“The Krieger Corp is the life for me,A gun, bed and funeral for free.That’s my lot in the Black Company.”It took the Earth 10 long years to die. Like every planet afflicted by the pervasive sentient plague that swept the galaxy at the turn of the 23rd century, aptly named The Rot, Earth’s demise was slow and agonising at first then violent and sudden by the end. The seas boiled and the air turned to ash in the wake of the continent-shattering orbital bombardments that cleansed her and a hundred other worlds.20 years later, the dust of the Purification Wars has settled and the surviving xenos empires have finished carving up the remaining colonies of those less fortunate races between them, including those few left from Earth’s initial phase of expansion. Just rewards for the victorious alien’s part in saving the galaxy. The surviving human population, once many billions, now numbers in the mere millions. An entire race of refugees, vagrants and backwater outcasts begging, stealing and labouring as second-class citizens, servants or slaves under uncaring alien masters.A lifetime of backbreaking work for stale recycled oxygen units and a handful of credits is the best fate most humans can hope for. Little wonder then that the violent but lucrative life of a mercenary holds such appeal. As the novelty of peace wears off and the rival alien nations rattle their sabres once more, human mercenaries are in high demand for their crude effectiveness and affordable prices.And of all the human mercenary firms, there are none so infamous and so highly sought after as the services of the Black Company…=============================================Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackCompany666/qst/ Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=2230AD2230AD Annal Entries: https://pastebin.com/zBic3fPQ [Updated!]Recorded Xenos Species: https://pastebin.com/vdG01RzGThe Last Human Colonies: https://pastebin.com/VA3nHbTmAdvanced Firefight Rules: https://pastebin.com/NATmyFSw
THE STORY THUS FARYou are Sergeant ‘Snake Eyes’ Natalya of the Black Company, and you are a survivor. From the tender age of too-young-to-really-remember you have fought, clawed and killed your way to the top of a very nasty food chain on the hostile jungle moon of Clayton’s Cradle. Lucky enough to escape the dying gasps of Earth, but like many others unlucky enough to find themselves stranded on the moon that is the deadly jungle world called Clayton’s Cradle, your family lasted only a few scant months before leaving you all alone in the merciless Green.Clayton’s Cradle gives no second chances to the unwary and no leeway to the hesitant. Be it deadly predators large or small, plantlife toxic or carnivorous, diseases wasting or virulent, its small population are each hardened through experience and boosted with vital genemods stretching the limit of what a biological human can achieve, or indeed what constitutes a biological human.Joining the Black Company was a way off that deadly rock, a well paying one that at least saw Snake Eyes serving alongside fellow humans instead of being drafted into the alien armies of the Savis Legions and their Cradler Auxiliaries. Achieving the rank of Sergeant in the 77th Krieger Platoon wasn’t easy, it took some gusty moves and daring choices on your part to make it. That and supressing a crippling gambling addiction long enough to afford the basic gear. Now you’ve wound up as the primary babysitter, feared leader and beloved chef (beloved, yes!) of one of the most lethally eclectic band of misfits the universe has ever seen. Ex-gang members,ex-human Republic army regulars/deserters, ex-Alien Fed enforcers, ex-bartender/part-time-model, ex-miners, ex-slaves, ex-pirates, current convicts, current killer-bots animated by highly illegal AI, current alien musical cabbages good with surgery tools. If you name it, then it’s probably in your squad, or at least in the wider platoon, and even-odds that whatever it is also has an outstanding warrant out for its arrest somewhere in the galaxy. And all of them, every man and woman and genderless being among them, each are dumb enough to gamble on getting shot out of a ship in high orbit into a hostile warzone and surviving long enough to collect their paycheque.They’re your pack. Your new family in this fragged up world where violence is one of the few respectable professions left to a human. And right now, they’re not making it very easy for you to keep them alive.[1/2 Recap]
[2/2 Recap]Eight months. Eight long, blood-stained months of constant guerilla warfare in the equatorial jungles of Dis. The rag-tag band of escaped slaves, trained and equipped by the unusually effective ‘pirates’ from off-world, has by now transformed into a formidable force capable of giving the Savis Legion more than one bloody nose before its inevitable defeat. And the defeat of the rebels is inevitable. The Savis loom over them with a powerful capital-class ship in orbit, two or even three titans thundering planetside, and enough Legionaries to conquer a Federation core world. A significant portion of the Royal Savis Empire has mobilized to suppress this rebellion, which was the plan all along, and a bunch of slaves working with hand-me-down firearms and a dream aren’t walking away from this. Which is exactly why the Black Company officer cadres are executing their exit plan. There’s also one more, vastly more urgent problem. The Savis Empire has experts in Jungle warfare of their own, recruited from Snake Eyes very own homeworld of Clayton’s Cradle to flesh out the Legion’s growing human auxiliaries from the scant colonies picked off the rotting corpse of the form Earth Republics. They’ve already killed one member of the Vinehound squad, Trooper Husk, and it’s looking unlikely that they’ll stop there.Matched with an equally deadly predator in familiar surrounds, Snake Eyes finds herself returning to her primal roots. Only one pack is walking firefight in the dark intact, and Sergeant ‘Snake Eyes’ Natalya does plan on carrying anymore of her comrades camcords to add to the Archive when this is all over, even if she gets herself killed protecting them in the process.An outcome that is looking far more likely with every new bullet wound.=================================================
>>6420859*Only one pack is walking away from this firefight in the dark intactGreat start genius. You had all week to draft this.
>>6420860It should also read:>Sergeant ‘Snake Eyes’ Natalya doesn't plan on carrying anymore of her comrades camcords to add to the ArchiveUnless of course you're implying we want our squadmates dead.
+++XENO QUOTE OF THE DAY+++>SELECTED BELCOSSAN“While the cultural significance of the music and works of art in this new generation of Belcossans is fascinating to the Quexi philosophers, my colleagues from Coryx are more interested in the very real biological effect that the massive losses in Belcossan population seem to have resulted in the remaining population.It is unclear whether this ‘Thorn’ sub-population is indeed a separate breed, or an existing self-defence mechanism attempting to react to the shared trauma. The changes the physiology are observable, with darker coloured hues to their extremities, hardening of the surface areas, and, if the latest survery estimates on the steadily are accurate, likely infertile. Even a modest estimate of 15 to 25,000 of these ‘Thorn’ specimens present in the general population already shows a sizeable fraction of the already dwindling population.The board formally moves for additional funding for the dissection of suitable expired subjects, and that it be reviewed by the sub-committee with a Class-Beta priority due to the risk of expiry in the proposed subject population at large.”- Felic-Xenodemographics-Doctorate, lead researcher of the Coryx-Quexi Outreach Institute28th Cycle February 2231AD (three months ago) – Calypso Waystation – Former Earth Republics Space[/b] “Sergeant. Corporal. A pleasure doing business with you.” Cai Yichen’s grin was reflected in his gaudy gold-plated glasses. “As always.”Thorn didn't have the greatest eye for human fashion, but in his estimation the gangleader’s white suit was only the second most offensive thing about his outfit, it took all kinds of arrogant to smoke cigars on a space station of all places. Not that Thorn-of-Ebony cared, not while keeping his eye on the submachine gun strapped across the chest of Cai’s henchman. Thorn-of-Ebony kept his tendril on the pistol, even after Cai’s man had stepped back from the cargo hauler holding their end of the trade.“It’s all there.” Thorn’s tendril eased slightly at the sound of his partner’s grudging acknowledgement. It didn’t escape him that Cortez hadn’t corrected the Cai’s remark on their ranks. It was just Cortez these days, and just Thorn. They hadn’t been ranking members of the Three Pines Planetary Reserve for a long while now. And if one was honest, they’d stopped being soldiers even before that, long before they had finally ditched their ragged uniforms.“Glad to hear you so pleased with the merchandise. Anything we can do to help out the Republic Resurgent.” Another puff of smoke. “That is what your outfit is calling yourself these days, right?”[1/3]
>>6420862I deserve this.
Cortez didn’t rise to the bait, and Thorn didn’t blame him. Cai’s grin was only slightly ruined by the knife scar trickling out from one side of his jaw, the proud markings of the Asiatic numbers in a triangle displayed openly on his chest. So what if this human gang member knew they were deserters? All the same, Thorn felt that sickly, corrosive sap pulse down to his very heartwood. The kind that left him in a cold rage that could last for days if he didn’t watch it.That burning sap didn’t leak away, even as the back-and-forth mutterings concluded and the gang members departed for the main station hall. “That Cai fucker give me the creeps.” Cortez spat. “But it’s not worth crossing them. They were well dug here on Calypso Station even before… well, you know.”Thorn-of-Ebony was quiet, still struggling with the burning sap. More and more it was like this, but it was all he had to get through the cycle. Ever since he had started calling himself ‘he’. The deep sorrow of the slow twilight of his species welled up like a floodwater breaking over the embankment, as it did in the Saga of the Sundered Root. He tried, and failed, to capture a shred of his agony in one of the Great Belcossan Epic’s more obscure passages.“Mrrrrmm Akht.Brrrrmm Akht.”“Thorn…” Cortez turned an eye, his good eye, at his old war comrade. He’d stopped telling his Belcossan partner that he didn’t understand a word of these old Belcy tunes… but honestly that wasn’t true. The rage, the frustration, the spite… He got the gist. Voidmother knows it was a familiar enough feeling.“Come on. Let’s pack this up and get going.” Cortez looked at the cargo hauler forlornly. There’s wasn’t really a reason to rush, even with a crate of illegal firearms just sitting around this was one of the areas on Calypso that station enforcers didn’t patrol by agreement. Still, Cortez looked uneasy. “Stims for guns. Guns for creds. Creds for more stims. You wanna know why that Triad motherfucker pisses me off?”Thorn remained silent, he knew there was little point reverting to a tune telling Cortez to shut up.“It’s ‘cos I can’t tell the fucking difference between his kind and ours anymore.” Thorn nodded, a rather human expression he had picked up, even if he didn’t like all to many of their songs. It mattered little, given how worked up Cortez was at this point. “You’ve got slaves taking on the Savis empire with fucking pickaxes while our bosses play at smugglers. Even those voiddamn Black Company mercs have done more for our home than our people…”In his phloem Thorn-of-Ebony knew that Three Pines was dying. That the “Republic Resurgent”s claims of plans to reclaim the planet as sovereign Earth Republics territory was not only doomed, but probably futile even if they did win. But at least the humans were doing something. [2/3]
[3/3]Finding the human song that in the moment most closely resonated with the burning sap, bubbling and simmering in his core, Thorn placed a bristly tendril on Cortez’s shoulder.“ The road is dark, the way is lost, my eyes they strain to see I struggle forth to find a friend to light the way for me”Cortez blinked at the forefront of Thorn’s blackened foliage. “You mean… yeah maybe … ditch this Resurgent dreamer shit and strike out? Scud, even a mercs life right now looks better working for just another gang these days.”Thorn’s people had seemingly consigned themselves to a gradual, solemn everautumn into extinction… Some like his pod-sibling Thistle still tried, but even if Thistle saved everyone they could, they’d only be saving them to die another day on that dying world. But somewhere… somewhere out there. Maybe there was a place where Thorn’s kind could live, even regrow, on a world where the sky was theirs and their roots could grow deep. And if not for his people, of whom many if not most had seemed to have given up, then maybe at least for his human friend if nothing else.“Oh brothers can you hear my voice? Or am I all alone? If there’s no fire to guide my way, then I will start my own”Thorn didn’t believe it. But Thorn had decided long ago, when the burning sap started, that he would rather die fighting for something than wither away like his brethren. Until they found that something, fighting for mercs was the next best thing.“Oh by God we’ll have our home again, by God we’ll have our homeBy blood or sweat, we’ll get there yet, by God we’ll have our home”======================================Xeno Quote of the Day (select one for the next thread)For any newbies, this is also your verification vote. Link back in later votes if your ID changes, it does help me account for samefags.>Asandi>Auxl>Belcossan>Chorkrum>Coryx>Drax>Faenwedhe>Kroll>Pect’Max>Quexi>Savis>Yibrak>Vesh> League of Dis - Rebels
>>6420873>>YibrakI am so ready
>>6420873> League of Dis - RebelsLETS GO, ITS TIME TO WIN BIG OR DIE!
