[Taocow PBEM] Book 3 - Chapter IV - Who's This Then?

[Aaron Clausen]

> > [GM]
> > Alex, with her magnified psychic abilities, is able to find five people
> > below the water.  Two are struggling and two are unconscious.
> >
> > Louissa, Koba and Owen, on Alex's direction dive below and assister her.
> > They find two of the crew of the boat, the Elf named Arsendel and the
> > navigator Etta.  Both Arsendel and Etta are still unconscious, and Etta
> > is not breathing.
> >
> > Behind them, a few of the crew are still putting up a fight on the
> > sinking ship, firing on the barges.  The approaching Kittani ships,
> > however, quickly dispense with them with a few well-placing missiles
> > that reduce the boat to flaming flotsam.
> >
> > The two remaining barges, on the other hand, continue towards the
> > company, as does several fish men, whose swimming capabilities far
> > exceed most of the company.
> >
> > The loud voice again booms.  "Surrender is your only option.  This is
> > your last chance.  Further resistance will lead to your destruction."
> >
> > The company is rapidly running out of options.  Osiris is the only
> > conscious person capable of piloting the mini-sub, Alex, Louissa, Koba
> > and Owen are burdened with unconscious or disabled people they have
> > rescued, and only Carlos, Ted and Justin are completely free to open
> > fire.  The barges are now no more than eighty feet away, the closest
> > fish men about forty.  It's hard to estimate how far away the Kittani
> > boats are, but they're probably within a thousand feet and closing fast.
> > The nearest land, not visible from the water line, is at least two
> > miles to the north.
> > [/GM]

OOC: I'm going to be running a few rounds here based on attacks the
players have made here, to move things along.

[Round #1]

> [Alex]
> "Maybe you will win, maybe you will lose, but we will take how many more
> of you with us," Alex yells.
>
> She will then target one, switching to the canister, and firing long
> burst at the next platform [Strike: 15].
> [/Alex]

[GM]
Alex's shot hits the nearest barge [Damage: 75MD], though there is no
apparent damage
to the barge itself, the force field having absorbed the shot.
[/GM]

> [Koba]
> Swimming in environmental armor dragging an unconscious person behind
> him is taxing almost all the reserve Koba's small frame can handle. Panting
> as he reaches the sub, Koba appears exhausted. "Help me get him in the
> sub" he shouts to those already on the sub. It takes much of his strength to
> pull himself up and into the hatch.
> [/Koba]

> [Ted]
> The lizard man reaches over the edge of the mini-sub to assist Koba getting
> himself and the unconscious swimmer to safety.
> [/Ted]

[Louissa]
Louissa is equally exhausted, but does her best to hoist her the crew member
she has rescued into the sub.
[/Louissa]

> [Justin]
> Justin will touch his helmet speaker to Osiris' helmet, and use it to ask "If I
> leave you here, will you be alright?"
> [/Justin]

[Osiris]
"I'll manage." Osiris replies.
[/Osiris]

> [Justin]
> Justin pushes Osiris to the nearest hand-hold on the sub, swaps his katana
> to his off-hand, and draw his beam cannon, activating his targeting sensors as
> he does so. Priority targets are any fish men approaching into melee range of
> the sub, or firing at it with distance weapons.
> [/Justin]

[GM]
Justin first shot strikes the nearest fish man [Strike: Natural 20,
Damage: 120MD],
obliterating the creature completely, as well injuring another fish
man beside the
target.
[/GM]

> [Justin]
> Justin activates his radio, and says in Elven "I am no easy target, and my kin will
> avenge my death. I offer you this chance to withdraw. Or I'll be paying
> your master a visit in the future that he will not thank you for, if you are so
> unfortunate as to survive my wrath."
> [/Justin]

[GM]
All Justin gets is an alien, but still recognizable laugh of derision.
[/GM]

> [Owen]
> Owen will endeavor to swim over to the sub, pulling whomever he is carrying to the side.
> "Please help me get them on board", he calls, and attempts to get onto the sub himself.
> Once there, he will locate the closest barge, and put a telekinetic force shield between
> the party and the barge that is not being attacked by the group, trying to limit the
> attacks on the party and allowing the others to focus on one barge.
> [/Owen]

[GM]
Owen's force field flashes up between the company and the further
barge, offering some
protection.  One of the warrior women on that barges fires at the
company, only to discover
the effectiveness of the field [OOC: Remember, close to a nexus, so
multipliers apply
to psionics.]  Still, the field won't hold on that long.
[/GM]

> [Koba]
> "Thanks Ted. Get everyone inside we can. We need to dive. " with that Koba will head
> to the controls. Taking a second to wipe the sea water off his visor, he will assume a
> seat at the pilot's controls.  Getting a bearing from the sensors, he will set a course
> away from the underwater rift at about 50 feet below he surface. Heading away from
> the wreckage of their former ship as it sinks nearby.
> [/Koba]

[GM]
Perhaps it's the exhaustion or the stress, but Koba finds commanding
the mini-sub fairly
difficult.  Still he manages to command the navigational computers and
engine to fire up
and follow the course he's set.
[/GM]

[Carlos]
Once Carlos has secured his own rescuee, he opens fire on the nearest
barge [Strike: 5].
Unfortunately the shot goes wide of the target.  Carlos curses and
pulls out the emptied
e-clip and puts another one in.
[/Carlos]

[Round #2]

[Alex]
Alex fires another long burst at the platform [Strike: 6].  The shot
just barely strikes the
barge's force field [Damage: 55MD total], but is enough to wipe out
the force field
[Damage: 25MD], and damage the barge [Damage: 30MD].
[/Alex]

[Louissa]
Louissa, in turn, targets the barge and empties a long burst into it
[Strike: 15],
striking the barge near one of the warrior women [Damage: 65MD],
heavily damaging
that area of the barge and plunging the woman into the sea.
[/Louissa]

[Justin]
Justin's next shot takes out another fish man [Strike: 26, Damage: 50MD].
[/Justin]

[Owen]
Owen reinforces his telekinetic shield on the other barge.  Which
again attempts to
fire, but cannot pierce the field [Damage: 40MD].
[/Owen]

[GM]
The barge is now over top of the diving sub.  Despite the damage, the three
remaining warrior women cast the net down.  The net itself has been damaged
in the weapons fire, but still shines with its strange energy [Strike: 16].
[/GM]

[Koba]
Koba manages to command the onboard computer to begin the dive sequence
[Skill Check: 15%].
[/Koba]


[Ted]
Ted attempts to fire on the nearest barge as well [Strike: 4], but misses.
[/Ted]

[GM]
The net brushes along the submerging sub, almost half-alive, seeking out like
clutching fingers.  Koba is protected inside the sub, and Owen, Justin, Carlos,
Alex and Ted manage to get out of its way.

Osiris [Dodge: 5] and Louissa [Dodge: 14] are not so lucky.  As soon as the net
touches them, they go limp and the net closes around them and the warrior
women immediately lift the net up.  They're faces are impassive, but the Slaver
is laughing horribly.

The sub is now almost totally submerged, and while the Kittani boats
are now close by,
the sub itself may be safe from the Slaver's net.  Of the company,
only Koba, along with
those that were saved, is inside the sub.  The hatch will soon have to
be closed, or
Koba will have to cancel the dive.
[/GM]

-
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com