who else?"

Xion checks in, "Xion here, still at the original building. Covered behind it, no enemies directly in my sights...What can you see from over there Masque?"

Upon landing on the roof, Saul quickly moves to pull the snipers weapon from his hands with his telekinesis.

Fearing that the news of his betrayal will reach the other members of the coalition,  Saul attempts to flip the sniper over, pull out his grenade pins, before throwing him off the roof.

21:27, Today: Saul rolled 18 using 1d20+3. throwing sniper off roof.
21:26, Today: Saul rolled 19 using 1d20+3. pulling grenade pin #3.
21:26, Today: Saul rolled 22 using 1d20+3. pulling grenade pin #2.
21:25, Today: Saul rolled 16 using 1d20+3. pullling grenade pins.
21:24, Today: Saul rolled 13 using 1d20+3. flipping over guard.
21:23, Today: Saul rolled 16 using 1d20+3. Pulling weapon from sniper.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:28, Wed 08 Feb 2006.

Van quickly spins his invisible "eye-in-the-sky" around to face the building where the 7 new figures. Who the hell are these guys? he asks himself.

He turns the computer toward Slate to let him see what's happening.

Silvermasque regains himself and hears the movement of troops in the building behind him. At least two grenades land in the room with Silvermasque and both troops are still behind cover...

The sniper falls from the warehouse, and the grenades explods just after he lands. He bounces back up in the air and then lands again... he may be unconcious but his armour is still in tact.

The Hellraiser continues to sink into the ground, now a foot under, while still pinned by a magic net.

When Mithas ran past the three fallen troops, he could see that both humans troops were dead, and the cyborg was severely damaged. The minotaur fired twice into borgs face casually on route to the building - finishing the bastard off.

Slate yells : "Light him up!"

He grabs Sailas' rifle and runs to the edge of his wall, and opens fire on the sniper on the ground.

 "Mostly, I can see..." begins the 'Borg, as something goes tinkle-tinkle and stops almost by his feet. In a far smaller, rather more tired voice he finishes the sentence... "Grenades."

 With the slow-motion speed of someone augmented beyond the limits of the merely human, the two-tonne bulk of the 'Borg begins to move in the direction from which the grenades came, conscious of the possibility of a trap but also intimately aware that the natural response of most people in a firefight is to hunker down and stay the hell out of dodge... and no flimsy exterior wall is going to noticably slow his progress, zero to sixty within a couple of meters powered by the fusion of new atoms deep within his alloy breast.

 And on the other side, there is time only for the high-pitched whine of vibro-blades and the cut and thrust of desperate melee before the powersuits can join in.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:09, Wed 08 Feb 2006.

Xion follow Masque out, running along his building for some type of cover, and firing upon the sniper as much as he can with his paired pistols.

Mithas hears a loud crash from behind him as he sees a huge, betean and battered tiger leap through a building wall.  Mithas readies his rifle, only for a moment... then, "Masque!"  Mithas waves Masque over towards him as the grenade inside the building Masque leapt from explodes.

Wait...there it is...the realization...

He looks down at Saila's lifeless body. The sniper. His face fills with anger as his hand slips into his demon-glove. Like a shot he's up, running in the direction of the fallen sniper. "THAT FUCKER IS MINE!!!" he yells as he darts out towards the downed soldier with little regard for anything else. His muscles tense with the supernatural strength from his demon-claw as he goes to grab the soldier and bring him back to the wall.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:45, Wed 08 Feb 2006.

At Slates command Sharp once again rolls out from his cover. Still lying on the ground he squeezes off two carefully aimed shots at the fallen sniper before Van makes it impossible to take a clear shot. Already out and shooting he will turn his attention to the Hellraiser that is sinking in the muck and unload his clip into it.

Van runs half way, before Slate, Xion and Sharp begin blasting holes straight through him.

It is debatable who's death was more brutal... Sailas' or the snipers'.

But Van didn't get him...

Silvermasque dives out of his building through the wall, and into the next, through the wall.

Both soldiers are still pulling out rifles, and Silvermasque easily parries the barrels. The giant tiger cyborg then proceeds to hack the two soldiers to death, severing arms as they cower in fear to the mighty Russian war machine.


