The Ballad of Echo Company - Episode 2 - Toujours En Avant

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
They say the longer things go according to plan the worse it gets when things go arry. This part is going too smoothly why couldn't we have hit some turbulence, or someone trip at call time. What the hell am I thinking? Get your head on straight, or its gonna get blown off.

So it was with growing dread that he made his jump.
Halfway down when his featherfall was supposed to cast it didn't initially

No you stupid ring, I refuse to be a statistic. (Hits ring a couple of times)

(Turns out to just be a bit slow on the cast)

Well, that could have been worse. I am gonna need to get this checked out before the next jump
While the rational mind may have calmed, the chemicals released in response to his eminent demise have him shaking.

[JbeJ275]

Sal was halfway to overwhelmed with jittery nervous energy, the previous jump had let him quash his fear with this one, but the heavy pressure of waiting for the drop combined with the lack of any ability to do anything built up slowly. With a look, first at K'ral then with Wolf and Doc, then to the space left empty by Sarge Hillfield, who Sal had always annoyed almost as much as he loved, thus came the song, the one that Sarge insisted was never appropriate to sing when they did thier first training drops, and so which Sal naturally would start singing the second they left the craft on a trainer jump, knowing it would earn him a few laughs and the worst duty on base when they got to the ground. On a stealth drop like this he couldn't sing it on the way down, but if Sarge would come back for anything it'd be to yell at Sal for singing this, thus he went.

"He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,
He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
You ain't gonna jump no more


Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more

"Is everybody happy?" cried the Sergeant looking up,
Our hero feebly answered, "yes" and then they stood him up;
He jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked,
And he ain't gonna jump no more."

Though heedless of any complaints, Sal eventually stopped as it was time for the jump, and so made that same plunge into the cold winds, plunging like a tiny strek of fire to ground below and managing to maintain a stupid grin on his face all the way down.

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc looks around the starkly underfilled interior of the Sunday Best and can't help but think of how young so many of his absent and departed Skyknives are...or were. Some barely older than the kids he was used to treating back home.

He couldn't decide if his mood was more or less terrible for not being hungover. He looked sideways to check on the big lug he had to thank for that dubious kindness. Neither if them were heaving their guts up this time, so maybe it had helped. He forced himself to give Wolf an encouraging smile but couldn't face attempting his usual banter.

He got lost in sullen reverie for several more minutes, only broken by Sal's catterwalling. He'd never warmed to the old Sarge but he loved the gesture of keeping the man, and through him all of their lost comrades, alive through annoyance. He raised an invisible martini glass to Sal and the Sarge's empty seat and joins in with gusto and slightly manic laughter! He barely even noticed that they'd all jumped until it was time.to activate his ring.

[Continental Op]

Wolf was nervous, given his sickness on the last jump. But his stomach, filled with excellent food from Monsieur Barbe-épicée, seemed perfectly fine. I bet it actually was the food last time, Wolf thinks.

Preoccupied with listening to his own intestinal issues, Wolf doesn't notice the emptiness of the Sunday Best, until it starts to disappear. As soon as the fuselage below his feet vanishes, Wolf starts to panic. Oh shinola, don't look down, don't look down, don't look down, but of course, he does. Seeing the ground so far away and rushing under his feet, Wolf gets the familiar tingling in his legs and stars around his field of vision. Maybe I should have told them during training how much I don't like heights...

But Sal's song pulls him out of it. Wolf laughs, thinking about the Sarge. With his best impersonation of Hillfield, Wolf shouts over the engines and Sal's godawful caterwauling, "You are in for it now, Malichinni! Just wait until we get on the ground, and you'll see how deep you are in it!"

Grinning, Wolf takes up the rear of the group, and jumps out of the Best. The radio makes things a little different, but Wolf is just happy to be heading towards the solid ground. Nothing is worse than being up in the sky...

[Cavir]

The remains of third platoon lined the fuselage mid-flight. Only half of them left after one jump. How many would there be for the next jump? Squads the size of a team, and each of those led by those who should be leading whole platoons. Were things turning that desperate that quickly?

