ExaltedOut log 23/3/13

* Bolt pokes around at the metalic rubble that once were suits of armour, "You know... If I can scrape up some of those pieces and stick them on this one, I could probably get these things up and running again after all the damage we did. Not sure how they work exactly, but finding out is half the fun!"
<[R]> <Sonny> "I could take one."
<Relentless> "Hmmm. It has stealth capabilities? That could be good when going for their base."
<Bolt> "Should we load them into the car and continue on with the mission, or do you want me to see how much I can do before we go on the offensive?"
<[R]> <Sonny> "We could approach as two of 'theirs' and then infiltrate them.  Or we could just be us and get shot at."
<Relentless> "Hmm. Any idea how long it'd take? If I make Michael and myself invisble, Frost and Bolt make themselves invisble, and Ivan uses the intact armour, we could attack 'em all invisible."
<Relentless> "I'd worry about how long our 'infiltration' would work, without knowing them, their radio protocol, anything."
<[R]> (Sirocco and Sonny are unaccounted for there)
<Relentless> "And then Sirroco... what are your stealth capabilities like? Sonny could join us with stealth from either source. Or stay back with the vehicle, to reinforce or report if we die."
* Bolt hammers away at the suits with a hand made of swiss army knives, fixing them up as best she can. "Well! That's about as much as I can do with them, though they should run fine. All together they're capable of..." And she reads out the list of features!
<Relentless> "Which reminds me... Bolt - do you think you could set something up on our helicopter, so that sometime shortly after we start attacking their base, it sends a message to the bunker, so they know what's going on."
<[R]> <Sonny> "We'd have to walk back..."
* Bolt plucks out a finger that looks like a USB port, "Sure, give me a minute or two." And she heads off to the helicopter to make preparations.
<Relentless> "Send a radio message back, not send the 'copter itself back. And no, even if the 'copter is destroyed, I can fly us back."
<Bolt> "Wait, /don't/ reprogramme it to fly back by itself?" She folds the finger back in, "Aww, I was excited for a second there!"
* Bolt gets to da choppah and gets to work.
* Bolt returns, "Message is set. Now, who's taking the suits and how are we all getting there?"
<Relentless> "Well, so long as we're not attacking them *today*, I can make some reinforcements, to help us in the fight against them. But they're not very stealthy. So maybe we could send them in to attack, and we attack from invisibility?"
<Relentless> "We know the direction to their base, but not exactly how far. Frost might be the best one to scout for that
* Bolt nods, "I suppose, go and make...? your reinforcements while we've got the time to do so and Frost can go scout in the mean time. I assume they're going to be rather worried when a patrol doesn't come back home and may send people looking."
<Relentless> "Aye."
<Bolt> "So do you think we risk another combat and stay here, or relocate a couple miles in one direction so where we are isn't the last place they were heard from?"
<Relentless> "I think we relocate a few miles, find somewhere defensible, and not too obvious"
<Relentless> "I need to regain my essence, as the fight then getting the information out of that guy took a fair bit out of me"
<Bolt> "Can you do that while piloting the helicopter away from here, since I assume we'd want to take it with us?"
<Relentless> "Yes. Though less than I might otherwise."
<Relentless> "Basically we need to find somewhere we can start from to assault them
<Relentless> "One option would be to leave the helicopter where it is - it's camoflagued.
<Relentless> And for us to move, either on foot or in a vehicle, to somewhere nearer where they are, but not right on top of them."
<Relentless> "Does that work for people?"
* Bolt nods, "The helicopter might attract too much attention if we leave it where it is. Lets move by vehicle."
<Relentless> "Too much attention if we leave it where it is? It's camoflagued, it'll be seen taken off if they're approaching here. I was suggesting we move by *another* vehcile."
<Bolt> ("Too much attention if we use it to move*" I have no idea why I typed that.)
<Relentless> "Okay. I'll still need some time to get enough essence back to move us, but we can move on foot from here to somewhere a bit away, for the moment"
<Relentless> ((I assume we're fine to move off from where we are a few miles, and to wait for me to regen some essence?))
