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Post by Maelstrom on Aug 23, 2017 19:36:29 GMT -6
[GM Note- Positioning Round]
In this round, players may get into position and have some basic interactions.
For Geneenh, this round will be a flurry of activity, as she needs to get up the mountain, deal with sending the all-clear to the enemy base (regarding the patrol), and begin accessing the turret.
Rula'an will have time to prepare his message (keeping in mind that with timing, it would be towards the end of the round, since the team would need to get through the mountain).
Lysander doesn't have much he must do this round except find a good sniper perch.
Teams B and C can choose whether or not to get close to their positions, keeping in mind the lookouts and patrols mentioned in Xan's report (note that nothing was stated about the presence or absence of many mods on their gear that might help in picking up enemies in the field).
Team A should begin on its primary objective. Note that they are closer to the science station (where a single dropship is positioned), but more of the objectives and more snipers are located on the landing pad. After committing to the objective, a GM post will follow for the specific challenges at that objective. Team A's actions should be submitted for GM approval before posting.
Players should have time to talk about refining the strategy and interact with one another during this round, keeping in mind their position relative to the enemies.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Aug 24, 2017 19:04:10 GMT -6
Lysander moved up to Fischer's position and took another look through his scope. He spotted an area a few yards down from the mouth of the cave with ample foliage and a good view of the "kill zone" he had mentioned in his plan. He forwarded this to everyone's holomaps along with the notations he made on Xan's findings.
"Okay - this is where I'll set up shop," Eric said over the teams' secure comms, having his position blink on the map briefly before blinking Xan's marks. "Can keep you all covered no problem. These are the hostiles Xan was able to identify. I'll update as I spot more. Should take me about thirty seconds to take position on the perch. Everyone set?"
[Insert replies/comments from teammates, where and if applicable]
Eric brought up the chronometer on his Omni-Tool. "This op and I are go thirty seconds from my mark... annnd... mark!"
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Post by Maelstrom on Aug 30, 2017 0:43:32 GMT -6
"Everyone set?" Lysander asked.
"Set here," Maelstrom replied, though he knew most of his work would be in getting into position and waiting. Still, when Lysander gave the word, Maelstrom made his way towards the housing units. He stayed low as he ran, letting the black of his suit blend in with the darkness all about them and trying not to be too obtrusive to the local flora. To his mind, this was the perfect setting for stealth, and he was glad for the cover.
As he came to within about a hundred meters of the objective, he stopped and settled into a prone position in a clear swath of ground. He momentarily considered holstering his SMG in favor of his assault rifle, in order to allow him to take more precision shots at the outset of the inevitable combat, but he knew his strengths. When the time came, he was the group's biotic artillery, and his job was to make the enemy thing hell had come to the mortal realm.
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Post by Urdnot Thrak on Aug 30, 2017 0:48:00 GMT -6
Thrak grunted at Stick's question. There really was no being "ready" for a krogan who was being tasked with moving somewhere undetected over open ground, but he was up for giving it a shot. The environment was at least conducive to the plan.
Upon receiving the signal, the krogan did his best to sneak. The hardest part, other than trying to look small, was not squashing all the little plants around him, causing leaves to sway and the like. If anyone in the enemy force were a well-trained sniper, such a slip-up from him would be fatal. As it was, he somehow managed to make it to a rock outcropping almost a hundred meters from the science building, where he hunkered down to take shelter from watchful eyes.
He looked about for Girlie for a moment, before cursing himself. Though she would be sneaking much as he had, she would be using a stealth field, and he knew he would never spot her with his naked eyes. Still, he saw a flicker of movement here, a disturbed blade of grass there, which he could only assume was the stealth team.
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Post by XanDorak on Aug 30, 2017 0:53:39 GMT -6
Xan stifled the joke about how he could reach the bottom of the canyon faster than any of them. It was true, of course, if he turned on his side, but he imagined the present company would not have appreciated it. Instead, he holstered his sniper rifle, the long barrel of which would doubtlessly have disturbed the flora on his descent, and drew his Revenant.
The assault rifle was one of his more extravagant expenditures in the course of his quest, but it had served him well. Though many derided its lack of accuracy, he had no complaints, so long as he fired the weapon in short bursts. Besides which, any slug which hit its target did more damage on average than any two or three projectiles from a lesser weapon. He smiled.
