The Ballad of Echo Company - Episode 1B - The Best Laid Plans

[MrAbdiel]

For the first time, K'ral's shot misses its mark; the intended recipient skull moving left at the wrong time, tracking the sniper's chasing crosshair to ricochet a bullet off the gunshield of the AA mount. Catchell's shot lands, but not with K'ral's killing precision; it thips into the body of the wounded soldier, penetrating in and out of the forearm of the wounded soldier, braying, covering, and looking for where to direct return fire.

Spoiler: K'ral!

Show

Rats. They're looking for you now. Beat an 18 on a stealth roll, and you remain hidden, even if they've clocked your general angle of fire. Hit a 23, and you can relocate away undetected, Catchell along with you.

Within the bunker, the orc has expired, and the bleeding human Vult soldier has gone into shock, and faded from conciousness. The rest of the bunker's defenders are dead, and the heavy machine gun hangs idly from its rail. Outside, you can hear a near exchange of fire, and the panic-shouts of what must be the AA team. It sounds like K'ral and Catchell have opened up on them, and that battle is being played out now.

Ssassten sspeakss up. "We could turn the gun on the enemiesss sstalling our buddiesss on the beach. But we'd sssoon attract a sssizable responssse." Another naval cannon blasts at the cliffwall, its shells blocked by the blooming, purplish hue of the Kriegshield. "Not doesss it get usss any closer to the Sshield-casterss. They mussst be sssomewhere near to project the ssshield. But..." The lizardman looks around the bunker, exasperated. He's a point-and-shoot sort of soldier; and the limits of his creativity have been reached. He turns his reptile eyes to the corporal, hoping for some idea on how to proceed.

Spoiler: What now, Skyknives?

Show

There are two gunners on the AA turret outside. K'ral and Catchell anticipate a light vehicle in the next couple of rounds. In the bunker you have the dead enemy soldiers (none of whom have anything particularly interesting on their persons, except the odd little brass sphere about which the Cpl may yet make a judgement. There's also the crates of Vult munitions which you narrowly saved from detonation. Aside from all that, those of you in the bunker have a moment to catch your breath. In the absense of any officers to direct you, what do you do?

[Waistcoatwill]

In a vain attempt to busy himself and not look at the bodies of the fallen, Doc walks over to the hatch on the floor of the bunker.

Where do you suppose this leads to? I'm guessing it ain't the subway!

He pulls out his stethoscope and microretractors again and sets to work.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Doc uses an action to investigate for traps and a bonus action to pick the lock.

Investigation (1d20+5)[14]

Theives tools (1d20+7)[10]

[Continental Op]

Wolf picks up the copper sphere. When he realizes the lizardman is looking at him, he scratches his head. "You are not wrong about the shield-casters, Monroe. But if we can help the folks on the beach then we should. If two of us can use this machine gun on the Kriegers, then the others should take out that AA gun and protect this bunker."

Wold looks around at the others, and sees Doc at the floor. "Um, Doc, aren't their Kriegers below us? You sure you want to let them in? Why don't you stay here and help feed the machine gun. If you have time, you could also see what is in that ammo pile, and figure out what in the nine hells this is." He tosses the sphere to Doc, not realizing that may interrupt what Doc is focused on.

"Gabe, you want to come with me and take out the AA gun? Monroe, think you can operate that machine gun?"

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
I'm with ya.

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc catches the orb somewhat less deftly than he did the grenade and looks over at the gap between the machine gun and munitions crates.

I'll be running flat out to manage all that, but if it keeps my fingers off the trigger I'm happy.

Try to show a bit of mercy to at least one Kreiger this time okay? If we don't know where to find the shield-schmucks then we'll need to ask one of them. Might be this hatch leads right to them, but I'll stop fiddling until we know more.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Jumping the gun a bit, but I wanted to respond to Wolf before team AA assault leave the bunker.

Doc will plan to use his fast Hands to keep the machine gun loaded and use his action to investigate/Arcana the orb, then investigate the crates if he has time over the next few rounds.

(1d20)[2] +2 Arcana or +5 investigate on the orb.

[PartyOfRogues]

”Looks like they’ve started catching on to us, let’s move back and try to set up an ambush for the truck. Find somewhere you can get good cover.”

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Moving back and setting up a hunting trap along the predicted route of the vehicle, then taking position up in a tree and waiting for the truck.

