Worse Than the Disease IC

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean and Richard realise the remaining enemies are trying to goad the exiles into wandering into defenses.

There are disguised bear traps and stake pits set up near a few parts of the big stone barricades in the camp.

Richard would walk right into one, if he took the direct route towards the hiding bad guys.

He also hits upon the idea that one bad guy is trying to act as a decoy as another can flank and take aim.

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq croaks, "Sean, use my grenade launcher if it'll help. I've still got lots of round here, it's pretty much point and shoot. Might help flush some bad guys out."

[u-b]

From the distance of approximately 15 yards, Sean throws a grenade in the general direction of the opposition, trying to persuade it to attempt to vacate the area or something.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The grenade explodes and scares the three raiders hiding behind cover.

Sean can see all three raiders moving out of their positions. It looks like they're trying to escape the area, giving up the fight.

[Volthawk]

Richard raises his rifle, taking aim at one of the fleeing raiders and shouts out "I have you in my sights! Freeze!". He was still interested in taking prisoners, after all.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The raider stops and raises his hands up, still clutching his rifle.

The other two duck down, out of sight, still within the camp but further away.

(OC: The Range penalty for Richard is probably -5 now.)

[Volthawk]

Keeping his aim on the raider with his hands up, Richard shouts out more instructions. "Toss the rifle aside and get on the ground!" The others were a concern, but he had Sean watching his back so Richard felt comfortable enough making sure this guy wouldn't be a problem before handling them.

[u-b]

"On the knees, that is!" Sean did not quite like the idea of getting the man prone behind the obstacles, but stopps short of giving clearly conflicting instructions. He crouches, behind an obstacle or otherwise, and aims at the rifle. He is pretty sure he would not be able to pre-empt an attack by the other two, so tried to handle them the other way. "Hey, gentlemen! Do I have to throw more grenades or will you concede we've killed enough of your lot?"

Spoiler

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Taking "wait" combat maneuver to shoot at this man's rifle if any of the opposing men does anything funny. He is not guaranteed to see that, but should hear it with no problem at all (will make a perception check, possibly with a penalty if the action has no audial signature). Will also count as aim if Sean waits more then a second.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The raider who stopped slowly puts down the rifle in his hands, and then goes to his knees...

Sean spots another raider is behind a cover and peeking out, bracing his rifle on the rock as he aims at the exiles. The only parts of him not covered by the rock are his head, his arms, his rifle, and maybe the shoulder...

It seems the raider is trying to let his comrades act as a distraction!

[u-b]

Guessing that the primary target would be Richard and not himself, Sean shouts "Richard, cover!" and takes a second to aim at the rifleman's arm.

Spoiler

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Sean is still crouching (behind a cover if there is one where he is). Will take a second to aim, then shoot on next round. Will dodge with extra effort and drop if he's targeted.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The hostile takes a shot at Richard and barely misses.

[u-b]

Sean shoots at the rifleman's fight arm. Twice.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The two shots almost rip off the would-be shooter's gun arm.
The raider who gave up drops to his knees in horror.
The third remaining raider quickly surrenders to the exiles, not wanting to get savagely maimed.
From there, the exiles easily take the three never-do-wells into custody, so to speak.

[u-b]

Sean sends the prisoners over to Bart, keeping an eye on them while they get there, but not actually following. After the trio are on their knees some short distance from Bart (and some shorter distance from the dogs), Sean proceeds to take control of the area. He sneaks around the cabin and...
1. Looks at he far side of the forest to see if anyone would watch him from there
2. Look st the back door or some such and maybe footprints near there
3. Try to peek into the cabin and/or listen to what might make noise inside

[Volthawk]

Once the prisoners are secure, Richard just keeps a watch on the entrance to the cabin while Sean scouts around. Given what they'd seen already from this group, he didn't want to risk anyone sneaking in or out of there.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Once the prisoners are secure, Richard just keeps a watch on the entrance to the cabin while Sean scouts around. Given what they'd seen already from this group, he didn't want to risk anyone sneaking in or out of there.

Bart has the dogs bear their fangs at the captives. The cabin's front door remains ominously closed. The captured raider who got shot in the arm is still sobbing in severe pain.

