Contract #4: Formula 42

[Elliott]

Tyros looks down at the sample canister in his hands and tries to determine what is inside.

"Element 13, hmmmmm. What was the sample number we were supposed to retrieve again, boys?"

[GM Nick]

The worker turns slowly, hands still aloft. He relaxes slightly, but only slightly, when he sees the Firestarter team.

"You're not one of them? Are you the extraction team?"

His head cranes as he looks for the source of Tyros' voice. Finding none, he turns back to Doc.

"Element 13 is a rare mineral compound. We study it exclusively on this floor."

[Stephen]

Val sighs, his annoyance clearly evident in the impatient glare he gives the chemsuited man.

"OK, it's a rare mineral and you study it on this floor. You're being about as helpful as the last guy I shot. I'm a far cry from a fraggin' geologist, but I'm also a far cry from a fraggin' idiot. I figured all that out before you opened your mouth. Elaborate, 'mano. The more we know about what these terrorists are doing here, the better we'll be equipped to do our jobs. And seeing that we're the extraction team, you should be pretty damn enthusiastic about being forthcoming with the info."

Val decides to leave out exactly what kind of extraction team they are, as well as the fact that extracting him is a tertiary objective at best. Let him think what he wants. He crosses his arms across his chest and waits (im)patiently.

[GM Nick]

The man sighs, imparting a slight fog of condensation on the clear plastic view panel of the chemsuit.

"I guess confidentiality went out the window when terrorists invaded the facility. The truth of the matter is this drek is dangerous. You need a Haz level four just to touch the specimen container. It's all mined from underneath the mojave in a classified location, which only a few top people have access to. Apparently it's some kind of astral hotspot, spewing out all matter of awakened activity. Strange geological formations were observed. Some enterprising suit decided to bring them back here for study. We don't even really understand how this stuff works yet, but it manipulates astral energy. Some of the minerals absorb magic, some amplify it. I've heard rumors that the boys on sub-level three have perfected a way to control astral energy through the crystals. That's way above my access level."

[John]

Max gives Tyros a concerned look, then returns his attention to the hazmat suited man, and says,

"What can you tell us about where the terrorists are now? How many are there? Have you seen their leader?"

[GM Nick]

"I think most of them are on sub-level three, they just broke through the security perimeter a few minutes ago. Big orc with a trenchcoat seems to be calling all the shots, didn't overhear his name though. I haven't seen the other employees, but I can only assume they're down there as well.

[John]

Max nods and looks at the team, and says,

"Sounds like more of the same that we've been hearing."

Turning back to the scientist, the elf asks,

"Alright, head up the stairs-- things are gonna get hot on sublevel three. But before you go, do you know of any particular instability this element possesses that you can tell us about? Things have a tendency to explode wherever we go."

[GM Nick]

Darkness temporarily envelops the room as the lights flicker.

"Drek! The crystalline growth must have ruptured the pneumatics that control the--"

Simultaneously, all of the specimen chambers release a puff of atmosphere and open.

"--doors." His voice has fallen to a terrified whisper.

[John]

Max looks around in equal parts exasperation, exhaustion, and anger, and grumbles,

"Must be my lucky day..."

Without thinking about it, the elf naturally readies his weapon.

[Drew Buddy]

Adams reseals his helmet, and raises his weapon.

"Stay behind us, and don't get in the way," he barks at the man.

[Conway]

Sinjin listens to the description of elements thoughtfully, intrigued by their obvious potential for commercial development into things like spell-stopping astral armor, and countless other applications such magically attuned materials could improve. Infused polymers might be used on everything from vehicle masking paint jobs to spell enhancing nail polishes, ceramic bullets glazed with mineral derived clear coats could damage targets with both physical and astral energy simultaneously. His mind wanders on, inventing imaginary future-tech with rapid enthusiasm until he remembers, not for the first time, the scope and scale of such a project and the types of organizations that could afford to be involved in it. The extremely dangerous type. With mounting anxiety, Sinjin also realizes the extent that an equally funded competitor might go to hijack, steal, sabotage, or otherwise profit from such an untapped enterprise.

Frowning, he reconsiders the involvement of their client, and wonders exactly which side FRSR might have curled up in bed with. Suddenly it all seems less exciting, and he begins to feel more and more that the team might be exposing themselves to some very real powers, who might take very real action against them. His eyes begin to lose focus as he privately recalls the exquisite unpleasantness that is certain to accompany the attention of such organizations. He'd sworn never to get caught in the middle again. Not a hard vow to make, as the odds were against living through the alternative.

As the room jumps into action around him, Sinjin's introspective is broken. Fight now, think later....If we make it outta here.

Returning his focus to a combat-ready awareness, he falls in line behind his fellow 'runners and readies himself for bloodshed.

[Elliott]

Tyros looks down with a raised eyebrow at the canister in his, albeit gloved, hands. The big troll seems to pay little attention to the doors opening and his unnerved teammates.

"So this is or isn't what we are looking for? Did what's her cock-hardening name even say which specific specimen sample we were supposed to retrieve? This drek is fascinating."