The hellraiser takes a few more shots and continues to sink...

The trooper that threw the sniper off the building peers down over the edge of the building... and the other 6 men look disappointed that the SAMAS armours are going down already.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:52, Thu 09 Feb 2006.

Van grabs the corpse and slams it up against the side of the building. He wips off the soldiers helmet to look Saila's murderer in his lifeless eyes. Enraged, more by the fact that the soldier died before Van had his chance to personally administer justice than anything else, Van begins slamming the soldiers body against the wall, making cracks in the building.

"Wake up you fucking cocksucker! You're gonna wake up you piece of shit!! I will find a way to bring you back so I can send you to hell again and again and again you fucking cunt!! You will not get off that easy!! WAKE UP!!!"

He continues to yell at the corpse as the soldiers head cracks open and begins to smear blood and brain on the wall behind him which is almost broken through...War brings out an ugly side of some people.

Yet another soldier of the Coalition pokes up in the building above Silvermasque, and opens fire on the giant borg.

 For the couple of people in position to observe the short, ugly and exceedingly professional fight between the 'Borg and a couple of infantryman, it only underlines the very important message: Never, Ever enter an ass-kicking contest with a porcupine.

 It's probably ironic that technological advances from the golden age - the pinacle of human achievement and science are so perfectly and brutally suited to a style of warefare that went obsolete nearly a millenium ago, but it is nonetheless so the long, shearing lengths of the two burring vibro-weapons strike first sparks, then long arcs of blood from armour and flesh alike. Within moments there is nothing moving but twitching bodies and the 'Borg as he settles into a half-crouch in the nearest cover and scans the streets, his chasis punctured in a dozen places and little curls of blackened smoke rising up from where the synthetic flesh has been seared or burned away from alloy surfaces beneath - he's definitely looked better.

 And then yet /more/ weapons-fire starts to pour in on the luckless full-conversion from the building above, and he has to move - diving into the storm of shrapnel and wood spinters from the building that he's just leapt out of as two small spheres of metal count down and detonate, tearing the wooden-framed building apart in an exceedingly cinematic display worthy of a hollywood blockbuster.

 Even his two-tonne bulk staggered by the blast, the 'Borg drops to one knee and punches out with one of his hands, three long and flexible metalic tentacles lashing out a full ten feet beyond the reach of his arm, sparking with energy as they speed towards the lone gunman, independantly maneuvering and striking like a nest of serpents to entangle the man.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:53, Thu 09 Feb 2006.

As fast as Mithas saw the great cat, he was gone again.  Mithas crouches back down trying to catch his breath.  He reloads his rifle and begins to feel some of his power return to him.

Xion will open fire at the soldiers attacking Masque as best he can from his vantage point, making his way towards Masque as carefully, yet quickly, as possible.

Seeing the carnage unfolding beneath him.  Saul whispers to himself “ There is no turning back”, as he continues to watch and contemplate whether or not if he has done the right thing.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:51, Fri 10 Feb 2006.

Silvermasque entangles the soldier, and pulls him close.

By the time Xion gets there Silvermasque has killed him.



It is quiet...
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:02, Sat 11 Feb 2006.

 [ Well, actually I was going to stun him... one prisoner per battle is a good average, and I don't know about the last one yet. ^_^ ]


 When the soldier goes limp, status to be determined later 'Masque carefully drops him to the ground, the wickedly barbed tentacles disapearing into his wrist as swiftly as they'd appeared... He swings his head, left then right... and drops back against a wall, flicking his swords to clean them in a habit that obviously pre-dates vibro technology (since you don't get blood on a blade that projects an oscilating energy field) and sliding them back over his shoulders before recovering his cannon and bringing it to 'the ready'.

 He doesn't look around as Mithas and Xion approach, instead continuing to cover the street with his gun. "Has gone quiet... now is time to worry about enemy who retreated to call for help, or who set traps... what next boss?"

PM

“Yeah you better run little beeoches!!” As they see the SAMAS in retreat. Slapping hands and giving each other high fives Ren and his copies all start to get down with a little victory dance. “Coalition on the run, look out now, because Ren and his homies are number 1.”

