Prior to the Ascendant's attack John feels his knife and pistol being extracted from his person. Then the chaos ensues and the weight is lifted off his back as guns turn to point back towards the barricade where Diego unleashed his assault on the under prepared law enforcement and military personnel. Something shifts in the air. It begins to tingle with an electric buzz. The scent of ozone filling his nostrils. He's felt that before, when Iona prepared to discharge electricity over an area.
While Diego begins the bloodbath he hears the report of distant long arms. High caliber rounds fly at him. But his liquid, inhuman, mass shifted, weaves, and created spaces for the rounds to pass through. Around him is blood and chaos. Admist it he can see the slumped over form of Dr. Sokolov's pilot being pushed into a police patrol can. He's handcuffed to something inside, and the door is closed as the soldier who had been escorting him turns to join in the defense against the Dark Ascendant.
OOC wrote:John's weapons are found and he is disarmed.
Iona's action hasn't taken effect yet. But a warning: John is within the 60 ft. AoE of Iona's planned attack. Since John and Aiden are not part of combat, I'll allow them to take non-combat related actions at any point during the turn. Aiden is still sleepy-headed-out-of-it, but John can act right now.
Now we enter the first full round of combat. A volley of fire comes from the hill off the left side of the road, focused on Diego. He manages to evade it all.
Diego is up.
Mass Combat wrote:
- Forces have a Morale stat. When they take damage, fail to inflict damage, or suffer a major setback this is rolled to see if they break/disperse.
- Damaging effects with the Area extra inflict +2 damage to a Force, with each additional Area rank (the Extra itself) increasing this bonus by +1, but the total additional damage cannot exceed the target force’s Force rank. Squads, which you are facing are Force 3.
- Non-damaging powers that do not normally affect an area have a negligible effect on a force in battle. The character can only use such powers if they have the sufficient Area ranks to encompass the entire force.
- Forces and Combine into a larger, higher rank Force. They need to be adjacent and this tanks a Standard Action.
- Two forces may attempt to catch an opponent in between them, flanking that opponent. If two forces are located on opposite sides of a target, each force gains a +2 circumstance bonus to attack checks against that target
Initiative Order wrote:
Squad #3 (hill. Flanking people on the road, Disrupted x1)
Diego
Squad #1 (at barricade, Disrupted x1 and Stunned)
Squad #4 (warehouse, Flanking people on the road)
Iona
Squad #2 (near Impala)
Diegos mass expanded again as it cleaved through the already shaken unit at the barricade. His extended form was perhaps a bit too showy, but if it destroyed one unit and made the others question their sanity all the better. Sharp claws cutting like steel, twisted inhuman angles wrapped around some, and others were lucky enough to simply be impaled.
When the damage was done, Diego retracted his form and moved under the vehicles. It was better for Iona to suffer than him. If it came to it, Diego would assist Iona, but for now he'd rather she be the big shiny target.
The group of police and soldiers at the barricade don't get time to recover before Diego is laying into them again. Stunned by the lethality of his sudden assault, and the horrific visage he assumes, the group is cut down in a calculated flurry of inhuman weaponized limbs. Blood and other things that should remain inside the human body are splattered across cars. Red fluid and viscera clump upon the road. In a matter of seconds ten people are dead.
OOC wrote:Diego kills off the Force at the barricade.
I'm going to give Supernaturalist one more day to post for John, then I'll proceed with the combat round.
Mass Combat wrote:
- Forces have a Morale stat. When they take damage, fail to inflict damage, or suffer a major setback this is rolled to see if they break/disperse.
- Damaging effects with the Area extra inflict +2 damage to a Force, with each additional Area rank (the Extra itself) increasing this bonus by +1, but the total additional damage cannot exceed the target force’s Force rank. Squads, which you are facing are Force 3.
- Non-damaging powers that do not normally affect an area have a negligible effect on a force in battle. The character can only use such powers if they have the sufficient Area ranks to encompass the entire force.
- Forces and Combine into a larger, higher rank Force. They need to be adjacent and this tanks a Standard Action.
