Worse Than the Disease IC

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq is a bit stumped by the lack of effect on those he struck. He moves in closer while looking for another target that won't harm the defenders.

[u-b]

Sean keeps aiming and shooting at attackers. If he can spot a shotgunner without wasting much time, he'll target that one. Otherwise, any one will do

"You take the dogs and follow him." sean nods at Richard after he's made his shot. This is apparently to Bart again.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Bart nods and moves after Richard.

Sean gets eyes on a bad guy with a ready long gun, and pops him in the chest, scoring another kill. A quick glance across the fighting zone, and Sean only sees two more attackers with guns.

Tariq approaches the scene in front of him, and spots some bad guys fleeing into a ruined building - all the windows are boarded up, the metal door looks sturdy, and it's only one story. The attackers are more spread out now, some are broken completely and running away from the fight.

Richard keeps his eyes open as he enters the treeline, although he is certain the attackers are still quite a ways away from him - over 100 yards away, in fact.

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq approaches the scene in front of him, and spots some bad guys fleeing into a ruined building - all the windows are boarded up, the metal door looks sturdy, and it's only one story. The attackers are more spread out now, some are broken completely and running away from the fight.

Does Tariq see any obvious places to attack the building? If it's ruined, are there some holes through which a grenade might be dropped?

[u-b]

Letting Tariq target the groups, Sean continues to single out those individuals he perceives to be worth singling out.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Tariq has to walk around the ruins to see what's on the other side, before he sees an opening for his grenade shot - the back of the ruin has a destroyed door wide open, a large hole in a wall, and a unbroken and uncovered window.

In the meantime, Sean shoots two more attackers. One dies instantly and the other barely survives (but passes out cold). Privately, Sean carves out two more notches on his tally.

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq has to walk around the ruins to see what's on the other side, before he sees an opening for his grenade shot - the back of the ruin has a destroyed door wide open, a large hole in a wall, and a unbroken and uncovered window.

In the meantime, Sean shoots two more attackers. One dies instantly and the other barely survives (but passes out cold). Privately, Sean carves out two more notches on his tally.

Tariq will take his time setting up this shot, aiming carefully before launching his grenade at the large hole in the wall.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Tariq shoots!
He scores!

The grenade goes into the hole and explodes in the room where Tariq cannot see it.

The blast broke some fragile stuff, from the sounds of it, but he is not sure what the full impact of the boom was...

Not without going inside, at least.

[u-b]

Having run out of high-ish-value targets, Sean switches to remaining ones. This could possibly take some time, depending on how Waffle House own guards are effective.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean blows away an axeman who was about to strike a prone Waffle House guard. Another dead for the pile...

Another axeman is hit in the back by Sean's second shot, but the round only stuns the brute, knocking him down. The attacker is quickly finished off by a guardsman.

10 attackers remain at the gate, beating and chopping at the defenses...

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq shoots!
He scores!

The grenade goes into the hole and explodes in the room where Tariq cannot see it.

The blast broke some fragile stuff, from the sounds of it, but he is not sure what the full impact of the boom was...

Not without going inside, at least.

Well, to increase the certainty he will carefully line up another shot, this time aiming at the destroyed door.

[u-b]

Sean keeps targeting the attackers, taking his time with each shot. So far, he's somewhat surprised by the sub-par efficiency of Waffle House snipers and even more surprised by the suicidal tendencies of the attacking group, but apparently nothing can be done about either at the moment, so he keeps picking single targets, expecting that maybe Richard will make it up close and shoot a long burst across the whole bunch.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Tariq's second grenade bounces in and explodes where he can't see it. Judging by the noise, he destroyed a bunch of stuff with that boom and gave multiple men quite a shock. Loud swearing fills the air.

Sean snipes another two men in black. Both of them fall down and are out of the fight. Sean realises that the attackers are far more heavily armoured than they appear...and something is wrong with their skin...

Richard and Bart have had uninterrupted time to stalk through the woods. He is now much closer to where the attackers are, or where they ran...

(OC: Richard, how close do you want to get to the Waffle House? To hunt down the attackers who fled into the trees and bushes, you'll want to roll Tracking, Observation or Bart's Animal Handling (Dogs)-13.)

[Volthawk]

Richard lets Bart lead with the dogs - with the hunter's skills and the dog's noses, they're far better at tracking down the attackers than he would be. He instead stays focused on their surroundings - the downside of following the enemy into terrain like this is that the attackers could have the drop on them if they weren't careful.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Bart tries to take the lead...but his dog keeps barking at squirrels and sniffing around trees.

Richard keeps on guard, but does not pick up the trail of the black-clothed marauders. How frustrating!

[u-b]

Sean keeps targeting the relentless attackers, wondering if they will choose to run sooner or later or if he will be forced to finish them all.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean eliminates another two of the melee specialists - they both die still swinging their weapons.

The other attackers at the gate (what few remain) finally figure out there is a sniper behind them, and he has the firepower to actually kill them easily. So they run for it, breaking off the assault, leaving much of the Waffle House security on the ground holding the line battered and circling the drain. The snipers are still reloading their guns.

[Volthawk]

"Damn. Nothing. Let's head back."

Hoping that not finding the other attackers won't come back to bite the exiles later, Richard leads Bart back to the road, the Waffle House, and the other exiles.

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq's second grenade bounces in and explodes where he can't see it. Judging by the noise, he destroyed a bunch of stuff with that boom and gave multiple men quite a shock. Loud swearing fills the air.

Tariq is used to his grenades doing more than causing some swearing. He is going to move closer to get a better view of the damage.

