[Stay Frosty!] OPERATION: Serpent's Den

[WlfSamurai]

You all double-time it through the pockets of potential resistance, keeping a low profile. The city has been torn to shit. Smashed up cars, crumbled buildings, bullet holes, blood stains, dead bodies—it looks like a third-world capital back on Earth let alone a Corporate Colony City. You don't see a living soul.


Nearer to the building, the distant gets much closer and less sporadic. You can even hear shouts as you make it this far up.


View attachment 2355


Then, a snap through the group, a passing bullet. It's accompanied by slugs imbedding themselves in nearby walls. You're under fire and not sure where from.


What do you do?<p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2013_09/57a8bfc888739_StayFrostyVarisCityMapDeploymentandresistance2.jpg.f167396ad41c52ac1aba42c55e8b9eff.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="24166" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2013_09/57a8bfc888739_StayFrostyVarisCityMapDeploymentandresistance2.jpg.f167396ad41c52ac1aba42c55e8b9eff.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p>

 

[Grey]

Sgt Thorne





"Take cover! Overlapping fields of fire, spread out!" Thorne shouts, hunkering behind a collapsed section of wall and watching his troops take position. Once he's sure enough they're safe, he scans the area, looking for the enemy and the best way to fight back...


[dice]1668[/dice]

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Meijer





Not even a second thought when the bullet whips by. Even as the sarge is yelling, the smartgun is chattering. Playing To Whom It May Concern at a distance. Windows crumple to powder, concrete walls bloom to caustic dust, the gun is searching for a source. More bullets whip by. Not entirely insane, Meijer ceases fire and kneels, folding to lie on his back, prone. Switching grips and working the articulated arm, he continues raking in the perceived direction of fire, looking for heat sources and muzzle flashes. A few dozen rounds they won't forget.


"I got all day, fuckface!" His voice echoes down the street after another burst. He unlatches his two ammo drums, lays them out nearby, watching the street, the windows, the shot-to-shit Izumi SUV that was parked in front of the building at the very end of the road, where most of his rounds found home.

Spoiler

The beauty of that harness. It's in the CMC manual, too! Lie prone and bring the pain. Gun can still lock and move on its own!

 

[Skrakes]

Sophia draws her pistol, posting up behind a car husk. Her vision switches to thermal.


>filtering input from smartgun


>filtering nonhuman life


>magnifying...

Spoiler

Assessing.

10.
Where's the fire coming from?

 

[Cyrocast]

Pfc. Espinoza


The Rookie springs into action. He fires a few bullets in the general direction of the source while backtracking towards some cover. Dust kicks up as he skids behind a displaced dumpster from the riots.

 

[Hurm]

Cpl. Sanford





Having already been waiting for shit to hit the fan, the medic wastes no time in leaping behind cover. Gripping his SMG tight, he does his best to try to determine the origin point of the attack... but it's rather hard to do so without sticking your head out, and he's not about to do that. They've got the synthetic to determine things like these, anyway. He's just here to make sure nobody bleeds out.


"So much for threading the needle. We'll probably have more incoming soon."

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Meijer





"I'll eat this gun if they've got arty!" Kicking out a small pile of brick, Meijer lets the gun scan on automatic, seeking FoF tags and those without.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Sophia





your enhanced vision picks up two hostiles down the South street, both keeping behind building corners on opposite sides of the street.


Everyone





Just as you open up down the street, Meijer, a second group fires on you all. You all can see three of them firing from behind the building East of you. Taken by surprise, you all take 1d Incidental harm.


What that means is you roll a single die on the volume of fire table under the first row, for Incidental. The numbers along the top tell you which column you fall under and you'll find out if you take stress or a wound.


Do that now, you're under fire. Then, we'll move to the next roll.

 

[Skrakes]

Rolling for VOF...


[dice]1713[/dice]


Oh come on.

 

[Cyrocast]

[dice]1714[/dice]


Stress

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Rolling for VOF...


[dice]1729[/dice]


Stress! Just realized no stress on a 1.

 

[Grey]

Rolling for VOF...


[dice]1730[/dice]

 

[Hurm]

Here it goes, then.


[dice]1746[/dice]

 

[WlfSamurai]

More fire than you had expected. It's got you on your toes. Sophia, where were you hit?


You're currently caught between two fire lanes. Cpl. Meijer is a few yards down the Southern street when the assholes at the end turn the corner to fire again.


What do you do you guys do?

 

[Grey]

Sgt. Thorne





Fuck. Right, let's not be unprofessional about this.


"Pin 'em down! Keep the bastards down south suppressed!"


With that, Thorne moves a little way out of cover and prepares to hurl a frag into the enemies opposite the unit.

 

[Hurm]

Cpl. Sanford





The man winces as bullets fly past his head. Damn it. He takes a quick look around, making sure no one is hurt - well, make that no one he can help is hurt. The synthetic will have to deal until they get back.


"Got it." Well, suppressing it is. Though his weapon of choice isn't exactly ideal here, given the slight lack of range in comparison.


[Absolutely forgot. That'd count as Fight Stress, I think.]

 

[Cyrocast]

Pfc. Espinoza





Stress - Flight





The lanes of fire catch the rookie off guard. He didn't think the fighting would escalate so quickly, so steeply. The simulations were always well paced; you'd get a few recon enemy sightings, then a squad, then two squads and the stint's over. The real thing was far more imposing, far more hectic. There was much more pressure and far less time to cope.


Hector's position takes some heavy fire. A few rounds kick the dirt up next to his feet and cause him to nearly jump out of his skin. He decides to play it safe, lays down some suppressing fire, ducks his head low and creeps to a more fortified position.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Meijer





Another glorious day in the Corps. Every meal a banquet, every drop a firefight!





Not even looking up for targets anymore, Meijer lets the gun's camera feed him all the data. There the little pricks were. "Fuck you! Scarin' our rookie!" Angling the gun up like a camera operator, he braces his arms and the rig for recoil and opens up.

Spoiler

Terminate. With extreme prejudice.


[dice]1934[/dice]

 

[Skrakes]

Sophia


The bullet passes through Sophia's left arm, knocking her to the ground. Indifferent to the round lodged in her arm she looks straight down, thermal optics zooming in on these unfortunates. "Corporal Meijer. Adjust your aim .2 to the left!"

Spoiler

Rolling to aid Meijer.

10! I'll grant him +1 to his roll.