Ducking behind one of the larger boulders, Joran has his grenade rifle up and ready for a target.  He is unsure about the possibility of communication with the strong sense of personal danger he is feeling from them.  However, commandeering one or more of the APCs may prove useful.

"Lets not shoot the vehicles if we can help it. Talking to them, as part of an ambush to take their rides, if they turn violent, is certainly worth entertaining."

He ducks down below the small ridge and crawls over to a rock to get concealed behind, unless the group wants him to be point man and wave that white flag.

Miss readied her rifle, pulling it up against her shoulder. Ready to open up should it prove necessary.

"Think these assholes might be a Pecos raiding party? This far south, no idea what we're looking at," she grumbles the last part as she moves toward the rocks. Better than nothing.

As our heroes conceal themselves to the best of their abilities, the ATV's move closer. Chaplain can see into the front windows. The drivers appear humanoid, with goggles of their own on.

The ATV's come to a halt about ten feet from the builders.

The doors open in one and two armed individuals step out. Their rifles are pointed to the ground, but seem ready for action. They both appear human. One wears an eyepatch and is bald, while the other has a spiked mohawk.

"We just want the device," calls eyepatch, eyeing the boulders.

GM: What do you do?

Are these fools seriously not wearing a full suit of armor? He knew it happened often, but he was still astonished when he encountered people who actually fired CSA-grade weaponry without expecting equal fire. Maybe they aren't human.

Wolf was wondering if he needed to set a firm line here. Unfortunately, he hadn't yet gotten his current allies' radio frequencies yet, so there was no way to talk to them without throwing up a giant public signal.

He pointed the intimidating double barrel of the CP-50 around the edges of his boulder and called out to the two below him. "I'm Lieutenant Chaplain Wolf. This is official Coalition business. Pack up your militia and leave immediately. I repeat, leave immediately."

Everything he said was either technically true or a command. And he had said it twice, so they could understand. If they were stupid, well - that was on them.

Nathaniel translates the speech into Spanish, just in case the locals don't understand English all that well. It is nearly flawless with a little bit of the local twang the other guy used.


OOC: 08:55, Today: Nathaniel rolled 73 using 1d100.  Translate into Spanish TN98.

"Of course that lieutenant would speak first," Cole thought to himself. It might not be the smartest move but the way he saw it, all of their options were pretty lousy, so he stood up, slowly. He still held his rifle but like the men from the ATVs, he kept the barrel pointed toward the ground and not at them. Of course with his speed, it wouldn't make much of a difference if it came to picking a target and squeezing the trigger.

"So you want the device? Fine, we want a ride. How about we trade? We give you the device, you give us one of those ATVs. We then go our separate ways, no need for fighting."

Absolutely nothing about this entire situation made Cole happy. First he had lost his best horse of several years. Then they had lost Hoss to some weird vampires and spirits. Now they were stuck in Old Mexico, probably, with no rides, a busted magic compass and what did they have to how for it? A few weapons and a small pile of cash. Now these guys come looking for the busted, cursed compass? Sure, it was time to cut their losses on this non-paying job. They could have the damn thing far as he was concerned if they were willing to part with one of those ATVs.

Of course they might tell him to go to hell and that was fine too, considering the mood he was in. He was angry at the world in general right now and if these guys wanted to volunteer to help him work through his anger, that was alright. When he was calmer, he would look back and think it was stupid but anger had a way of clouding a man's judgement, not see future consequences none to clearly. All that mattered right now was he was pissed and sad and needed to channel those primal feelings in the most primal way; violence. He still had enough of a gripe to hold off if the men agreed to the deal but if they didn't, well, Cole felt sure they would be happy to oblige him in mutual violence.

One thing was certain Cole knew, there was no way they were going to just walk away all nice and peaceful, like Wolf wanted. These guys had come too far and armed too boot. They weren't just going to leave without what they came for without a shot fired.

Cade sighed from her dug out and picked up a rock and threw it at Cole.

