(GURPS) - BLACK OPS - Trainee Hour

[MechanicalSnake]

"Oh, fuck you too," I mutter under my breath, half hoping Whiplash won't overhear it, half wishing he did. What the actual fuck does he (or she, with dwarves one can never tell) have against us?! I finish gearing up fast, more and more pissed off as I slam the helmet on and hope it's not going to give me a lobotomy if hit. "Listen," I whisper to Kahmed, though there's no point in trying to lower my voice, "take the bot half the way really fast, they can't take a good aim until then. Let's kick some ass." Hi Crackpot, I greet the could-be-anyone-really icon as we start moving. My name's Stainless. Don't let me down, alright? Now about those cameras...

 

[H1C3TH3K1LL]

Stainless? But you don’t have any chrome on you… Yeah, the cameras, there’s not much I can do about those unless you get close enough to them, I’m relaying off your deck… Once you find one, mark it for me and I’ll keep watch for you two. — Said Crackpot, as her Icon moves in your FOV gesturing with his white gloved cartoonish hands.

After a quick rush towards the training grounds you find yourself in front of a huge sliding door, the red light above it shinning dimly; the light switches back to green, and as the door opens, the sound of a loud pitched alarm breaks the silence.

You’re now standing at the start of the course, the sun shines from the holes in the celling; the debris covers most of the way forward, but you can make out where the scaffoldings start to dress the dilapidated walls.

As you cross the threshold of the gate, your guns and vest clicks in red twice, and turns its lights off. You can now see the icon of your partner, his overall vitals and general direction in your FOV.

 

[MechanicalSnake]

I can't help but smirk as Crackpot fails to make sense of the nickname. Has nobody taught you to look deeper?! It's more of an inside joke, really. Literally inside. But enough of distractions. The general aesthetics of the course as well as the sound and visual effects the guns and vests make as we're let in once again remind me of laser game. A fun past time, but not quite satisfying enough, as you can't see your opponents bleed. Today, though, it!s not a game I can afford to lose.

I quickly take in the entire space in front of us, superimposing it over the layout I still have in my mind, meatworld blending with augmented reality. It's not quite as dark as I had feared, the flimsy ceiling letting in just enough sun to create a dim half-light. It doesn't quite illuminate every corner, but it's enough to figure out which pieces of debris could serve as a hide-out for someone lying in wait. And it's enough to figure out whether or not I was right when analyzing from which angles one could possibly take aim. Within a second, I plan a trajectory that should take me from here to a safe spot near the ledge with minimal exposure and dart off, sticking to the more shadowy areas. In the FOV, our ways begin to part.

Perception DICE THROW:

 

[Buckteeth]

I chuckle at Whiplash's impatience. His repertoire of insults was quite impressive. If I wasn't busy putting on a full bodied suit of armor it'd probably be a good idea to memorize some. As the last clips click together, an icon flashes into my view. The cartoon is...unexpected. I've worked with anonymous contacts before, but most of them settled for a voice changer and a codename. Speaking of, I should probably start using one. Good to be working with you Crackpot. Call me Goliath. Hopefully they can help even the odds, but this is still a far cry from an even fight. No matter. Few fights are ever fair. As my new reinforced boots are being laced up, Ivar decides to whisper for some reason.

I look to my strange companion, and grin. Hunker down and hide? Sure. I grab the AK-97 off the wall and pull the bolt back on the old friend in my hands, eyeing the blank in the reciever. "Let's fry some fairies."

Whatever tech in the gun and vest beeps and new info is in my view. Very intuitive, and a hell of a lot easier than GPS and a map. My eyes scan the familiar scene before me. I never considered the similarities between a bombed out building and a construction site, but they were there. Something poetic could probably be said about that. Too bad I'm not a poet. I sharpen my focus as I look through the gloom, looking for anything that might increase my odds of coming out of this without my hair standing on end.

 

[H1C3TH3K1LL]

I can't help but smirk as Crackpot fails to make sense of the nickname. Has nobody taught you to look deeper?! It's more of an inside joke, really. Literally inside. But enough of distractions. The general aesthetics of the course as well as the sound and visual effects the guns and vests make as we're let in once again remind me of laser game. A fun past time, but not quite satisfying enough, as you can't see your opponents bleed. Today, though, it!s not a game I can afford to lose.