Lt Xilo was standing at the cockpit entrance, staring out the front window but actually lost in deep thought. Mama June was used to having him behind her, using his elven sight to help keep an eye out for things that needed noticing. She noticed he wasn't focused on what needed to be focused on. "Dreaming of that shrimp dinner LT?"

The question snapped Ladaran back to the moment. "Can't wait." His eyes surveyed one more time all he could out the front cockpit windows, looking for threats and studying the land they were about to get dumped into for another kill or be killed struggle. It was time. He no longer had to look out the window. The whole plane was visually gone. Nothing to block the view below. His elven dexterity helped him back to his seat without stumbling as the Sunday Best banked toward their own target.

It was time. He had to focus on the moment, the mission, and those entrusted to him. The mission and proving to himself more than worthy put him back into the right frame of mind. "Let's go nab us some Kreig artificers!" The timing was perfect. The responding cheer was met with the red light buzzing into life. It was time to go. The LT had no hesitation getting out the door. He was itching to go.

[MrAbdiel]

4th and 5th squads plunge through the sky, before in loose sequence, the time delay activation pops each Featherfall spell; once more, the flawless implementation of the static-line system. This time, the drop is a little more stark; not only are you required to drop much closer to the ground before the rings are slated to activate, but the dawning sun illuminates the ground as you race toward it. You can discern individual pastures; then the fence lines of paddocks, and rapidly individual posts; and fascinated, bovine attention of a single cow watching this rain of people with admirable calm. At about 150 ft from the ground, the enchantment kicks in; at about 20ft, you finish decelerating to minimum descent velocity (10ft per second), and two seconds later your wobbly legs are finding the hush of fresh grass, or dried mud - or, in Wolf's case, one heel directly into a fresh cow pad.

Spoiler: Ew, OOC.

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Sorry ContinentalOp; you rolled lowest on the random d1000! No obvious mechanical effect; just a confirmation that everything was going too smoothly.

But there is no wall of hooded, wolf-masked druids conjuring treacherous winds, this time; no storm of bullets that could rip you from the air; no prematurely expired featherfalls leading to friends with broken necks. Just a cow in the paddock; and all of 5th squad finding their feet and grouping up on Lt. Xiloscient as per the plan. To the west, a brick and tile manor estate looms large enough to accommodate perhaps twenty rooms for most people or one overindulgent Old Kingdoms noble; untouched by the ravages of war, and offering no smoke from either of its chimneys. To the south, a gentle downward spill of lumpen hills leads down into the village proper; the grassy terrain just rugged enough that you can thread a squad through the gaps between them and present little visible profile to the village below as you descend. To the west, Cpl. O'Hara pulls open an old wire-and-timber country gate for the rest of 4th squad to hustle through; all their numbers similarly accounted for. Only Pvt. Kuzzank Stronghunter, the thickset wild dwarf, appears to have suffered a misfortune - even as the squad approaches, he has produced a comb to hastily flick remnants of resurgent breakfast from his beard.

"On the whole, more pleasant than the first one, I think." 1st Lt. Bathory remarks, as she joins up; regarding you all with a minimum issue smile that suggests a stoic gratitude for the obvious statement. Then she's all business, turning to 2nd Lt. Xiloscient. "We hit the ideal landing zone any everything; so let's push our luck. There's even odds the artificers are holed up in one of the bigger buildings in town, rather than under the smaller ones; so let's clear the big structures first and then, if we have to, go door to door; getting intel from locals and captives as we can. I'll take 4th to clear the manor. We're the bigger squad and it's a bigger place. If we hit paydirt, we'll message you. Otherwise, we'll meet up with you down the slope."

Spoiler: OOC: Welcome to Alonn, Gentlemen.

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Alonn is a small enough village that your characters are likely to have memorized the map, at least in its major details, from the briefing Xilo gave you.



Strictly speaking, 1st Lt Bathory is in charge but the distance between a 1st and 2nd Lt is not great, and there is more room for pushback and counter-suggestion; so Xilo has the right to suggest alternative approaches. But if you do end up heading down into town, the first step will be a Stealth Check to head down the hilly slope unseen. It's only DC 8 because of the favourable terrain.