Unlike some of the others, Xan's natural frame granted him to ability to make his stealthy approach without having to duck. In fact, he more or less shadowed the krogan, knowing that if the hulking brute could make his way through a path without disturbing the surrounding plants, he could as well.
When he reached the rock outcropping with the krogan, he looked at the assembled combatants, out-of-breath, stated, "I can't stand all this sneaking around. I'm ready to fight."
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Post by EmilyMoore on Aug 30, 2017 1:02:38 GMT -6
"Everyone set?" Lysander asked.
Emily nodded curtly, before adding over the comms, "Affirmative." Though she had not taken action against the pirates in the cave, this would be different. She was an infiltrator, trained to kill from the shadows. She would be in her element.
"annnd... mark!"
Emily quickly raised her cloak and bounded down the hill with the feline grace of a cat. Not a single blade of grass moved in response to her presence, and barely a sound issued from her padded footfalls. Rather than keeping her sniper rifle out, she drew a pistol with a simple suppressor. The model of the weapon was not of great importance, though, and she carried it more for a sense of security than out of need of it. A firefight would end the failure of her objective anyway.
She made her way directly for the first drop ship, near the science station. It was the clear choice. Though it was a tempting idea to take out the snipers on the landing pad first, that would have necessitated crossing more ground, only to back-track to complete their objective, and then having to back-track again if they were to complete their secondary objectives.
Emily came to a stop not far from the vessel but out-of-sight to any of the guards or patrols. She allowed her cloak to drop, as she motioned setting a charge to the other infiltrator followed by keeping an eye out and being on-guard. Fairly certain he understood, she took to setting the charge in an atmospheric intake port, where he was fairly certain no one would find it, hoping Izahm would have her back.
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Post by Maelstrom on Aug 30, 2017 1:05:41 GMT -6
[GM Note]
As Emily is setting the charge, a quarian technician will come out of the hatch near her. He will not have a weapon drawn, but he has his omni-tool up, as well as a drone which had been being used for repair but which can deal overload or flamethrower attacks. Actions taken against this pirate can be assumed to be successful.
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Post by rulaan on Aug 30, 2017 21:29:22 GMT -6
Rula'an nodded to Izahm and rifled through his captured database finding the correct frequency, correct responses, and security phrases. "Mwssage is ready for when we leave the caves," he says getting up and following the group still going through the database he captured.
Upon exiting the cave he sends off the message then makes his way down slightly to the right of Xan and Thrak to avoid clustering. He sets his external envirosuit systems to cool to mask his signature then he slowly creeps forward keeping low until hes crouched next to Xan. He lustens to the Volus express his thirst fir battle and offers his own reply, "I prefer to avoid combat if at all possible. It's just not my strength. That's why I enjoy accompanying individuals such as yourself and Thrak."
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Post by XanDorak on Aug 31, 2017 0:04:14 GMT -6
Can inhaled sharply. "Such an attitude will hardly change society's view of enviro-suit wearers." He took another deep breath. "Reinforcing the stereotype..."
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Post by Urdnot Thrak on Aug 31, 2017 0:09:00 GMT -6
"At least Tweak knows to let the krogan go first," the krogan laughed quietly. "Just fight smart, you two, and stay out of the arc of my hammer's swing."
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Post by rulaan on Aug 31, 2017 0:13:29 GMT -6
"It's not reinforcing the stereotype it's saving my life," Rula'an fired back, "Besides you wear the suit out of necessity same as me. The only difference is that you at least have some respect to your race. Have you ever been called suit rat or have a Batarian try to poison you to see how fast you die because nobody cares about a bucket head?" Rula'an looked the Volus directly in his faceplate, "My choice to be an engineer is my choice. I am not a fighter and therefore will not try to be. I will do what I do best which is hack and disrupt. If you want a Quarian fighter contract one of our marines."
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Post by spartan560 on Aug 31, 2017 0:32:52 GMT -6
Izahm didn't reply at all he simply nodded to Lysander and followed behind Emily. His steps were light almost ghost like as he glided behind the other infiltrator careful to avoid any fauna as she did keeping low. 'Thank you Ouranos for teaching me how to move silently,' he thinks as he puts the training to use keeping up with Emily but staying slightly behind her in case she got spotted he too would not be discovered.
As his fellow infiltrator reaches the facility she engages her cloak as does Izahm. His only way to see her is her IFF tag on his HUD. As Emily starts planting a charge in the first dropship Izahm takes up a position slightly to the rear of her but close enough to give immediate protection with his blades and Phalanx which he draws and holds in his left hand leaving his right free to use the sword or the hidden blade. He scans about alert for anything when the dropship opens and a Quarian steps out.