Tyros peers into the canister in astral vision, making special care to see if any astral energy is leaking out of container and threaten his aura. (roll magical theory to see what I can tell about it).

[GM Nick]

Four more of the crystal behemoths emerge from the clouded depths of the specimen chambers, turning their insane rage towards the closest living beings--in this case, Firestarter.

[ Val = 49 ]
[ Max = 45 ]
[ Doc = 37 ]
[ CB2 = 37 ] *deceased
[ CB3 = 34 ] *deceased
[ Sinjin = 33 ]
[ Tyros = 33 ]
[ CB1 = 29 ] *deceased
[ CB4 = 21 ]

[Stephen]

Val's eyes dart around picking out threats, which are immediately tagged by his Smartlink system, as if he needed the clarification. His brain scrambles to accurately gauge the depth of drek the team currently finds itself in, and fails miserably. His lips begin to move even as his rifle snaps up to firing position.

"You've got to be fraggin' kidding me," he mutters disbelievingly under his breath.

Val peers down the sight at center mass of one of the crystalline titans. The rifle stutters angrily against his shoulder as he fires off a pair of bursts.

(( Narrow bursts at CB2. ))

[John]

Max comms out to the team,

<Tyros! Anybody! Do we have any idea of some kind of weakness these things might have??>

The elf's eyes frantically search the room for any environmental hazards they might be able to use. Finally, he comms back out,

<Throw the canister at them!>

[GM Nick]

Ranged Combat (Val)

[Automatics (6) + AGI (5) + Smartlink (2) = 8]
1 5 3 6 5 5 2 5 6 5 6 2 4
[REA (4) = 1]
3 5 2 3

Damage Resistance (???)

[BOD (22) = 10]
5 3 3 4 3 2 6 6 2 5 2 1 2 4 5 4 6 5 5 6 5 2

< 6P DAMAGE >

Glittering shards litter the floor as Val hammers the abomination with 7.62mm fury.

Ranged Combat (Val)

[Automatics (6) + AGI (5) + Smartlink (2) + RC (-1) = 4]
4 2 4 1 3 5 6 2 3 5 5 3
[REA (4) = 1]
4 6 4 1

Damage Resistance (???)

[BOD (22) = 11]
5 4 1 1 5 6 1 5 5 6 1 5 4 2 2 2 6 1 4 5 6 5

The second burst doesn't seem to penetrate the resilient exoskeleton.

(( Remember that chatter during combat usually consumes your actions. A free action can be used to say a few words. Try and stick to mostly OOC. ))

[John]

(( Seems to me that, given the format, if we can coordinate our actions OOC, why not just let us do it in character to keep it within the narrative/character interactions? If we can coordinate one way or the other, we may as well do it in character. My two cents, anyhow. ))

Max stares down the sights of his weapon at the impossible behemoths making their way to his position and briefly considers a retreat. DREK! The team is blocked in by the crystal growths on the stairs, which they more than likely couldn't navigate through quickly enough to get to safety and regroup. It looks like this one is going to have to go down in what is just about the only way FRSR knows. Max sights in on the nice hole punched by Val and fires a pair of narrow bursts.

(( +4DV, BF ))

[GM Nick]

Ranged Combat (Max)

[Shotguns (8) + AGI (10) + Smartlink (2) + Called Shot (-4) = 6]
5 5 4 2 1 2 6 4 2 1 6 1 6 6 3 1
[REA (4) = 2]
1 6 2 5

Damage Resistance (CB2)

[BOD (22) = 5]
3 2 3 6 1 6 1 3 1 3 3 3 3 2 5 4 5 2 1 2 1 6

< 12P DAMAGE >

Max fires a burst directly into the fissure created by Val's burst, shattering the creature.

[John]

Max looks down at his weapon for a brief moment of disbelief-- his previous fruitless attempts to fell one of these monsters not jiving with the crippling wound just dished out by Marlowe & Co. Before he recognizes his shift in actions, Max changes targets to the next crystalline golem and fires.

(( Same shot. ))

[GM Nick]

Ranged Combat (Max)

[Shotguns (8) + AGI (10) + Smartlink (2) + Called Shot (-4) + RC (-3) = 4]
6 1 1 3 5 2 3 1 4 4 5 1 5
[REA (4) = 2]
5 3 5 4

Damage Resistance (CB3)

[BOD (22) = 8]
2 3 1 3 3 6 3 3 6 4 6 1 5 5 5 1 4 6 5 1 1 2

< 7P DAMAGE >

Max spins and fires another burst, doing significant damage to another adversary.

[Drew Buddy]

Adams swings his rifle toward the injured monster, and fires a burst at the hole that Max has already started digging in its carpace.

(( BF Narrow, +4DV ))

[GM Nick]

Ranged Combat (Doc)

[Battle Rifles (8) + AGI (10) + Smartlink (2) + RR (1) + Called Shot (-4) = 3]
1 1 3 2 1 2 6 1 3 2 3 4 3 5 5 3 2
[REA (4) = 3]
5 4 5 6

Doc's first shot is wide, riddling giant holes in the side of the specimen chamber.