[MrAbdiel]

Spoiler: Doc!

Show

The hatch doesn't seem to be trapped - but it also seems to be locked up pretty damn good. It's a lock you can bypass, but it'll take time. (That is, atleast one more attempt, in which you hit a Thieves' tools DC of 15!

The little sphere is an utter mystery to you- it's as likely to be a part of some weird Old World game as anything else. You don't think it's a weapon - at least not directly. And you'll be able to start sifting through the munitions dump next pass, if you want!

"I think I can give it a ssshot..." Sibilates the lizardman, doing a quick check of the mounted weapon to make sure he understands what he's putting his hands on, but it comes naturally enough to him; and he begins blazing away down at the beach, walking the tracer fire over the backs of the defending trench warriors deflecting the beach assault at lag points.

When Cpl 'Wolf' and Pvt Ginger emerge into the external trench, they see that the crew of the AA gun is faring poorly. One of the four is dead, another badly injured beside him; with one of those who was sitting on the gun having climbed off to apply pressure to the bleeding gunshot wounds of the dying Kreiger. The one remaining gunner, however, is roaring in outrage and fear; and with a swift mechanical clicking, he pivots the AA gun around 180 degrees, tilts it down to parallel, and begins blasting flak rounds into the treeline across the path, splintering wood and shredding greenery - and ny hidden allied soldiers who might be hiding there. To the Skyknive's cold realization, the hail of rounds designed to rip apart aircraft is devestating the treeline where they left K'ral and Catchell. There's no sign of either of them returning fire.

K'ral and Catchell, however, skulk away from that scene with adrenaline pumping, the Kreigers pumping their ammo into the now unoccupied ground. They're further along now, further down the line past the AA gun and about a third of the way to being in-line with the next bunker in the Defiant Wall. It's also a fine place to lay in wait - through the trees, they catch glimpses of a light flammenkreigwagon, an enemy jeep equivalent with a driver and spotter in the front seats and an upright post with a pintle mounted flammenwerfer, a third crewman standing in a lightly armored cage and preparing to use the weapon to blech streams of burning fuel over entrenched enemies. It's moving at cruising speed, suggesting it has somewhere it intends to be very soon; and it will round the corner in a few seconds!

Spoiler: Flammen! Achtung!

Show

Let's keep the loose initiative of all-yall then all-them. K'ral and Catchell know the car's about to round the bend, so K'ral is clear to prepare an action to attack in some way and Catchell will do as he does. Wolf and Ginger, you see the AA gun blazing away and may attack it; but you'll need to beat a free DC 20 Perception check to also know the car's about to come around the corner too. Inside the bunker, Monroe is suppressing enemies on the beach, Doc investigated the hatch and the orb, and I think that brings us up to date!

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
Approaches the AA position with caution, and prepares to take out the AA gunner.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move close enough to sneak attack the AA gunner.
I am not sure how much cover the trench provides, but with Skulker it should be sufficient.

Stealth: (1d20+10)[11]

[PartyOfRogues]

K’ral follows the truck’s cab with his scope, waiting for a clear shot on the driver when they round the corner

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Aiming and readied action to shoot the driver of the flammenkriegwagon when the truck rounds the corner
To Hit: (1d20+2)[15] (1d20+2)[19] (1d20+2)[12]
Damage: (1d8+14)[16]
Sneak Attack: (3d6)[12]

[Continental Op]

When Wolf sees the AA gun open up on the treeline, he growls and starts shooting at the gunner. If he needs to move to get into a better line of sight on the gunner, he will do so, but otherwise he starts firing without another thought.

Spoiler: Rolls

Show

Hopefully Wolf doesn't give away Gabe's position, but he is focused on taking out that gunner. And IIRC, the AA gun is only 50' away, so the gunner should be in range.
He may use a superiority die to hit or for extra damage, we'll see:
Attack 1: (1d20+9)[27] and damage (1d10+4)[10]
Attack 2: (1d20+9)[25] and damage (1d10+4)[12]

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc slips the orb into his webbing for safe keeping, it might be a good souvenir if nothing else.

He connects a fresh feed of ammunition for Monroe, deftly laying it out neatly so that he can step away fjr a moment. Unsheathing his tendon hammer, he dashes across the bunker and starts hammering at the crates, trying to find anything interesting within them.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Action Investigate on the crates. Bonus action swift hands reload.