"Magic shit!" she exclaimed, as a reminder that they still didn't know if the lizard's claim that they were somehow potentially "stuck" in Mexico due to the broken nature of the compass had any truth to it or not, but if it did they'd wouldn't be driving where they wanted until it was fixed, according to Agrus.

Zeke countered, "Don't reckon you wanna hear what my momma said bout what we may or may not want bub. You come runnin' up on us, holdin' heat expectin' us to just hand you some device we don't even know what you want."

There is silence and then the armed men burst into raucous laughter. "Thanks for the offer," says eyepatch, "we'll just take the compass. Light em up!"

They climb back into their ATV as a armored gunmen rises up out of the top of the vehicle behind a turret gun and opens fire.

GM: Right now you have some measure of cover behind the boulders. But not for long! What do you do?

Cade slipped out of her backpack.

She then sprinted fast, low, and at moments on all fours, for the nearest ATV where she slid herself beneath it.

OOC: Cade can cover 250 yards in a round, so I assume it isn't an issue to make it to where she's trying to go

Cade rolled 11.  Initiative.

Top of the vehicle. Acceptable collateral. He flipped on the megaphone in his headseat. Standard Coalition intimidation tactic, as far as he was concerned, as well as communication to the irregulars with him. "OPEN FIRE!"

Chaplain, from a near kneeling position, quickly cocked and fired multiple volleys of four-rounds rapid of microfusion into the guy on the turret, tiny blue suns momentarily being formed on the top of the ATV.

20:56, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 29 using 1d20+10.  Initiative roll...oops. No rolling initiative. Right. Saving this for dodging.
20:58, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 23 22 using 1d20+76.  Burst fire with CP-50, microfusion grenades x4.
21:06, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 66 using 24d6.  Microfusion grenade damage to approximately 12 6 ft radius of impact. Mega-damage, of course.

21:17, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 27 26 using 1d20+76.  Burst fire with CP-50, microfusion grenades x4.
21:19, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 95 using 24d6.  Microfusion grenade damage to approximately 6 ft radius of impact.

21:17, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 20 19 using 1d20+76.  Burst fire with CP-50, microfusion grenades x4.
21:21, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 81 using 24d6. That's damage I forgot to explain.

If I blow the armor off of that guy before the third burst, I will actually stop firing long enough for him to get off the gun, and shoot someone else (if possible) if he abandons the gun for the ATV. If he still fires the heavy weapon while unarmored, just replace the grenade burst with a single 2d6 laser shot. I'm not wasting four damn grenades on a regular unarmored human - but if he's dumb enough to keep fighting while unarmored, he's a valid target for continued attack.

21:32, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 12 using 2d6.  JIC - single laser shot.

21:33, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 10 using 1d20+9.  Dodge potential attack. Natural 1? Damn. I would have added the initiative of +10 to this one, too.
21:33, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 13 using 1d20+9.  Dodge potential attack.
21:33, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 10 using 1d20+9.  Dodge potential attack. Well, that's the second natural 1. Huh. Hopefully, I'm just a bad luck magnet, and that means no one else will get it.

Defaulting to 12 microfusion fired, potentially only 8 microfusion and 1 laser round.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:43, Wed 29 July 2020.

"And here we go," though Cole as Wolf shouted to open fire. "And so much for that ATV," was his next thought at seeing the Deadboy spray several grenades at it.

Even as those thoughts flashed through his mind, Cole's body was already reacting as he had planned when the shooting would break out. He dropped to one knee behind the rock. He knew kneeling behind it meant it afford less cover but it probably wasn't worth more than a shot or two anyways. Moving to the next rock or just plain moving to make himself a harder target would be easier if he started from a kneeling position, rather than prone.

While dropping to one knee, his left hand came off his rifle and touched one of his tattoos. He didn't like having to activate it since it cost him a lot of energy. He was no tattooed warrior like an Undead Slayer that had huge supply. However he would like holes blasted in his brand new armor, this far from a shop even less.

The instant after he touched the tattoo, a heart wrapped in protective chains, flared and then a shimmering blue aura of energy surrounded him and his body armor.

His left hand returned to the rifle and in with the quick smooth precision possible from countless hours of practice and experience, Cole sent two blasts at two different bandits. Each laser bolt a carefully aimed head shot.