Well I must apologise for the sheer number of typos in this opening, I struggled to crack this out before bed tonight. I'll endevour to probably word check with my updates recommencin on the Wednesday/Sunday schedule, around approximately 10pm AEST on those days steadily going forward.
>>6420879*PROPERLYFuck.
>>6420869>KrollIt's good to be back. Hopefully we'll live to see BCQ thread #12
>>6420873>Pect’MaxMan Belcossan's don't deserve this shit, they should get H-Pass, y'know one dying species to another.Anyway hope shits okay chief since you left off on sudden notice and all.
>>6420873>QuexiHad to complete a Captcha gauntlet to post, holy shit.
>>6420873>SavisAssuming _this_ is the thread where we pull off the impossible with the titan, it'd be funny to see their POV next thread.
>>6420873>KrollGood to see you back at it Forgotten.Now its time to start paddling our way out of Shit Creek, with our bare hands if we have to.
>>6420873>Pect’MaxStV is next right?
>>6420873>>CoryxWelcome back
>>6420873>VeshLet's here about them!
>>6420873>SavisPoastin for the bringing the WRATH of CAIN to these godless slavers Whoops, wrong quest.
>>6420873>KrollKroll
>>6420873>YibrakI wanna see what the bugs are getting up to while the other two of the Big Three are fighting. Also, welcome back Forgotten!
>>6420873>SavisBeep boop
>>6420873>KrollLets hear it from the genocidal freaks. Also, welcome back Forgotten.
>>6420873>Kroll
>>6420873>>Krollfreakazoids
>>6420873>SavisHere we go again.
>>6420873Yes, made it to the sing in.Here we go boys, narthing but good rolls baby.Wtf even is this captcha!?>Chorkrum
>>6420873>KrollLets fucken go
>>6420873>>KrollHope you're doing well, forgotten.
>>6420873>ChorkrumLesgo.
>>6420873No strong preferences, just signing up
>>6420873>ChorkrumThese guys are so far away, we'll find out about them someday.
>>6420873>>ChorkrumHell yea, lets fucking go.
>>6420873Fuck, I forgot, thank god we haven't got too far into things yet. Anchor post
>>6420873>>Faenwedhe
>>6420873>Chorkrum
>>6420873>ChorkrumProbably gonna lurk, maybe roll dice even.
>>6420873>>ChorkrumTime to rock and roll
>SELECTED: KROLL3rd Cycle June 2231AD (today) – Dis Equatorial Region – Imperial Savis Space>DISADVANTAGE will remain in place for this firefight roundThrough a combination of sheer dumb luck on the part of your squaddies and some cold hard stones from yourself on the tailend of the Cradler Auxiliaries position, your people have managed to turn the flank of the enemy even though they read your attack like it was scripted for them on a datapad.But it has cost your Vinehounds dearly. Your Signaller ‘Night Night’ Deschamps is hit, you don’t know how bad but you hear her screams and multilingual curses over the shortwave as TPR Terri applies what sounds like some rather brutal first-aid with all of her typical bedside manner.One of the alien rebel fighters is down as well, but who gives a flying scud? You’re stuck here, under heavy fire of what sounds like the bulk of the remaining Auxiliaries, watching your best friend bleed out in front of you.“CRANE!!!” You scream into your trust Second’s face, tearing your ghosthelms away and clear away the blood bubbling from his mouth. Your feral flight-or-flight hunter psyche wrestles with a terrified-and-all-alone girl in the chasm of your rising panic as he slips into a deeper unconsciousness. “CRANE!! Fuck Fuck Fuck! Where the hell is my voiddamn MEDIC!!!”You lost count of how many times you’ve called for help, how many times you’ve cried out your friend’s name to try and keep him awake. It could have been twice or thrice, it could have been a dozen or a score. And still you are alone, no answer from CPL Crane and no arrival of MDC Petal. They are just a stone’s throw away from you in the dark jungle lit by flame and gunfire. But you can't blame the Belcossan, even though that might ordinarily come naturally to you. The Cradlers have established a firelane directly between you and the nearest friendly position, even without the ghosthelm you can see with your enhanced genemod eyes as TPR Bones and TPR Goldie literally pinning the squirming xeno medic down as the dumb cabbaged tries to leopard crawl out of the scant cover of the makeshift foxhole to you and Crane. It’s futile, and the frustration is enough to make Petal lose his usual human lyrical song choices for a dismayed alien-sounding chord. The cabbage has got heart, you’ll give it that, but the species never was a particularly warlike one and creatures that can literally set down roots don’t tend to be quick movers whether or not they came with sentience as part of the overall package. ++“O’Kas! Werkal and Night Night to the rear -now-, the rest of you move up! We need that gully cut off.”++ Alexander Hail’s voice snaps over the shortwave, pressing the advantage on the other flank less than a hundred metres away but what right may as well be on the other side of the planet. ++“Jake, Li, stay on that gully! Kerasch that Imp is dead, move on!”++[1/4]
Given another minute you could expect the sister squads of the 77th Krieger Platoon to reinforce you and push the enemy back, and perhaps even less time to coordinate with Hail and your own squaddies to pin the enemy position long enough give you a window to drag Crane across the firelane. But Crane doesn’t have that kind of time. You can feel him fading and the vitals on the squad HUD are already beginning to write him off.Your slitted eyes narrow in the dark. A half-second passes as you take it all in. The flames of the burning wreckage of the Hunter-Killer drone behind you. The splinters kicked up from the Auxiliaries’ rounds impacting the trunk in front. The crumple of an explosion as someone, somewhere, sets off a grenade or something similar. The safe bet would be to wait it out. The smart bet. Stay alive, finish the fight… and grieve later. Crane would most likely slap the back of your head for considering anything else.Another half-second crawls by as you remember all the times you regret not taking the safe bet, and what’s a stake with this roll of the dice. Crane’s attempt to suppress an eyeroll at your dumb joke about the updated duty roster. Crane’s solemn quips about your cooking during a serving of your Cradler special. Crane holding your hand steady after waking in a teary sweat from the latest nightmare. The safe bet? Like Hell.[2/4]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gec7OUrj87M&list=RDGec7OUrj87M&start_radio=1 Battle BrotherYour mouth is contorted in a voiceless snarl as you carry your best friend over your shoulder in a ranger roll, bounding across the thin hallway of massacred open jungle floor, refusing to look anywhere but forward in the time that seems to last both as long as a flash clarity and as short as an echo of madness. Your left arm slackens suddenly, nearly dropping from Crane’s inner thigh and rolling him off your shoulder. Weird, you’ve never had any sort of trouble carrying even twice this kind of weight. Especially not over a short distance, but you mentally shrug off the sudden dead arm as you press on praying to the Voidmother, Saint Andy, the Captain and whatever other appropriate deity-level authority springs to mind in the seconds it takes to leap across the sights of the ravenous rifle muzzles pointed your way from uprange. You’ve never been a religious kind of gal, any kind of religion, but you’re halfway to considering taking vows as thanks for every bullet that miraculously misses until your well of miracles abruptly runs dry. Weird again, that you can swear you heard the whiz of that specific bullet before you felt it.And you most certainly feel it. You feel it go in, and you feel it go out. A sizzling whack of hot-iron below the lowest right rib, a wet tear of flesh above the right hip. You feel like someone tied a cord around your waist and hooked it to a passing Wingshark fighter, yanking you forward that your stumble becomes a fall than was at least well timed enough to send you and Crane both sprawling on the right side of the cover that your fellow squaddies were huddled behind under the withering hail of enemy fire. >Corporal ‘Crane’ Shizuka is Critical!>Sergeant ‘Snake Eyes’ Natalya is Wounded!>Suffer Serious Wound (Gunshot - Abdomen) -5DC to all personal rolls.>Suffer Minor Wound (Gunshot – Bicep) -5DC to all personal rolls for the remainder of the firefight.[3/4]
[4/4]You don’t take it personal when your alien medic Petal ungently rips you off the unmoving body of Crane, it’s free tendrils clutching a questionably legal and undoubtedly lifesaving cocktail of stims, cutting tools and gauze. “Is he breathing? For fuck’s sake please just tell me he’s breathing.”You crawl to the side as much as you can without sticking your head above the branch and let the Belcossan do their thing, “Ahh voidmother’s tits, damn it.”Wincing in pain you clutch your abdomen with a deadened right arm and them wincing again as you spot the see-through hole square in the middle of your right bicep. By Clayton’s Cruel -Cunt- that hurts.While Petal works in a frantic blur of tendrils and alternating human limericks, the other two squaddies in this poor excuse of a foxhole stare at you in amazement.“Just how in the heck aren’t you swiss-frikkin-cheese, boss?” You can tell Goldie is grinning at you under that ghosthelm of his, and you bet his hairdo doesn’t have one hair out of place either. You lift your bleeding arm up long enough to show your squaddies the middle finger still attached at the end just as your shortwave chirps.“Jesus, Mary and Joseph…” Bones at least sounds more concerned, if a little bossy in how he voices it. “Sit down your ass down sarge, Goldie get your field kit!”++“Vinehound Vinehound, this is Centurion. Banshee is forming up.”++ LT ‘Boy’ Blue’s calm voice is jarring in the world of noise and pain you currently find yourself in.++“Vinehound is to press current aggressive posture and prevent hostile exfil, acknowledge.”++==================> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]> “Vinehound here… Wilco. Vinehound-Alpha to Vinehound-Lambda, Alpha is advancing on a two bearing. Press on with second section, on my mark.” You won’t lie. Sometimes you fucking hate this job. But it is what it is, and every second you don't press the advantage is a second the enemy risks slipping away. You only need one hand to fire a pistol anyway. [Firebrand]>”Vinehound to Centurion. Negative on tac grounds. Have taken casualties, including Vinehound-Beta. Banshee reinforcement required before complying and deny hostile exfil.” You nearly got Crane killed pushing too far when you thought you had the Cradlers on the run before. You won’t be sucked in like that again. [Xenophobe]
>>6420873>ChorkrumI’ll throw an ID post up - bit late I know. Will vote, but feel free to discount. Glad our boy made it though!>>6422560> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]Press the advantage, worry about our body later
>>6420873>BelcossanIt is I
>>6422560>“Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]>>6422096Me
>>6422560>“Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]We didn't carry Crane through hell just to send the rest of the squad out there to die. We're going back in.>>6421156Mine.