[JbeJ275]

Sal smirks at Wolf's misfortune in the paddock, then nods at the officers direction. Rifle in hand he ascends the slope, holding a line towards the temple of Tyr.

Stealth: (1d20+2)[4]

[Cavir]

Lt Xilo keeps his voice low. "Sal, hang on."

He gets closer to Lt Bathory to maintain noise discipline and keeps to a whisper. "Yes, so far so good. Sal's thought last night is they may have constructs and traps set up instead of troops since that's their specialty, like his. Like you said the manor is large. Whether you find them in the manor or we find them down below that means we'll be split up and unable to support the other. I'd suggest a bounding overwatch for both squads to get to the manor. One squad can take the front of the manor while the other takes the rear. If we want to search the inside we can speed it up with each squad taking a floor. Getting a view from the top floor down to the village may be useful too. If there's nothing there we can alternate squads per building to clear them and still be in a position to support each other."

[MrAbdiel]

Lt. Bathory grimaces a little; looks to the manor, looks to the village, looks to the 2LT.

"Look, I'm about managing risk. And the risk that we're going to get caught offguard by a superior force or disruption without being able to cover each other weighs less in my estimation than the risk of letting these Vult-geeks get away because we didn't cover enough ground quickly enough. We're on a short clock, and sticking together gives them a real chance to get away if we don't luck out on finding their bolthole early - "

The Dhampir purses her lips, and looks up at the elven officer; extends a fingertip and pokes up at his right shoulder.

"...But we got off that beach because while I was weighing risks, you moved with your gut. So tell me, Lieutenant. What does your gut tell you? Cover twice as much ground, or concentrate twice as much power?"

Spoiler: OOC:

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Lt. Bathory definitely disagrees with the suggestion, but she trusts Xilo's instincts enough to yield to it if he's considered those downsides.

Whether or not Xilo chooses to follow his initial instinct or second thought, I'll take those Stealth Rolls from everyone - I'll just compare it to the DC8 if you're heading down to the village under cover of the hilly slope, and to a DC12 if you're bounding-overwatchin' towards the manor!

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
Is still shaking from the drop, so he keeps belly low as he snakes down the hill.

Spoiler: OOC

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Stealth (1d20+10)[24]

[Cavir]

Lt Xilo

"I figure the manor is the village prime location so it is either the HQ and/or our target. Even if it's just the HQ we could find a map telling us where our target is. The briefing mentioned finding a staff list to ID prisoners right? It'd be at their HQ. That's where the radio would be too. Need to cut that off. With all the positives I think it's worth having us hit it together for speed. If it's empty I'll peel off downhill while you finish it. It's your call."

[MrAbdiel]

1LT Bathory looks up at the much taller 2LT Xiloscient, sucks her teeth pensively (incidentally drawing attention to the pronounced, sharp cuspids that spoil the daintiness of an otherwise perfectly dainty smile), and turns to the combined squads.

"Alright. Let's all hit that manor together. Let's get Burnfaire and Xenyss thirty yards up the front, and the rest of us chasing their wake. We don't have much cover - just some of these hills at the top of the slope - so fast will serve us better than careful, but that's no reason to call attention to ourselves. If we're lucky, it's the hot-spot. If we're not, expect a handful of servants and possibly one very confused Dame of the Aquiteaux collaborators. If we're spotted on the way in, we'll take it at a dead run. Manor like that'll have stairs at both ends; 4th and I will take the top floor; Xilo's Psychos, you're clearing the bottom floor. West to East. 3rd Platoon, let's move out."

And then you're off, racing across the paddocks and open grass towards the manor. For some of the trek, you are able to rush low around one the curve of one hill, across a stretch, and into the cover of another; but much of the approach is just spending as little time as possible in the open, and not doing anything foolish to make noise. By the time you've made it to the eastern face of the two story building, you have stood on exactly zero mines, heard no shouts of alarm! or schnell!, and lost no friends to enemy snipers. The sounds of war are present, but distant - you can see smoke plumes spiralling up from Agoreau in the distance, and the rippling pop-pop-pop of bombers dropping their sequenced payloads.