<Bolt> ((S'fine by me.))
<[R]> (24 February 2153 1954); It takes a while, but you find a defencable possition near the American base in the form of an snowed in log cabin.  The snow completely covers everything up to the roof, but you manage to make a concealed tunnel that leads you in and out.
<[R]> (3 hours for mote regen)
<Relentless> "Right. If we're going to do this the way I'm suggesting... it'll take me about a day or two to summon all of the support I can, to change my charms to being what we need for the assault.
<Relentless> "We probably also want to plan how exactly we're going to do this; infiltration in their suits, invisibility, or what."
<Ivan> "How much reinforcements and what level of combat ability on them?"
<Relentless> "Four.  They're golems. Not as capable as us, but better than most ordinary humans, and with special capabilities; the ones I was thinking of were some combination of one type that fires lightning and pulls metal objects towards itself
<Relentless> And another that's very strong, pretty tough, and can let out a screetch that'll make them not be able to do much for a few seconds."
<Bolt> "They sound... Like interesting people to meet. Is there anything we could be doing while you summon them?"
<Ivan> "How will they hold up against a dozen guys with miniguns?"
<Relentless> "They'll probably last a little while, but not *that* long. If they're not worth taking, then we can not bother with 'em, it's your call"
<Ivan> "Getting surrounded by a bunch of them will probably be our biggest problem."
<Relentless> "I can make some stealthy-ish golems instead. Still not going to last that long, but could provide a distraction as needed"
* Ivan thinks. "How much do you know about the layout of their base?"
<[R]> (REC can recreate a general map)
<Relentless> "Oh yeah, and if we can sneak up on them, and find a bunch of them with their helmets off, I can quite possibly gas 'em"
* Relentless will draw out a map
<Ivan> "Don't suppose any of you can see through their cloaking?"
* Ivan checks out the map to see roughly how many they'd likely have to engage at a time with a smart approach.
<Bolt> "I've got a charm installed that slightly boosts my hearing, but I couldn't see them, no."
<[R]> S1
<Ivan> !e 8 IntWar
<SwampLing> Ivan: 2 [8, 6, 5, 5, 6, 7, 4, 4] IntWar
<[R]> Given their very wide partol routes, and their outposts you could attack their north side and encounter as many as eight of them at a time.
* Ivan needs a bit of additional experience to plan a good attack on a large number of power-armoured guys, and it comes to him somehow, unbidden. (Buffing War to 4 reflexively)
<Relentless> "I might be able to, with my thermal imaging, or the essence sight I've got. Should probably experiment with it."
* Relentless will consider whether his golems will be much use against them, given their known capabilities
<Relentless> !e 6 IntWar
<SwampLing> Relentless: 2 [5, 7, 5, 4, 4, 9] IntWar
<Ivan> "Any of you guys masters at disguise or something that'd let you infiltrate it while being seen?"
<Micheal> "No...buuuut." Micheal takes a look at the map.
<Micheal> !e 8 IntWar
<SwampLing> Micheal: 6 [4, 3, 0, 9, 8, 9, 3, 8] IntWar
<[R]> (...)
<Micheal> (Screencap my only good roll ever plz.)
<[R]> Michael takes a look into the plan, using the devious insights he has a three-pronged strike figgured out.  First the golems will rush and take out the power, causing the guards to shift to the east side, while a second team sneaks into the west to take out the top brass.  Finally a strike is made by a third group to the front gates (south) keeping the attention off the infiltration group.
<[R]> (Second group should be REC and Michael at least; third should have Ivan at least)
<Bolt> "I'll keep with the third group and run distraction, sniper rifles don't make for close quarters combat."
<Micheal> "I am spectacularly devious."
<Ivan> "Sounds good to me." Ivan agrees, surprised that this is coming from Michael. "Michael, you should probably be with the top brass, in case you can convince them to make everyone surrender."
<Micheal> "Seems reasonable."
<Ivan> "Sirocco, you better at sneaking or making a mess?"