>>6422560> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]Death still on the table, we haven't even gotten to the big bot yet.verification >>6420895
>>6422560>>6421486> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]We have to get back out there.
>>6422560Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil>>6421390My sing inTime pop them stims
>>6422560>> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]We gotta finish this fight!>>6420971Me!
>>6422560>> “Vinehound here… Wilco. Vinehound-Alpha to Vinehound-Lambda, Alpha is advancing on a two bearing. Press on with second section, on my mark.” You won’t lie. Sometimes you fucking hate this job. But it is what it is, and every second you don't press the advantage is a second the enemy risks slipping away. You only need one hand to fire a pistol anyway. [Firebrand]>>6421228me
>>6422560> “Vinehound here… Wilco. Vinehound-Alpha to Vinehound-Lambda, Alpha is advancing on a two bearing. Press on with second section, on my mark.” You won’t lie. Sometimes you fucking hate this job. But it is what it is, and every second you don't press the advantage is a second the enemy risks slipping away. You only need one hand to fire a pistol anyway. [Firebrand]We win or we die. That's the play, don't let the advantage slip away after all this>>6421952Me
>>6422560> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]>>6421031
>>6422560> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]me>>6420922
>>6422560>>6420869A bit late to verify by a day or two, but I hope this will allow me to vote later. Reporting in.
>>6422560> “Vinehound here… Wilco. Vinehound-Alpha to Vinehound-Lambda, Alpha is advancing on a two bearing. Press on with second section, on my mark.” You won’t lie. Sometimes you fucking hate this job. But it is what it is, and every second you don't press the advantage is a second the enemy risks slipping away. You only need one hand to fire a pistol anyway. [Firebrand]Got to do what you got to do.>>6420878this is me
>>6422560>> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]>>6420950C'est moi
>>6422560> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]>>6421310
>>6422560> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]HOO-RAH, that's how it's done, motherfraggers.>>6421121Me
>>6422560>Crane is criticalForgotten you pussy! oh man am I glad you did it though> “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil]>>6420891
> SELECTED: “Vinehound here. Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.” Your hand is pressed against the wound on your side, and boy does it feel like a doozy. You’re going to let your squaddies give you the old Krieger Nurse Kiss, meaning more combat drugs than actual bandages, before getting back into the fight. [Daredevil] >HALVED Wounded penalty (3 Rounds) rounds.>+2 AV Re-Rolls (3 Rounds)“Vinehound here.” You grit your teeth as you dial into the shortwave. “Give me one -fucking- minute. Sir.”The LT isn’t big on profanity on the comms, but Company regs allow for some leeway for those in the middle of the scud using colourful language in the stress of combat. You know your way around the regs enough so that you don’t expect to be chewed out afterwards. Hopefully. To be honest the LT’s professional standards aren’t exactly right at the top of your going concerns this very moment. But even if he looks like a fresh-faced officer cadet the man has a keen eye for the pulse of the tactical heartbeat, he’s right on the money when it comes to the importance of pressing your Cradler Auxiliary pursuers now before they can slip away run to their Imp masters for backup.So you tell Goldie not to hold back on the cocktail of ‘slaught stims while snarling at an unbothered Bones applying copious amounts of gauze to the holes in your leaky boat of a body. Your squaddies are knuckle-dragging Kriegers just like you, not doctors, and you find yourself almost yearning for the tender ministrations of your actual squad medic, alien or not. The pain as Bones tightens the band over your wounded arm is overwhelming enough that you black out for a second, drifting into a deep blanket of wooziness that is ripped away the second the ‘slaught stims hits your system. “Holy -shit-!” You yelp, your narrow irises expanding and your entire body jolting as the drugs kick in and your heart starts jackhammering against your chest. Nasty scud, but very effective. Right now you feel like you could benchpress a starfighter. “Woo… all aboard the grav-train, baby!”“Enjoy it while it lasts, sarge!” Bones presses you down by the shoulder, for a moment you were about to punch him for the trouble but then you remembered the half-dozen Cradlers still pouring fire into your piddly foxhole here. “You got five minutes tops before the crash comes, then you better hope someone is around to carry your brawny ass out of the scud.”“Do not use recreationally. Side effects may include nausea, delirium, psychopathy, mutation, D.E.S. and sudden suicidal tendencies.” You glance over at Goldie squinting at the very small fineprint on the side of the now-empty stim injector that comes with every Krieger field kit. He chucks it over his shoulder, where it lands beside the other empty stim from Bones’ kit. “...I don’t remember any of that being mentioned in Basic.”[⅓]
“Probably because you were trying to get a leg over that drill instructor.” Bones grunts as he slaps another wad of gauze into your free hand, the one with the arm that’s got a hole clean through it. “Here. Your stomach’s still looking pretty rough. Apply that when the first layer bleeds through.”Goldie tilts his head thoughtfully. “What do you mean the-... Oh! That’s right, the redhead! Damn that babydoll was one fine…”Ignoring the two squadies holding their position you glance over at your medic. “How’s our Corporal looking, Petal?” “To keep on holdin' on, holdin' onHoldin' on, holdin' on”The movement of the Belcossan’s leafy tendrils seems less frantic now. More deliberate and careful, which you hope is a good sign“No, no, yes, I do (yes, I do)I'm a hip shaking mama, I love you (I know)”“Okaay, not sure I got that last part but he’s still with us?" You let out a breathe you hadn't realised you were holding in. "Good. That’s real good. Keep him breathing, soldier.”Crane's not out of the jungle yet, but he's is hanging in there. Your xenos medic in a firefight may be as useful as girl-parts in a pissing contest, but you gotta admit they’re damn good at putting people back together. Crane has a real chance to make it, which is infinitely better than where you were less than a minute ago.“Damn, down to the last frag here.” Goldie sighs like he missed out on an audition for some bigscreen vid. “The fuck is D.E.S. anyway?”“Dead Earth Syndrome.” Bones mutters, delivering a spray of return fire over the lip of the foxhole before ducking back down. “Back in the early days, a lot of vets from the Fall would get it. All holed up in their bunks depressed and whatnot. …Some of them, a lot of them, took their own way out.”“No shit?” Goldie reflects as he passes Bones another mag. “Wait. Can I get DES?”“Where you from again?”“Perspira, baby. Born and bred.”“And, just remind me, is sunny Perspira now a dead, blasted, wasteland?”“...I mean I ain’t checked since I got here but… no?”[⅔]
[3/3]“Aw hell! Rusted piece of…” Bones always says he was raised right, usually when complainang about some of the less sanitary squaddies exhibit one gross habit or another. But it also apparently means that Bones doesn’t really swear even when he’s clearing a jamming gun in a firefight, which in your book is exactly the time to keep cussing. Or like when a fellow squaddie is winding him up. “Then no Goldie! If you are -not- from Earth and your homeworld is -not- dead then it stands to read that you -cannot- get Dead Earth Syndrome!” “...You sure? I remember when I was a kid Ma used to put on the Earth vids about nature and scud and there was this guy with the voice-”“Dead. Earth. Syndrome. It’s two out of the three words of D.E.S.!”“HEY!” You snap at the two squaddies in a mix of drug induced rage and reasonable frustration at the wonky shortwave. “Will the two of you please put your domestic on hold 10-fucking-seconds?! And keep the make-up sex on the quiet side while I’m on the shortwave…”“Centurion Centurion. Vinehound in position.”++“Vinehound commence full frontal assault.”++“Centurion, update on Banshee status?” You hesitate before saying more. The last push saw the Cradler Auxiliaries rattled, but your people got pretty mauled too. “...Sir, they’re pretty well dug in and they know we’re coming.” “Acknowledged. Banshee is taking the long way round. We can’t afford to let any of these hostels disengage. Vinehound to hold these bastards in place until they make their move.” The Lieutenant's tone brooks no argument. “Order stands, full frontal assault, up the guts.”So you’re the bait. That’s fucking cold. You think of a hundred things to say, and maybe you could even say them and say it was the ‘slaught talking at your Court martial. But instead all you say is-“Wilco. Vinehound out.” You click your shortwave, pause. Then click it again. “Up the fucking guts…Vinehound-Lamba, Vinehound-Lambda. This is Vinehound-Alpha…” ==========================================FIREFIGHT VOTES(1) Select Squad Tactic - N/A - Shock Assault AUTO-SELECTED LT orders + Cradler Auto-Counter (2/2)_(2) Select Strategem N/A - You spent this combat round saving Crane._(3) Select Squaddie Orders (TWO MAX). (refer to advance firefight rules for specifics)>CPL Crane ‘Watch My Back’ - N/A>CPL Crane ‘Time for Plan B’ - N/A>GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire’ (3/3) If not used, rolls for Nines on the casualty table are ignored.>MDC Petal ‘Medic!’ (∞)>SPR Convict ‘Bring it Down’ (1/2)>SIG Night Night ‘Where the hell is our ride?’ - N/A>Rebel Jake Martin ‘Watch Their Back’ [1/1]
>>6424540>GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire'>Rebel Jake Martin ‘Watch Their Back’on Nines of course
>>6424565Supporting
>>6424565SupportingVeri>>6420883
>>6424540>GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire’ (3/3>Rebel Jake Martin ‘Watch Their Back’ [1/1]Bandit Keith with the Barrell Dragonverification >>6420895
>>6424540Would using Medic! also be a good idea? Considering both Crane and Double N have been shot pretty badly? For now I'll support this anon tho >>6424565>>6421121Me
>>6424540GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire'>Rebel Jake Martin ‘Watch Their Back>>6421390My sign inUp the guts it is time to roid rage this shit
>>6424565Seems like the best play here. >>6420971Me
>>6424540>>6424565supporting this action.>>6421228me
>>6424540This choice below seems good. Supporting>>6424565>>6421952Me
>>6424540>>6421486>>6424565I'll also support this. Nines won't make it to the finish line if he stands back and lets us all die. We need covering fire immediately.
