[Taocow PBEM] Book 3 - Chapter XVII

Aaron Clausen mightymartianca at gmail.com
Thu Dec 10 00:27:43 UTC 2015


>> [GM]
>> The scouts salute and immediately head for the hoverbikes, which
>> streak away from the ship, heading eastward to find a route that goes
>> around the city.
>>
>> Meanwhile, the Malig army comes closer and begins launching some sort
>> of mortar rounds. One of them goes off not twenty feet from Alex,
>> killing three people and knocking several others to the ground. While
>> Alex has been in this situation before, these poor people, so long
>> enslaved to the Maligs, know nothing other than to panic and begin
>> running in different directions.
>>
>> From the ship weapons start blazing as Jacek's men, and the dwarf
>> company, along with the ship's crew open fire. The leading Malig
>> vehicles explode into bits of metal, plastic and flesh at the
>> onslaught, and from what Alex can tell from her position, the rest of
>> this Malig assault force, quickly stop and reverse, splitting up to
>> avoid being struck again. From the pyramid and the ship, it's clear
>> that the ship's attack took out a good third of the Malig force, but
>> that still leaves several vehicles, including what appear to be at
>> least one rather old but potentially still deadly missile launcher.
>>
>> Ted, Vesper and Alter-Ted have managed to get everyone on board, save
>> for the raped woman who lays on the ground.
>>
>> The ship may have bought Alex some time with its destruction of
>> several Malig vehicles, but the people are panicked and running
>> around, screaming and crying.
>>
>> For Oz, if Alex and the civilians are to be rescued, it means having
>> to drop altitude and get a lot closer to the remaining Malig
>> armaments.
>> [/GM]

> [Ted]
> Ted will attempt to rescue the last woman.
> [/Ted]

[GM]
Ted hoists the woman up and makes for the ladder.
[/GM]

> [Oz]
> Oz orders the captain to pull away from the pyramid. "Leave that last
> woman! She's not boarding this ship with whatever extra-dimensional
> monster may be in her belly!" He orders everyone not involved in
> actively piloting the ship to the rails to defend against the malig
> forces.
> [/Oz]

[GM]
The Maligs on the pyramid, who were not that great in number to begin
with, are in disarray, and almost all have fled the pyramid. A couple
of Jacek's sharpshooters easily dispatch the remaining Maligs.
[/GM]

> [Vesper]
> "We aren't going anywhere without Alex  !" Vesper said to Oz.
>
> "I think that woman should be checked both medically and if
> possible psychically. That thing past the rift may create Malig's or
> worse that way."
>
> Vesper was busy helping get the others onboard and looked over
> the side for where Alex was. He cast energy field above the escaping
> people to help shield Alex and the ones by her. 60 MDC.
> [/Vesper]

> [Oz]
> Oz nods at Vesper. "That's a good idea, but they're both already out.
> I'll have one of the scouts loop back and pick her up." Oz orders the
> hoverbikes to return to the pyramid, one with orders to pick up Alex
> and the other with orders to cover its companion. He gets on the radio
> to Alex. "I'm sending a hoverbike to get you, but we're leaving! I'm
> not getting this ship shot down!"
> [/Oz]

[GM]
Captain Neeson salutes, and then immediately orders the navigator "You
heard the Commander. Get the last women aboard, and don't let that
last one aboard."

As Ted moves to the ladder, one of the ship's crew shouts, "No can do,
sir! We're under orders not to let that woman on!"
[/GM]

[Alter-Ted]
Alter-Ted looks to Ted. "I'll take the woman, and run down the
pyramid. Try to change the commander's mind. Whatever happened to this
woman is not her fault."
[/Alter-Ted]

OOC: I'm going to have to skip ahead to see whether Ted gives the
woman over to his alternate universe twin, or tries to go up the
ladder with her.

> [Oz]
> The knight commander turns back to the captain. "We're done here!
> Captain, get us out of this damned city! Ithdalkal, Terrible Trio,
> with me, watch my back." He retrieves his sniper rifle and goes aft
> himself to try to locate and knock out the mortar, his trio of
> assistants and Ithdalkal following along.
> [/Oz]

[GM]
As the ship moves back down the pyramid, Oz and his companions have
several excellent shots at the mortar, and more importantly at the
Maligs operating it. His first shot [Strike: 18], and blows his head
off [60SDC]. Ithdalkal takes a shot as well, blowing out the wheels of
the vehicle the mortar cannon is on.

The ship finally swoops down to pick up Alex.
[/GM]

> [Alex]
> Yelling out, "Get aboard quickly or the ship will leave you."
>
> "Keep them boarding. Can you have a sky cycle pick me up?" Alex
> radios to the others. Otherwise, she will try to move away from the
> others, hoping she does not have to foot her way back to base.
>
> If she can move away from the others,  she will see if there are any
> of these creatures with their heads popped out of their vehicles and
> try to make shots at them. At the same time, she mumbles to
> herself, "I hate mortars."
> [/Alex]

[GM]
Alex sees the shots from the ship take out the gunner and disable the
vehicle. She finishes the job with [Strike: 16, Damage: 40MD] by
melting the gun to slag.
[/GM]

> [Vesper]
> "Oz do we have any hover bikes, I had one a while back and I
> know how to pilot them.  Even if you start to go I should be able
> to pick up Alex and catch up. After all this we are not leaving
> someone else behind.  Also you better check that woman in
> case she is carrying some Malig creature in her now because
> of that horrible thing in the rift."
> [/Vesper]

> [Alex]
> Alex ignores that whole thing because she is concerned with offering
> a distraction to the vehicles.
>
> She will only fire once (either a grenade or three round burst)  and
> immediate change position as to make herself a harder target to lock
> onto.
> [/Alex]

[GM]
Alex throws a grenade at the next vehicle [Strike: Natural 20!,
Damage: 8MD]. While the vehicle is only lightly damaged, the grenade
tips it over.

Meanwhile the survivors are hoisting themselves up the ladder. On the
ship, a number of crewmembers look rather distressed, and Oz gets a
hurried radio message, "Sir, we have maybe 30 or 40 civilians all
trying to get up the ladder. Should we let them aboard?"

As Oz is hearing this, a rocket streaks towards the civilians, but
fortunately Vesper's protective shield is sufficient that the rocket
explodes harmlessly. Still, that can only last so long, and the
vehicles approach.

The Sergeant comes over the radio, "Sir, the Captain says we have
enough in the batteries right now for a good thirty second's of full
fire. Should we proceed?"

As this is going on, a Hoverbike appears and the pilot lands near
Alex's position. "We need to go now!" the pilot shouts at Alex.
[/GM]

-- 
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com

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