(1d20+5)[18]

[MrAbdiel]

Gabriel creeps along the trench to get into position for a better shot, but luck is not with him; the second man on the gun is looking right at the trench as the soldier is moving from one shadow to another, hollers and alarm, and the AA gun begins to swing around, threatening to flood the line of the trench with bone-pulping anti-vehicular weapons fire. Cpl. Wolf acts quickly, snapping off two shots with the intention of creating a distraction in the gunner. With a choking gurgle, one bullet thumping through his throat and another square into his heart, he topples off the gun - terminally distracted. The secondary operator scrambles back onto the weapon and cries out in mingled fear and alarm, and completes the rotation of the weapon so it ends pointing down into the trench. Four big, smoking barrels glare down at Wolf and Gabriel - but they do not blink just yet, as the operator shifts desperately into the gunner's seat and tucks himself as best he can behind the gunshield.

Meanwhile, K'ral's target rolls into view - the flammenkreigwagon with its snubby, Kreig-designed nose and rear mounted weapon's platform bouncing around the corner. The spotter in the vehicle immediately clocks the situation with the AA gun and the trench - and flags the driver to pull up alongside. Then the driver's temple bursts, throwing his blended brainmatter out through the shattering windshield onto the hood of the wagon as it careens off the road and toward the trench between bunker and AA gun. The gunner and spotter are screaming in confusion now, and Catchell's bullet shooting off the rearview mirror doesn't help their state of panic as they try to get the vehicle under control!

Doc, meanwhile, digs through the supply. Crates of belted ammo for Monroe, happily blazing away. Additional calibres of ammunition for the various models of common carry Kreif weapons. Two crates each containing ten clunky, but perfectly functional stick grenades. And wedged behind one crate against the wall, an uncreased map criss-crossed with pencil marks and a suggestion of troop movements - how old, Doc cannot say; but it may or may not be interesting to the brass if they get out of this alive.

There's one more Kreiger on the scene that still lives - shot, bleeding, dying beside the gun, the soldier lets out a mortal, exhausted yawp and expends his final strength tossing a stick grenade - bouncing, tumbling, skittering and finally coming to rest in the trench... right near Pvt. Ginger, and Cpl. "Wolf".

Spoiler: Turns!

Show

Nice work, cliff team. The wagon is careening out of control, driverless, its two other crewmen surprised for this pass. There's one living operator on the gun preparing to shoot at Wolf and Ginger. The other guy, bullet-wounds-Hans on the ground, dies of bloodloss after throwing a grenade at them! They'll need to pass Dex saves of DC13, or else take 3d6 fire and 3d6 thunder damage. If they pass, to avoid the damage entirely, they throw themselves out of the blast in the quickest fashion - in this case, scrambling out of the trench to let the concrete channel the blast away from them.

[PartyOfRogues]

K’ral takes aim at the turret operator on the truck, firing another shot.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Hit: (1d20+2)[20] (1d20+2)[16] (1d20+2)[12]
Damage: (1d8+14)[15]
Sneak Attack: (3d6)[7]

[Waistcoatwill]

Having stashed the map, Doc is rocked slightly by the blast wave of the grenade coming down the trench.

Damn, what are those boys getting up to? Keep firing at those Kreigers, I'll see what's up and try and get you more ammo when I can.

He scuttles up to the bunker door and peers round, seeing his buddies singed from the grenade and staring down four ludicrously huge barrels.

He snaps his over-sized side arm up with both hands and aims at the gunner's neck, hoping to graze the jugular or carotid despite the gunshield.

Leave 'em alone you bastard!

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Stealth (1d20+4)[14]

Attack (1d20+7)[27] with possible advantage from stealth (1d20+7)[9]

For (1d6+4)[8] piercing damage and (3d6)[12] sneak attack if the stealth succeeds.

[Continental Op]

Wolf sees the massive barrels of the AA gun pointed at him, and then the grenade at his feet. He makes the mistake of running straight down the trench at the AA gun, and the trench funnels the blast of the grenade right to him. He stumbles, but his thick beast hide protects him from the worst of the blast. He continues running at the AA gun, now yelling at the gunner to try to get his attention.

"Hey, you Krieger bastard! I'm coming for you!"

He keeps moving towards the gun, hoping to find a position where he can get a good angle of attack on the gunner.

Edit: Of course, all this may be mooted by Doc's one-in-a-million (or one-in-twenty, but who's counting) shot. Hopefully Wolf made it to the AA gun, and out of the path of the truck.