>>6424565+1>>6421031me
>>6424565>nearly every vote is the same since Verificationwhat is even the point of voting lmao? +1.>>6420891
>>6425420Feel free to abstain...
>>6425521nah.
>>6424540> Covering Fire > Medic!>>6421477Here is my ID. Finally found the energy to catch up.I think Nines already has great armour. I’d rather try and keep people alive.
I've got plans tonight, so I'll withhold calling for rolls until tomorrow afternoon. I'll post again then with a 1 hour heads up.
Rolled 1 (1d2)>>6426001Rolling for hangover
>>6426041A pass, I hope!Calling for rolls in 1 hour.
>SELECTED>(1) Squad Tactic: Shock Assault (Auto-Selected)>(2) Strategem: N/A>(3) Squaddie Orders: GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire’ (3/3) AND Rebel Jake Martin ‘Watch Their Back’ (GNR Nines) [1/1]>Hostile Tactic: Hold Position (Auto-Selected to Counter)>Hostile Strategem: N/A [Lead by Example – Hold Position (0/1)]>Hostile Order: N/A (all relevant options are KIA) >Shock Assault vs Hostile Hold Position, -15DC, +1 Adverse Firefight Re-Roll. +1 Friendly Casualty.Firefight Round Two(2) – Contact on Epsilon FrontCombat Effectiveness - Vinehound Squad vs Imperial Legio: Human Auxilii (Cradler Detachment)You have ammunition for FOUR [4] remaining rounds before your effectiveness is hampered.Vinehound Squad Combat Effectiveness = +98DC [Experienced Veterans +10DC, SGT Snake Eyes +17DC, CPL Crane (Critical: Death’s Door) +0DC, SIG Night Night (Wounded) +2DC, GNR Nines +12DC, SPR Convict +7DC, MDC Petal +3DC, Trooper Bones +5DC, Trooper Boot +7DC, Trooper Remember Seven +5DC, Rebel Haask +4DC, Rebel Kerim’O’Kask +4DC, Rebel Karaxshc +6DC, Rebel Frohl +2DC, Rebel Werkal (Critical) +1DC, Rebel Jake Martin +4DC, Rebel Li Wei Freeman +4DC, Rebel Alexander Hail +5DC]Friendly Re-Rolls = (3) Experienced Veterans +1, Shrapnel Grenades +1, Killing Field +1VSYou have no intel on the hostiles ammunition station.Hostile Combat Effectiveness = +66DC [Elite Operators +20DC, Colonel ‘Old Bill’ +16DC, Hunter-Killer Drone (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative I (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative II (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative III (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative IV (Critical) +2DC, Cradler Operative V (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative VI +7DC, Cradler Operative VI +7DC, Cradler Operative VI +7DC, Cradler Operative VII +7DC)Hostile Re-Rolls = (5) Elite Operators +2, Shrapnel Grenades +1, First Blood +1, DISADVANTAGE +1 [½]
[2/2]Firefight: Second Round> 50 DC> Friendly Combat Effectiveness +98 DC> Hostile Combat Effectiveness -66DC> DISADVANTAGE -15DC> Friendly Order: ‘Covering Fire’ Friendly Firefight Casualties reduced by 1.> Friendly Order: ‘Watch Their Back’ - If GNR Nines takes no injury from Firefight Casualty Rolls.> 67DCCritical Fail = +1 Friendly Casualty at +1 Severity. Leadership Roll to prevent rout/surrender.Double Fail = +1 Friendly Casualty.0 = 2 Friendly Casualties. 0 Hostile Casualties.1 = 1 Friendly Casualty. 1 Hostile Casualty.2 = 0 Friendly Casualties. 2 Hostile Casualties.3 = 0 Friendly Casualties. 3 Hostile Casualties.Double Pass = +1 Hostile Casualty at +1 Severity.Crit-pass = All Hostile Causalities inflicted this round are KIA. Hostile Leadership required to prevent rout/surrender.3 rolls of 1d100. You have THREE firefight re-rolls. Your opponent has FIVE firefight re-rolls. You can tell that your opponent is hard-pressed and will all their available re-rolls this round if possible. Advance by Fire, Up The Guts!
>>6426496*will use all
Rolled 62 (1d100)>>6426496Come to mama...>>6421428Is me
Rolled 45 (1d100)>>6426496Rollan>>6420891
>>6426496Dark Deeds.
Rolled 80 (1d100)I guess I'll start using adverse re-rolls on these successes while we wait for the last anon to throw the dice.Cradler Auxiliary Adverse Re-Roll [1/5] attempting to reverse this 62 >>6426500
Cradler Auxiliary Adverse Re-Roll [2/5] attempting to reverse this 45 >>6426501
Rolled 88 (1d100)>>6426508>>6426501duh [2/5]
Sitting at 0 SUCCESS, and now 88 double fail is locked in. (sorry Pw1, looks like we'll get another turn on the casualty table after all)Anons have 3 re-rolls. Cradlers have 3 adverse re-rolls left.
And I still need one anon to contribue a primary roll. Not taking fresh IDs unless they link back.
>>6426511>More casualtiesman, the Dice REALLY wanted Crane dead...
Rolled 60 (1d100)>>6426496
Rolled 81 (1d100)>>6426515A challenger appears. Cradler Auxiliary Adverse Re-Roll [3/5] attempting to reverse this 60.
Sitting at 0 SUCESS. Anons have 3 re-rolls. Cradlers have 3 adverse re-rolls remaining.On a knife's edge it rests...
I realise now that I forgot to reduce Snake Eyes DC contribution for the firefight, but the difference would be marginal for this round given the combat drug vote won.
Rolled 49 (1d100)>>6421477Here is my card.>>6426507Rerolling!>>6426517If they have five and used three, boss, shouldn’t they habe only two left?
Rolled 82 (1d100)>>6426516Reroll
Rolled 34 (1d100)>>6426520>If they have five and used three, boss, shouldn’t they habe only two left?This is so.On that note, using their second last re-roll to try and counter your 49. [4/5]
Rolled 89 (1d100)>>6426523>>6426520And one final effort by the Cradler's to check your advance. [5/5]
Sitting at 0 SUCCESS. Anons have one last re-roll remaining.This casualty roll is going to suck...
Rolled 24 (1d100)>>6426526Watch me roll a 100 because why not at this point
Rolled 95, 47, 71, 2 = 215 (4d100)Clutches it! And even if you don’t kill a Cradler from this, you’ve reduced the dreaded casualty rolls by 1. Firefight Round Two Results>1 SUCCESS: 1 Friendly Casualty. 1 Hostile Casualty.> 88 Double Fail: +1 Friendly Casualty.> DISADVANTAGE: +1 Friendly Casualty. >Covering Fire: -1 Friendly CasualtySquad Vinehound has inflicted ONE hostile casualty and suffered TWO friendly casualties. QM will roll for hostile AVs first then call for casualties. ===================================Hostile Casualty Roll [1/1]Cradler Operative VI: Armour Save RollVital Status: Optimal (4/4)>Flak Jacket +20AV>Hold Position +10AV>30AVQM rolling 4d100. The hostile needs 1 pass to survive.
>Cradler Operative VI is Critical!TPR Terri's perk 'Stick the Boot In' is triggered!I will take 1 adverse re-roll from anons to counter the Cradler's saved AV roll of 2.>30DC (anons want to roll high on this one)
Rolled 100 (1d100)>>6426532Get 'em Terri>>6421952Me
>>6426536Wow......
Voidmother's tits, Terri! That girl did not half-arse that execution.>Cradler Operative VI is KIAThere is one other Cradler sitting on critical... and I think giving TPR Terri a second shot at him is an appropriate reward for the crit.Hostile Casualty Roll [Bonus]Cradler Operative IV: Armour Save RollVital Status:Critical Optimal (4/4)>Flak Jacket +20AV>Hold Position +10AV>30AVGo on, anons. On more adverse re-roll 1d100. Aim high and let's see them war crimes rack up.
>>6426540*Critical (1/4).
Rolled 20 (1d100)>>6426540Bite and shake!>>6421486Phone posting from the road
>>6426543Ah man, he gets away again. Just the one war crime from our pet murderhobo this time.
CASUALTY TABLE TIME.> Friendly Order: ‘Watch Their Back’ - If GNR Nines takes no injury from Firefight Casualty Rolls.> MDC Petal 'Phytocratic Oath' - They may intervene if the most severely wounded squaddie is selected as a casualty.I need 2 brave anons to give me a roll of 1d18.
Rolled 2 (1d18)>>6426545Please be a rebel>>6420937This one is mine
>>6426547Thank God for Petal
>>6426536>Everyone is getting fucking hammered>Terri just kicks a Cradlers head off via dropkickAtta girl Terri.
Rolled 17 (1d18)>>6426545>>6420878this is me
>>6426553Damn!
>>6426555It's okay, still better him than one of our own.
>>6426547Man, Crane is a fucking bullet magnet this combat. Unbelivable.>>6426553And of course the one we've vibbed with from the rebels is the one who gets dunked on this round. This is fucking nuts.
>>6426557This whole combat has been a bloody slog. At least it makes sense that the Cradler Auxiliaries would be a tough fight.