<Ivan> "Relentless, what do we know about their gates? I can jump over anything ten yards or less with ease."
<Relentless> (( [R]: What do I know on that))
<[R]> (They haven't completed fortifications.  It's mostly open)
<Ivan> ((For that matter, how big is the compound overall? ))
<[R]> (A campus, maybe 30 blocks for all the non-essential buildings [from a oil perspective])
<Ivan> (I guess we assume Sirocco goes with the infiltration party, but since he doesn't seem to be paying attention atm, well.)
<[R]> Oh right, I made the Sid OBT not shitty
<[R]> (whoops
<Relentless> So. Groups. First group is the golems. Second group is me, Michael, Sirocco. Third group is Ivan, Frost and Bolt?
<Ivan> (Yes, though Frost is not here at the moment.)
<Relentless> (Aye, but it's worth keeping in mind where he'd be, and hopefully [R] can include his effetiveness somehow)
<Relentless> "Where would Sonny be in all of this? Second or third group?"
<[R]> (We'll throw Sonny into 3 too)
<[R]> <Sonny> "I'll take up the third group."
<[R]> (26 February 2153 0845); You're freezing your asses off waiting for the golems to get into position, just as doubts begin to creep into your minds, a siren.  The base is put onto full alert and some of the guards are shifted to the other side.  You take this as your opertunity to strike... (everyone has invisibility?)
<Relentless> (Yup, but gimme a moment to shift my charms around and trake into account having given Michael & Sonny invisibility)
<Relentless> (Sorry, and Sirroco)
<[R]> (Sonny is in the other group)
<[R]> You trivially make it into the main building during the rukkus, the cameras fail to spot you...
<[R]> [PA] "Attention kids.  Looks like we've got some commie mutant bastards giving our power generator a one-two.  So double-time your asses and show them what we're made of: pure, unadulterated ass-kicking."
<[R]> Looks like they weren't expecting anyone to sneak in... you enter the code for the command center's door and... damnit.  They changed the password.
<[R]> [PA] "Move move move!  My grandmother runs faster than you... and she's dead!  Get your asses- huh?"  It appears the general noticed someone trying to get into the command center's door... before he can alert everyone the building shutters violently, lights flicker and shake, the door panel blinks on and off repeatedly and opens.
* Relentless will quickly check to see if he can tell what's causing that
* Relentless will then invisibly move inside the building
* Micheal calmly enters the door.
<[R]> (REC: your already in the building)
<Relentless> ((Ah, apologies, misread that))
* Relentless heads towards the generals/top brass room
<[R]> The general and his two aides fail to notice anyone other than them.
<Micheal> "Good Morning, officer!" Micheal says, clapping his hands. "How are you this fine evening?" He then gestures for Relentless to make Micheal be seen
* Micheal moves 4 yards in a tick so he reappears.
<[R]> <g> "What!  Damn it, how'd some mutant scum get in here?"  He moves to draw his weapon, his aides move to suit.
<Micheal> "Hey."
<Micheal> "I'm not a mutant."
* Relentless is holding an aim action at three ticks, pointed at the General (ready to strafe his aides too)
<Micheal> "Also if you try to shoot me you're going to get shot and I'm going to be fine, because you aren't teh first person to try and shoot me."
<Micheal> "I just wanna talk."
<[R]> !e 9 General's aim at Micheal
<SwampLing> [R]: 4 [9, 8, 2, 8, 1, 5, 2, 8, 4] General's aim at Micheal
* Relentless scans the room for anything that looks like it'd shut down defences within the complex, or otherwise cause them problems
* Micheal inclines his head slightly to the left, causing the bullet to go whistling by his head without any reaction at all. "I said don't do that."
<[R]> S1?
* Relentless holds his aim, since Michael did say he'd get shot and be fine.
<Micheal> "Now then." Micheal said. "Put your gun down, sit the fuck down, and talk with me like a normal person." Micheal says, his voice flat, but filled with Essence, an absolute command to do as he said, because he was the one in charge here, not the General.