Looking down at the sinking Hellraiser “Eat fire, you coalition worm!” They all launch a number of flaming plasma bolts which erupt from their hands. The bolts are target at and coming streaking toward the downed bot, afterwards they just all laugh mockingly and continue on with the victory chant.

Van continues to pummel the dead soldier, finally sending the bloody corpse through the wall of the building, the back of his head split open, his deadboy armor dented and caved in on his chest, still shot full of holes from the rest of the squad. Van drops to his knees in front of the hole in the wall, his face spattered with the blood of his enemy. He is motionless. His anger seems to have subsided for now. He looks around to see what soldiers remain, then back to the wall.

Perhaps the danger has passed, perhaps the battle is won...now there's just the loss to deal with.

Slate stands up straight.

"Your name was Sharp right? Use your radio and fill in the rest of your team that we don't see any live soldiers. We may have to go building to building."

 As plasma fire starts to flicker around back by the 'downed bot, Masque picks up his possible prisoner and, as usual performs a swift switcheroo, swapping weapons, clips and grenades for restraints, then starts to move over to the Hellraiser, cautiously keeping his cannon levelled at the head...

 "Cease 'fire..." calls out the 'Borg with considerable volume, producing a grenade from his harness and lightly weighing it in one hand. letting what sensors are left to the crew inside get a good look at the small, vicious plasma charge.

 "Is only polite to see if crew wish to take easy way or hard. Easy way, we take prisoner - and I put smack on anyone who wishes to kill them, hard way involves carving head off and dropping little sunbombs into tin can until they are cooked, da?"

Sharp nods to Slate and stands up to make his way towards the Hellraiser to back up Silvermasque. Keying his radio he transmits over the team channel. "We have no visible targets here. The four smoking SAMS looked like they were hightailing it east out of the city. If it is all clear lets form up for a building to building search and recovery...over"

After getting a reply Sharp relays the orders just in case anyone missed them. "Were supposed to rendezvous back at the church A.S.A.P." Turning to the big cyborg next to him he says, "If we can't get the spam out of the can lets just frag these bastards and get it over with."

Mithas went looking for 'Masque after he lost sight of him.  He found a number of people from the squad begining to filter into the street.  Mithas sees the Hellraiser and jogs over.  (not too close though)  'Masque seems to be "conversing" with the sinking machine...  He grabs 'Masque by the shoulder ,or however high on the giant tiger he can reach, and tries to spin him around to face the Minotaur... This thing almost killed me and you want to make it a pet!?!
Mithas begins huffing and puffing again as the air around the two begins to warm up.  Areas of Mithas begin erupting spontaniously, first his hands, then his head, parts of his back... as he stands there facing 'Masque, in a matter of moments Mithas is a flarge burning Minotaur moments away from taking his anger out on someone, or something.

 Masque is better than two tonnes of advanced alloys, powered by the sort of super-heavy hydraulics that make him a pretty fair match for the average small robot vehicle, let alone a mere creature of flesh and blood. But on the other hand he's down on one knee, holding a plasma grenade in his hand and when one of his own team wants to talk to him, he seems pretty happy to turn around - after a fraction of a second in which it's possible to realise that, barring some /real/ effort being exerted by the Burster, he has a choice in the matter.

 "Tak tochno, da... is representing many, many millions of expensive weapon system mired in own personal little Rasputitsa. So we let have chance to give up, and if they accept, must stick with it." - he shrugs, idly measuring the temperature climb on the psychic with sophisticated visual sensors...

 "This for two reason - one, because we are not like nemtsi... second is because if you take prisoner and do not piss around with, enemy is more likely not to fight to death - which makes our job much easier, da?"

 "Oh, also is like transmitter-equipped spy in middle of our town. Now, did you want to help me get crew out of tin can so we can salvage for enough money to plate your ass in gold, or did you want to slug me some for something?"

"Both of you stop now!" Xion says sternly. "Masque get them out, Sharp help him please. Mithas head to rendezvous with the others, we will be along momentarily." Xion turns back to Masque, "You think you can drive this thing? I am sure someone here can. That is one more weapon we have against them if we need it."