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
Weevils as attempts to scramble out of the channel.
Unsure if he can make the shot from here, he resorts to acid again.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Dex Save: (1d20+7)[19]

AA operator need to make a dex save of 14 or take (2d6)[9] acid damage
(The gunshield is also targetted, not sure if it takes damage from acid however)

[MrAbdiel]

The sound of gunfire clattering and ricocheting off the bunker behind becomes louder like the onset of a hailstorm. A moment later, Pvt. Ssassten is skulking out the door of the bunker, lugging the heavy machine gun and a couple of looped ammunition belts clutched to his chest. It's too big to fire without atleast bracing, but the big lizard seems to have gained affection for the weapon.

The feralized corporal barrels down the trench with smoking shrapnel in his back. The AA gunner tracks him with the weapon, the huge, plane killing muzzles of the turret crossing his eye level like the hollow skull sockets of death itself, and then BANG.

For a blood freezing second, Wolf might wonder if he is dead. But the sound is the report of Doc's pistol fired behind him, the single round zipping between the narrow space between gunshield and barrels, clipping the steel and tumbling to slap sideways into the gunner's face. It bores a gory groove into the soldier's head, shearing off the right eye and the exterior frame of the socket, the left temporal lobe of his brain, and part of the back of his skull. Incredibly, he is not killed; gagging and screaming, staggering back a step and off the turret just in time for a whirling globule of emerald green acid to slap mostly on the gunshield, speckling over his mangled face and upper body, dropping him to the ground in paroxysms of existential outrage, and unimaginable pain. When Wolf rounds the corner of the gunshield, all the enemies are dead except the one whose grisly fate he just witnessed - though that one likely wishes he was dead; half blind and deformed and dying as he is.

That position gives Wolf a good view of this new intrusion on the field - a Kreig vehicle with a flamethrower turret careening toward the trench he just came from. He watches as the turret operate leans down to try to pull the dead driver from his seat; then a dual CRACK CRACK from the treeline suggests that Catchell and K'ral are alive and in good order, both bullets finding the turret operator who flops lifelessly from the vehicle, tumbling backwards off it like a broken doll. The spotter grits his teeth and, seeing the trench racing up and no time to make a sophisticated plan, leans over and jerks the steering wheel to one side. The wagon goes up on two wheels as it veers around in a tight circle, just narrow enough to avoid plunging into the trench. What it does do instead is hoons at fearsome speed close enough to the trench that it threatens to slam into Pvt Ginger, who just vacated the trench fleeing another peril!

If these were the only developments, the skirmish could be thought to be going well. But a great, awful shadow passes over the field of battle; and a tremendous figure alights the top of the now vacated bunker. Massive, scintillating, and rippling with power just as it was when you first saw it, the great blue wyrm with the Vult's fourfold lightning bolt stencilled on its flank settles, wings flared, into the midst of this skirmish. It surveys the scene with wicked intellect, before its eyes track downward to Pvt Ssassten, standing in the trench immediately below it, staring up in mute silence. The reptile eyes meet, and the lizardman seems to have lost even the presence of mind to try to escape. He just stands there as the dragon opens its jaws and emits a bone-shaking roar that ripples Ssassten's frill, and flecks him with sparking spittle.

Spoiler: On no! Developments!

Show

K'ral, with a small but necessary assist from Catchell, snipes the flameturret operator from the wagon; but the spotter manages to get it under control enough to try to run over Pvt Ginger! Ginger's going to need to pass a DC 14 Dexterity save to leap back INTO the trench, or he's going to bounce off and over the hood of the wagon for (4d10)[14] bludgeoning damage, and end up prone.

The AA turret operator passed his Dex save, even with disadvantage, to avoid Pvt Ginger's acid damage; but there's no getting around Doc's 30 damage crit, which zeros him out. He's 'dead' though in game he's dying screaming on the ground. Wolf can, as a free action, either end his suffering or ignore it, depending on what he decides is merciful and if he feels particularly merciful.

Then the dragon - the very same one you saw blasting transports out of the air - has come to perch on the bunker you were just in. The reason for this visitation is not immediately apparent; but what IS apparent is that this is a foe that, under normal conditions, can shred a through many times your number of soldiers. It uses Frightful Presence, requiring everyone in the scene to make a DC 17 Wisdom save versus fear, or be frightened of it for one minute, or until you succeed on that save repeated at the end of your turns. Frightened, if you need a reminder...