OOC
1 action - drop to kneeling/dodge
1 action - activate tattoo - Invulnerability (450 MDC)
6 actions - 2, Aimed, Called Shots

NOTE: Using an action for the first dodge for the higher bonus. After that all dodges are Auto-Dodge and lower bonus. That was the theory anyways. RPOL had other ideas.

Dodges
Action Dodge - Cole rolled 15 using 1d20+9.  Dodge.
Auto-Dodge - Cole rolled 18 using 1d20+6.  Auto Dodge.
Auto-Dodge - Cole rolled 19 using 1d20+6.  Auto Dodge.

Strikes
Cole rolled 29 using 1d20+12.  Aimed, Called Shot (Head), Wilks 577 Laser.
Cole rolled 27 using 1d20+12.  Aimed, Called Shot (Head), Wilks 577 Laser.

Damage
Cole rolled 9MD using 3d6.  Wilks 577 Laser Damage.
Cole rolled 12MD using 3d6.  Wilks 577 Laser Damage.

Pretty sure I nailed those head shots. Hopefully their unarmored heads can't handle that modest amount of MD.

Nathaniel does something he has never done before....he sends a mental signal to his burst spraying rail-gun to go to single shot mode. While he is doing that his power armor is kicking up dirt as he runs around to the side of the ATV that Cole is not targeting. That is what a Wedge Formation does for you, it allows for flanking relatively easily. He comes to a sudden halt and his rail-gun waves into the correct position to shoot that ATV's driver in the head. A slight adjustment and the other guy in the ATV gets a head-shot as well, given the fist one was on target.

Joran was about to step out to say something to the armed men, but that Chaplain Wolf fellow spoke first.  And he did the complete opposite of what Joran would have done.  The ogre shakes his head as he peeks around the boulder to bring his grenade rifle to bear.
With everyone firing at the front APC, the ogre decides to target the rearmost one.  Blocking the retreat of the others can prove useful in this instance.  So, he begins popping off individual grenades to take out its mobility, targetting treads/wheels.

Called shots to the rear section of tread/rear wheel.
16:53, Today: Joran rolled 6 using 4d6.  Frag damage to 12'.
16:53, Today: Joran rolled 18 using 1d20+5.  Aimed and Called shot to treads/wheel.

16:52, Today: Joran rolled 17 using 4d6.  Frag damage to 12'.
16:52, Today: Joran rolled 17 using 1d20+5.  Aimed and Called shot to treads/wheel.

Cade darts for one of the ATV's and crawls underneath it. Just as she does, the ATV next to her explodes and she hears the screams of dying men engulfed in flames.

As men aflame pour from the ATV Chaplain easily picks them off, their bodies thrashing in burning fire.

Four men come out of an ATV with guns blazing, and Cole picks off two of them, their head popping like melons. Their buddies stumble back in surprise as their friends' brains splatter on them. Their own heads explodes a second later as Nathaniel's shots find their mark.

Finally, Joran tosses grenades to the rearmost ATV, the explosions take out the tires effectively. Gunners rise up out of both ATV's. These two are fully armored and begin spraying bullets at our heroes.

Chaplain attempts to dodge but slips as a boulder explodes next to him from the gun shots and covers him with debris, pinning him.

The ATV with tires intact then maneuvers out and begins to speed away.

GM: Cade - We'll assume you are under the ATV that didn't get exploded, lol. Do you grab on as they pull away?

Everyone else takes 70 MD. Remember, in our game if your MD is reduced to zero the damage doesn't pass along to your SDC. Your armor just explodes.

One ATV down and all inside are dead. Second ATV disabled. Third ATV fleeing the scene.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:58, Thu 30 July 2020.

"Hell's fire!" Chaplain's firearm stuck out from under the rubble as he furiously aimed his rifle at the escaping ATV. System damage suggested that his armor had taken an absurd level of punishment, and required repairs. He wasn't even fully removing himself from the rubble.