You are immediately confronted by a set of locked glass windows, on the lower and upper floors. 4th Squad gets straight to work; Pvt Lynovva Xenyss is producing a sleek black baton with a spider icon on its top as she gets to the wall. She flicks her wrist, and a slim metal shaft telescopes out from it, turning the rod into a 5ft spike she jabs into the ground, finagling the facing of the icon toward the wall. The rest of the squad gets to the wall, and one at a time, sets feet upon the wall to carry on up to the second floor untroubled by the ninety degree violation of normal protocol

Spoiler: The L.I. "Drow-Ladder" Ascent Tool

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When stuck into the ground, this useful device created by Drow artificers in Albinon enchants the man-made wall it is facing for thirty feet in all directions from the facing of the icon on its top. The effect permits the wall to be traversed as if climbers were under the effect of a Spider Climb spell. It's a heck of a tool - you can't imagine what someone in 4th squad had to trade to get one.

Hector Longfoot is first up the wall, settling beside a window, peeking inside and, apparently not seeing anything alarming, flips out a couple of long-stemmed thieves tools to attempt to open the window quietly. The halfling needs only four seconds before there is a promising click, the windows are pulled wide open, and 4th squad starts streaming up the wall and hopping inside, leaving Pvt Xenyss to pack up the Drow-Ladder and climb up a knotted rope someone tosses down.

On the ground floor, the first obstacle is the same - a locked window, infront of what seems like a personal library. No one is visible, but the packed shelves defeat sight lines - so it's hard to be sure. What is for certain is that you need to clear this building fast as much as you need to do so quietly - but where's the dividing line between haste that wins medals, and haste that gets you shipped home in a box?

Spoiler: OOC Breaching Action Time!

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It's Breaching time!

The first step is someone proficient in thieves tools attempting to pop the lock - a DC12 Thieves Tools Check. Anyone trained can make it - but after one attempt, pragmatism must take over, and you'll be forced to either break the window or else 4th squad will be ahead of you in the search, their movements above likely alerting people below anyway, and making the quiet entry moot - so break-and-enter it shall be.

I'd like actions from everyone. I'm pretty open to suggestions. The only mandatory one is the lock-pick (which defaults to a break-and-enter if failed) that someone ought to take; otherwise, here's some suggestions:

Move ahead of the group, listening for occupants (Perception [Hearing] Check)
Search the library as you go for clues linked to the Kreig Artificers (Investigation)
Take point on movement, trying to lead the others around noise hazards (Stealth)
Assist someone taking an action (DC 8 of the skill the other is rolling, to grant advantage.)

These are just suggestions; if you can think of a creative use of another skill or tool you have, fire away; the worst I can say is 'no, roll something else'. Remember your objectives are to find the Kreig Artificers, who you suspect have some kind of secret workshop operation in Alonn; finding any clues toward that end, even if it's just eliminating this building from the list to check, is useful. Of course, you could always just attempt to stuff your bags with things that look valuable, instead. That, too, is a roll you could make! (Sleight of Hand)

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc makes a lame attempt ar the regimental hand signals as they move up to the window. He's either saying that he's taking point on breaking in and searching the library for clues, or something about a game of dominoes. Fortunately for the group he is quick enough on his feet to get to work before his goofing off in training can cause too much confusion.

Microretractors at the ready, he moves up to the window. Sadly a quiet screeching noise begins as the poorly maintained old world lock refuses to budget!

Spoiler: Rolls

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Thieves tools (1d20+8)[10]
Investigation (1d20+8)[14]

[JbeJ275]

With a firm hand Sal, pulls Doc back a step by the shoulder and approaches the lock himself, he pulls a device from his webbing and places it in the lock then begins turning it, releasing a small squirt of oil and creating the audible sound of tiny intricate gears inside the device lining up with the interior tumblers of the lock. After these gears give a louder than normal click Sal pushes down a large button on the device and gives the handle a more forceful turn, opening the lock.