Frightened
A frightened creature has disadvantage on Ability Checks and Attack rolls while the source of its fear is within Line of Sight.
The creature can’t willingly move closer to the source of its fear.

After that, since that's all the 'bad guys' in your initiative scene done, you may freely act again! GLHF

[Continental Op]

Wolf's eyes go wide as the dragon roars at them. First the AA gun pointed at him, then the grenade, then the fire truck, and now being threatened by this larger-than-life beast is almost too much to take in. He looks around for any form of salvation, and sees the AA gun looming behind him.

Not pausing to think, or even spare a glance for the dying Krieger at his feet, Wolf vaults into the AA gun. He aims it as best he can at the head of the dragon, knowing he only has one shot at this. "Hey ugly! Eat shrapnel and die!" He then slams his fists on the activation panels, saying a quick mental prayer to the god of luck and fools that the thing actually fires.

Assuming the AA gun goes off and actually hits the dragon, Wolf (probably half-deafened) bluffs at the top of his lungs, "And there is more where that came from, you overgrown eel!"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Our only chance may be to frighten the dragon off, so Wolf is prepared to spend a superiority die on Precision Attack to land a hit. And either way, he is definitely going to spend a die on Menacing Attack. It seems a little weird to include the +2 to attack from his archery style on this, but since it is a ranged attack, I will keep it in there. Feel free to reduce these rolls by 2 if it doesn't fit:
To hit with the AA gun:(1d20+9)[12]
And for advantage: (1d20+9)[16]

No idea what damage is for the AA gun, but rolling for the extra damage for Menacing Attack:(1d8)[2] and the dragon needs to make a Wis save DC:15 or be frightened of the little badger-man below him.

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc, compelled by animalistic terror, bolts down the trench to the AA gun. He tosses a grenade wildly behind him as he runs, before slipping between Wolf's legs and trying to put the gunshield between him and the reptilian horror perched on the bunker.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

If possible he will try to get full cover from the gunshield at the end of his movement.

[MrAbdiel]

Ginger rolls back into the trench, covering up and smelling the rubber of the wagon's tyres as they very nearly smoosh him. Then a report from the treeline sends another round, accurate as K'ral always is, into the back of the spotter's head, and now he, too, lies dead in the wagon. With the three crew members all lacking synaptic connection at this point, the truck carries on in its circle with the dead driver's foot on it's accelerator, ripping around in circles in the grass near the trench, each loop a little irregular and unpredictable.

When the dragon lands, Gabriel and Doc have similar impulses - break out in a cold sweat, and throw a grenade. Both detonate on the dragon's scales, and seem to do damage... probably. Catchell makes a wild, wide shot at the beast; Ssassten just sinks down in the trench below it, hands fumbling in his pack for something, anything, to change the situation. But the beast seems so unconcerned with efforts to harm it and entirely occupied with tracking the reverse trajectory of that shot from the treeline. With Cpl Wolf dragging line of AA fire over to its perch, the great blue creature casually ducks its head under the walk of flak rounds, narrows its huge eyes, and releases a tremendous, roaring, blazing line of white-blue lightning into the treeline. The static rolls over the squad like a scintillating blastwave, snapping and pinging audibly on weapons and buttons... And perhaps more than that, for poor Private K'ral.

Spoiler: Actions!

Show

Autopiloted actions for Ginger and K'ral. Let me know if they're unreasonable! Ginger and Doc threw grenades and the dragon didn't bother to dodge. K'ral kills the last crew member. Wolf, sadly, misses by THAT much. Menacing attack doesn't activate because of the miss, so he keeps the superiority die for another attack. The grenades damage it! But it gives the old no-sale. It breathes at K'ral, as I randomly determined; and that'll be interesting.

K'ral's stealth roll was 23. The dragon's PASSIVE perception is 22. I rolled its ACTIVE perception, and got only a 20. So it can't SEE K'ral, but it knows he's there, because dragons am smart and he can track the shot. But not well enough to pick the target. Enough to breath, though.

So K'ral, you need to make me a very important Dexterity save or take a skin-crisping 68 Lightning Damage. Because you outstealthed it, you can have advantage on this roll. If you succeed, I'm going to say you avoid the damage entirely, as if you had evasion, because of your concealment.
But if you fail, you're doing to take the whole bit enough to 0 K'ral out, not QUITE enough to instantly reduce him to a skeleton. The DC is 20.