Sean sends the prisoners over to Bart, keeping an eye on them while they get there, but not actually following. After the trio are on their knees some short distance from Bart (and some shorter distance from the dogs), Sean proceeds to take control of the area. He sneaks around the cabin and...
1. Looks at he far side of the forest to see if anyone would watch him from there
2. Look st the back door or some such and maybe footprints near there
3. Try to peek into the cabin and/or listen to what might make noise inside

Sean sees nobody out in the woods, but there are definitely footpaths and places where someone could watch over the area out there. One path is even wide enough that it could be a road, for an automobile. It looks well worn enough that he guesses vehicles that use it the most are heavier than his sedan...

The back door has the usual signs of use. Not surprising, the camp probably has people entering and leaving the cabin regularly everyday. But what is notable, is that the back door is very obviously booby-trapped with a tripwire. No doubt the back door is rigged with noisemakers to dissuade potential sneak attacks.

Sean definitely hears people talking angrily and constantly inside, but he does not make out what they are saying. The windows, however, are mostly blocked to prevent people looking inside.

[u-b]

So it was apparent that the inhabitants have not left through the back door and snuck into the woods. This suited Sean just fine. He starts to think how he could get those people, and not as a mass of mincemeat. The first Sean's thought is about the windows. It's fine if he cannot see through them as long as he can reasonably choose an inhabited room and get a flashbang in there. Even better if he can follow in. Failing that, he'll have to resort to other options, but those would be plans B, C and D...

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1. Is it just glass + curtains (soft jalousie or anything else non-rigid)?
2. Or is it hard shutters? If so, can Sean reasonably open those?
3. How high are the windows and how difficult it would be to climb in assuming the window is broken?

[Shoot Da Moon]

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1. Is it just glass + curtains (soft jalousie or anything else non-rigid)?
2. Or is it hard shutters? If so, can Sean reasonably open those?
3. How high are the windows and how difficult it would be to climb in assuming the window is broken?

Spoiler

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1) Glass, curtains and wooden boards or furniture pushed in front of it.
2) No shutters, the windows do not open from the outside. The locks and latches on the windows are on the inside.
3) The windows are ground level, the sill at your waist. Climbing in would be no problem if all obstacles were removed.

[u-b]

Having no apparent way to reliably flashbang people inside through the window, Sean decides he would try the back door instead. He tries to carefully disable all the traps, be they squeaky, explosive or otherwise, then see if the door needs unlocking before it could be opened (and unlock it if so).

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean is skilful enough to both disarm the traps on the door, pick the lock on the door, and do it all without alerting the men inside.

As he sneaks in, he spots the man named Stone, the officer and raider boss in charge of this camp. He is accompanied by a bodyguard with a ready SMG.

Both of them are keeping a close eye on the front door, as Stone operates a radio with a revolver in one hand.

[u-b]

Sean aims for a second, shoots a burst at the men's legs, then steps away behind some cover, completely blocking men's line of sight to himself.

Spoiler

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Either just step or a heroic retreat costing one FP. Anyway, Sean wants to completely block line of sight. He likely shots the men with two bullets each (please specify how much more is wasted), which would cause just enough damage to criple those limbs twice, which is something like (HP / 2) * 2 rounded some way to make the remaining hit points no more than zero. Assuming those guys cannot do much besides doing nothing, Sean would be ready to conduct negotiations when they think they are. Meanwhile he is ready to dodge anything coming his way, like a last heroic charge or more guys from the other compartments (all-out dodge with extra effort and maybe drop depenging on how appropriate it would seem to be).

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean aims for a second, shoots a burst at the men's legs, then steps away behind some cover, completely blocking men's line of sight to himself.

Spoiler

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Either just step or a heroic retreat costing one FP. Anyway, Sean wants to completely block line of sight. He likely shots the men with two bullets each (please specify how much more is wasted), which would cause just enough damage to criple those limbs twice, which is something like (HP / 2) * 2 rounded some way to make the remaining hit points no more than zero. Assuming those guys cannot do much besides doing nothing, Sean would be ready to conduct negotiations when they think they are. Meanwhile he is ready to dodge anything coming his way, like a last heroic charge or more guys from the other compartments (all-out dodge with extra effort and maybe drop depenging on how appropriate it would seem to be).

The surprise attack is brutal and sharp. Sean wastes no bullets, as the men are standing close together. Screams of pain fill the cabin completely as legs are shattered by the bursts of hot lead.

They both fall to the ground, calves and knees bloody and broken. Sean winces as they continue to vocalise their agony, but both men stay relatively in the fight...