 'Masque nods sharply, turning back to the suit in a businesslike fashion and exending his right hand, vibro-claws shimmering in the light. But before he can reach down to resume communication efforts with the gentlemen in the robot vehicle Xion asks /that/ question...

 And he pauses, looking up at Xion in something not entirely like disbelief as he contemplates the suit of robotic armour and then his own towering ten-foot plus cybernetic frame... Before replying slowly and patiently "With 'due respect sir, perhaps would be better to put expert, like Van in machine? - I do not think somehow it is me, da?"

"Good point...Van...can you drive this thing?"

Mithas spins to face Xion... and for a moment, but only a brief moment, one can see blood, hatred, and the taste for death in the Minotaurs eyes.  This is all quickly resolved after Xion stares the Man-cow straight in the eyes as if daring him to make a move.

Mithas salutes, leaving a feeling of sarcasm with the gesture and marches off to the rendezvous point.

A partially muffled voice from the Hellraisers' barried loud speaker replies

"Go piss on yourself mutant!"

Mithas pauses in mid-step... but continues towards the rendezvous point.  Revenge already formulating in his mind.

Van gets up off his knees and begins walking back toward the wall where Saila was left. He is passing by when Xion asks him about his piloting abilities. In response Van simply looks at him...perhaps it's because Van has some amount of psychic ability, perhaps it's because he's a moody youth, but the look he gives Xion speaks volumes about how uninterested he is the salvage of this war machine right now. It is obvious that his priorities are different.

He goes to Saila's dead body and pauses for a moment before gently collecting her body with his temporarily enhanced strength. He carries her off in the direction that Deadbolt ran.

 'Masque seats himself comfortably in front of the buried power armour, brushing dirt away from the visual sensors with one hand. He pointedly lays the plasma cannon down, then puts the grenade beside it. "Is like this..." he states, amiably - determined it seems, not to take offence.

 "We can cut hole in top of armour... drop things in to make life difficult for you, and take suit. We can have earth-things bury you deep, bring you to surface in couple of weeks. Or you can open robot, come out with hands up. We take you prisoner - is all your choice end of day, da?"

 He shrugs, as though indicating a relative lack of concern about how this is going to go. "Either way, I get paid... but I am honest sort of man, underneath all this metal. Decision is yours - live, die or rot."

Seeing the end of combat nearing.  Saul ponders his own fate.  Will the group except him?

"Hey Ren, if your finished dancing, I'm going to need your help to explaining myself to the group"

Yeah - don't forget about the Coalition dude on the roof. His posts say he is pondering, but to all of you he is wearing a CS helmet, he is just standing there.

It defenitely appears as though he threw the sniper off the roof, and likely caused the explosion.

But some of you may be angry... angry that Saila and Dead Bolt were just killed by these guys...

Sharp not being an angry kind of guy in general really doesn't give a shit about the traitorous scumbucket on the roof. Instead he slides the runesword out of it's scabbard on his back and leaps up on top of the Hellraiser. Tapping on the metallic hull loudly the mystic weapon no doubt scratches the paintjob. He ain't a mutie you bloody morons he's a cyborg. Now if your finished sulking in there come on out and I promise I won't kill or torture you. Of course somebody probably will. He says that last part with a little guffaw giving the first indication that his M.O.M. implants have at least affected his mind in some manner. Poking around with his sword he looks for a hatch to try and pry open.

The three black spikes sticking out of the ground are completly revealed as the magic net is pulled quickly into the sand.

All three launch into the air...

To those who don't know anything about this - all you see is three large rockets launch straight up into the air, higher and higher out of site.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:38, Tue 14 Feb 2006.

 Missiles... three big missiles - specifically three big missiles launching more or less directly into the air within a few inches of the back of 'Masque's pack, as he's kneeling right beside the suit's head.

 "Incoming!" he calls out, snapping his hands up and tracking the hurtling projectiles, snapping off one-two particle beams, apparently from some small and compact internal weapon system, rather than wasting the time necessary to draw a weapon.

 Damn, he should have done this a moment ago.

"Damn" Sharp exclaims and he jumps away from the sinking monstrsoity tucking into a front flip and landing beyond the perimeter of the quicksand. Not slowing a bit runs for cover behind the earthen barriers Slate erected just minutes ago.