The players may take turns now!

[PartyOfRogues]

K’ral braces as he sees the dragon turn in his direction, watching as the same energy that effortlessly obliterated a massive aircraft passes within just a few feet of him, burning straight through a tree and continuing into the forest behind him. Now much more keenly aware of the precariousness of his position, he leans out and fires a shot at the dragon, hoping it’s attention will be drawn elsewhere before it is able to attack again.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Steady Aim to counteract the disadvantage from fear and attacking, is Ssassten adjacent for Sneak Attack?
Hit: (1d20+7)[26]
Damage: (1d8+4)[12]
Possible Sneak Attack: (3d6)[11]
Save for fear: (1d20+3)[11]

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc quietly moves around to the other side of the AA gun before popping out and firing a desperate shot at the big lizard. Without even looking to see if he hit, he scurries behind the gun again, putting the bug metal structure between himself and any more blasts of electricity.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Stealth (1d20+4)[12]
Attack (1d20+7)[9]
And if he still has disadvantage despite stealth (1d20+7)[25]
(1d6+4)[5] piercing plus (3d6)[9] if Munro grants sneak attack by being adjacent.

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
Might have found the explosions comforting, but not enough to offset the dragon.
Only one thought occurs to him:
We need more firepower.
He sends a Message to the rest of the squad in the bunker:
There's a **** dragon on the roof, we need more firepower out here.
With a moment out of the eye of the beast, he masters himself, It has to have a weakness, all things do.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Cast Message Spell
Use the light cover of the trench to hide.

Stealth: (1d20+10)[23]
Fear (Wis): (1d20+2)[21]

[Continental Op]

"Damn!" Wolf growls, seeing that he missed with all four barrels of shrapnel. He looks down at the contraption he is sitting on, wondering if he or Doc can load it, shaking his head after half a second. Then he sees the destruction the dragon made of the forest, which doubles his resolve to kill the thing, or at least drive it away.

"Where are we going to get enough firepower..." he trails off, looking at the the abandoned bunker directly under the dragon. "Hey Doc, cover me as best you can! I'm going to finish what you stopped that Krieger bastard from doing!"

Wolf then snarls, and makes his way towards the bunker, using the trench to avoid the madly spinning truck and trying to stay low and avoid the dragon's eye.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Wolf moves to the bunker opening, using his action to try to move stealthily. His plan is to toss a grenade into the ammo pile, and pray the bunker's roof is not that fortified, but that is next round.
Rolling for stealth: (1d20+7)[21]

[MrAbdiel]

The dragon's hide is pinged and scored by the bullets flung at it; Doc's deflects entirely, while the one flitting in from the treeline thwips into the beast's side for damage that appears to concern it not at all. Its movements are laconic, untroubled, and even bored; here, in a warzone, under attack and ostensibly in danger that even a dragon should take notice of (the invading armies of the free world are no small threat), the great blue's features radiate lazy contempt only. It takes one step off the bunker, now leaning half off it to loom directly over the trench; scoops Ssassten fumbling for his explosives out of the concrete ditch with a slashing upward strike that grooves the grey seigeworks, then plunges its giant head forward to clamp teeth onto the lizardman's midsection. Ssassten is too afraid even to cry out; almost submitting to the mauling like a gazelle in the lion's grip. The big black scaled body twitches in the electrified crush of the dragon's jaws, then is dropped to the ground perforated and ragged, and finally slapped, tumbling raggedly end over end, skidding across the road and coming to rest at a gruesome contorted angle, stilled in the bushes by the treeline. With that, the beast turns its dull gaze to the AA turret, and the halfling hiding behind it; and voltage begins to crowd again behind the cage of its teeth.

Almost a non-event compared to Ssassten's mauling and demise, the flammenwagon finally breaks out of its spiral by looping too close to the trench. It hits the empty space of trench at speed with a front wheel, scrapes and skids up to stand on its nose while incidentally dumping the three head-shot corpses out of the interior, and then flops over on its top, mangling the flame turret and finally skidding off the clifftop entirely with a metallic tumble and crash below.

Spoiler: OOC Happenings!