I quickly take in the entire space in front of us, superimposing it over the layout I still have in my mind, meatworld blending with augmented reality. It's not quite as dark as I had feared, the flimsy ceiling letting in just enough sun to create a dim half-light. It doesn't quite illuminate every corner, but it's enough to figure out which pieces of debris could serve as a hide-out for someone lying in wait. And it's enough to figure out whether or not I was right when analyzing from which angles one could possibly take aim. Within a second, I plan a trajectory that should take me from here to a safe spot near the ledge with minimal exposure and dart off, sticking to the more shadowy areas. In the FOV, our ways begin to part.

Perception DICE THROW:

Success! As you begin to traverse the rubble, you easily spot your way up, sharp corners and narrow spaces take you upwards, until you reach your destination… You hear somebody there, but you can’t see anybody, there’s clearly visible footprints in the dusty floor.

Roll against your Stealth, and your Perception+2.

I chuckle at Whiplash's impatience. His repertoire of insults was quite impressive. If I wasn't busy putting on a full bodied suit of armor it'd probably be a good idea to memorize some. As the last clips click together, an icon flashes into my view. The cartoon is...unexpected. I've worked with anonymous contacts before, but most of them settled for a voice changer and a codename. Speaking of, I should probably start using one. Good to be working with you Crackpot. Call me Goliath. Hopefully they can help even the odds, but this is still a far cry from an even fight. No matter. Few fights are ever fair. As my new reinforced boots are being laced up, Ivar decides to whisper for some reason.

I look to my strange companion, and grin. Hunker down and hide? Sure. I grab the AK-97 off the wall and pull the bolt back on the old friend in my hands, eyeing the blank in the reciever. "Let's fry some fairies."

Whatever tech in the gun and vest beeps and new info is in my view. Very intuitive, and a hell of a lot easier than GPS and a map. My eyes scan the familiar scene before me. I never considered the similarities between a bombed out building and a construction site, but they were there. Something poetic could probably be said about that. Too bad I'm not a poet. I sharpen my focus as I look through the gloom, looking for anything that might increase my odds of coming out of this without my hair standing on end.

Success! As you sneak along the shadows, you see the bot in the middle of the road… You can’t see much more beyond that. You see Crackpot’s avatar pop up at the edge of the dilapidated wall you’re using as cover alongside you, peeking.

Hey big boy, I have bad feeling about this…

Roll against your Stealth-1.

Ignore the dice throw...

 

[H1C3TH3K1LL]

Ivar's Opposed Roll...

You must pass your Perception+2 Roll by at least 3 points.

 

[H1C3TH3K1LL]

Kahmed's Opposed Roll...

You must pass your Stealth-1 Roll by at least 5 points.

 

[MechanicalSnake]

Stealth

You get a bonus +3 due to having many hiding spots around you...

 

[MechanicalSnake]

Perception+2

 

[Buckteeth]

Stealth-1

You get a bonus +3 due to having many hiding spots around you...

 

[H1C3TH3K1LL]

Hidden Throw...

I'll roll sometimes for other NPCs, but unless you can see them taking action, you won't know what for...

 

[H1C3TH3K1LL]

Stealth

You get a bonus +3 due to having many hiding spots around you...

Failure… As you thread towards the tracks on the floor the rubble cracks beneath you with each step, you feel the tension in the air…

You walk past the traps, and begin to explore a bit further into the building, the room you just cleared is the one you spotted as a vantage point…

Perception+2

Success! With your gun raised you avoid the traps left behind by the enemy, as you begin to clear a corner, you instinctively throw yourself against the wall as you see something dash towards you… You saw a silhouette for half a second before the muzzle flash filled the dark hallway with light.

You’re being shot at, but you saw it coming and got into cover just in time before leaving the room, the way foward leads into a long and dark hallway; you can’t hear any more steps, just controlled burst fire… Describe your course of action, and roll any relevant skill.

Stealth-1

You get a bonus +3 due to having many hiding spots around you...