<[R]> S2
<Micheal> !e 14 Cha + Pres
<SwampLing> Micheal: 10 [1, 7, 0, 0, 8, 1, 4, 8, 0, 3, 3, 6, 7, 4] Cha + Pres
<[R]> (want a screenie of this one too?)
<Micheal> (yes plz)
<[R]> He balks for a moment, sitting down then raging silently at his incompetance.
<Micheal> "That's what I thought."
<[R]> <g> "The fuck you commie bastards want?"
<Micheal> "No no no."
<Micheal> "That's not the question here. The question is, my good sir. What do *You* want?" He asked, blue eyes baring into the man's soul, sending chills down the man's spine as Micheal saw the man's fondest desire. What he wanted more then anything.
<Relentless> !e 9 Per Awa (assuming sight is applicable)
<SwampLing> Relentless: 9 [5, 7, 2, 0, 9, 7, 7, 8, 0] Per Awa (assuming sight is applicable)
<[R]> Relentless: it's mostly intercom and security monitors up here.  There's a terminal for access to a nearby mainframe, but you don't recall where that would be.
<Relentless> [R]: Assuming I can do so, I will quietly turn off the intercom from here to the rest of the base.
<[R]> (k)
<[R]> S2 (Micheal)
<Micheal> !e 15
* Micheal has quit (Write error: Connection reset by peer)
<SwampLing> Micheal: 8 [3, 7, 3, 1, 6, 9, 1, 0, 4, 8, 7, 1, 0, 3, 1]
* Micheal (chatzilla@cloak-805A1CD3.sip.shv.bellsouth.net) has joined
<[R]> Micheal: retire with a quarter of land which has green grass growing in it, and 2-3 women devoted to him.
<Micheal> hmm
<Micheal> I can actually totally do that.
<Micheal> Time to call Dad.
<Micheal> ...what is a quarter of land
<Bolt> Bit less than a third of land.
<Bolt> :P
<[R]> (It's a quarter of a square-mile IIRC)
<[R]> (yes, it's a square mile.  160 acres)
<Micheal> "I see, I see." Micheal said, clapping his hands again. "Is that what you want, huh? A quarter of a square mile of land with grass. Two women. Hmm."
<[R]> <g> flustered, "I absolutely do not.  What lies are you spreading."
<Micheal> "Do not lie, my good man. It does not suit ones like me and you." Micheal chastised, wagging his finger. "After all, there is no shame in having wants and desires. Especially when the means to gain them stand so close to you. Aren't you so lucky that I'm here? I am here to deliver to you all your desires. It rests within my power. I can do so but with a call, a touch. But before I do that,...
<Micheal> ...you must make your troops stand down."
<Micheal> "I am going to be clear. This is not a threat. I do not make idle threats. This is a statement. I am offering you the peaceful way out. If you agree to let me grant you what you desire, if you stand down now and wait, you get to live. I fear that will not happen if you do not agree."
<[R]> (Charm?)
<[R]> S2 for Social attack
<Micheal> (Just first Presence. Abyssals have crap for Social Abilities that aren't UMI Servitude or whatever)
<Micheal> !e 15
<SwampLing> Micheal: 8 [7, 5, 5, 2, 7, 0, 3, 6, 8, 4, 6, 9, 0, 3, 1]
<[R]> <g> "How could you?  Could you really do that?"
<Micheal> "There is nothing outside the reach of the De Luca family."
<[R]> <a1> "Damn you mutant-commie-bastard!"  One of the aides grabs her gun as she stands up.
<Micheal> "RUDE. I am none of those things!"
<[R]> (Waiting on REC)
<[R]> (Relentless)
* Micheal points his finger at the woman. "Bang."
* Relentless will shoot said aide
* Relentless flickers into visibility as a short burst of fire spits out of his minigun, the bullets glowing slightly as they fly towards the aide's head
<Relentless> (Using Essence Irradiation Corona, and a Fierce Attack called shot)
<[R]> S2
<Relentless> !e 15
<SwampLing> Relentless: 8 [3, 1, 9, 2, 2, 5, 5, 2, 8, 3, 9, 9, 0, 2, 0]
<Relentless> (I'm assuming her DV is 0 against this; what's her soak?)