>2: CPL ‘Crane’ Shizuka>17: Rebel Fighter Jake Martin>’Phytocratic Oath’: MDC Petal intervenes for Crane due to their critical status. Friendly Casualty AV Rolls [1/2]MDC ‘Petal’ Blooms of Lavender: Armour Save RollVital Status: Optimal (4/4)> Shock Trooper Carapace +30AV>Natalya's 'Cradler Special' Cooking +5AV>Hostile: Venomous +0 Adverse AV Re-Roll Nullified by Cradler Cooking perk>’Phytocratic Oath: +1 AV Re-Roll>35AV4 rolls of 1d100. You have ONE re-roll. MDC Petal needs 1 pass to survive.Friendly Casualty AV Rolls [2/2]Rebel Fighter Jake Martine Werkal: Armour Save RollVital Status: Optimal (4/4)> Salvaged Combat Armour +25AV>Natalya's 'Cradler Special' Cooking +5AV>Hostile: Venomous +0 Adverse AV Re-Roll Nullified by Cradler Cooking perk>30AV4 rolls of 1d100. You have ZERO re-rolls. Rebel Jake Martin needs 1 pass to survive.I’ll allow anons to roll multiple times given the number of rolls being called for. First 4 rolls are for MDC Petal, second set of 4 rolls are for Rebel Jack Martin.
Rolled 48 (1d100)>>6426563Well then, lets get this over with and hopefully there will be some survivors. Go, Petal!
>>6426564>>6421156Oh yeah, this one is mine.
>>6426556I can tell this guy voted 'fuck the rebs' every time it came up. No empathy points here. I respect it.
Rolled 21 (1d100)>>6426563Be tough for us cabbage man>>6420937Me again
>>6426570Atta‐boy, Petal
Rolled 86 (1d100)>>6426563Come on Petal!>>6421486My library card, sir.
Rolled 94 (1d100)>>6426563Time to ROLL>>6421121Me
Rolled 66 (1d100)>>6426563The cabbage lives, time to see if Jake 'The Galaxy Belongs to America' Martin has the same luck.>>6421156Me again.
Rolled 78 (1d100)>>6426575Time to REROLL>>6421121Me again
>>6426578It's so fucking over...
>>6426567Honestly I'd be okay if Jake dies here because I don't want to do the Titan suicide mission if most of the best of our crew are in critical condition and I bet he won't back down on still doing it.
Rolled 60 (1d100)>>6426563I'll throw a roll for our boy Jake Martin>>6421121Well, well, well, if it ain't me
Rolled 21 (1d100)>>6426563Watch me crit for the damn rebel.>>6420937Me
Rolled 52 (1d100)>>6426563Its not his time to go to the America in the sky.>>6421486Keep rolling rollan rollan
> Cradler Operative VI is KIA!> MDC 'Petal' Bloom of Lavender is Critical!> Rebel Fighter Jake Martin is Critical!Damn our boys are taking a beating, just hanging on by the skin of their teeth/alien apendages. I think Petal earns another medal after this (and maybe a smidge more legit respect from a xenophobic MC).I've got to call it there lads, and sorry to say I won't be free to update this coming Sunday. Next content update and calls for votes this Wednesday 17th June. Stay frosty and try not to bleed out until then.As always, I'll probably be able to respond to questions about the canon or mechanics sporadically in the interim.
"Hey Lt. can someone else take point next time? Also we need a medic over here, our cabbage is down a few leaves."Fuck this was rough boys.
>>6426536Sneak attack: Boot to the head
all our specials outside mission critical nines and convict are fucked up, banshee is going to have to pick up some slack
>>6426594Thanks bossman, see you on the 17th. This has been exciting and fun as fuck
>>6420857I wish to have carnal relations with this woman. That is all. Carry on.
>>6428812Calm down Goldie.
>>6428812
Fire and advance. Fire and advance. One section of the line lays down suppressive fire as the other section of the line moves forward. It is the tried and tested tactic of any standard infantry offensive front, universally drilled into your bog-standard basic recruit in boot camps both human and alien alike. From Drax Republican Guard to Savis Legionnaires to every bog-standard military force and even a few of the more serious paramilitary and private security types across the galaxy that take their soldiery doctrine beyond massed expendable infantry charges and individual warrior combat, this strategy forms the core of the most basic means of infantry pressing on any enemy in an entrenched position.Fire and advance. The LT didn’t exactly give you much room for nuance here. It’s safe. It’s effective. And it’s also terribly predictable. The tink of metal and clatter of several small objects through the trees is easy enough for your Cradler eyes and Cradler ears to register in the dark, even if the pause of incoming fire hadn’t forewarned you.“Grenades!!” Your voice sounds hoarse and ragged, stims and adrenaline combating exhaustion and fatigue, but it rings out loud enough all the same. “Kiss dirt!”The ripple of explosions across the line of your approach halts your Vinehounds dead in their tracks, stalling their advance as every Krieger and rebel fighter huddles down in the nearest excuse for cover they can find in a half-moment’s notice. But even though it gives your men pause, the warning gave most of them the time they needed to ensure no one suffered more than the merest graze from incoming shrapnel. At least, almost no one.One of the grenades must have been thrown long. An impressive throw by all accounts, powered by the hyper-muscled arm of whatever hard-pressed Cradler Auxiliary flung it with all their genemodded strength. If you were a gambling woman, which you most certainly are, you’d have bet that it was more bad luck than uncanny aim that saw the grenade thrown far over the main body of your squad’s advance and well into the rear where you had left the wounded Crane and Petal in what you had thought was relative safety.++“Brrakt Akht-!”++The panicked tone of the Belcossan’s native tongue is all the heads up you have before a sound much like ripping bark reaches your ears over the thunder of the explosions. The HUD on your squad reading for Petal’s profile goes haywire, you don’t know enough about xeno physiology to gauge just how bad they’re hurting but it cannot be good.++“Akht akht.. tee em…”++ Petal’s voice sounds weak over the commlink, but still there. And Crane’s vitals remained stable, albeit damn lower than what anyone would call above borderline, so either Petal was nowhere near him when frag went off… or the fucking cabbage went and pulled some hero shit again. [1/5]
“Voiddamnit!” You curse, firing one-armed blindly with your magpistol in the general direction of the incoming Cradler fire. Your advance has stalled, and pulling back now would be just as dangerous and pressing on. The enemy has you and your people pinned down for the most part, but they’re taking a beating too. At least your ghosthelm is still registering fragments of the hostiles tagged earlier in your line of sight, if it weren’t for that you and your squaddies would be firing totally blind and at the elite Imperial forces mercy. You can hear the fire intensify to your left, where Hail and the northernmost section of your line was meant to be clearing the Cradler holdouts in the gully before the main enemy front.You were loathe to expose GNR Nines to any sort of enemy fire, given how vital he is to the endgame of this hail mary rebel plan, but your misgivings melt away as the comforting staccato of his heavy machine gun comes to you as music to your ringing ears. Lacking any real sense of direction other than that point of conflict, you half-drag yourself and half-leopard crawl to the lip of the gully as the shooting dies down.“++Update. Gully sector clear. Designation ‘Jake’ is in critical condition. Assessment. Unsustainable levels of blood loss observed.++”“Geez Nines… don’t go burstin’ into tears on my acc-agh goddamnit!”“Easy comrade, easy!” The Drax rebel firebrand Kerim’O’Kask has an apologetic look, as best you can tell from her reptilian face, as she tightens the tourniquet around his missing arm. “The cause still demands, and you have breath left yet to serve her.” You blanch at the sight of Jake Martin’s limb, the white sheen of hard bone sticking out at you through the mangled mess of muscle below his right shoulder. Not good.Calling the slight dip in the ground with a spittle of a stream at the bottom a ‘gully’ is probably overstating the terrain feature, but there’s enough of a slope here that your people are crouched under the incoming fire rather than prone flat like the rest of your squad further south down the line. It’s a far cry from a strong position, but it’s where the majority of the rebels not blown half-to-bits have congregated with the remainder of your other squaddies. “Fuuuuck… the cause can be a real bitch sometimes.” Jake slips out of the use of pidgin-Imp, commonly used among the rebels of human and more alien origin alike, he once confided in you that the curses of the still-evolving broken language just doesn’t have that same certain something as swearing in good ol’ fashioned English. “Beetch?” To her credit the Drax rebel sounds to you like she trying to distract Jake as she staunches the bleeding, but she’s no medic. Let alone one of Petal’s calibre. “Sorry my human is inequitable but this word is not known to me.”[2/5]
Jake grins deliriously as he switches back-and-forth between his mother-tongue and the new rebelspeak.“I plead the fifth.” “Pardon?”“Just joking, Kaskie. Just joking. I’ll tell you all… about it … later…” Jake’s head lols as he slips into unconsciousness. You know for a fact that the rebels don’t have their own stock of synthezene, so this is down to your run-of-the-mill blood loss. You look away, surprised at how much you’re hoping Jake Martin makes it through this. But also guiltily thinking it’d be much easier to turn on these rebel diehards if the one you actually gave a damn about in their number died on you. Instead you turn your attention to the other members of your unit half-crouched in the gully, two Vinehounds and a human rebel fighter. “Terri. Rev Sev.” You nod at each in turn, noting the blood covering TPR Terri’s arms from fingernail to elbow. Probably SIG Night Night’s, although your HUD tells you she’s still alive. You glance at the rebel fighter uncertainly. “And…?”“Freeman. Li Wei Freeman.” If the sharp-eyed rebel rankles at you not knowing his name it doesn’t show, his focus is entirely on the lip of the gully and the not-unsubstantial-exchange of bullets occurring overhead. “Hail, Karaxsch and the new kid are further up looking for another approach.”You glance at Rev Sev for confirmation, the voidborn Krieger nods at you solemnly. “There are seven souls residing here.”You frown at whatever point she’s trying to make. You, her, Nines, Terri, Li Whatsit, Kerim’O’Kask and the now unconscious Jake Martin. Seven? So what?[3/5]