- Two forces may attempt to catch an opponent in between them, flanking that opponent. If two forces are located on opposite sides of a target, each force gains a +2 circumstance bonus to attack checks against that target
Initiative Order wrote:
Squad #3 (hill. Flanking people on the road, Disrupted x1)
Diego
Squad #4 (warehouse, Flanking people on the road)
Iona
Squad #2 (near Impala)
Iona rises from her prone position and takes to the air ... only to be met by a hail of gunfire once she leaves the cover that the Impala had provided. From the left of the road, hidden amidst the dilapidated warehouse, the rattling of a heavy machine gun can be heard amidst reports of rifle fire. Coordinated fire focuses on the cyborg, jarring her and halting her advance. Taking advantage of this the soldiers and police that had come to detain her and John bring their weapons to bear on Iona. She manages to duck, weave away from barrels aimed at her, and deflect bullets with applications of her magnetic field projectors. From the hill at the right of the road comes even more bullets directed at the woman, but Iona remains untouchable after pushing through the initial attack that sent her reeling. Those rounds that she can't physically dodge end up bending away from her in mid-flight.
Witnessing this display, and with a monster at their back tearing into their comrades, the group closets to Iona begins to show signs of breaking as many freeze like animals caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle.
OOC wrote:The Squad at the warehouse don't have line of sight on Diego or Iona on their turn, so they take a Ready Action. Which triggers when Iona takes to the air and leaves the cover of the Impala. They hit, and get a Critical. Iona needs to make a DC 28 Toughness check.
Here is Iona's Toughness check: Toughness DC 28: 1D20+12 = [10]+12 = 22 That's two degrees of failure. -1 Damage Resistance and Dazed until the end of her next turn.
The attack triggered after Iona began her movement. With Dazed applied, she does not get to make her own attack. As such Iona's HP will be refunded.
The group near the Impala attacks Iona. She manages to evade them. They start freaking out over Diego, the massacre he is putting out, and the woman who is able to dodge bullets.
Round two of combat begins. Next round Aiden will be roused enough to take non-combat actions if he chooses.
The group on the hill attacks Iona ... because Diego is hiding like a sneaky bastard and letting her take all the fire. She manages to evade their attacks.
Diego is up.
Mass Combat wrote:
- Forces have a Morale stat. When they take damage, fail to inflict damage, or suffer a major setback this is rolled to see if they break/disperse.
- Damaging effects with the Area extra inflict +2 damage to a Force, with each additional Area rank (the Extra itself) increasing this bonus by +1, but the total additional damage cannot exceed the target force’s Force rank. Squads, which you are facing are Force 3.
- Non-damaging powers that do not normally affect an area have a negligible effect on a force in battle. The character can only use such powers if they have the sufficient Area ranks to encompass the entire force.
- Forces and Combine into a larger, higher rank Force. They need to be adjacent and this tanks a Standard Action.
- Two forces may attempt to catch an opponent in between them, flanking that opponent. If two forces are located on opposite sides of a target, each force gains a +2 circumstance bonus to attack checks against that target
Initiative Order wrote:
Squad #3 (hill. Flanking people on the road, Disrupted x1)
Diego
Squad #4 (warehouse, Flanking people on the road)
Iona
Squad #2 (near Impala, Disrupted x1 and Stunned)
Iona sounded like she was taking most of the brunt of the attack. Good. Getting to the other ground positions would be tricky, but he'd worry about that when he got there. For now, he had the people around the Impala to sort out. Moving underneath the vehicles, he positions himself such that he has cover from the two distant positions and still a good attack area on the soldiers by the Impala area. His black tentacles reached out with claw like ends to rend and tear the soldiers up.
Same attack as before. Rolled 12, but can't bring up history on orokos. If it hits, DC 25 on group near impala.
Also, it was never said that Diego fought fair. In fact, in a fair fight, he'd probably find some way to make it unfair or use guile. Has to live up to his name of Ascendant of Deception somehow.
