Goethe will also run at full speed to the nearest barricade, thinking how back when he first started running the shadows, something like this would have pretty much guaranteed him eating lead since he was so slow. But with the synthcardium he had installed, his speed increased dramatically.
Seneth will run full speed to the barricade. Once there, he will:
Cast armor on himself.
The grenade lands among a group of Synthcorp agents preparing to fire upward toward 4509 and Solomon. Normally, the cyborg could have detonated the grenade at will, but with his comlink signal being jammed, he must rely on a timed detonation. The men below have moments to react, and leap away before the blast. 4509 cannot determine how much injury he caused.
Solomon works through the blast, unfazed by the concussive force of the explosion. In only a few seconds, the drone has managed to sever one of the latticework beams. Solomon wraps his hands around the beam and attempts to bend it enough to allow the pair to fit through. It takes a magnificent effort, but Solomon is able to shape the steel through pure force, opening an area wide enough for the drone to leap down into the Surveillance office using small rocket thrusters to control his fall.
4509 hears bursts of gunfire from out of his field of vision, and can see Solomon shudder against the impact of multiple bullets. It’s impossible to know the extent of Solomon’s damage, but the drone still seems to be operating well as it returns fire with a mounted machinegun. From the direction of Solomon’s shooting, 4509 hears the agonized scream of a Synthcorp agent.
Meanwhile, Goethe, Nail, Seneth, and the rest of the assault team dash down the hallway toward the Surveillance door. The Synthcorp agents open fire, and immediately Chaggo is cut down by a burst of gunfire that strikes him in the chest. A Chinook warrior leaps over Chaggo’s body with a powerful cry of wrath, and is in turn shredded by concentrated gunfire. The group continues their relentless advance, and Both Goethe and Nail feel the sting of bullets striking non-vital areas as they finally reach the first barricade. The Chinoook agents swarm around the barricade and engage the 3 Synthcorp agents behind it in melee combat.
There are two more barricades beyond the first. Goethe, Nail, and Seneth may attempt to engage the Synthcorp agents behind the 2nd and 3rd barricade in ranged combat with spells and gunfire, or attempt to push through in melee along with the Chinook. If they choose to engage in ranged combat, the crew will enjoy the same heavy-cover bonuses awarded to the Synthcorp agents. Particularly effective ranged attacks may help “cover” the Chinook from the agents shooting from behind the 2nd and 3rd barricades.
During their advance, Goethe suffered 3 stun damage and 3 physical damage from gunfire. Nail suffered 7 physical damage from gunfire. Nail’s injuries are quite severe, but not life threatening. If he does not receive healing, Nail will be noticeably less effective in combat.
Chaggo has suffered a terrible injury, along with a Chinook warrior and a Chinook shaman. They seem to have been killed, but the crew can’t be certain with the battle raging in front of them. There are 5 Chinook remaining, several of which have been hurt.
When the group reaches the barricade, Seneth’s activates his armor spell. It’s subtle magic that may have gone unnoticed by the others, but Seneth himself knows it is active, and is confident he is well protected.
Seneth casts Fireball on whatever Synthcorp agent(s) are closest.
4509 drops into the fray, both machine pistols firing.
He’ll always focus all four attacks on a single target, prioritizing the most heavily armed, least injured agents that he can see. If there is a large cluster of enemies ahead (4+) he’ll take what cover he can and use a flashbang. If he runs out of ammunition he’ll engage targets in melee (still flashing first when encountering large groups).
Goethe will lay down suppressive fire toward the rear barricades with his AK buying the warriors time to take out the people they’re fighting with.
Nail looks down at his gun. Coughing up a bit of blood, he says, “Guess I got no choice,” and pulls out his firearm to lay down some cover for the Chinook warriors.
My work schedule has changed dramatically. I can update the game today if things are slow at work, otherwise it’ll be about 12 hours from this post before I get a chance. I apologize for the delay! Thanks for your patience, yet again.
The battle rages around him as Goethe activates full-automatic mode on his assault rifle, making life hell for the men behind the barricade. Goethe sees at least one of his shots score a solid hit against a man who couldn’t duck in time.