Failure… As you sneak around alongside Crackpot, you hear gunshots coming from above, followed by a louder gunshot…

Roll against your Dodge, and Roll Perception+1.

 

[MechanicalSnake]

I will myself not to make a sound as I manage to closely avoid the shooter, taking a couple of quick breaths. This feels less and less like a game. Somewhat belatedly, it occures to me that I should have crawled - perhaps then I would still have the element of surprise on my side, but now that's gone. I press my back against the wall as I listen to more gunshots echoing through the room; it doesn't seem as though Kahmed was the one firing them. Well, shit. Now I'm in relative safety, but sadly this is a two man job and I need to do something fast. And fast means that I'll do it in the matrix, because I... don't feel totally confident I can spot them before they spot me if I try to shoot back.

I pull out my deck, swiftly pondering the best course of action as I connect. I could look for their guns and jam them. I could see if they have any cybeware on them and fuck up their bodies... Or maybe I could just give them that sweet electroshock right away, without firing a gun, because that would be unexpected. Even the thought almost makes me smile as I begin to look for the relevant icons in meat space. But this might take time I don't have. Someone, though, has a shitload of time. Crackpot. I'm going to try and shock them, but right now I need you to locate their weapons and jam them. Fast. The one that's trying to fry Kahmed has priority.

Hacking

 

[MechanicalSnake]

Perception

 

[Buckteeth]

Dodge

 

[Buckteeth]

Perception+1

 

[H1C3TH3K1LL]

Dodge

Failure... The loud explosion of a large caliber rifle fills the air, and less than a second later you feel a surge of electricity running through your body.

That sure looked painful, get back, both you and your pal are under fire! –Said Crackpot, a bit startled.

You take 34 damage points, 30 are “stopped” by your armor DR, but 4 get through. You’re now at 8 HP.

Perception+1

Success... The shock left you dazed, but you can clearly see the red holographic tracer left behind, it came from somewhere up in the dilapidated buildings in front of you, you can also see how there’s a holographic red circle were the “bullet landed”.

 

[H1C3TH3K1LL]

Hacking

Success! You hear Crackpot scream something at Kahmed, and begin to Matrix Search for something exploitable. Less than a second later you find the Icons you’re after, and lock them in. You also see Crackpot’s avatar appear next to you, and cartoonishly dash into the hallway.

You have the guy’s vest (Hacking-3), submachine gun (Hacking), sidearm (Hacking+1) and comm (Hacking-1) locked, and in close range.

Perception

Success! You can see as the “bullets” go past you the bright red tracers left behind, and red AR circles that appear on the wall where they “landed”.

 

[Buckteeth]

On the Edge

You don’t need to roll “On the Edge” unless I call for it in a specific situation, it’s a disadvantage, which means I can use it against your PC, given the circumstances are right. If you want to do some wicked action movie stunt you can just roleplay it, BUT if you feel the need to justify taking the more dangerous way, you can also roll On the Edge and go pew pew stab stab.

 

[Buckteeth]

Fire shoots along my nerves as the familiar sound of gunfire rings in my ears. My muscles clench painfully as the volts race through me, holographic indicators telling me who just shot me and where. I'm already moving, boots kicking up dust as I race towards the building. I barely hear Crackpot over my pulse pounding in my ears. I know my move. The enemy has the high ground, to hell with staying down here in the killzone. I'm gonna see how well this bastard handles his shocks up close.

 

[MechanicalSnake]

You know how they say everyone has two wolves inside them? I don't have a good one and a bad one, I have a smart one and a reckless one. Using my brain, which has historically served me better than my body, while staying in cover, is definitely the smart thing to do, yet at the same time it feels sort of... cowardly. Part of me wants to storm out like I know Kahmed has done and blast the guys into next century. No. Hack them into pieces, blood, bone, muscle, entrails, all that mess, and then, perhaps, the wolf would be sated for a while. But this is the smart thing to do, and I have to be smart. Besides, I have him locked already and it would be a shame to have wasted this time. Let's give him a nice electroshock first, and if I'm fast enough, I'll have his gun out of order before he notices, too.

(Dice for hacking)

 

[MechanicalSnake]

Computer use per request