“Hey clanker…” Terri snaps, shifting her weight and brushing past you in a half-crouch.“++Query. What is your concern, designation Terri?++” Another burst of heavy machine gun fire, stifling some of the enemy’s fusiliade for a welcome second. “++Cutting remark. I am somewhat pre-occupied at present.++”You finally notice what Terri was creeping towards, a shot-up Cradler Auxilliary crawling the other way down the gully. It was almost impossible to tell that was in human in the muck and torn camo-fatigues, but the ghost-helm reading confirms they were still breathing. “You missed one.” Terri plants her boot in the soldier’s shoulder blade and presses down, the muffled cry of the wounded Cradler lost in the suffocating mud. A single round from her rifle detonates the back of the wounded Cradler’s skull before he can finish drowning.“Fucken-A, Terri.” Li Wei nods in emphatic approval. “That’s one way to John Hancock a slaver’s ass.”You have no idea what the young rebel is on about, but that sounded like something he picked from Jake Martin. Li Wei would probably have high-fived Terri to boot if it hadn’t meant crouch-crawling over to her first.You glance back at Rev Sev, who shrugs and gives you a knowing smile under her ghosthelm. “Six.” “...Why did the Voidmother stick me with this fucked up outfit.” You growl with a shake of your head, conveniently setting aside the fact that you and Crane personally selected each of the Vinehound squaddies, quirks and all.You look at your HUD again and curse. That’s two more of yours down and, as best you can see, only one of theirs not getting back up. None of your people are outright dead yet, but by now half of them are in no shape to fight. Your people are getting the worse deal in this whole exchange, even if you’re fulfilling the LT’s plan of keeping the Cradler spec ops in place and unable to manoeuvre around the larger Company position. [4/5]
You ignore Nines response to Terri’s snark, and you ignore Rev Sev updating her count when the quilled alien rebel Hassk returns from further up the gully and conveniently from a vector not receiving much hostile fire at all. “Void-fucking-damn it!” That’s where following orders gets you in the end, and you find yourself venting your frustration into the comms as you enquire less-than-politely where the voidrip of realspace is Banshee squad. “Banshee Banshee, this is Vinehound. Where the FUCK are you?!”++“Vinehound this Banshee, cool your reactor.”++ SGT ‘Casket’ Irons crisp voice crackles back at you over the comm like a pair of scissors. ++“We’re working around the edges for prime real estate, ETA 2 minutes out. Hold position, keep them in place and give us just a bit more time. Banshee out.”++You growl again, biting down a flurry of words that wouldn’t be likely to speed up those two minutes and would almost certainly increase your odds of finding a shiv in your tender parts at an inconvenient moment. Casket has that kind of reputation when it comes to those that piss her off.[⅚]
[6/6]Pressing on head-first into that firestorm up ahead is suicide, at best you and the Cradlers might break even and you gain a few metres. Nowhere near enough to decide it. You could wait it out here, order you people to dig in and return fire and let Banshee roll up on whatever flank they’re sneaking up… or you could follow the ridge where Li Wei said Hail was checking out and see if the Cradlers have a weak spot to their underbelly to be sniffed out.================================FIREFIGHT VOTES(1) Select Squad Tactic> Dig in. Return fire. Your people have pressed hard enough, now you’ve just got to wait out the storm and keep the enemy pinned down while Banshee squad rolls up on their flank and gets the kills. And the credit. [Hold Position]> No guts, no glory. Your people haven’t spent the last few minutes being slapped around by these Cradlers just to let someone else reap the benefit. You’re out for blood, and you mean to exploit this possible opening with one last push of the knife deep into the enemy gut. [Wetwork Ploy] _(2) Select Strategem (TWO MAX).> Tactical Analysis (∞): -10DC and +1 Remaining Re-Roll to uses for this engagement.>Lead by Example - Close Encounter (N/A 0/1): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if using Shock Assault Tactic this round.>Lead by Example - Wetwork (1/1): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if using Wetwork Ploy Tactic this round.>Lead by Example – Hold Position (1/1): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if using Hold Position Tactic this round.>Alpha Instinct (∞): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if a kill was inflicted in the previous round KIA inflicted on Cradler Operative VI last round_(3) Select Squaddie Orders (TWO MAX). (refer to advance firefight rules for specifics)>CPL Crane ‘Watch My Back’ - N/A>CPL Crane ‘Time for Plan B’ - N/A>GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire’ (3/3) If not used, rolls for Nines on the casualty table are ignored.>MDC Petal ‘Medic!’ - N/A>SPR Convict ‘Bring it Down’ (1/2)>SIG Night Night ‘Where the hell is our ride?’ - N/A>Rebel Jake Martin ‘Watch Their Back’ - N/A
*GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire’ (2/3)
>>6429103>No guts, no glory. Your people haven’t spent the last few minutes being slapped around by these Cradlers just to let someone else reap the benefit. You’re out for blood, and you mean to exploit this possible opening with one last push of the knife deep into the enemy gut. [Wetwork Ploy]Finally we're not locked into tactics. Let's apply our bonuses.>Tactical Analysis>Alpha InstinctNo Lead By Example because we're wounded and can crash off the stims at any moment>SPR Convict ‘Bring it Down’ (1/2)Not risking Nines again
Whew, finally caught up with my refresher. I must say my anger is large and my hatred is larger. Also I am disappointed that people still have not chosen the Amplified Physique tree. As getting the ability to turn Double Fails into regular fails is fucking sick, actually. It would have saved us from getting the alarm raised when wrasslin their forward scout even. Hindsight is 20/20 I know but I have been fiending after that Regen perk from day 1 and I will never let an opportunity to shill the pursuit of my choices go to waste.I would like to applaud our world-brethren for their stubbornness and use their nerves as a jump-rope while keeping them from going into shock with copious amounts of go-juice for all the punishment they have inflicted upon us.
>>6429103> No guts, no glory. Your people haven’t spent the last few minutes being slapped around by these Cradlers just to let someone else reap the benefit. You’re out for blood, and you mean to exploit this possible opening with one last push of the knife deep into the enemy gut. [Wetwork Ploy]>Alpha Instinct (∞): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if a kill was inflicted in the previous round> Tactical Analysis (∞): -10DC and +1 Remaining Re-Roll to uses for this engagement.I get the feeling we might want to save the squadie orders.>>6420891
Hey anons, some of you may have noticed that I've relied heavily on alien portraits from the Stellaris game. There's been a new DLC released which I think has some potential if anons wanted to play some variant of a nomadic mercenary company like the Black Company, this is just something I whipped together in a few minutes but I'd certainly be open to anons suggesting certain other traits/civics are more appropriate given what we know about the other alien empires in this setting.Do these traits capture the defining human species traits? Does a military autocracy really reflect the heirarchy of our own Black Company or would it be more like a military oligarchy as civilian and mercenary lifestyles evolve and synthesise with one another in the decades after the fall of Earth and her fledgling republics? Let me know what you think!
>>6429137I do think it would be more oligarchic. At least as much as Stellaris' mechanics would suggest, seeing how the Black Company seems to have fingers in as many pies as it can regarding information gathering and wheeling and dealing for contracts. So having access to black market shenanigans seems apt. Though I couldn't say if that's how the nomad fleets can actually be played as I don't have the DLC.
>>6429103(1)> No guts, no glory. Your people haven’t spent the last few minutes being slapped around by these Cradlers just to let someone else reap the benefit. You’re out for blood, and you mean to exploit this possible opening with one last push of the knife deep into the enemy gut. [Wetwork Ploy](2)>Alpha Instinct (∞): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if a kill was inflicted in the previous round.(3)>GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire’ (3/3)>>6420937Mine.
>>6429111>>6429120We should probably avoid tactical analysis for this. We are likely on our last round for this fight, and it's not worth the -10DC at the moment.
>>6429111>Not risking Nines againHe's got full health and he can reduce the casualties. I'll also be honest, as much as I like Nines I'd rather he gets his ticket punched than Crane. Even if it means failing this Titan-jacking chicanery. I'd make that trade. I'm more shocked the Cradlers didn't attempt to disengage after getting nearly half their guys killed in a single round before, really. Especially considering they can call in support so disengaging behooves them once they confirm contact.
>>6429103+1 to >>6429158Check: >>6421118
>>6429158I'll support this one. I wanted to go for the Hold Position, but we are quite competent in Wetwork.>>6421121Me
>>6429103Backing >>6429158I was considering voting to use Lead by Example as well but I don't think we can tank any more damage if we get bad Wetwork rolls, and I'm not in enough of a hurry to get back to Sworn to Valour that I'd purposly vote to increase the chance for us to kill Nat.>>6421156This is my Krollpost.
>>6429158+1>>6421031
>>6429158Supporting, we are better at wetwork plays after all.>>6420971Me.
>>6429158Supporting >>6422585Me
> be me> check the board for updates> see ForgottenQM in a 4chan ad
>>6430934Neato.
Calling rolls in 1 hour.>>6430934I do what I can to maintain national pride in the wake of our World Cup match with the US.
Fuck yeah, keen to roll. I've been too busy to actively participate much so this is good timing
>>6430967Don't forget to link back when you do!I hope this firefight showdown hasn't proven to be too much of a slog, but frankly it's a miracle that no one else from Vinehound squad has bought it from the Savis Empire elites yet. And I have zero regrets in letting anons choose risk themselves to save Crane, gunshot wounds and all.