In a rushing, hunching, flood of black fluid Diego spills out from under the vehicles. Roiling like a living sea sprouting hand with claws and spiked or bladed tenacle limbs he slithers under the only cover avaible past the barricade: the Impala. From under the newly repaired car his limbs sprout outwards and flail about. The shell-shocked police and army personnel scatter, shouting and screaming in the face of such a frightful foe.
Meanwhile, from the left flank of the road gunfire continues to pelt down on Iona. Bright red bolts flash through the air, marking the path of bullets from a heavy machinegun's tracer fire. The light cacophony of machine gunfire is punctuated by the rapid report of accompanying assault rifles. Lead rains down angerily on Iona.
OOC wrote:Diego's attack missed.
The group at the warehouse opens fire on Iona and hits. She needs to make a DC 23 Toughness check.
Iona is up.
Mass Combat wrote:
- Forces have a Morale stat. When they take damage, fail to inflict damage, or suffer a major setback this is rolled to see if they break/disperse.
- Damaging effects with the Area extra inflict +2 damage to a Force, with each additional Area rank (the Extra itself) increasing this bonus by +1, but the total additional damage cannot exceed the target force’s Force rank. Squads, which you are facing are Force 3.
- Non-damaging powers that do not normally affect an area have a negligible effect on a force in battle. The character can only use such powers if they have the sufficient Area ranks to encompass the entire force.
- Forces and Combine into a larger, higher rank Force. They need to be adjacent, and this tanks a Standard Action.
- Two forces may attempt to catch an opponent in between them, flanking that opponent. If two forces are located on opposite sides of a target, each force gains a +2 circumstance bonus to attack checks against that target
Initiative Order wrote:
Squad #3 (hill. Flanking people on the road, Disrupted x1)
Diego (under Impala)
Squad #4 (warehouse, Flanking people on the road)
Iona (near Impala)
Squad #2 (near Impala, Disrupted x1 and Stunned)
Iona
HP: 1
VP: 0
Cnd: Bruised (-1 to further Damage Checks)
PP:0
EP:3
Dominion Point: 0
OOC: Here is Iona's Damage Check. She is already at -1 to Damage Checks, so that will be factored. Here is her roll: Damage Check vs. Military Fire: 1d20+1129. So, a total of 29. Good, that means I don't have to cash in the HP you just refunded me.
The heavy machine gun and complementing rifle fire are fully capable of damaging Iona if she stays put too long. But she has no intentions of doing so. The current volley of rounds lacerate her dermis but bounce harmlessly off her super-science frame. Staying low to the ground, perhaps only 10' or a little more above it, she veers off towards the nearby hill-area. Her first order of business is to attack those soldiers who were nearby to "her side" of the Impala. Once she is sure that her static-field will not hit John or Diego, she overcomes the electrical resistance between herself and the ground.
OOC: This first round (after she clears John and Diego), she is only focused on getting the soldiers which were sent to retrain her - any that she manages to get beyond that is due to fortune. On her next turn, she will be focusing exclusively on the hillside soldiers.
Last edited by Supernaturalist on Sun Jun 26, 2022 8:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
After recovering, Iona flies clear of her comrades. Then the air around her explodes in a blue-white sphere of crackling electrical discharges. Asphalt melts. Metal guard railing along the side of the road droop and warp, glowing at they soften. The bodies of the soldiers and police officers that are caught up in the assault are briefly transparent, their skeleton standing out, then the men and woman turn to smoking ash that scatters on the wind.
It is at this point that Aiden begins to pull himself together. Now finding that he is handcuffed and locked in the back of a police squad car. The window nearest him is cracked and splattered with gruesome gore. Something chunky and covered in blood is stuck to the outside of the window. Maybe organs. Maybe meat. Whatever it was, it belonged inside of someone's body. Not on a window. Outside the squad car is bloody carnage. Things that used to be bodies litter the area behind the barricade that was supposed to be a safe zone. The air smells of iron and ozone. Blood and electricity.
For now the gunfire from the hill and warehouse has paused.
OOC wrote:Iona turns half the squad at the Impala to ash. The others run off in all directions fleeing combat. If someone wanted to chase them down and kill them, it would be time consuming but otherwise a non-issue.