[Shoot Da Moon]

"Damn. Nothing. Let's head back."

Hoping that not finding the other attackers won't come back to bite the exiles later, Richard leads Bart back to the road, the Waffle House, and the other exiles.

Richard and Bart make their way back without getting attacked. Richard notices one of the Waffle House guards finish off a knocked-out attacker by holding him down and smothering him with his hands. The other guards make sure the slain raiders are really dead by grabbing axes and chopping them up. It is a slow and laborious process, the bodies are unnaturally durable. When the guards are stripping the attackers of their armor, Richard immediately notices how grossly mutated they are - their skin is harshly calloused, their eyes and mouths sport inhuman features, they have weirdly mismatched characteristics.

Tariq is used to his grenades doing more than causing some swearing. He is going to move closer to get a better view of the damage.

Tariq sneaks closer, hoping the explosions deafened the hostiles so they won't hear him coming.
Peeking inside, he sees and hears people in black clothes moving around the building, mostly out of sight. Despite the obvious blast damage wrecking the interior, he sees no bloodstains or gore like he would if someone suffered a conventional grenade hit in close quarters.
He figures there is a group of 6 attackers still inside the ruin, judging by the footsteps and talk.

[u-b]

Sean is totally determined to get as many attackers as he possibly can, so targets those running away and shoots them if thay take any time to reach full cover.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean manages to bulls-eye another two bad guys before they make it out of sight. Aiming for 3 seconds each cuts it close, but he does get the stragglers. The Waffle House forces dutifully coup-de-grace the recent causalities.

The rest simply slip away into wilderness, requiring serious effort to chase down and kill.

For now, the road is clear enough. But who knows when the surviving raiders will come back?

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq sneaks closer, hoping the explosions deafened the hostiles so they won't hear him coming.
Peeking inside, he sees and hears people in black clothes moving around the building, mostly out of sight. Despite the obvious blast damage wrecking the interior, he sees no bloodstains or gore like he would if someone suffered a conventional grenade hit in close quarters.
He figures there is a group of 6 attackers still inside the ruin, judging by the footsteps and talk.

How far is Tariq from the building? If close enough he could follow-up with a thrown, more powerful, grenade, and/or load a tear-gas grenade and fire it into the building.

[Shoot Da Moon]

How far is Tariq from the building? If close enough he could follow-up with a thrown, more powerful, grenade, and/or load a tear-gas grenade and fire it into the building.

(OC: Tariq is either right up against the building's window, or further away by about 5 yards, whichever you choose is better. Either way, throwing a grenade into it is no problem.)

[u-b]

Having dealt with everyone he can see, Sean switches to those he cannot see at the moment. He walks under the trees alongside the road to check those houses he has observed used by the attackers, and also any houses he will pass on the way.

Spoiler

Show

Maybe that will be the same house Tariq is now handling, maybe another one.

[GnomesofZurich2]

(OC: Tariq is either right up against the building's window, or further away by about 5 yards, whichever you choose is better. Either way, throwing a grenade into it is no problem.)

Tariq will pull the pin on one of his TL7 Frag grenades, aims for two seconds, tosses it into the building and then drops behind cover.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Having dealt with everyone he can see, Sean switches to those he cannot see at the moment. He walks under the trees alongside the road to check those houses he has observed used by the attackers, and also any houses he will pass on the way.

Spoiler

Show

Maybe that will be the same house Tariq is now handling, maybe another one.

Sean soft-footedly patrols along the road, scanning the area. He finds no signs of the strange men who swarmed the gates. They apparently know their way around the wilderness...

Tariq will pull the pin on one of his TL7 Frag grenades, aims for two seconds, tosses it into the building and then drops behind cover.

The explosion inside the ruin collapses part of the structure - half of the roof and two walls. The men within the now-ex-building have time to scream in horror before they are buried under heavy rubble. He does not know the exact kill-count, that would take looking into the ruin (and maybe some digging). Tariq can hear no more movement or talk now.

[u-b]

Sean notices the explosion and the building collapse. It seems Tariq is under control of that one, so Sean lets it be. Observing no active presence of the attackers and not yet quite ready to go follow their tracks, Sean approaches the Waffle House people. He takes off the goggles and the face mask as he does so. He is now dressed and equipped very differently than during his first visit here, but because of face scar, he rather expects to be recognized on sight by anyone who've seen him. And he expects everyone who is anyone to be nearby, whether alive or dead. As he makes the final steps, Sean tries to assess the damage. "Sean Pires. Radar Base guys. Unless you have other plans, I'll drive our cars here and then we loot all the bodies, after which we can sit somewhere and talk. Do you need medical attention? We can do first aid, but have no dedicated professional."

If they agree, Sean plans to do just that: drive both cars to where they will be guarded, then search all the attackers for any clues or loot. He does his best to examine every one of them visually, for the damage that Waffle House men might have done, but also for other visible clues. If any are still alive, he would try to prevent more killings, just in case these can be made to talk. He pokes a few dead ones with a knife. No proper autopsy at the moment, just to get the feeling of it. "So, you know these types? Seem pretty damn tough."

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq will catch up with the others. Shaking his head, he says "Not sure what the deal was with these guys, but usually people have the courtesy of dying when they get hit by a grenade! Took three grenades with these guys, and I'm not even sure they're dead, just collapsed a building on them!"

In the pause, he'll take some time to re-load his grenade launcher.

[Volthawk]

Richard shrugs as Tariq gets back. "They're mutants. Taking more grenades to kill than usual isn't the strangest thing we've seen of them, after that centaur. Seems like we've just been lucky to have only had to fight them a few times so far."