Geothe will take cover as a free action.
He then will use a simple action to take aim at Fortnight’s legs to prepare for a called shot, and use another simple action to fire a wide burst from the assault rifle into them, hoping to slow Fortnight’s rate of escape.
Donovan will prioritize taking cover first. Then he’ll fire at the enemy with the least cover using the troll’s assault rifle, preferring volume to precision.
Kirk’s sprite easily shreds another ICe, but a second ICe copper blindsides him with an attack from his billy club, which causes moderate damage. The sprite begins to pixelate and shimmer as its programming struggles to compensate for the damage. The panther attacks again, leaping at the ICe who hit him and knocking it to the floor, dealing severe damage but not scoring a kill. Two more ICe arrive and will enter combat next round.
Meanwhile, the motor in Kirk’s hijaked drone whirs to life approximately 3 meters away from the fleeing Fortnight, and she attempts to intercept him. Kirk has literally become the drone, possessing its metal frame as completely as a soul possesses a body. Kirk’s wheels turn sluggishly, but she manages to reach out and shove Fortnight off balance with the tip of the drone’s arm. Fortnight stumbles forward, but manages to stay on his feet as he is spun 180 degrees. As his body turns, Fortnight reveals two light machine gun pistols, each pointed directly at the drone.
Kirk barely succeeded her attempt to intercept Fortnight. He’s off balance for this turn and can not make any more “movement” actions until his next initiative pass.
Donovan partially covers the profile of his body behind a mainframe cabinet and is the first to fire, unleashing two short bursts in the general direction of one of the ork gangers. By sheer coincidence, a bullet hits the ork in the shoulder, causing an impressive spray of blood. Even Donny seems momentarily confused that he managed to hit someone, and he knows its not likely to happen again.
Somehow, Donovan’s “spray and pray” strategy managed to cause 5 physical damage to one of the ork gangers. The ork will suffer penalties for the injury, making him much less effective in combat…
Goethe rushes to the cover of the low dividing wall between the rooms. He’s carrying a poorly made weapon hardly suited to a runner of his caliber, but the weight of it feels good in his hands. He is aware of Donovan opening fire into the room from somewhere behind him and to his right. That’s all the signal Goethe needs to briefly stand and aim the assault rifle at Fortnight’s legs. “Don’t miss, chum,” his subconscious demands of him. “One stray bullet hits a vital organ, and this run’s over before it even really begins.”
The pressure gets the best of Goethe. As he pulls the trigger, Goethe has the sudden horrifying certainty that he has killed Fortnight. He’s too far committed to the shot to release trigger pressure, but years of Running have given him instincts far stronger than his own conscious thoughts. A slight subconscious movement off-centers the rifle, causing Goethe’s burst to miss.
Goethe has taken cover and called a shot in an attempt to injure Fortnight without killing him, but had an unlucky roll and failed his shot by a single die.
Nail, realizing that negotiation is futile now that the bullets have started flying, has decided the hostage is a liability. Nail uses the butt of his pistol to smash into the back of the prisoner’s head, and the man falls to the ground unconscious.
Nail used his turn to disable the hostage.
The drone which Kirk has not hacked becomes animated, and spends its turn using a logic program to separate friend from foe. After quickly scanning the targets, the drone ominously turns toward Goethe, as a single light machine gun emerges from the drone’s compartment casing.
Fortnight unleashes two narrow bursts toward Kirk’s drone with each of the two weapons he is carrying. The hacker is surprisingly nimble, and an alarming volume of lead slams into the drone’s robotic body. The drone is tough, but not invincible, and Kirk can feel what the drone feels as if it were her own body.
As the bullets riddle the drone’s body casing, Kirk’s meatspace body screams involuntarily. She is forcibly dumped back into her flesh self, unconscious and alone. She slumps forward limply, and blood trickles from her mouth.
Kirk has suffered severe stun damage, enough to knock her unconscious, and “overflow” into 1 point of physical damage despite her impressive biofeedback filtering. She will not regain consciousness for several hours, or until the damage is (at least partially) healed. The party is not aware of Kirk’s injuries.
The uninjured orc ganger fires at Goethe in a panic. One of the bullets misses wide, and the second one glances off Goethe’s armored vest, causing a single point of stun damage.
One of the human gangers sees the damage done to his orc comrade, and fires twice at Donovan. Both bullets hit Donny, but deal no damage despite his apparent lack of efficient armor.
The second human Two Weeks Truce gang member also shoots at Goethe. Goethe senses both shots pass by him too close for comfort, but dealing no damage.
The injured ork fires at at Donovan, but unsurprisingly is too shocked and hurt to actually hit anything.
The Two Weeks Truce gang had their targets randomized between the three members of the group currently in combat.
Seneth is finally in range of the building, but Darwin doesn’t stop the vehicle at the front door. The motorcycle carries Seneth behind the main entrance and comes to an abrupt halt. Darwin gestures to a garage door, partially obscured by collapsed rubble around it. Next to the garage door is a rotting wooden backdoor entrance, with a padlock.