Seeing the hellraiser fire off it's missle rounds, Saul quickly turns to Ren and says "Ren I think we had better take cover in the building".

Saul quickly lowers himself down in to the building and errects a Telekinetic Force Field (and Ren if he follows), to prepare for the impact of the missles.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Wed 15 Feb 2006.

"Damn, watch yo'ass fellas. Run for cover!!" Ren and his duplicates head after Saul to seek protection from the missle blast.

Silvermasque is pretty sure he hit one of them before they disappear into the clouds...

Ren and Saul lower back into the warehouse, and Saul creates a forcefield around them, incase the missiles hit the warehouse, and the building collapses...

Sharp runs to the Earthen wall, Slate is at the church now... looking for Seidon in the rubble, with his returned Earth Elemental (yes Zephram, still the mud mound)

Van is in the far field. He finds dozens of pieces of Dead Bolt, and volunteers to put him to rest with Saila. Van collects the bits, an arm, a foot, an ear... the rest is unmanageable. He barries the pieces of Dead Bolt with his rifle in a hole, beside a larger one, one he digs for Saila.

He considers to himself both of their lives... Saila joined the army to defend her home with her powers. Dead Bolt had dedicated his life to murdering the Coalition. They both seem like victims of war, but at the same time, they died doing exactly what they were willing to risk their lives for. Both of their lives were ended rather violently, but when is murder not violent, which is what war is all about, on a mass level...

The two warriors are put to rest... one, a mercenary, fighting for money, and revenge - who will never get paid a dime... and the other a brave young mystic, who died instead of whoever else was about to go over that wall...

Van barely realises the missiles are launched...

Xion and Mithas take cover in a close building, and wait for where the missiles are gonna drop.

Silvermasque starts to get worried that he should have run sooner, and these missiles are about to come back down on top of him. But it is worse...

All three missiles land on the army gathering to the south. The explosions are huge, it is no doubt that alot of people were just killed...

Just as the anger swells... for the cheap shot the Hellraiser just took on the soldiers... it fights to the end, as most hardened special forces soldiers do...

The Hellraiser explodes.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:56, Wed 15 Feb 2006.

 'I hate fanatics' goes the thought through 'Masque's mind as he's pitched through the air by the blast, having failed to knock down any of the projectiles in the few fractions of a second they were in range - and having had the opportunity to witness the fundamental weakness to missile bombardment of a force that eschews technolog in favour of magic...

 The two-tonne Borg slams through a wall nearby, picking himself up essentially unharmed a few moments later to advance on the smouldering wreckage, making quite certain that nothing survived the suicidal self-destruct. "Bojmoi, I hate when they do this." he grumbles, joining the search effort to ensure that nothing is missed in the investigation (enemy troops or salvage) - and most definitely picking up the corpse of the 'Borg with whom he exchanged so much fire, mentally adding zeros to the profit of this little run, given that standard mercenary contracts include the repair of survivors equipment. Well, if they started with it.

 One of the Terror-troopers P-beams would have been nice, or a mini-missile rifle, but those are up on the north side of town, and likely in the hands of someone else by now, so it's light scavenging time - grenades and E-clips, robot nano-medical kits... and most especially - patting down the 'Borg, any of those sophisticated new Coalition nanotech repair units for cybernetics and bionics.

[ Important question : I'm quartering the west side of town with team one... do I at any point run into a figure in coalition armour that is (i) obviously not one of us or (ii) obviously a zombie. I'm looking at you here, Necro-boy. ^_^ ]

Hearing an explosion in the distance, Saul drops his sheilds.  "I think the missles have hit lets get out of here."

Saul walks out of the building and sees smoke emerging from the south, and the remains of the Hellraiser in front of him with a what appears to be a giant(tiger) borg around it.  Saul, wonders whether he will be able to reason with him or if he should wait for Ren to explain the situation.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:54, Fri 17 Feb 2006.

Sharp crawls out from behind the earthen barricade and looks at the damage caused by the self-destructing war machine. "You don't suppose they were off put by my torture and killing comments do you?" He asks as he sheathes his sword. Wiping the dirt off of his C-14 he makes his way towards the ruins of the church.