Izahm and the Quarian lock eyes for a second but his attention moves to the uncloaked Emily planting charges. Izahm rushes forward his Phalanx focused solely on the drone pumping the full clip into it. He then grabs the Quarian by his enviro suits collar and pistol whips his head stunning him long enough for him to back off a half step and flick his wrist to deploy his hidden blade. He then grabs the Quarians collar again with his left hand plunging the 5 inch monomolecular blade straight into the Quarians trachea, he then reloads his Phalanx and stands ready again.
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Post by Maelstrom on Aug 31, 2017 1:03:49 GMT -6
[GM Note]
The gunshots alert the guards at the science building. The krogan and turian call for the quarian as they near, splitting up and circling the ship from opposite sides (the turian closer to Izahm and krogan closer to Emily. Their weapons are ready.
[Players see them coming and may state both the attack and it's result. If quick enough, they can take guns out of the equation before shots are fired, but enemies will fight back.]
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Post by spartan560 on Aug 31, 2017 1:25:39 GMT -6
Izahm hears the call out and rather than try to reply he flicks on his Omni-shield and as the Turian rounds the ship he slaps his Omni-shield into the Turians gun arm with enough force to knock the gun away however the Turian simply reaches back and draws a combat talon. He lunges forward with a straight thrust.
Izahm anticipating this slams his shield point first into the Turian stopping his forward momentum but in return the Turians blade grazes past his shoulder. Flicking his wrists he activates the hidden blade and deactivates his Omni-shield using the now free hand to grip the Turian close as he moves his arm to plunge the blade into the Turians abdomen but a quick knee to Izahm's midsection from said Turian breaks the two apart about a half step however Izahm retains his grip and a swift pull with a sweep of the legs brings the Turian to the floor where he wastes little time in plunging the blade multiple times into the Turian's abdomen.
As the Turian went down however he grazed Izahms hip right between the armor plates. He grunts slightly but remains upright applying a small dose of Medi-gel to stop the bleeding. He then turns to see how Emily is faring against the other enemy.
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Post by Joe Fischer on Aug 31, 2017 3:01:41 GMT -6
Joe stayed back, letting the others go ahead of him.
He was actually surprised at Thrak; while the krogan would never be an infiltrator, he moved well enough.
Xan and Rula'an followed Thrak. Given Xan's size, it was easy for him to blend in with his surroundings, but the quarian had to be a bit more careful.
"Bon, modify suit light output to match the light given off by the flowers," he said.
It took a few seconds for the lights to change and then he slowly followed after the others.
*****
Reaching the rest of the team, he heard Xan and Rula'an arguing about how the galaxy perceived races that needed environmental suits to live.
He sighed.
"Boys, you're not going to settle this problem now, so shut up and focus on the mission," he snapped. "Once we're done and back on the ship, you can discuss it to your heart's content."
He scanned the area for any threats, then looked back at the pair.
"For what it's worth, the fact that you do this says you got more guts than most non-enviro-suit wearers," he said, then resumed scanning for threats.
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Post by EmilyMoore on Sept 2, 2017 1:42:15 GMT -6
Emily flinched, as she heard the report of a silenced weapon. She wheeled around, the charge set, prepared to face a for, only to find her partner standing over a quarian.
She nearly went off on the man for using such a weapon so close to the guards for the building, but then she heard them coming. Dropping into a low crouch, she activated her cloak, just as trained.
Breathless heartbeats passed before a massive krogan wielding a rifle rounded the corner. As she heard Izahm struggle with another foe, the krogan took aim. Just as planned.
She exploded forward, ejecting the thermal clip from the rifle with her left hand, leaving the weapon impotently hissing as the krogan squeezed the trigger. Her contact had disrupted the cloak, but her omni-blade was already forming around her right fist.
Hee attacks we're jabs, not lethal in their own right against a krogan, but each having a building effect. The kidney to briefly stun with pain. The primary heart to sap strength and speed. A dodge. The knee, to limit movement. The man's favored hand, to curtail omni-tool use. Another close dodge. Secondary heart. Tertiary brain stem. The krogan headbutts her- weak enough she doesn't stagger. A lung. Primary brain stem. Dodging a limp swat. The kill-stroke- blade slipped under the cranial plate and worked in a circular pattern, shedding the tissue below.