No doubt, they are ready to shoot back, just as soon as they figure out where Sean is...

[u-b]

Sean lets the two men be for some time. If no other opposition seem to be incoming, and the sounds from the room continue to be heard, he plans to draw a flashbang, pull the pin, lob the flashbang it into the room and cover his ears with his hands before it goes off.

Spoiler

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Sean is dodging for 5 seconds expecting the men to pass out and/or someone to act. If no opposition is incoming to his location out of the room (be that the men he has shot or anyone else), he will spend 2 more seconds to draw the flashbang and pull the pin. At this point, if he still hears any relevant activity in the room, he'll lob the flashbang in there.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The two men are as tough as nails, but they are in no condition to keep fighting.

The bodyguard with the SMG makes a heck of a racket, randomly firing bursts from his gun in multiple directions until it runs dry and he passes out trying to crawl away.

The captive, the man named Stone, only manages to keep his head and stays still, revolver ready...but he is bleeding badly, and even staying in the fight is futile gesture when Sean decides to throw in the stun grenade.

(OC: no need to roll, Stone fails to resist, moving on.)

When Sean comes back, the cabin is more or less clear, but with two unconscious men, a lot of blood, and bullet holes ruining the decor.

[u-b]

Thinking that all those various sounds might leave it unclear what's going on and how exactly it's ending, Sean carefully opens the front door and waves at Richard. He shouts: "We got him! Don't step on a trap! Better ask those types whom they were signalling to with those flares!" Leaving Richard do that part of the communication, Sean does the other part. Without touching any knobs, he picks up the microphone, pushes the button and says: "Total destruction here. Any message for us?" Then he releases the button and listens.

Spoiler

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Sean does not mind a little chat as long as he's not giving much of a detail. Of primary interest is the nature of the counterparty Stone was talking to: whether it is some sort of HQ, a nearby moile team or what not.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The voice on the other end speaks in a low accent that he is not familiar with;
"Laugh it up, Pires. You don't have long. We buried plenty of rejects in shallow graves over the years, you and your friends will be no different. I only wish we could bill that witch Mailer the cost of the bullets we're gonna blast off your head with. Her stupid games are costing us real time we could spend on more fun slaughter. And while we're talking, make sure Stone gets a nice maiming to remember this moment by. That idiot's bungling needs correction, and the loss of his fingers should motivate him to straighten up and fly right. Over."

[u-b]

Sean was quite surprised to be identified right away. Does the person on the other end know his voice? Did Stone describe his group with enough details not to be confused with any other group of potential attackers? Likely the later, Sean thought, but it still took him some time to compose himself. "Hey, man, as far as I know we've just got kicked out and took over some vacant property! It were your types who attacked us, had bounty posted on our heads and started picking fights with the militias! That's gross! Wanna make peace? Or armistice, say? What's the matter with you? Why do we have to keep fighting? Over." Sean intentionally did not clarify about the fate of Stone, expecting that any his bluff would be too easy to read. In fact, he well expects his proposal for "peace" will be taken with a large grain of salt, but he still would like to hear some answer, or, failing that, some comment.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The voice has a nasty edge to it;
"Ha! Sorry, Pires, orders are orders, even if Mailer's nuttier than a barrel of squirrels. Yeah, you and your buddies got hung out to dry just 'cuz your Overseer's a loon who gets her kicks messing with her ant farm, but better you than me, eh? You got the bounty on you because the brass who ain't insane need to keep it all under wraps, and you know too much. If we don't shut you up, we're next for the bounty board, on charges of dereliction of duty. Speaking of shutting you up, say hi to the battle bus, Pires!"

The radio transmits cruel laughter before it crackles out.

[Volthawk]

Once Sean confirms that the cabin is secure, Richard turns his attention to the prisoners, rifle still in hand. "Alright, listen up! We know you called for help, and if things get too heavy here because of it, you're dying first - we're not in the business of letting people like you go to try to kill us again without getting anything out of it, nor giving people actively attacking us the chance to get more manpower. However, if you cooperate, we'll let you go whenever we get a good opportunity - we've honoured our word with every other prisoner we've taken. Simple as that, it's your choice."

[u-b]

"Hi, battle bus..." thinks Sean as he reloads the rifle with a full magazine of match grades and goes to the back door to take a look "...goddamit!"