Darwin’s unique connection to Kirk allowed him to experience her knowledge of the combat, although he is now operating on his own programming. Through Kirk, Darwin is aware of Fortnight’s intended escape vehicle, and the path he will take to it. This round, Seneth may command his summoned spirit to attack the door in an attempt to break it down. This would use one of the services the spirit owes to Seneth. If the door is broken, Seneth (and his summoned spirit of Fire) may enter the building through the back door next round.
–End of first initiative pass this combat–
The following group members have multiple initiative passes, and can act again this round
-Goethe
-Nail
-Seneth’s Fire Spirit
Some of the enemies may have multiple initiative passes as well! Take caution.
Once the players for these characters issue orders for their second initiative pass, I’ll post the results.
Seneth to his Fire Spirit:
“Spirit of Fire, destroy this door and padlock. Burn it away completely.”
Geothe will once again take aim at Fortnight’s legs and fire a burst into them hoping that he actually strikes true this time.
BTW, I’m really enjoying your combat descriptions.
Me too. All the descriptions have been great, actually.
Yeah, you’re doing awesome.
Nail sheathes his pistol while wrapping his arm around the human hostage’s chin. Pinning him in a classic sleeper hold, “Sweet dreams.” he says, as the human guard slumps unconscious.
“I’m going around out back. Cover me!” Nail shouts to Donovan, but loud enough that Goethe had a good chance of hearing as well. With that said, Nail hightails it out the front door. (Assuming he makes it out the back door in one piece) —> While running he urgently asks Kirk, “Kirk. Which way is the the back door? … Kirk?!”
“Frak,” he mutters under his breath, and uses his intuition to guess a direction and run as fast he can towards the back door.
Goethe takes and holds a small breath, and aims the rifle again while Fortnight pauses for the briefest moment to survey the damage he has done to the drone. Apparently satisfied with the wreckage, Fortnight glances toward the reception area where the group entered, just in time to stare down the barrel of Goethe’s assault rifle as it opens fire.
Fortnight turns to run as bullets fly from Goethe’s weapon. The short burst sends slugs whizzing past Fortnight on either side of him, but a single bullet pierces his right thigh. Fortnight is injured, but still mobile (with moderate movement and action penalties).
Goethe’s short burst does 3 physical damage to Fortnight as he attempts to flee.
Meanwhile, Nail runs back through the front entrance, just in time to see Seneth and Darwin come around the corner on Kirk’s bike, heading to the back of the building.
He runs in a full sprint toward the back door, covering a distance that would seem remarkable to those who know Nail as lazy and laid back.
Nail will spend this (and next) initiative pass covering the distance to the back door. If he finds the door open, he will be able to enter next combat round.
Meanwhile, Seneth has ordered his spirit to break down the back door.
The fire spirit seems to grow human-looking legs as it lands among the rubble. A moment afterward, the wings and torso of the bird morph with a loud snap of energy, into a vaguely human shape. When Seneth issues his command, the spirit hisses a single word back at him.
“One,” the demon says to him, holding up a single finger, which flickers with dark energy. The spirit is clearly counting down the number of services it owes Seneth. Seneth can feel the spirit’s resentment and hatred of him.
With a sudden burst of violence, the spirit dashes through the closed door. The door bursts apart with a shower of splinters and singed wood.
Seneth has used a serviced owed to him by the fire spirit to destroy the door leading to the Zion building garage. Seneth can use his remaining service owed to command the spirit to enter the building and fight, if he chooses. Seneth is aware of the spirit’s resentment of him, and knows that he must carefully issue his commands to the spirit, as it will attempt to undermine Seneth’s intent while still fulfilling the literal meaning of the command.
Meanwhile, Fortnight continues his escape, half-running, half-limping through the doorway and around a corner out of sight of the lobby group.
Fortnight is leaving behind a trail of blood from his leg wound.
Back in congregation room, the second drone has locked on its target, and sends two short bursts of low-caliber rounds flying toward Goethe.
Two bullets from the bursts hit Goethe in the chest. His armored vest protects him from most of the damage, but not all of it. Goethe can feel one of his ribs crack from the concussive force of the impact.
Goethe has suffered 1 physical damage as a result of gunfire from the drone. Any further damage will cause Goethe to begin suffering dice penalties for his actions.
–End of the 2nd initiative pass for this round–
Two characters in the group have another initiative pass this turn.
-Goethe may engage targets in the congregation room, or attempt to hop the wall and chase Fortnight into the back room
-Nail will use his initiative pass to cover the remaining distance to the back door outside.
Once I get Goethe’s orders for this pass, I’ll post the results for the final initiative pass this round. If any players want to describe their character’s actions for next combat round, feel free. Just know that Goethe’s final initiative pass will come first.
As the bullets slam into his chest, Goethe shrugs off the pain of his cracked rib and unloads a narrow full burst (i.e. full round action) into the drone that hit him while saying:
“Here’s some metal to for you to nosh on you fucking junkyard reject!”
Does my damage compensator make up for any of that?
Thanks for the compliments everyone! I’m glad we’re all having fun (except Kirk, who isn’t feeling much of anything right now)
Goethe turns toward the drone and fires a long full-auto burst from the assault rifle. His aim is true, and the hail of bullets tears through the drone’s light armor, shredding its internal components and taking it offline. The machine collapses, and smoke pours from its body casing.