>>6430973Nah it's been exciting and tense. I'm shocked we're still in the fight honestly. It'll be interesting to see what we choose to do in the aftermath of all this (and potentially seeing the bitching about how in hindsight we could have just left them all to die on this planet, as was the original plan haha)
>SELECTED> (1) Squad Tactic: No guts, no glory. Your people haven’t spent the last few minutes being slapped around by these Cradlers just to let someone else reap the benefit. You are out for blood, and you mean to exploit this possible opening with one last push of the knife deep into the enemy gut. [Wetwork Ploy]> (2) Strategem: Alpha Instinct (∞): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if a kill was inflicted in the previous round.>(3) Squaddie Order: GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire’ (2/3) >Hostile Tactic: Disengage (Hostiles gain ‘Fall Back’ +20AV)>Hostile Strategem: N/A (Disengaging)>Hostile Order: N/A (all relevant options are KIA) >Wetwork Ploy vs Hostile Disengage: Sweep and Clear. If hostiles remain above breaking point (50% of initial 104DC combat effectiveness) for two consecutive rounds they will successfully withdraw and remain combat effective. If they are reduced below breaking point in either round they must take a Leadership test to avoid routing. Note: As Elites, the hostiles have bonuses to leadership to avoid routing (Baseline at 50% strength and then partial at 25% strength)Firefight Round Three(3) – Contact on Epsilon FrontCombat Effectiveness - Vinehound Squad vs Imperial Legio: Human Auxilii (Cradler Detachment)You have ammunition for THREE [3] remaining rounds before your effectiveness is hampered.Vinehound Squad Combat Effectiveness = +88DC [Experienced Veterans +10DC, SGT Snake Eyes (Wounded) +11DC, CPL Crane (Critical: Death’s Door) +0DC, SIG Night Night (Wounded) +2DC, GNR Nines +12DC, SPR Convict +7DC, MDC Petal (Critical) +0DC, Trooper Bones +5DC, Trooper Boot +7DC, Trooper Remember Seven +5DC, Rebel Haask +4DC, Rebel Kerim’O’Kask +4DC, Rebel Karaxshc +6DC, Rebel Frohl +2DC, Rebel Werkal (Critical) +1DC, Rebel Jake Martin (Critical) +1DC, Rebel Li Wei Freeman +4DC, Rebel Alexander Hail +5DC]Friendly Re-Rolls = (1) Alpha Instinct +1VSYou have no intel on the hostiles ammunition station.Hostile Combat Effectiveness = +59DC [Elite Operators +20DC, Colonel ‘Old Bill’ +16DC, Hunter-Killer Drone (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative I (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative II (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative III (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative IV (Critical) +2DC, Cradler Operative V (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative VI (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative VII +7DC, Cradler Operative VIII +7DC, Cradler Operative IX +7DC)Hostile Re-Rolls = (0) [½]
[2/2]Firefight: Third Round> 50 DC> Friendly Combat Effectiveness +88 DC> Hostile Combat Effectiveness -59DC> Friendly Order: ‘Covering Fire’ Friendly Firefight Casualties reduced by 1.> 79DCCritical Fail = +1 Friendly Casualty at +1 Severity. Leadership Roll to prevent rout/surrender.Double Fail = +1 Friendly Casualty.0 = 2 Friendly Casualties. 0 Hostile Casualties.1 = 1 Friendly Casualty. 1 Hostile Casualty.2 = 0 Friendly Casualties. 2 Hostile Casualties.3 = 0 Friendly Casualties. 3 Hostile Casualties.Double Pass = +1 Hostile Casualty at +1 Severity.Crit-pass = All Hostile Causalities inflicted this round are KIA. Hostile Leadership required to prevent rout/surrender.3 rolls of 1d100. You have ONE firefight re-roll. Your opponent has ZERO firefight re-rolls.Come on, you Kriegers. There’s knifework needs doing..
Rolled 43 (1d100)>>6430983Send em to the void>>6421952Me
Rolled 23 (1d100)>>6430983Kroll rolling!>>6421156Me.>>6430973The illusion of it being a slog mostly comes down to the comparatively slow update schedule to previous runs. We might've been in this fight for months, but that's not because we've been fighting for months. Not like anyone can demand you forgo your actual life to update the quest faster, either. It just is what it is.
Rolled 11 (1d100)>>6430983LETS GOOOOOOOO>>6421228ME
>>6430984>>6430989>>6431023It turns out, Nat is PISSED
>>6431025>4 Casualties, with one at a +1 severityIt's cowabunga time, you fucking jungle freaks.
Rolled 6, 30, 82, 53, 11 = 182 (5d100)>>6430984>>6430989>>6431023>3 SUCCESS: 0 Friendly Casualties. 3 Hostile Casualties.>11 DOUBLE SUCCESS: +1 Hostile Casualty at +1 Severity>4 Hostile Casualties (x1 at +1 Severity)And here I thought the Cradler Auxiliaries might actually shoot and scoot. There's only 4 remaining hostiles at full health anyway so here we go... Starting with the +1 Severity.===========================Hostile Casualty Roll [1/4]Cradler Operative VII: Armour Save RollVital Status: Optimal (4/4)>+1 Severity>Flak Jacket +20AV>Fall Back +20AV>40AVQM rolling 5d100. The hostile needs 2 passes to survive.
Rolled 31, 77, 60, 80 = 248 (4d100)Hostile Casualty Roll [2/4]Cradler Operative VIII: Armour Save RollVital Status: Optimal (4/4)>Flak Jacket +20AV>Fall Back +20AV>40AVQM rolling 4d100. The hostile needs 1 pass to survive.
Rolled 53, 4, 20, 41 = 118 (4d100)Hostile Casualty Roll [3/4]Cradler Operative IX: Armour Save RollVital Status: Optimal (4/4)>Flak Jacket +20AV>Fall Back +20AV>40AVQM rolling 4d100. The hostile needs 1 pass to survive.
Rolled 25, 79, 80, 90 = 274 (4d100)Hostile Casualty Roll [4/4]Colonel ‘Old Bill’: Armour Save RollVital Status: Remarkable (5/5)>Flak Jacket +20AV>Calcium Proficiency +10AV>Fall Back +20AV>50AVQM rolling 4d100. The hostile can survive with zero passes.
Really? Not a single one of these motherfuckers gonna die? Did they steal all the good AV rolls for themselves when we weren't looking?
>>6431031>2 Hostile AV fails.>Cradler Operative VII is Wounded!>>6431032>3 Hostile AV fails.>Cradler Operative VIII is Critical!>TPR Terri 'Stick the Boot In' perk is ACTIVATED.Can I please have 1 anon give me 1d100 to re-roll that 31 result. You're looking to roll higher than 40 to rack up another war crime.>>6431034>2 Hostile AV fails.>Cradler Operative IX is Wounded!>>6431041>3 Hostile AV fails.>Colonel 'Old Bill' is Wounded!I'll wait for TPR Terri's execution skill to see if we get a kill here, but even if not the hit to hostile DC will mean a leadership test to avoid a rout.
>>6431044That extra 20 from running away ain't no joke. None of them have more than half health, though.
Rolled 13 (1d100)>>6431045TERRI FUCKING KILL THIS MAN RIGHT NOW!
>>6431047Unbelivable. The stars favour these cradlers so much.
Rolled 43, 50, 47 = 140 (3d100)>>6431047Guess she's had her bloodlust slaked from that earlier crit.==================Estimated Hostile Combat Effectiveness = +43DC [Elite Operators +20DC, Colonel ‘Old Bill’ +12DC, Hunter-Killer Drone (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative I (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative II (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative III (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative IV (Critical) +2DC, Cradler Operative V (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative VI (KIA) +0DC, Cradler Operative VII (Wounded) +4DC, Cradler Operative VIII (Critical) +2DC, Cradler Operative IX (Wounded) +4DC)>Imperial Legio: Human Auxilii - Cradler Detachment is at Breaking Point! (Less than 50% starting Combat EffectivenessLeadership Test: Cradler Auxiliary Detatchment>40DC>Elite Operators II (Over 25%): +20DC, +1 Re-Roll>Colonel ‘Old Bill’: Slick Shades +5DC>Colonel ‘Old Bill’: Tranquil Gaze +5DC, +1 Re-Roll>Sweep and Clear: Failed leadership will result in a rout rather than a forced Disengagement>70DC0 = Every Cradler for himself. What’s left of the Cradler force melts away into the jungle, lone survivors fleeing far from your plotted course to the next objective.1 = Lick their wounds. The Hostiles slink away into the jungle, auto-selecting disengage in the next Firefight round. If already disengaging, the hostiles are instead routed but what is left of them will stay together.2 = Gnaw at the Trap. The Hostiles continue to put up a fight, Firefight continues as normal.They must still take a Leadership test before successfully disengaging at the end of the following round.3 = Hunter’s Code. The Hostiles stand their ground, and do not need to roll a Leadership test next turn unless reduced to 25% Combat effectiveness.QM rolls 3d100. QM has TWO re-rolls.Get to the hovercraft!
>>6431060Damn these are some hard bastards, but hey, we'll be fucking legendary if we take them out and survive all this
>Hostile 3 SUCCESS: Hunter’s Code. The Hostiles stand their ground, and do not need to roll a Leadership test next turn unless reduced to 25% Combat effectiveness.Alright, looks like the Cradler Auxilaries are bloodied but unbowed. If they can make it through the next round (which is also the round your Banshee reinforcements should be in play) they will have successfully disengaged. VERY bad news for those that like their weather forecast to not include airstrikes and their wounded to be okay being left unattended for 2 minutesThat's all from me tonight gents, I'll be back with a content update and votes this Wednesday evening.
Rolled 74 (1d100)>>6431060>>6420891APEX PREDATOR
>>6431065Man I'm glad I failed the reading comprehension test.
>>6431064Thanks boss
>>6431062Good news is that even if we don't get any extra help next round the DC will be 94 for the firefight we're probably gonna hammer them again. With Banshee Squad involved it's looking pretty bleak for the Cradlers. Hopefully we get some extra severity in there as well. May as well go for broke with everything we can, too, what with the end of combat occurring either way, may as well pop both remaining Orders, just to make sure we take no damage and Old Bill gets his ticket punched.
>>6431071Yeah we definitely want to do everything we can to eradicate them with this next attack. If not... well... it's been fun playing Nat haha
Rolled 11 (1d100)>>6431060>>6423059verified.