Half of the squads involved in the conflict have been taken out. Not only that it has happened fast and in a frightening and spectacular manner. Twenty people have been killed or demoralized in about fifteen seconds. As such, I made a Morale check for the remaining squads at the end of the round. They're frozen in fear.
Round three of combat begins. Aiden may now act at any point.
Diego and Iona are up. The opposition won't be acting this round.
Mass Combat wrote:
- Forces have a Morale stat. When they take damage, fail to inflict damage, or suffer a major setback this is rolled to see if they break/disperse.
- Damaging effects with the Area extra inflict +2 damage to a Force, with each additional Area rank (the Extra itself) increasing this bonus by +1, but the total additional damage cannot exceed the target force’s Force rank. Squads, which you are facing are Force 3.
- Non-damaging powers that do not normally affect an area have a negligible effect on a force in battle. The character can only use such powers if they have the sufficient Area ranks to encompass the entire force.
- Forces and Combine into a larger, higher rank Force. They need to be adjacent, and this tanks a Standard Action.
- Two forces may attempt to catch an opponent in between them, flanking that opponent. If two forces are located on opposite sides of a target, each force gains a +2 circumstance bonus to attack checks against that target
Initiative Order wrote:
Squad #3 (hill ; Flanking people on the road ; Disrupted x2 and Stunned)
Diego (under Impala)
Squad #4 (warehouse ; Flanking people on the road ; Disrupted x1, Staggered, and Stunned)
Iona (near Impala)
John Steiner
HP:4
Cnd: Fatigued; Impaired (-2 circumstance penalty to all skill rolls)
PP:0
Just after the soldier removes John's weapons, all Hell breaks loose. The screams of horror as the Dark Ascendant transforms, the eruption of gunfire, and the resounding "KRAK!" of Iona's static-discharge all send the soldiers running away from John and headed for cover.
Once he feels like all the attention is off of his person, he rolls over and sits up, attempting to bring the cuffs from behind his back to the front of his body.
OOC: Here's an Athletics check to attempt the same thing that Aiden tried: Athletics Check for Cuffs: 1d20+823. So, a total of 23.
While bringing his cuffs from around his legs and feet, John looks around to identify the nearest "downed" soldier. I need a pistol and a possible spare set of keys for these cuffs.
Aiden was essential. Iona was playing the bullet magnet role. John, well if he died it would be inconvenient. Of those three, Aiden needed to be saved fast and hopefully the teens skills could jury rig a vehicle temporarily. Once free of scrutiny for a minute, they could effect some escape by commandeering another vehicle. Diego knew he was putting the cart in front of the horse. Step one was free Aiden.
From the cover of the vehicle, Diego stretches a nannite liquid tentacle from his body just above the ground and into the vehicle holding Aiden. Even without eyes, Diego could feel his way along the seats, radios, and other assorted gear left in the patrol car. Like a black snake of indescribable blackness as if all light was lost in it, the extension of Diego found its way to behind Aidens back and wrapped itself around the cuffs link. Extending out razor sharp saw like blades just enough to only hit the cuffs, Diego twists quickly.
In the lull of the weapons fire, Diego hoped Iona could take out the remote posts. Otherwise he would need to step in. After the battle, he'd need to have a word with Iona about going after ranged targets first when both it and him were in combat.
Iona
HP: 1
VP: 0
Cnd: Bruised (-1 to further Damage Checks)
PP:0
EP:3
Dominion Point: 0
As the young cyborg zig-zags over the troops positioned on the nearby hillside, she continues to keep up the tactical pressure. Periodically, she produces currents from her body, through the air, and anything conductive into the ground. They must be eliminated...all of them...as quickly as possible.
OOC: From the hillside area, Iona plans to make a sweeping arc back to the barricade area to hook up with Diego and Aiden. She is still concerned about any troops that might be able to fire from the warehouse...especially the heavy machine gun. But she will "secure" the hillside before moving on to the next area. Leaving survivors means leaving people who can communicate and continue to fire at the team while they re-organize.
