[Taocow PBEM] Book 3 - Chapter XVI - Assault on the Kydians

[Aaron Clausen]

>>>> [GM]
>>>> Ted and his small army of dwarfs manage to hold the Kydians off. Three
>>>> of the dwarfs are hit, one of them fairly badly, much of the armor on
>>>> his side blown off by a lucky shot.
>>>>
>>>> Skarn turns to Ted. "I do not think we can hold off much longer. You
>>>> need to get your cold iron and then we need to retreat."
>>>>
>>>> The prisoners, unarmed, are ducking for cover where they can.
>>>> [/GM]

>>> [Oz]
>>> Oz rolls over and pushes debris off. His filters were more than a match
>>> for any dust in the air, so his voice was steady, if a little fast from
>>> the adrenalin of surviving the crash.  "Ted, get those dwarves inside. 
>>> We need to recover whatever cold iron we can and get the hell out of
>>> here!  Ask the rescuers where we can meet them, somewhere under cover."
>>>
>>> As he helps Ithdalkal up out of the rubble he turns on the speakers in
>>> his helmet.  "Alex, Vesper.  Are you somewhere in this mess, too?"
>>> [/Oz]

>>> [Vesper]
>>> "Were here, a bit banged up but here."
>>> [/Vesper]

>> [GM]
>> One of the dwarfs shouts "Third building down. Code is one zero zero nine
>> five four two!"
>>
>> The slaver barge is getting closer, and two others can now be seen rising
>> from other parts of the town.
>> [/GM]

> [Oz]
> Oz nods at Ithdalkal. "You heard the dwarf. Let's go." He turns and runs
> toward the described building.
> [/Oz]

[Ithdalkal]
The blind warrior woman nods, picks up her gun and dusts it off, and then
quickly races after Oz. She fires a few shots in the direction of the
approaching Kydians, though none hit.
[/Ithdalkal]

> [Alex]
> "Vesper, you can still teleport us out of here?" At the same time, the ex
> Coalition scout fires another shot at the barge if she has a target.
> [Strike: 12, Damage 13MD]
> [/Alex]

[GM]
Alex's shot hits the barge, and while it doesn't do appreciable damage, it
does make the Slaver decide to slow down and take a more evasive flight path.
[/GM]

> [Vesper]
> "I can  I reserved the energy, We should follow the others to all leave at
> once.  You have any smoke grenades ?"
> [/Vesper]

> [Oz]
> "I do. Once we're ready to move I'll lay down some cover. Third building
> down, code 1009542.  Let's go before that barge lands on our heads."
> [Strike: 5, 20 not natural, 12]
> [/Oz]

[GM]
Oz's smoke grenades quickly create a cloud of smoke that ought to do the job
of hampering the enemy.
[/GM]

> [Vesper]
> Vesper nods and prepares to follow the others to the building. If possible
> remaining with Alex keeping hold of the wand as they moved.  "So many, of
> them, At least we helped some of the dwarves,"
> [/Vesper]

> [Ted]
> Ted does his best to keep up with the Dwarves while covering them with his
> rifle [Strike: 8].
> [/Ted]

[GM]
Between Ted's covering fire and Oz's smoke grenades, the company is able to
extricate themselves from the trap. Several of the dwarfs remain behind to
heard the freed prisoners back through the secret tunnel. Six, including
Skarn, offer covering fire as well as they make their way towards the
building.

The building itself is a nondescript one, made of large reddish bricks. It
looks more like an apartment building than the site of one of the dwarfs'
"hoards". The door itself looks to be a rather ordinary wooden door, and
there is no sign of a keypad of any kind. Indeed the door simply opens,
revealing a long hallway with stairs on either side leading up and down, as
well as a series of rooms along the hallway. The other end of the hallway
seems to be a back door.

About half way down the company sees what looks like a Kydian, or perhaps
two Kydians, though they've been blown apart so thoroughly it is hard to
tell, save for the remnants of a face.

Then they hear a whirring sound, and from one of the rooms two small robots
appear.  They look like garbage cans with appendages that include brooms and
mops. Several of their appendages begin gathering up body parts while others
spray some sort of cleaner on the floor and start mopping up the mess.

And then, out of another door, a Kydian, heavily injured, much of his armor
blown off and missing his left arm above the elbow, stumbles out of another
door. He lifts his weapon to fire at one of the robots, when it spins
around, and what looks like a plasma pulse is emitted from one of its
appendages, cutting the Kydian in two.

While this is happening, outside Skarn and his remaining dwarfs are in a
full-fledged firefight with the Kydians and one of the slaver barges.
[/GM]

-- 
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com