<[R]> (DDV 4 [negated]; Soak 15L)
<Relentless> ((26 piercing lethal damage, so 15+2 automatic after soak, 10s count twice. Guessing she's an extra?))
<[R]> Relentless paints the console red while providing a significant amount of collateral damage to it.
<[R]> <g> "Laura!"  In distress, "DAMNIT!"  He grits his teeth and clenches his fists, bringing a bone-white to his knuckles.
<Micheal> "I did warn you all."
<[R]> The second aide pushes his back against the consoles, lowering his arm to safely drop his weapon.
<Micheal> "Good man."
* Micheal seems utterly nonplussed, as if he's done this a hundred times.
* Relentless stands almost motionless, ready to dodge or fire again as needed, but otherwise just waiting for the next time he needs to kill something.
* Sirocco rounds up the visible weapons, keeping them out of arm's reach, in case someone came down with a sudden bout of The Dumb
<[R]> (Cash and Murder could help)
<Sirocco> (I was about to ask about Force Decision, but if that's a better choice...?)
<[R]> (Oh, that could work too)
<Sirocco> "You've just got one of your people killed.  You're outnumbered and outgunned, how many more lives are you going to throw away?  You know this is only ending one way; our way.  These people trust you, do them a favour.  Save their lives."
<Sirocco> (Force Decision'ing, then)
<[R]> S2
<Sirocco> !e 8
<SwampLing> Sirocco: 3 [7, 4, 1, 1, 0, 4, 5, 6]
<[R]> (... that's... vs MDV?)
<Sirocco> (sadly yes)
<Ivan> "Eight down, one is trying to run with a fucked suit." Ivan's voice is heard crackling across the radio. "What's your status?"
<Micheal> "Winning Friends and Influencing People."
* Relentless will quietly speak to his throat mike "Negotiations are proceeding... potentially favourably. But not yet certain."
<[R]> (Ah, it was originally vs E D:)
<[R]> (MDV is 4, so fail)
<Sirocco> (yeah, it just occurred to me I should have tried channelling compassion on that)
<Ivan> "Understood. You can let them know everybody at the front gate is unconscious or worse." Ivan replies.
<[R]> (Sirocco: go ahead)
<Sirocco> !e 3
<SwampLing> Sirocco: BOTCH [2, 4, 1]
<Sirocco> (figures XD)
<Relentless> "Your men at the gate? Are no longer guarding the gate. Some of them might still be alive. They could stay that way, if you stand down."
<Relentless> (Manipulation + Presence intimidation/persuasion/general aid-another-ing the efforts of the others)
<[R]> S1
<Relentless> !e 8
<SwampLing> Relentless: 2 [6, 8, 9, 6, 5, 4, 6, 1]
<[R]> <g> grabbing the intercom, "All troops stand down."  Nothing got broadcast over the PA.  He looks confused at the lack of echo.
<Micheal> "Whelp."
* Relentless turns the intercom back on.
<[R]> [g] "All troops stand down.  We're-" the power cuts out.
<Micheal> "Wow this is just the most unlucky set of coincidences ever.
<Micheal> "
<[R]> (Remember what the golems were ordered to do?)
<Micheal> "Well, you did just order them to stand down."
<Micheal> "So then.." He said, looking at Relentless. It was a very clear gesture of 'We don't need him anymore' even if he didn't vocalize it.
<Relentless> "Do those suits have radios?"
<Relentless> "As you could tell them to stand down via that, if needed."
<[R]> (... the message did get out.)
* Relentless will step forwards, conincidentally moving into a position where he can shoot the general more easily
<[R]> (Just the power died right before completion)
* Relentless will radio the others "They've been ordered to stand down. I think you can move in, but tell us if they're attacking at all"
<Sirocco> "We should probably take him with us, so he can give the order in person if we run into anyone who didn't catch that."