Goethe has destroyed the drone with huge damage from the assault rifle. There is nothing left to salvage from the machine.
Meanwhile, Nail arrives at the back door as Seneth’s enslaved spirit destroys it.
Seneth, Nail, Darwin, and the spirit may enter through the door next combat round.
–End of combat round–
Once I get orders for next combat round from all participating characters, I’ll post the results. I’m hoping to get next round resolved before the end of the day tomorrow, March 1.
Kirk may not take any actions next round. (Sorry Omi no Kami! We’ll get you back soon!)
Right! Good catch. You’ll ignore some of the damage you have suffered when determining your injury penalties.
No problem, directly jumping into a drone in combat was a risky move on her part ^^
Having run with Nail in the past, Goethe knows Nail’s more than capable of intercepting and handling Fortnight, particularly with the leg injury to Fortnight which Goethe so nicely provided for Nail on a leaded platter. So Goethe will stay in the room keeping the other guards busy, hopefully providing enough of a distraction that the other guards won’t decide to follow in Fortnight’s footsteps since they no doubt heard Nail’s announcement if they have any ability to hear. (Goethe thinks to himself that Nail really should invest in a commlink that he can subvocalize into one of these days…) Instead of attacking willy-nilly this round, Goethe will keep an eye on the back door. If any ganger attempts to escape out the door this round, Goethe will fire two normal bursts into him to begin with. Realizing that the only enemy who seemed to even come close to matching Goethe’s talent in combat was a drone now neutralized by Goethe’s prowess, Goethe thinks he should be able to take the ganger out before he can come to the aid of his ally. Otherwise if no guards attempt to escape, Goethe will fire two normal bursts into the ganger already injured by Donovan.
Nail arrives behind the building. Doing his best to appear not winded, he draws himself up tall and quips to Seneth, “Glad you could make it. Who’s the friend?”
If nobody rushes in the door or if there’s a period of awkward silence, Nail will then suggest waiting here and laying a trap for Fortnight. He would look towards the doorframe and say, “Cornered rats bite hard. Let him come to us.” He would then lean on the wall to the outside right of the door frame and light a cigarette.
Following along with Nail, Seneth enters the building through the now destroyed door.
Responding to Nail, “Friend? Hardly. This is one my children, though he would never admit it.” The Fire Spirit squeals when it hears Seneth say this.
“Yep,” Seneth continues, “Oh, a difficult to manage child, but nothing more. And I concur with the child Nail. We should wait for Fortnight and set a trap. I have a special one in mind that should work quite nicely.”
Seneth’s current plan is as follows. If Fortnight shows up in this area, he will command the Fire Spirit to form a wall/circle of fire around Fortnight to hold him in place. His exact words will be as follows, quite carefully selected:
"Spirit of Fire and child of mine, I command you once more. If this Fortnight man appears, I will call out to you ‘that’s him!’ When you hear this, you are to do the following. Create a wall or circle of fire around the indicated man, but do NOT burn him, harm him in anyway, and certainly don’t kill him. Do not let him go and keep him enclosed until I order you to release him. If he attempts to step through the wall of fire…and only if he is foolish enough to attempt an escape, you may slightly burn his skin to cause him to recoil.
Do no mortal damage or you will not be released from me, my child. You and I have a long past and I understand your desire to be free, but if you do not follow my commands exactly, I will not consider this summoning fulfilled.
Oh, and you may not burn any member of my team."
Seneth will make a different course of action if someone other than Fortnight appears.
The spirit considers Seneth’s command, and responds with a ghostly, chilling voice.
“I can not fulfill this service,” the fire spirit says. “Fire starts where I desire, but spreads where it will. However, I can attack this elf without burning him.” The spirit seems eager to complete the final service owed to Seneth.*
*Summoned spirits dislike taking corporeal form, and resent mages who forcefully draw them into reality. Spirits are vulnerable (although exceptionally resilient!) while forced to maintain a form in the real world. The more time a spirit spends indebted to a mage, the more agitated that spirit will become.
Also, keep in mind time is being measured in combat rounds at this moment. Phrases must be quite short in order to fit into the free/simple/complex action mechanics of combat rounds. If you’re worried about the spirit lawyering you, you should know that he will not go “beyond” your orders in any way. He will do the bare minimum to fulfill the task, so he can disappear from this realm. If you happen to word your request carelessly, he will take advantage of your mistake only if it is convenient to do so.
Seneth to the Fire Spirit:
“Fine, then, though color me disappointed. I expected more growth in your powers from the young spirit I knew long ago. However, I still can use you. If Fortnight appears, your job is to attack him in a non-fatal way. We have great need of him and if you can make it so we can take him with us, you are released. Cause no harm to any members of my team.”
If necessay, Seneth explains any relevant details of Fortnight to the spirit.
As much as Donovan has come to find his scavenged assault rifle a lucky weapon, he’ll set it aside for the moment and draw his machine pistol. He’ll fire carefully at whichever of the human gangers has the least cover.