Nail sees the Synthcorp agents duck for cover, and patiently waits for a target to present itself. It’s not long before he sees his chance. Seneth begins an incantation, and one of the Synthcorp men attempts to interrupt the Mage with gunfire. Before he can pull the trigger, Nail blasts him with two shots to the head.
The Chinook are like artists in melee, hacking their adversaries apart with shaman-blessed tomahawks. It won’t be long before the men behind the first barricade are utterly defeated.
Seneth finishes the fireball incantation. With a flair of ingenuity, Seneth targets an area of the wall behind the barricade, allowing the explosion area to bypass the protection of the barricade. The extra distance from the target makes the spell less deadly, but knocks two men aside, where they land on the floor in an exposed position. The men scramble to their feet, but won’t be able to return to their cover before Nail and Goethe get a chance to shoot at them.
Several Synthcorp agents return fire. They (perhaps foolishly) avoid shooting at the Chinook warriors, due to their close melee proximity to other Synthcorp agents. Instead, they try to hit Nail, Goethe, and Seneth behind their heavy cover. Only one agent manages to score a hit against Goethe, which is completely ineffectual due to a combination of armor and exceptionally sturdy ork toughness.
Meanwhile, Solomon and 4509 are engaged with agents inside the surveillance office. 4509 lands with a powerful crash from the destroyed floor above, and unleashes pure devastation from his dual machine pistols, sending bullets flying all over the room. Many of his shots hit their targets, and at the end of his rampage two Synthcorp agents lay dead or dying. Solomon performs similarly with his mounted rifle, placing expert patterns of gunfire into the chest of two more Synthcorp agents.
The agents inside the office are defeated. A single surviving Synthcorp agent attempts to flee past 4509, through the only door of the office, which leads to the barricaded hallway. It is trivially easy for 4509 to snatch the man off his feet as he runs past.
There are five more people in this area of the office, but they are not soldiers. These men and women are the surveillance operatives, who (prior to 4509’s attack) were organizing remote drone operations, using stationary cameras and other sensors to track the movements of friendly and hostile forces, and facilitating communications between various Synthcorp teams. These people are not trained for physical combat, and would be child’s play for 4509 to kill, if he decides to.
4509 lifts the struggling agent off the ground with a single, powerful limb before rending the man apart with his right armblade and tossing the corpse aside. He turns on the noncombatants, eye rings expanding as he takes them all in. “Let me guess: None of you can tell me where Johnson is.” His second blade slips into view from his left forearm.
Seeing the two agents knocked out of cover, Geothe will make a called shot to the head of one of them using a short narrow burst.
Nail grimaces as he watches the agent he shot in the head go down like a bag of bricks. He then takes aim and fires at one of the agents knocked out of cover. “This is your fault for making me get serious!” he half-yell half-roars out.
The next few seconds are the most chaotic and destructive Goethe can remember. He and Nail fire nearly simultaneously, killing the two men Seneth exposed. The Chinook warriors seem to be in a blood frenzy, smashing through the Synthcorp agents and rushing toward the next barricade, heedless of the weapons pointed at them preparing to fire.
But all of it stops suddenly, as the door to the surveillance office bursts open from the inside and a hail of gunfire screams into the rear of the Synthcorp formation. Solomon crashes through the door, not even bothering to open it. The attack from the rear completely demoralizes the remaining Synthcorp men, who immediately lay their weapons down. A single Synthcorp security agent overcomes his fear, and turns to fire at Solomon. Before he can squeeze the trigger, an unusually long burst of machine gun fire from the drone nearly saws the man in half.
The Chinook hesitate in their assault, torn between a frenzied instinct and a sense of honor. They look toward Goethe, waiting for his direction…
Meanwhile, 4509 has threatened the noncombatant surveillance agents, with a remarkable lack of subtlety. The men and women cower in fear as he turns to each of them in turn. They are too terrified to respond, until one man finally has the courage to speak. “Please, don’t hurt us. I can find Johnson for you.” He doesn’t dare take a step, but gestures toward a nearby work station. “It won’t take long. Faster with 2 or 3 of us working together.”
To the Chinook warriors:
“Stand down. These men have surrendered. There is no need to attack them further. But we should secure them so that they can’t change their minds.”
Tossing wire ties to the group…
“Bind their hands behind them. Gag their mouths as well. And collect anything useful such as bullets, passcodes, badges, and creds.”