After he pushed the rubble off his sights, he aimed for the fleeing vehicle. This time, he wasn't going for the gunman on the top. He took a long breath, looked the devil in the eye, and fired a singular laser shot, aiming for where he believed the left tire was at on the fleeing ATV.

OOC: That is one attack to clear rubble out from in front of my line of sight, and three more attacks to hit the rear tire with a singular aimed shot.

23:47, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 12 using 1d20+8.  Aimed Called Shot to rear wheel of fleeing ATV with laser. Nope.
23:49, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 14 using 6d6.  Burst fire with CP-50, three-laser burst. ...I don't know why I wrote it as "burst fire" when it was a pulse. Habit.

Irritated, he growled and took a faster blast at the tire with less preparation, disregarding the hostile threat still alive around him in favor of cutting off the fleeing vehicle's escape. He was hoping some of these idiots he was fighting would live.

23:50, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 17 using 1d20+6.  Called Shot to rear wheel of fleeing ATV with laser.
23:52, Today: Chaplain Wolf rolled 25 using 6d6.  Burst fire with CP-50, three-laser burst.

Angry shot not only seems to have actually hit, but it did more damage, too. -6 shots from the long e-clip confirmed, one way or the other.

Unfortunately, this leaves me with no defenses except a thin layer of rubble.

30 MDC remaining on my armor.

Cole felt the many impacts of the high speed bullets strike his aura of protection, like having a fist full of pebbles flung at him. It was annoying but thankfully nothing more. If he had spent the energy, well, he would have broken his record for destroying body armor.

A quick glance was all he needed to see that everyone on his side seemed alive, including the two Deadboys. In fact Wolf was very much still in the fight, carefully laying down aimed fire at the fleeing ATV. The Gunfighter approved of the change in his tactics since it meant one, he was conserving ammo and two, they might be able to scrape together enough parts to repair on of the two remaining ATVs.

Since Wolf was already dealing with the escaping ATV, Cole focused his attention on the two bandits that had gotten on their crew serve guns and were still spraying bullets like they had an endless supply. He shifted his aim and sighted one of them, squeezing off two shots at the armored man's head. He then tracked left and fire off one more head shot at the second shooter. He had less time to aim but he was in a hurry and needed to stop him quickly.

OOC
6 actions - 2 Aimed Called Shots (head) on one of the bandits on the crew served weapon
2 actions - 1 Called Shot (head) on the other crew serve bandit.

Wilks 577 - Laser 5/20 shots e-clip 1
Invulnerability aura - 70/450 MD

Strikes
Cole rolled 22 using 1d20+12.  Aimed, Called Shot, Wilks 577 Laser.
Cole rolled <b>16</b> using 1d20+12.  Aimed, Called Shot, Wilks 577 Laser.

Cole rolled 11 using 1d20+10.  Called shot, Wilks 577 Laser.

Damage
Cole rolled 13MD using 3d6.  Wilks 577 Laser Damage.
Cole rolled 5MD using 3d6.  Wilks 577 Laser Damage.

Cole rolled 4MD using 3d6.  Wilks 577 Laser Damage.

Well RPOL dice roller wasn't as kind to me this time. That's 18 MD to the armored head of one guy and only 4 MD to the head of the other. Pretty sure that the second guy is alive and still firing.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:34, Thu 30 July 2020.

OOC: 70 MD! Owch!

Miss had her rifle leveled, waiting for a shot, when everything exploded. Knocking her back from the blast. Every warning and system in her armor firing off. Demanding she retreat, find an armorer, and get clear. But at least the damn thing was still working.

She picks herself up, shaken, head spinning. Rifle lifting.

OOC
2 actions - Called Shot (head) on the firing bandit Cole isn't shooting at:
17:31, Today: Julia 'Miss' Hart rolled 10 using 1d20+3.  c-40 Pulse Rifle.

2 actions for dodges:
17:32, Today: Julia 'Miss' Hart rolled 20 using 1d20+1.  Dodge.
17:32, Today: Julia 'Miss' Hart rolled 8 using 1d20+1.  Dodge.

ooc: Cade will grab on, but it also just got the wheels shot out from underneath it, so I don't know that she'll be able to accomplish much if the driver just loses control and crashes the thing.