Then all was still. Quiet. She rounded on Izahm, shoulders arched, almost ready to re-engage the spent blade. Were her helmet off, she was sure her gaze could have melted the man's armor to slag.
As recrimination, she tossed him the thermal clip stolen from the krogan's gun, before going low again and starting for the landing pad under cloak.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Sept 2, 2017 10:37:19 GMT -6
Eric moved out low to the ground as the others began their descent to the dig site. As quickly as he could without giving himself away, he circled around jagged rock faces and bare spots until he arrived at his position within his given time frame. Situating himself, he drew his sniper rifle and zoomed in as faint reports of gunfire came in through his helmet's external microphones.
Emily and Izahm were already at the landing pad setting charges when a pirate, a quarian with a repair drone, spotted them. He was taken down quickly but the commotion drew two guards away from the lab complex. One of them, a krogan, was closing in on Emily. The pirate barely had time to zero in on her with his weapon before the playful, mysterious Cerberus rescue finally showed her claws and neutralized the threat with unnerving ease, swiftly stabbing into his every vital point. Eric panned over to locate Izahm who had eliminated the turian trying to get the drop on him.
The N7 brought up the team's holomap and updated Xan's markers to account for the kills made before looking down his scope again to locate the volus, Maelstrom, Thrak and Joseph along with any new, incoming threats. Finger over the trigger..
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Post by spartan560 on Sept 2, 2017 11:04:32 GMT -6
Izahm met her stare steadily and caught the clip he then checked it over making sure it was full before clipping it to his person to replace the clip he spent from his Phalanx. He then drags the bodies one by one carefully into the dropship. He positioned them so they appeared to have fallen asleep while playing a game. Izahm then moves up back into position to follow close behind Emily activating his own cloak. This time however his left hand rests on the handle of his sword and his right hand is free for anything else. 'Idiot only use a gun as a last resort,' Izahm mentally berates himself, 'You must be silent as shadow and fluid as water.' He keeps close to Emily but remains alert and keeps his distance to avoid them both getting caught.
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Post by Geneenh T'Loris on Sept 3, 2017 9:17:24 GMT -6
Once clear of the cave, Maelstrom moved forward and Geneenh pulled out the equipment she would need to climb to the AA turret.
It had been a while since she had done it—about ten years—but she hadn’t forgotten it. She noticed that over the past fifty years she had settled into a rhythm where she would spend a number of years on more civilized planets doing jobs before getting bored and spending a number of years doing jobs on the less civilized ones, though she would be hard-pressed to say which was more dangerous.
“So are you planning to report in any time soon?” came a human-sounding voice through her radio.
It was not one of the team members, so it must be the supervisor of the team that she and the others had eliminated. After going through their omnitools, she set hers to receive any future incoming transmissions.
She debated for a second on how to report but realized it was a waste of time; either her report would be accepted or it wouldn’t.
“There were some sketchy-looking rocks we had to investigate,” she said.
“Are you sure you and Brask weren’t just humping?” the sender said. “You know the boss wants pictures of that.”
“Tell him if he wants to watch he can come down here himself,” she said. “But let him know Brask is shy when it comes to performing in front of an audience.”
“All right,” the sender said, chuckling. “Make sure you check in on time.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” she said, and ended the conversation.
*****
The climb, while not particularly long, was still difficult due to the low visibility; she had to feel for hand and footholds the entire ascent, and there were several moments she almost fell. Fortunately, the only things that fell were some small rocks dislodged by her efforts, but they still seemed incredibly loud given the situation.
But she made it to the turret and her luck started to change. The access panel was on the side facing away from the camp, thus allowing her to activate her omnitool without fear of its orange glow giving her away.
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Post by Ghorith Ghegranak on Sept 3, 2017 9:25:26 GMT -6
As the asari began climbing to the turret, Ghorith watched her ascend. There was something he didn’t trust about her, even if she was good at her job.
But now was not the time to second-guess the Broker; he was clearly willing to overlook her moral pragmatism, and so the batarian would have to do so as well.
He looked over at the turian female. Now she was someone he was very comfortable with; not only was she a member of a race he respected, but she was very dedicated to her job and unafraid to take an unpopular stance if she thought she was right.
If she continued to live out her life in the same manner, the gods would surely bless her with a better body—perhaps even grant her admission into the afterlife.
“Go ahead to Maelstrom,” he whispered to her. “I will look after Geneenh.”
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