Show

Ginger, Wolf, and K'ral are all now operating at decent enough stealth rolls to evade the dragon's focus. This is made possible because Doc's stealth roll failed - so the big electric eyes are on the little halfling, with everyone else atleast onstensibly 'hidden' in the scene.
The wagon falls off the cliff, since I rolled as good as I could for its randomized movement this turn, so it does the most helpful thing for your platoon imaginable. It's your turns again!

EDIT: To be clear, the dragon is taking damage from the rounds that hit it. But with an AC of 19 and a bucket of hitpoints, he's not worried; and your characters are right to be freaking out and looking for more firepower!

[PartyOfRogues]

K’ral leans around the tree, managing to steady his hands before firing off another shot in the dragon’s direction.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Not much I can other than firing off another shot and hopefully passing a wisdom save eventually
Hit: (1d20+7)[24]
Damage: (1d8+4)[5]
Fear: (1d20+3)[11]

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc stares in horror as Munro is mauled and cast aside so easily.

He fires once more to no effect at the huge form before its gaze turns upon him.

Letting out a strangled squeak he rolls behind the AA gun, trying to break line of site completely and put as much conductive metal as he can between him and the dragon, just in case he can ground the charge.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Attack with disadvantage (1d20+7)[25] or (1d20+7)[17]

For (1d6+4)[8] damage

Bonus action hide check (1d20+4)[23]

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
Grenades are just not going to cut it.
With the wrath of the wrym and more importantly, its attention directed away, he takes out his Behir, and tries to magic it underneath the beast after it leans to assault his comrades.

Spoiler: OOC

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As was suggested earlier, exploding woopie cushon.
He is hidden, and has ranged legerdemain

Slight of Hand
(1d20+10)[19]

[Continental Op]

Wolf froze in the trench near the bunker door when the great beast lunged and got Monroe. The sheer size of the creature directly above him almost paralyzes him. But when the dragon turns to the AA gun, Wolf knows he has to act.

Wolf pulls a grenade and tosses it into the bunker, aiming directly for the mound of ammunition. He then runs as fast as he can away from the bunker, in the opposite direction of the AA gun and the dragon's focus.

Spoiler: OOC

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Rolling to attack with the grenade, if necessary (I assume it is a ranged attack with proficiency): (1d20+9)[24]. Wolf then moves 30' away.

[MrAbdiel]

Doc takes cover as Gabriel and Wolf make their moves; and K'ral's latest round sniks across the tyrant beast's pronounced nose horn, chipping a sliver of bone from it. It's eyes track to the treeline as it considers loosing another devestating breath in that direction, but no; that AA gun seems to be the more legitimate threat, with the halfling tucked down behind it. It shifts its weight briefly, and Gabriel's Behir anti-tank mine skids with an unseen hand to be underneath the heel of one great clawed foot... But it stops the descent of that limb, looking down at the mine and the gambit of the whole thing with bemusement.

It is the last time the beast will engage in such combats with such detachment and langour.

The Wolf's grenade goes off in the munition heal, releasing a blast that throws fire and smoke and shrapnel and concrete fragments out the loophole of the bunker over the field below, and spiderwebs a great structural weakness in the whole concrete frame. The touches off Monro's Weasel, left in the trench after his mauling and rolled into the doorway, and with that secondary blast the whole structure gives way and sags inward as the doorframe, now ruined, collapses under the dragon's weight. Instinct demands that a creature, even as old and powerful as this one, seek fair footing when the ground beneath it is shifted... and it's this final tertiary blast in combination with the others than makes a difference. Another bang; a pained, reptilian roar from the now huge, blooming smoke cloud, stirred wildly by the beating of wings as it pulls up, and away, covering its retreat with a wild, aimless blast of breathed lightning that stitches a sparking, smoking zig-zag in the chewed up ground where the wagon had been circling. As the Skyknives peek up and out from where they had taken cover, or dived away from the blasts, they see the blue shape pulling away back up into the air, promising venomous reprisal in its thunderous roars...

... and leaving one huge, only partly mangled draconic forelimb on the pile of concrete, sheared off toward the 'elbow' where Behir had done the kind of damage that earned it that name.

Spoiler: OOC!

Show

The dragon retreats, and you're out of combat! The entry-half of the bunker is collapsed now, though there's enough room that an effort to clear some of the rubble could allow someone to wriggle inside the ruin as long as they stayed close to the loophole. The wagon has fallen forward off the cliff, and all the Kriegers in the immediate area are slain! You have a moment to take stock, and catch your breaths.