Roll 76Amatin folded his guns and unsheathed his sword. he two soldiers in front of him looked at him, exhausted, but still making efforts to reengage in combat. Their suits allowed them to get back up and attempt to aim, [3] so Amatin detonated the parts of their bodies exposed by the gaps in their armor. One flew back, finished off by the blow, while the other gripped at his chest and made gasping noises, the detonation having damaged one of his lungs.
Amatin walked over and kicked him in the head, knocking the repeater out of his hand. He then climbed up the ladder, holding both the repeater and sword in one hand and climbing with the other. He reached the top of the ladder to find an almost-dead soldier crawled up to the top of the ladder, in a pool of blood, pointing his flamethrower straight toward Amatin.
[6] Amatin grabbed the repeater and fired it quickly, finishing off the soldier. His hand wrung in pain from the sudden force, so Amatin fixed the arm brace on the back of the weapon, which also helped to heft it around.
Varron moved in toward Amatin and the LMG gunners. As he went, he eviscerated the soldier underneath the dragon. The dragon let go of the individual and backed away as Varron lifted him into the air finished him off with
88 True damage, and flung his corpse out of the way.
Milia finished off soldier #3 with an arrow
de grâce to the head. She then [6] shot soldier #1, aiming over his shoulder to hit the reactor. The arrow dented the casing, causing the dented spot to begin to glow red, then yellow, then white. The soldier tried to open his suit to get out but the reactor overheated, turning the suit and the soldier inside into a pool of glowing slag. Hot gas shot out of the tanks as they burst, then simply dispersed as the pressure became too low for fusion to occur.
Milia and
Zakroff headed through the ditch and met with Amatin and Varron on the other side.
...
The party approached the center of the dig site. There was a large octagonal platform hung over the drill pit, with the stairwell extending into the pit attached to one side.
At the bottom of the drill pit there was a roughly circular hole leading into a dark cavern of sorts. A strange, thick, indescribable smell emanated from the pit.
Soldier #1-0/400hp-8 defense, +4 ballistic, +12 explosive-Plasma Flamethrower
Soldier #2-0/400hp-8 defense, +4 ballistic, +12 explosive-Plasma Flamethrower-On Fire! (-7hp per turn, 1 turn left)
Soldier #3-0/400hp-8 defense, +4 ballistic, +12 explosive-Concussive Repeater-Burning
Soldier #4-30/400hp-8 defense, +4 ballistic, +12 explosive-Concussive Repeater-On Fire! (-7hp per turn, 1 turn left)-Trouble Breathing (-1)-Disarmed
Soldier #5-0/400hp-8 defense, +4 ballistic, +12 explosive-Photon LMG-On Ground-Underneath a dragon
Soldier #6-20/400hp-8 defense, +4 ballistic, +12 explosive-Photon LMG-Weapon Disabled-Unconscious
Soldier #7-9/400hp-8 defense, +4 ballistic, +12 explosive-Photon LMG-Spilled Guts! (-10 hp per turn, disabled)
Soldier #8-6/400hp-8 defense, +4 ballistic, +12 explosive-Photon LMG-Bleeding (-10 hp per turn, 3 turns left)
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Caplus smiled. His suit allowed him to go... further than the others when exploring in certain situations. Like right now.
He stood up and approached the pitcher plant. It gave off an aura of something... disgusting. It wasn't a direct feeling, Caplus could distinguish between it and a normal feeling of disgust. This one... it was magical.
He double-checked to make sure his shield was still on, then reached out and grabbed the lip of the pitcher. He heaved himself in, shaking the plant slightly, but less than he had expected. He then hurled himself over the edge into the pool of thick blood-red liquid.
He sank down to the bottom of the pitcher. He looked up--the jungle canopy was invisible from within the plant. The plant itself was about three meters in height... Caplus thought he might have underestimated the sheer amount of digestive enzyme in the liquid. He was grateful that his shield still worked, maintaining a solid two centimeters of space between the fluid and the surface of his suit.
He found [3] items!
[6]
Acquired Purple Mana Crystal![1]
Acquired Skull and Crossbones.[5]
Acquired Digested Thorngun!Kayle returned with the others to the corpse of the beast they had killed. She observed its head... it was shot in the head and killed, but the exit wound was surrounded by burnt tissue. That means Jaffar had killed it. How heroic!
She grabbed a cleaver and went on her way, handing
Jaffar a snack as well.
(+1 to intellectual actions next turn)
Jaffar picked up the crest, held it in both hands, and examined it. It was a row of parallel plates attached to a fragment of the Valaross' skull. The bones themselves were nothing special, but his wizard sense kicked in and indicated that this item was good for magic. Very good, in fact. He packed up it for later.