[GM Nick]

Ranged Combat (Doc)

[Battle Rifles (8) + AGI (10) + Smartlink (2) + RR (1) + Called Shot (-4) = 7]
4 1 6 4 6 5 1 2 2 5 5 4 3 2 5 5 3
[REA (4) = 2]
6 6 4 4

Ranged Combat (Doc)

[BOD (22) = 11]
6 6 6 5 5 4 4 5 6 1 4 6 6 5 4 3 1 2 2 3 1 5

< 8P DAMAGE >

Doc's thunderous burst drops another one of the shambling nightmares.

(( Sinjin! ))

[Conway]

Amid the gun smoke and the tinkling of shattered crystal, Sinjin rushes the towering behemoths. Darting beneath the monsters ungainly outstretched arms, he launches upwards to deliver a weighty uppercut.

((CB1, KH+CS))

[GM Nick]

Sinjin is a blur as he races up to his target.

Melee Combat (Sinjin)

[Martial Arts (8) + AGI (5) = 4]
3 3 1 5 6 3 5 3 4 6 3 4 2
[Unarmed Combat (4) + AGI (4) = 1]
3 1 2 3 3 1 1 6

Damage Resistance (CB1)

[BOD (22) = 9]
2 5 4 2 3 5 6 5 3 2 4 6 5 4 1 2 2 6 6 3 2 6

< 4P DAMAGE >

The force of the adept's blow knocks the geological marvel back, sending a spray of mineral fragments across the room.

[Elliott]

Hefting his sword above his head, Tyros roars his battle cry and charges in to support Sinjin.

[Conway]

(btw, this shit is cool. yes, I have been up drinking all night....+3 green Boots from NYC...holla))

[John]

(( There we have it, fellas-- Clusterfrag's first ever 'DURNK ON TEH INTERNET' post. We had a good run. ))

[GM Nick]

Melee Combat (Tyros)

[Blades (8) + AGI (5) + Weapon Focus (2) + Friends in Melee (2) = 3]
4 5 1 3 3 2 3 1 6 4 1 6 3 4 2 2 3
[Unarmed Combat (4) + AGI (4) + Attacker Unseen (-4) = 1]
4 5 2 2

Damage Resistance (CB1)

[BOD (22) = 6]
3 6 2 4 1 4 2 4 2 3 2 1 4 4 5 4 6 5 3 5 4 5

< 4P DAMAGE >

A gash appears across the gleaming surface of the behemoth as Tyros' invisible claymore strikes it.

[GM Nick]

One of the monstrous creatures lunges forward and attempts to smash Sinjin into the ground.

Melee Combat (CB1)

[Unarmed Combat (4) + AGI (4) = 6]
4 2 5 6 5 6 5 5
[Martial Arts (8) + AGI (5) = 3]
2 4 5 2 5 3 4 2 3 3 1 6 3

Damage Resistance (Sinjin)

[BOD (5) + Armor (16) = 6]
1 1 3 5 4 4 2 3 6 6 1 2 2 6 3 1 6 4 4 1 5

< 5S DAMAGE >

The force of the impact sends Sinjin sprawling across the room, where he bangs against the side of a chamber.

[GM Nick]

The other remaining behemoth swings a massive arm at Max.

Melee Combat (CB4)

[Unarmed Combat (4) + AGI (4) = 3]
3 2 6 1 6 2 5 4
[Unarmed Combat (6) + AGI (10) = 2]
4 2 3 6 2 4 4 3 2 4 6 2 1 4 4 3

Damage Resistance (Max)

[BOD (4) + Armor (9) = 7]
5 6 3 5 2 6 6 5 3 6 4 1 4

< 2S DAMAGE >

The swinging limb catches Max in the rib-cage and sends him sliding backwards across the floor.

[GM Nick]

[ Val = 49 ]
[ Max = 45 ]
[ Doc = 37 ]
[ Sinjin = 33 ]
[ Tyros = 33 ]

[Stephen]

Val winces as he watches the two remaining titans hammer into his teammates. We have to end this quickly, or we'll all be flying home with concussions and broken bones.

A slight metallic click issues from his rifle as Val switches its firing mode to full auto. He sights in on the undamaged giant and fires off a burst.

(( Trying something a little different here. Long Narrow Burst in FA mode. See SR4 p. 154. ))

[Elliott]

((No reach bonus for Tyros? If they negate it, they should be getting +4 dice against everyone else, no? And Sinjin should have gotten the friends in melee bonus too.))

[GM Nick]

Ranged Combat (Val)

[Automatics (6) + AGI (5) + Smartlink (2) + RC (-1) = 6]
2 5 3 6 6 2 5 3 3 6 3 6
[REA (4) = 1]
1 1 6 4 **Glitch!**

Damage Resistance

[BOD (22) = 8]
6 3 2 1 3 6 5 6 1 3 3 4 6 3 4 3 3 6 6 5 1 1

< 8P DAMAGE >

Val's rifle chatters as he blasts the behemoth with automatic fire.