Upon entry as the one best trained in artificery he goes to look over the records to check for any records that might indicate a position favourable to the artificers. He also has his own tinkers tools drawn, ready to take apart any unusual items that might be left from previous artificers or else to examine any artificeral digraams found.

Investigation: (1d20+8)[14]
(If allowed_ Tinkers Tools: (1d20+11)[20]

[Cavir]

Lt Xilo quickly and quietly follows in through the window. Sal is already looking for clues. Xilo moves towards the door to ensure no one else was there with them. If the squad are the only ones in there, the LT keeps his rapid fire voice very low. "Sal, Doc, quick look here then follow to give us cover. Don't linger or you'll be left behind. Wolf, Ginger, take lead. No shooting if at all possible. Let civilians live if they don't resist. A friendly civilian could make this all this easier for us. K’ral and I will be right behind you. Overwatch by twos. You two take doors to the left, we'll take doors on the right. Move those we find into side rooms to keep the hall clear. Stealthy and fast. Go." He slings his M1 and readies his pistol and kabar, ready to move out.

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception (1d20+5)[19]
Stealth (1d20+8)[20]

[Continental Op]

Wolf nods to the Lieutenant, also pulling out his .45 and K-bar. He makes sure Ginger is behind him and heads out into the hallway.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Perception: (1d20+8)[23]
Stealth: (1d20+7)[15]

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger is slightly behind him to the left.
Affirmative ell tee

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception: (1d20+8)[28]
Stealth: (1d20+10)[29]

[MrAbdiel]

5th squad moves in, quickly, quietly, and orderly; the shuffle of rucksacks and the tapping of boots minimized and admirably efficient.

Sal and Doc move in first after the breach, both turning keen intuitions to the contents of the library for clues or suspicious finds. Neither spots anything outright revealing or incriminating - but that's scoping the scene on the run; and perhaps once the house is secure and determined to be free of enemies, a more comprehensive investigation may yield better results.

Wolf and Ginger take the lead, and in tandem with Xilo and K'ral in a duo of their own, begin checking rooms and moving on when they prove threatless. A closet full of towels. A lavish bathroom with a clawfoot tub. A dining room. Another dining room. A third dining room. During this sweep, the sound of 4th squad's footsteps on the floor above continues at the same muted tempo, implicitly communicating that no enemy contacts have been made above.

Xilo and K'ral check another door, and almost move on - but the LT's intuition warns him that something is amiss about this particular room about halfway across the plan of the lower floor. From the outside, it's spaced for decent sized room - perhaps a modest fourth dining room? - but within, the small office occupies too little space in all dimensions - as if the walls around this one room were four feet thick. Not to mention, every other room in the place appears to be sumptuous, lushly furnished, and well stocked - exactly what one would expect of a petty governer of Aquiteaux. But the office has a pair of undecorated, functional oak bookshelves and an uncarved oak desk. These, among other hints from the room's decor, suggest an effort to furnish born of a much more utilitarian mind.

Wolf and Ginger, stalking like ghosts, are completely undetected as they nudge open a cracked door and duck quickly into cover behind a counter in the estate's lower kitchen. It's a good thing, too; entering from the other side of the room are two figures, hustling with obvious haste and speaking with hushed desperation. One of them, a slender blonde elfess in a black and white Aquiteauan maid's uniform that is exactly as frilly, lacey and frankly suggestive as the comical depictions of such back home, is being driven by the hectoring of the other figure. This second is definitely a soldier; and by the cut of his uniform, definitely a Kreiger; but you're unfamiliar with his specific association. A black and grey flak jacket is loose open on the thick-set human's body, with a large red inverted chevron briefly visible on the back, beneath the submachine strapped to his body.

Spoiler: Language: Aquiteauxan

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"Leave it! Leave it all, Danielle; we must go now!", the man pleads.
"I heard you, I heard you! But I have money, here - if we are running, we will need it..."

After a terse exchange, the elfess opens a wall mounted cupboard, moves some jars of preserves delicately to the counter, and fishes out a coffee tin that is too weighty in her slim limbs to contain only coffee.