--------
Aduin ignored the man. The military people would talk about military-related stuff--unrelated to what he had in mind. He sensed a great power in the cleaver he had sliced off the body of that monster. There emanated a sense of power that he figured could be adapted into some sort of magical weapon.
He headed into the building that was off to the side. This one had a large neon sign over it, and after some fiddling with distance, his Reader told him that it said "bar." He approached the entrance, but first had to be looked over by the two guards posted.
"We're sorry," his voice sounded less than sincere.
"We don't want blood in the bar."Aduin looked over his chest wound.
"It's disinfected and healed. It'll help me make friends if I appear to have survived a confrontation.""You should get a medic.""You're picking on me, aren't you?"[5] He silently uttered some words under his breath.
"Hey Bork," asked the other guard.
"Use code names!""Right. Could you just look over his weapons?""Can't you?""I'm blind, remember?""..."[5] Aduin, with a wave of his hand, asserted his way around the guards and headed into the bar. Outside, he could hear their conversation:
"No you're not... why would they put two blind men in the same squad. That doesn't make sense.""You're not blind, you just made fun of him because he's a border folk!""He's right in front of us you [ROSS EXPLETIVE]. Can't you be more polite?"Aduin chuckled to himself. The blindness would wear off within twenty minutes or so. Long enough to cause a spectacle, he thought.
The bar itself was nothing to be surprised at. Bladewood flooring gave the false impression of luxury--the wood itself was much softer than the blades of the tree. Incandescent bulbs hung overhead from tethered girders. There were just eight round tables with four seats fixed to the stems, and half of them were occupied. Most of the people here were Ross soldiers with their helmets off. Some were freelancers who came to watch the debate that the political conference would likely entail.
Someone's been watching the FUN Network*... *Freelancer's Union News NetworkHe spied a man who looked somewhat familiar. He ordered a drink first--the first thing in the list. He hadn't tried Ross drinks before, so he thought to experiment a bit.
After picking up the tankard--filled to the brim with an acrid foamy liquid--he walked over to the man.
"Do I know you?" he asked, politely.
"Nope. You must know my friend though, because he recognizes you.""Hmm, mind if you switch for a moment?""Jog doesn't like the garble blasters here. And he's in a bit of a conversation with... someone.""Nothing is private.""Nope. Well, I'll try to get him to..."The man twitched for a moment. Almost spilling it, he slammed his cup on the table and doubled over to the side.
Then, he got up again, and spoke normally as if nothing happened:
"Aduin, it's good to see you again! I've expanded the pool a little bit, as you saw there. That was originally my brother's body, but you can call the other guy Whisk.""Whisk?""Don't think too much about it. Anyway, what brings you here, and why did you disrupt...my conversation?""I have a material. I was wondering if I could get your little mental enclave to fashion it into something useful. A blade, perhaps." Aduin took the cleaver out of his backback and set it on the table. The table shook from the weight of the cleaver, spilling drops of Cyrian Gargle Blaster onto the table. The liquid fizzed and started corroding the table's plexiglas surface.
"It's from the native wildlife. The planet's beasts are formidable.""Hmm, I can get you something."He paused a bit, looking into the air to Aduin's side.
"Yes, Whisk agrees to stay longer..."Of course."So you'll make me a blade?""How much are you willing to pay us?"...
Caplus waited with Winfield, listening to the conversation.
"I can handle radar, and I can probably recognize the code. I could write something up, I suppose.
Caplus, don't be stupid. The marshcrawlers are moving now but it'll take a while since they have to go around the lake we crossed."[4] Annoyed, Caplus practiced shield skating, using his shield to keep himself off the ground a fair enough distance to slide around.
...
Kayle headed into the main building. She and Jaffar passed inspection, although a pair of sniffing Ravagers after the inventory screening was unsettling.
The central lobby room was about five meters high. It was taller than one would expect a military building to be, but other than that the walls were painted with the usual red-above-blue stripe over brushed steel. The floor consisted of parallel plates. She assumed this was for drainage in case of some kind of biochemical attack--it would stop liquids from flowing.
Jaffar pointed to a pair of doors marked with a sign overhead. The sign depicted a crosshair over a crown.
"Must be the gun and armor stores."They headed through the checking area--much more secure than the Militech building at Empire City--and into a hallway lined with nine shops showcasing combat equipment. Jaffar noticed a peculiar belt attached to a cardboard cut-out depicting a stylized flare. Kayle, on the other hand, simply stared at the row of Cyrian-made bolters and photon guns.
You may request menus for any of these. Just not all of them.
-
Reizer Weapons Division-
Potshot: Rifles and More-
Cyrian Arms Exports-
Freelance Gunsmiths-
Reizer Armor Division-
Anvil Forge-
Amorphous Hardworks-
Pheonix Engineering (Polarian conglomerate that sells lots of military stuff)
-
Reizer Electronics