John manages to get his hands in front. Going to find a gun will be easy. Finding one that isn't clogged up with guts or melted in the area Diego and Iona have been killing people will be hard. Finding a key? Like a needle in a haystack. Getting a knife would be easy though. John doesn't have skill to sort through this mess and in something usable in a meaningful amount of time. He isn't going to find a working gun or key in the area. He'll be able to find a knife without issue. It'll be messy with dead people parts though.
Feeling his way to a destination by touch isn't something Diego routinely does. A lot of his limb's route is taken by memory. He gets there though. Aiden sees something deathlessly black spill into the back of the car, covered in menacing weaponry. It maneuvers behind him and strikes at the handcuffs. He can feel cold air at his back. Not just from motion ... the black thing is cold. Sucking warmth from the area around it. There is a clatter behind him. Force pushing at his wrists. The metal doesn't yield.
In the distance Iona flies low to the group, speeding along. Hugging the terrain on her way to the hilltop. From there she is able to see the ten camo clad combatants using the earth as cover. They turn to bring weapons to bear on the flying electrified woman. But in a burst of radiant death their succumb to her attack. Their bodies reduced to ash. Their weapons slagged from the extreme heat given off by her electrical explosion. Her targets eliminated the android flies on, moving down the hill, there she finds Aiden captive in the back of a squad car ... a long black tentacle shoved through a crack in the door.
OOC wrote:Diego fails to cut through the steel handcuffs.
John would need Investigate to try to find a working gun or cuff keys. He doesn't. He'll be able to find a dirty knife easy.
Iona ashes the group at the hill.
Given the continued spectacular display of power and violence, I made a Morale check for the remaining Squad. They're still a functional unit. Really demoralized though.
New round. Diego is up. John and Aiden may take non-combat actions at any time.
Mass Combat wrote:
- Forces have a Morale stat. When they take damage, fail to inflict damage, or suffer a major setback this is rolled to see if they break/disperse.
- Damaging effects with the Area extra inflict +2 damage to a Force, with each additional Area rank (the Extra itself) increasing this bonus by +1, but the total additional damage cannot exceed the target force’s Force rank. Squads, which you are facing are Force 3.
- Non-damaging powers that do not normally affect an area have a negligible effect on a force in battle. The character can only use such powers if they have the sufficient Area ranks to encompass the entire force.
- Forces and Combine into a larger, higher rank Force. They need to be adjacent, and this tanks a Standard Action.
- Two forces may attempt to catch an opponent in between them, flanking that opponent. If two forces are located on opposite sides of a target, each force gains a +2 circumstance bonus to attack checks against that target
Initiative Order wrote:
Diego (under Impala)
Squad #4 (warehouse ; Flanking people on the road ; Disrupted x2, Staggered)
Iona (near barricade)
With Iona's return, Diego could only hope that she removed some of the forces remaining. "Finish the rest and meet us back at meet up point.", is all Diego says in a gravelly rough toned voice strained through mutation. With the chains still on, Diego was annoyed. Refocussing his efforts, he morphs the weapons around the cuffs links into a tiny rotating saw with guards around it. Aiden still had his uses. The mini blades spun ripping at the cuffs link.
He had the plan worked out in his head. The Impala was a lost cause now. Once they got a new vehicle, through whatever means, they'd have some leeway. It was the other means which made him unsettled.
Attack cuffs 18 Power attack +/- 5 DC 27 if it hits. Since it's an object with no stamina and a roll for attack, autocrit if it hits for DC 32 toughness.
When the black liquid begins pouring into the car, Aiden's eyes go wide. He hadn't been paying attention to what was going on outside, so he had no idea what this was. As it moved on its own towards him, he did panic a bit. But stuck inside the back of the police car, there really wasn't anywhere to go. As it reached around to the back of him, he could feel it tugging on his cuffs.
Of course, Diego.
Aiden had seen him change forms before. This is just another one of them.
Upon the realization of who it is and what he is doing, Aiden turns and forces his arms as far away from his body as he can manage to give Diego an easier target.