* Sirocco sees the way this is going, isn't comfortable with the idea of executing cooperative prisoners, but realises there's not a damn thing he can do about it if that's the way the wind's blowing.
<Ivan> "Understood." Ivan replies. "Get an announcement out on the PA: Everybody at the front gates, unarmed, in five minutes who doesn't want to be killed."
<Relentless> "The PA is down. As is the power. But I'll pass that on."
<[R]> <g> "I'll try radioing them."  His remaining aide hands him a radio.
<[R]> [g] "All troops meet at the front entrance."
<[R]> (26 February 2153 0920); Ivan inspects the 11 soldiers that reported to the front-gate.  He finds 5 unconcious and 8 dead.  Apparently the remaining 10 are out on patrol (4 hours out).
<[R]> (Who is looking for others?)
* Relentless will send his eyedrones to go over the entire base, looking for anyone hidden
<Relentless> (and just generally scoping the place out
* Relentless will use Mass Penetrating Scan as needed to make sure he doesn't miss anything
* Ivan asks the soldiers / command whether the patrolmen know about the attack now.
<[R]> REC: MDV?
<Relentless> ((Of the drones? Or of me?))
<[R]> (You)
<Relentless> MDDV = 7
<[R]> (Also a PerAwa roll, S2)
<Relentless> (From me or the drones? As they have their own stats for Per Awa)
<[R]> <g> "They know about the three missing patrolmen from two days ago.  We're assuming that was your doing."
<[R]> REC: theirs as well, then
<Relentless> (Oh, and I'll be using Thermal Vision to help me find any warm folk around hiding in places)
<Relentless> !e 9 My Per Awa, assuming sight spec applicable
<SwampLing> Relentless: 3 [4, 0, 3, 1, 6, 7, 1, 5, 3] My Per Awa, assuming sight spec applicable
<Relentless> !e 10 2F My two drones PerAwa
<SwampLing> Relentless: 1 [1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 6, 6, 9, 2, 1] 1/2 My two drones PerAwa
<SwampLing> Relentless: 8 [7, 4, 9, 9, 9, 9, 5, 9, 0, 3] 2/2 My two drones PerAwa
<[R]> You don't notice anyone.  Nor do they.  Everyone reported to the gate.
<Relentless> (( ... nice probability curve there, SwampLing ))
<Ivan> "Yeah, they tried to kill us and died for it. We'll want you to cooperate in getting the patrollers back here and disarmed."
<Relentless> "I've gone over the base. No-one else here, that I can see."
<Ivan> "Good, good."
* Relentless will plug his drones back into his eyes, and integrate their memories into his own
<Ivan> "What do you do here?" Ivan asks the general.
<[R]> <g> "We're getting the base ready for the techs to start up operations."
<Ivan> "And what are these operations?"
<[R]> <g> "Oil sands.  We need oil."
<Relentless> "Are the techs incoming, or had you not yet got to the point where you were ready for that?"
<[R]> <g> "They're already on their way
<Ivan> "So where are the rest of your forces?"
<[R]> He doesn't answer
<Ivan> "How many of you are there?"
<Relentless> "When are the techs expected to arrive?"
<[R]> <g> "Eleven.  A week."
* Relentless will take Ivan aside
* Ivan is taken aside
<Relentless> "So, we have here secured. Their remaining patrols should probably be fairly easy to deal with. I think it might be worth me returning to the Helicopter at speed, reporting back to base"
<Relentless> "And then potentially flying the helicopter back home, and bringing two helicopters worth of troops out here to hold this place."
<Ivan> "Sure. Can you get better answers out of the general?"
<Relentless> "I can try, with a refit, but that'll take me a little while. Should be doable, though."
<Ivan> "Well, my main concern is keeping him from killing himself during that time. And to get it done in time that they don't get alerted."
<Ivan> "Can you refit in two days, say?"
<Relentless> "I can refit now, as long as I don't need to be so combat-focused, and I can run on lower essence for a while."
<Ivan> "All right. Recharge, then refit. I want answers, and that guy probably has them."