Roll 63Amatin made to effort to quell his rage. This man had killed his race... many of them. The Cyrian invasion of Caldr was the bloodiest battle the Aroth had ever fought on the ground, and he wasn't about to let the deaths of 17% of the Aroth population go by unavenged. In fact, this was one of the commanding officers, judging from the distinctive badges on display for everyone to see. He especially noticed the light blue circular badge... it read "Caldr's Bane" in fine laser print.
[3] Cherenkov especially noticed Amatin's anger.
"Hey, comrade, what is wrong? Did you lose a friend on Caldr? Lose a duel?""I lost more than a friend..." Amatin responded in a deep, overbearing growl.
"You're not Tarnenkov..."Amatin grabbed the Cyrian by the neck, almost strangling him, before realizing that he could be useful. [5] He relegated Cherenkov's mind to the lower levels of his own brain, leaving his body a senseless slave.
"Cherenkov, are you now my servant?"The Cyrian scowled, retaining part of his original personality. He then replied with a growl remarkably similar in tone to Amatin's own.
"Yes..."...
"Do you still have those KP8's on you?"Zakroff asked
Milia.
"Sure, here..." she whispered back as she passed both to Zakroff.
Zakroff grabbed the two guns, made sure that they were loaded, and aimed at the unsuspecting would-be assassins. He opened fire at them, waking them up and causing them to dive for cover.
(Accuracy: 1) Zakroff's fire hit mostly the wall (-80% damage), with few bullets actually landing on their intended targets.
Rolls: 2 and 4, 2 and 5 (pistol whip!)
2*3 + 11 = 17. 17 - 3 * sqrt(22/1) = 8. 8* 2 = 16. 16/5 = 4
4*3 + 11 = 23. 23 - 3 * sqrt(20/1) = 14. 14 * 5 = 70. 70/5 = 14
[4]
Milia managed to snipe one of the assassins (roll: 4 -> LMG user) before it jumped, dealing a total of
73 damage!
(74 damage. 2 * sqrt(1/2) = 0.5. 73.5 = 73)
Varron...?
Valedict Company Shock Trooper (116/120hp, Chest Armor: 40ap) (+2 Defense)
Valedict Company LMG Soldier (33/120hp, Chest Armor: 40ap) (+2 Defense) (Crippled: Cannot fire next turn) (Undeployed: Cannot fire)
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Aduin caught up to the rest of the party through the woods, wiping his visor with a bladeleaf spur. He walked on ahead, not noticing the gap in the ground until he saw a gaping black spot below him. Instinctively, he jumped back and fell on a shelled slug, crushing its flesh and creating a puddle of ooze that dripped down the slope of the cliff and into the lake he almost fell in.
He slid back behind everyone else, confused and afraid.
Kayle hopped up onto the log and got behind
Jaffar , ready to open fire on anything that attacked the two of them.
Caplus distanced himself from the pair by a few meters, keeping his rifle now fixed on the water. The weapon in his hands was so heavy that it took a great amount of effort to move without teetering side-to-side, so Caplus inched his way forward while the gap between him and the two ahead of him slowly widened.
As Jaffar began to calm down and control his breathing, the water began to stir--according to his helmet.
"The tentacles... they're waiting for me."[1] He slung his bolter and took off forward, dragging Kayle forward, shouting frantically. Yet as Kayle fell over and got back up, nothing came out of the water.
"Must be some progressive attempt at area denial," muttered Caplus.
Then, almost as if to prove him wrong, the water began to noticeably stir as something began to surface. Suddenly, a series of long, green, segmented vines shot from the depths and wrapped themselves around what was left of a branch near Caplus. The vine's pull escalated from a gentle tug to a violent pull, tightening around the log, until it snapped and fell into the water. The bridge shook. Caplus froze in terror, but then relaxed, and shouted:
"These things are blind.""Then how do they know where you are?" Jaffar shouted back.
Caplus thought for a moment, then continued.
"They went for the branch, not me. I think whatever is down there can't see far enough to see us directly."He fired his rifle into the water, which let out a squeal. Jaffar cowered, while Kayle readied her plasma bolter.
The water stirred again. This time a large green spire composed of tubes shot out of the water and past the log bridge. The colossal structure was amorphous--it was just a bunch of tentacles, not any actual creature. Caplus shot the mass, and nothing happened. Kayle then shot the mass at its base, causing it to disintegrate into a falling cloud of the green tentacles.
Jaffar stood up and realized what the tentacles were: Ruberlite Pond Grabbers. They were colonial worm-like creatures that tended to do this kind of thing. But these things normally inhabited ponds... on another planet.
Jaffar messaged Admiral Scott, who was waiting at the log's roots for the threat to be dealt with.
"Sir, these things in the lake aren't native to this planet. Can you ask the Ross admiral about it? Was this intentional?"
Scott received the message and gave Jaffar a thumbs-up from the distance. He then asked the Ross admiral, and responded.
"There wasn't any project involving contaminating the ecosystem of the Ross diplomatic capital with an invasive species of annelid from a Centauri world, no. At least, as far as the general was aware."