Spoiler: Language: Aquiteauxan

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"I - I need to go upstairs and grab some clothes, too! I can't go anywhere like this! I'll look ridiculous, Klaus."

The man seizes her wrist - initially over firmly, then with obvious, desperate tenderness.

Spoiler: Language: Aquiteauxan

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"There is. No. Time. This whole place is going up soon. There will be more clothes in Casianata. Come on."

Spoiler: Free Insight Check: DC 15

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The man, obviously, feels protective of the maid; likely, he's in love with her, and she is returning the signs of affection. But you catch a tension in her face when she's looking away from him and an exhaustion that suggest this elopement may be more pragmatic for one side of the pairing than the other.

Spoiler: OOC: Contact!

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Wolf and Ginger, the onus is on you. Right now you know Xilo and K'ral are about ten yards behind you in the hallway checking out another room, and Doc and Sal aren't far behind them. You've contact now with one apparent civilian and one apparent enemy combatant.
What do you do?

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger

Message Cantrip to LT:
Contact, Kitchen, 1 Krieg and 1 suspected collaborator

To Wolf: (Also whispered)Do you think you can get behind him?

[Continental Op]

At Gabe's question, Wolf tries to remember the layout of the room and shakes his head. Not understanding their language and misreading the situation, Wolf decides to act now. He holsters his .45 and K-bar, and grabs his M1 Thompson. Wolf points to Gabe and signals him to go around the other side of the counter. He then holds up five fingers and counts down.

At zero, Wolf stands up and points his submachine gun at the Krieger. In a low growl he says (in Amcaran) "Don't make a sound or we kill you now. Step away from the fraulein, slowly. NOW."

Spoiler: OOC

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Wolf is doing his best to intimidate the soldier. He hopes the surprise will freeze the Krieger, or at least that him and Gabe being spaced apart and both trained on him will stop him from trying anything.
Intimidate roll: (1d20+5)[20]

[Cavir]

Xilo's keen senses knew the room was weird. He thought for a moment to relate the end of the previous room and this room to get an idea where the missing space was. He directed K'ral to help him search the probable area. His hand goes up, signaling Hold, as he gets the magical message from Ginger. Message received, he waves for Ginger to follow. Xilo quietly darts to the near doorway and peeks into the hallway across to the other side. He gets low and moves to get to the door across the way without being seen.

It's just in time to hear Wolf taking charge in the room. Xilo uses that as his signal and shifts sideways halfway into the doorway with his pistol leading the way. This is the sgt's act, Xilo waits for the krieger's reaction.

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception (1d20+5)[17]
Stealth (1d20+5)[20]

[MrAbdiel]

The Kreiger doesn't seem to speak Amcaran, but the sergeant's aggressive demand penetrates language barriers, and he freezes. The tension in his arms is clear as he restrains a fierce instinct to grab for his weapon's strap; but instead he cautiously steps to cover the maid from any possible fire from Wolf; one arm slowly reaching back to herd his elven companion back with him, toward the other exit of the room - unwittingly, towards where the sergeant has signalled Pvt. Ginger to go. The soldier's other hand, he holds up, palm out, open, in a universally comprehensible gesture of everyone is calm here. Let's not let it go further.

But his expression is a familiar one to the Amcarans - the wide, alert eyes set in the stony, flat affect features of a man not unfamiliar with violence.

"We leave!"

The elven woman pleads, clutching the precious coffee tin to her stomach, staying close behind her protector as they shuffle back, in slow defiance of the demands. "We leave, we leave!"

The declaration, imperfect as it is, seems to be offered as a compromise - we'll go, and you won't have any trouble from us - but has the panicked tone and repetition of late-onset piety, in the face of oblivion.

[Novabomb]

Pvt Ginger pantomines the action of sitting. He keeps aim at them, but does sit himself.
He also uses this as a distraction as he attempts to mage hand to yank away the smg.