To Nail and Seneth:
"If there’s anything useful left in my medkit, take it and see if you can save Chaggo and any of the others that got cut down. After that, Seneth heal Nail and then you two join Kirk and I into the surveillance room. It appears the vatjob has secured it. Besides, we don’t need him killing unnecessarily. And Kirk will no doubt find all sorts of toys of play with, maybe she can even take out whatever is jamming our comms.
“Oh, and Seneth, if you have any healing to spare after taking care of the rest, I could use some as well. But I’ll be fine for now.”
Goethe will then indicate to Kirk to accompany him into the surveillance room (or lead her there if she’s completely lost in a technotrance).
Before Goethe even finishes talking, Nail wordlessly takes the medkit and brings it over to Chaggo.
“Do it. You get me his location and you live. If anyone tries anything, every one of you dies.”
Seneth looks at his injured allies…and walks past them without casting any healing magic at all.
Instead, Seneth approaches the man who claims to be able to lead the group to Mr. Johnson. He leans over him and begins to stare at him intensely.
“Child, you are doing the right thing by letting us know where this Johnson is and we will likely follow you to him. However, first, you must allow me to probe your mind and confirm that you actually know this information. If you do not allow me to do this…well, that would be…unwise.”
Assuming the man agrees,** Seneth will cast Mindprobe** on the man.
After a successful mindprobe, Seneth will heal any injured allies, assuming he still has the strength to do so.
Seneth shoves past the Synthcorp agents, sidesteps past the combat drone Solomon, and enters the surveillance office where 4509 is terrifying the civilians. The man who spoke to 4509 earlier is frozen with indecision. He clearly does not want to let Seneth touch him, but he can see no realistic alternative. With a defeated sigh, he stands still as Seneth approaches and lays hands on his face.
Immediately, Seneth is overcome with the man’s despair. He must choose either to die at the hands of Seneth and his crew, or an equally sure death for betraying Synthcorp. He is utterly convinced that Seneth’s crew can not possibly succeed in bringing the mighty Synthcorp down, but it is not a gloating assurance. Rather, it’s a defeated feeling, that no matter which side he picks he is doomed. He feels no particular loyalty to Synthcorp.
The man intends to cooperate with Seneth and 4509 until there is an opportunity to escape. He does not have a plan, but is desperately hoping an opportunity to flee will present itself. He doesn’t know where Johnson is, but he knows Johnson’s primary bodyguard, an ork cyborg named Jackal, is carrying a communication device which the man might be able to track using the surveillance equipment.
Seneth releases the man, his fingers leaving discolored marks on the man’s scalp. He glares at Seneth, unable to hide a look of pure disgust. “Satisfied?” he asks.
Meanwhile, back in the hallway, the Chinook shaman watches aghast as Seneth abandons his crew. He seems about to speak, but after seeing the expression on Seneth’s face, decides not to. The shaman rushes toward Chaggo, and reaches him at the same time as Nail arrives with the medkit. The ork’s heart is no longer beating, and he is breathless. The shaman chants as Nail injects adrenaline into Chaggo’s heart and begins CPR.
Nail continues chest compressions for a long time, waiting for the Shaman’s magic to take effect. As the time drags on, Nail becomes annoyed with the Shaman, and almost shouts a sarcastic insult. But all at once, the reality of the situation hits him. The shaman is not casting a spell with his chanting, but rather saying a prayer for the dead. Nail never had a chance. Chaggo was gone before the medkit even reached him.
Meanwhile, the Chinook warriors have taken Goethe’s directions seriously. They force all of the men to strip naked, and bind and gag them with their own clothes. There is a fantastic pile of weapons and ammo building up nearby, and one of the warriors brings a key card to Goethe.
“Only one of the men had a security clearance card,” the Chinook says to Goethe. “He’s among the dead, and the others don’t know how or where it works.” He hands the card to Goethe, saying, “Keep it. It may be useful.”
"Well, he does not know where Mr. Johnson is. Instead he can lead us to ‘Jackal’, a bodyguard that carries a device that can lead us to Johnson.
Oh, he doesn’t think we’ll succeed."
Seneth will cast heal on his allies now.