>Cradler Operative VII isWounded!>Cradler Operative VIII is Critical!>Cradler Operative IX is Wounded!>Colonel 'Old Bill' is Wounded! >Colonel ‘Old Bill’ Regeneration perk is Activated.>Colonel ‘Old Bill’ is Stable. Yes I know the genemod skill activates at the end of combat, but that doesn’t make much sense for a hostile equivalent. Instead it will be a one-off activation here.You blink and grit your teeth, quashing the blackness that creeps into the corner of your vision as the stimms start to wear off. You clench your fist to staunch the shaking fits, red ichor seeping down your forearm to wedge between the gaps in your curled fingers as you do. The bandage around your bad bicep is bleeding through, more of a red rag than proper gauze by now. You know you must reek of blood, sweat and nerves, but if your heightened Cradler senses are being overwhelmed by the overpowering noise of the firefight then you guess the enemies are as well. The hulking molluscoid Karaxshc is a foul-tempered alien douchebag at the best of times, let alone in the midst of a fervent firefight, so your finger doesn’t quite come off the trigger of your magpistol when he tenses at your approach. But the hefty alien rebel has never tried to lock horns with the legendary ‘Mama Snake’, it only takes a curt gesture from Alexander Hail to stifle the bristling xeno long enough for you to wedge yourself in between the two rebels at the lip of the gully. Pressed up against the alien as you follow Hail’s cautious gaze at the Cradler position, you try not to gag at the alien’s molluscoid musk. It’s got a kind of salty-eggs-gone-rotten bite to it, frankly it’s amazing that the Cradlers a few metres away haven’t clocked him down here yet even with all the explosions and kicked up earth. Another liberal burst of heavy machine gun rounds from GNR Nines position and the weaker reply from the Auxiliary position is a hint that maybe they’re a little distracted to be having a sniff right now. Lucky them, you think to yourself as you hold back a gag. Hail opens his mouth to speak but you’re already nodding, you can see what has his attention. Several of the tree-like Dis plants just on the other side of the gully have been quite literally sawn down by the steady exchange of gunfire, providing a convenient barricade of sorts where you can get in close to the Cradler Auxiliary rearguard. Real close.[1/6]
A double-pat on your shoulder tells you that TPR Terri and TPR Rev Sev are in position behind you. Further back the furred rebel kid Frohl looks as lost as ever, it’s baby’s first firefight and boy has it been a real doozy, but for an underage pup/hatchling thing (and most definitely a child-soldier under Galactic law) even sticking around this long and staying in formation is a pass. You don’t even need to glance over your shoulder to guess that the quilled Zaan rebel Hassk is still hanging in the rear where she’s less likely to catch a bullet, always looking out for number one that one. And for her that means cozzying up to the only person likely to get her a ticket off this rock, namely you. It’s not exactly a propagandist’s pick of plucky heroes you have here with you, but Krieger or Rebel they’re all hardened veterans you have fought and blood with in these jungles for the better part of a year. Well… aside from the new addition of the child-soldier that is, but you’ll take the extra body all the same. No words are spoken, countless hours of training and the real-thing have your people and the rebels well familiar with the game plan. You set the mark, waiting for the next burst of your fire support that whizzes in a flurry overhead.++“Composed Update. Ammunition reserves running low. Skepitcal Apprasail. Hostile suppression can be maintained for a further 27.3 seconds.”++Your HUD tells you that the rest of the squad isn’t much better off when it comes to the ammo count. Your magpistol has plenty of juice left in her, but changing clips with one good-hand is proving to be a real bitch. You’re not sweating yet, well not figuratively, since Banshee squad is just a few seconds away and at the rate that the hostiles are chewing through their ammo they must also be running low too. Still this isn't the only fight you have left ahead of you in this long-limbed operation, you can’t afford to let this drag on much longer.You signal your people to make their move. A double-pat on Hail’s backvest, an elbow in oyster-breath’s considerable gut, and suddenly your trotting forward at a half-crouch right over the lip of the gully and into the heart of the Auxiliary holdout. A well-placed sentry or a seconds forewarning would have seen your bunched up incursion gunned down in the seconds it takes to reach the makeshift barricade, but luck is with you. If the enemy had stayed where they were your little group would have them dead to rights with a firing line on their original position at the ridge of the gully.[2/6]
Later, when all the screaming and explosions finally stop, you figure that the enemy must have been pulling back to the barricade themselves only to run straight into your flanking force, and you honestly couldn’t say whether your people or theirs were more surprised in the sudden face-to-face encounter. You practically slam into the chest of the first Cradler operative, a somewhat lanky specimen of a Cradler who you only realise is a woman from the surprised yelp she elicits as you both scramble to bring your sidearms up to bear. You’re quicker than her, only just, and your hyperreactive pupils adjusted fast enough to send a bullet zinging into the nearest Cradler right where the shoulder meets the neck. When the Cradler woman drops you can’t tell if it’s to crawl to cover or bleed out, everything happens so quickly. A burly, almost comically muscular example of a Cradler wearing surprisingly fashionable high-tech refractor shades tackles Karaxshc with a barbaric yawp, presumably because the rebel xenos was the only thing bigger than him in this surprise encounter, and all hell breaks loose. You can’t tell whether it was Hail, Terri, Rev Sev, Hassk or maybe even an alarmed Obdine pup Frohl that fires first, but that initial panicked full-auto spray is decisive and sends the retreating Cradler operatives twisting and scrabbling into the scant cover of nearby saplings and brushes. Not a one of them reaches cover without a bullethole or three, at that range you can’t miss, but you have to respect that even then they still formed a peeling cover action that kept your people’s heads down long enough to avoid fatalities.[3/6]
A roughly human-shaped blur passes overhead as you crouch into cover. You have a fraction of a moment to register it as the same Cradler commando that tackled Karaxshc just seconds ago. As much as you dislike the rebel xeno, the big ugly Boscht bastard is as strong as he looks. Human genemodded brawn met the slab of molluscoid muscle and found itself hurled ungently into the handful of trees sturdy even not to be sawn down by gunfire. The trees give way and shatter under the force of the human projectile while the human projectile itself, surprisingly, doesn’t. Picking himself up with a look that strikes you as far more indignant than defeated, the Cradler leader barks a curt command. [4/6]
“Voetsek!” He snarls right at you, ducking aside before your magpistol rounds find him. “Fok this for a laugh. Bushies! Grab your China and make tracks!”You feel a ridiculously wistful sense of nostalgia at hearing the thick accent of home, especially the swear words. These aren’t Buya Valley boys or Karnak Eartakers, these Cradlers are Shosa tribe for sure. Based from a walled city built around one of the old research stations, folk from Shosa typically landed on the more civilized scale of the tribes and clans of Clayton's Cradle. As a wastrel you were no kind of kin to them, but the Shosa never tried to kill you just for hunting on their turf and you even traded with them a couple of times. This is still a fight to the death, that’s just how it goes in the Green, but at least you and your men don’t have to worry about filling out an ear necklace or ending up on the menu if you cop it out here.No one survives any length of time in the Green of Clayton’s Cradle without knowing when to cut their loses, and these Shosa boys are no different. Your advance has become a pursuit, but even as been to scud as they are the elite Auxiliaries are disciplined to maintain a rearguard action as you coordinate with SGT Casket and try to steer the surviving hostiles directly into the approaching muzzles of Banshee squad. The line-of-retreat isn’t perfect, despite your successes you haven’t entirely controlled the enemy’s movements as they make their way into denser cover. Banshee’s opening salvo is going to tear them to shreds, but there’s still a chance a few of them won’t be caught in the trap and manage to slip away…===================================[5/6]
[6/6]FIREFIGHT VOTES(1) Select Squad Tactic> “That’s far enough, lads! Call your shots.” Your people continue to fire after the retreating hostiles, but Banshee Squad can pick up the slack when it comes to close quarters. If something goes terribly wrong you’ll at least be certain the damage to your people is minimal and the wounded you already have aren’t further harmed. [Hold Position/Sweep and Clear]> “Peel off! I don’t want us missing any stragglers.” You break off pursuit and direct your advance for the most likely egress where any survivors of Banshee squads angle of attack are likely to be forced into. And you make certain the corpses here are just that before you do. TPR Terri’s perk can be used on any and all hostiles that are ‘Critical’ status at the end of the firefight results. [Wetwork Ploy/Sweep and Clear] > “After them! This one is mine…” If some of the elite Auxiliaries manage to escape intact and disengage, challenging their leader directly and finishing him off will put an end to that threat once and for all. Not to mention that he is likely to have all the best loot. [Shock Assault/Sweep and Clear]_(2) Select Strategem (TWO MAX).> Tactical Analysis (∞): -10DC and +1 Remaining Re-Roll to uses for this engagement.>Lead by Example - Close Encounter (N/A 0/1): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if using Shock Assault Tactic this round.>Lead by Example - Wetwork (1/1): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if using Wetwork Ploy Tactic this round.>Lead by Example – Hold Position (1/1): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if using Hold Position Tactic this round.Sweep and Clear will result in this being treated as a Sharpshooter stratagem with lesser odds and risk>Alpha Instinct (N/A ∞): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if a kill was inflicted in the previous round No KIA inflicted in the previous round_(3) Select Squaddie Orders (TWO MAX). (refer to advance firefight rules for specifics)>CPL Crane ‘Watch My Back’ - N/A>CPL Crane ‘Time for Plan B’ - N/A>GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire’ (1/3) If not used, rolls for Nines on the casualty table are ignored.>MDC Petal ‘Medic!’ - N/A>SPR Convict ‘Bring it Down’ (1/2)>SIG Night Night ‘Where the hell is our ride?’ - N/A>Rebel Jake Martin ‘Watch Their Back’ - N/A_(4) Banshee Squad> “Scud Casket, it’s about damn time.” +20DC Bonus to Firefight. The friendly casualty table is modified to include Banshee squad numbers. [Banshee Squad engages]> “Banshee hold fire and check your targets. We’ll drive ‘em right to you.” No bonus to Firefight DC or modified friendly casualty table, +1 Severity to all hostile casualty results this round. [Banshee Squad waits in ambush]
>>6432356(1) Select Squad Tactic> “Peel off! I don’t want us missing any stragglers.” You break off pursuit and direct your advance for the most likely egress where any survivors of Banshee squads angle of attack are likely to be forced into. And you make certain the corpses here are just that before you do. TPR Terri’s perk can be used on any and all hostiles that are ‘Critical’ status at the end of the firefight results. [Wetwork Ploy/Sweep and Clear]Lets not get sloppy, but lets not let them escape either, not even one(2) Select Strategem (TWO MAX).>Lead by Example - Wetwork (1/1): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if using Wetwork Ploy Tactic this round.(3) Select Squaddie Orders (TWO MAX). (refer to advance firefight rules for specifics)>SPR Convict ‘Bring it Down’ (1/2)(4) Banshee Squad> “Scud Casket, it’s about damn time.” +20DC Bonus to Firefight. The friendly casualty table is modified to include Banshee squad numbers. [Banshee Squad engages]>>6421952me
>>6432358If you want to use the +20 from Banshee Squad, why not use Nines' order to ensure a critfail can't kill anyone? The DC should still be 90+ even with Bill healing a wound without the other squad's help. Which would also make rerolls irrelevant since we can't reroll a critfail. The way I see it is the extra DC is to create a safety buffer so we can ensure we won't take any damage guaranteed, and the Ambush option just maximizes our killing potential while still leaving the barest risk for suffering damage in return.
>>6432368I suppose my thinking was to keep Nines off the list just in case, despite how unlikely it is that we'll fuck this one up. I'm also pretty tired so I may not have thought things through as thoroughly as I could have
>>6432356> “Peel off! I don’t want us missing any stragglers.”>Lead by Example - Wetwork (1/1): +1 Re-Roll to Firefight if using Wetwork Ploy Tactic this round.>GNR Nines ‘Covering Fire'>SPR Convict ‘Bring it Down’ > “Scud Casket, it’s about damn time.” +20DC Bonus to Firefight. The friendly casualty table is modified to include Banshee squad numbers. [Banshee Squad engages]
Q: Do we need to conserve Nine's and Convict's ammo for the next firefight?