Nathaniel doesn't like the indicators on his armor showing as yellow for his overall protection. However, he likes that he still has protection. He starts walking over the half buried CS LT as he switches to automatic fire on his railgun. Slugs start zipping out at any soldier that is not engaged. He isn't worried about the buggy getting away, if needs be he can chase it down in light form and bring it back once he deals with the guys trying to kill his friends.

Joran had only peeked out from behind the boulder for a moment, when impacts peppered his torso and sent him staggering back to fall on his buttocks.  Damn!  The exclamation is muttered as he feels the armor that had just saved his life give up the ghost, and he looks down to see the shattered chest and abdomen plates fall away.  The back is still held in place by the strapped-on trunk, but little good that will do him now.  The body hardening exercise he had learned in Judo had strengthened his skin enough that he could possibly survive another assault such as that, but only if it is a graze, and not a solid hit.  And he is not rested enough to bring up a psychic shield, either.
Ducking behind the boulder again, the ogre decides to use his grenade rifle fire over the oversized rock so that grenades drop on to the the two gunners in the turret of the stuck APC.

Fg22:00, Today: Joran rolled 19 using 4d6.  Grenade damage to 12'.
21:59, Today: Joran rolled 13 using 1d20+3.  Indirect grenade fire.

21:58, Today: Joran rolled 19 using 4d6.  Grenade damage to 12'.
21:58, Today: Joran rolled 21 using 1d20+3.  Indirect grenade fire.

21:57, Today: Joran rolled 17 using 4d6.  Grenade damage to 12'.
21:57, Today: Joran rolled 15 using 1d20+3.  Indirect grenade fire.

21:57, Today: Joran rolled 15 using 4d6.  Grenade damage to 12'.
21:56, Today: Joran rolled 22 using 1d20+3.  Indirect grenade fire.
Those guys, and anyone and anything else with 12', just took 70 points of explosive and shrapnel damage!  They are going to be feeling that in the morning....

Chaplain struggles out of the rubble and opens fire on the fleeing vehicle. The tires blow out and it swerves and flips on its side, revealing Cade clinging to the bottom. Cade can hear the men inside shouting and groaning.

Meanwhile, Cole and Julia take out the gunner in the remaining vehicle while Nathaniel fires on the ATV, discouraging anyone from trying to come out.

Finally, Joran fires grenades into the turret bucket and shouts can be heard inside as a muffled THOOMP rattles the inside, with blood splattering the windows and fire beginning to billow out.

"That...was impressive," says Agrus.

GM: One ATV totally destroyed, the other on fire, the other on its side with blown out tires and some damage, but salvageable. Unknown number of dudes inside.

What do you do?

Joran looks at the mess they have made, and shakes his head sadly.  It might have been avoided, but he does not think that would have been likely.  I will close the turn on the burning vehicle, hopefully suffocate the fire.  The rest of you take care of the guys who tried to get away, the big man rumbles.  Then I will see if I can help right it.
He steps over to the burning APC, knowing it has not had much time to get very hot externally,and hoping the remains of his armor will protect his limbs when it does.  Maybe, if he is lucky, Nathaniel can cobble together some torso armor for him from some of the salvage.  Climbing up, he glances in the open turret for a hot moment, then grabs the hatch to wrangle it closed and sealed.

"Oh, we want a ride, oh let's not shoot the vehicles... ok"  Cade complained as she extended the blade from her left gauntlet and then jumped over the vehicle so she was standing next to the roof and its gunner's hatch.

"Sure, we'll just use every fucking grenade we have, that'll do the trick."  She continued ranting as she did her best to enter the vehicle through the hatch and stick her blade into as many non-armored or lightly armored body parts as she could manage while the vehicle crew was still disoriented.

"Looks like we're walking anyway.  Assholes!"  Cade kept bitching as she worked.

OOC:

Cade rolled 24,8,14,17,14,6,11,8.  Strikes vs fleshy bits.

Cade rolled 13,12,12,11,9,10,7,12.  (Potential) MDC Damage.