Spoiler: OOC

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Slight of Hand: (1d20+10)[25]

[MrAbdiel]

As they back towards the exit, suddenly the Kreiger becomes aware that he is flanked by another Amcaran - wildness in his eyes suggesting that, for whatever rational sense surrender or cooperation might make to many soldiers, this one will not countenance it. Perhaps he prefers death to dishonor. Perhaps he is afraid of something else that surrender implies, more than the guns pointed at him. But he snaps, and shoves his elven companion back so harshly that she stumbles roughly into the doorframe banging her shoulder and nearly falling.

"Geh raus! SCHNELL!"

Spoiler: Kreigspiel

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"Get out! HURRY!"

Then steps away from the door in a move that seems calculated to draw fire lines away from the elf, and slings his weapon to bear on Gabriel just ten feet away.

Only, that part doesn't quite manifest. He slaps at his side where the strap for the gun should be, but as he took the backward step, the faint, transluscent spectre of a hand has unbuckled the weapon and floated it well out of his reach. Now disarmed of his primary weapon and having gone overtly hostile with two armed and trained enemies with their sights on him, he reaches for the sidearm at his hip.

Spoiler: OOC Combat!

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The enemy has been disarmed of his primary weapon, but seems to have elected to take his incredibly slim chances rather than surrendering despite Wolf's threatening command and Gabriel's good-cop 'settle down' gesture. He and the elf woman are surprised -she from being shoved, he from finding himself disarmed - so everyone can take an action before we see if rolling initiative is necessary. Xilo, Gabriel, and Wolf can all choose to attack if they want to; others can move towards the shouting and commotion to be in position to assist if it's necessary.

To be clear, no one failed an important roll or anything here - but some soldiers would rather fight to the death than go quietly, and it seems like this chap is one of those kinds!

[Cavir]

Xilo's Psychos' Xilo going Psycho

The LT at the doorway was hyper focused on the enemy. At the Kreiger's first instant of action, which ended up being to push the captive, Xilo sprung into action. He darted towards the Kreiger at a slight angle which ended up being perfect for dodging the elfess and ricocheting off the edge of the counter to go right at the enemy. Reaching the Krieger who was still reaching for some weapon, Xilo aims two quick strikes at the Krieger's neck with his kabar.

Spoiler: OOC

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Strike 1: (1d20+8)[26] Damage (1d6+5)[11]
Strike 2: (1d20+8)[22] Damage (1d6+5)[10]
May spend a superiority die for Precision Attack, let's see how these go.

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc hears a muffled commotion from further into the building and scuttles out of the library as quickly and quietly as he can.

Spoiler: Actions

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Move dash and bonus action stealth. Waiting just outside the doorway.
(1d20+4)[9]

[JbeJ275]

Sal follows quickly in Doc's wake, trying to ensure he's ready to help his team.

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger should have suspected he had a holdout weapon.
Sitting down as he is, he not in a position to dodge effectively. He was about to open fire, when he notices the LT come in for close quarters. He throws himself forward in an attempt to lock the soldier's legs.

[MrAbdiel]

Spoiler: OOC Stuff

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Looks like ContinentalOp is having a busy one, so I'll assume he means business with his knife and gets stuck in.

Fumbling for his pistol, the Kreiger has only one free hand to grab at Wolf's wrist as he moves in blade flashing; and none left at all when Xilo crosses the room. An effort to pivot away is foiled by Gabriel's arrest of his legs, and at that point, it's all over; the Lieutenant's knife punches quickly once-twice down behind the soldier's collarbone, and after a few seconds of grunting denial with Wolf's free hand clapped over his mouth, he goes slack, and dies.

The maid, now denuded of her protector, is struck by the full exposure of her civilian vulnerability to the teeth of war; and her throat issues a hoarse sound like a scream that has been shivved and restrained as comprehensively as her companion. Then she's bolting, heels clicking on the hardwood, clutching the coffee can to herself as she books out the back of the kitchen and into the hall beyond; and all while Wolf, Xilo and Ginger are discretely putting down the Kreiger.

Unengaged and able to spring to intercept, Doc and Sal are able to bolt down the hallway adjacent to the room to stop her from getting too far - but as they come into view of each other, the elf's otherwise pretty eyes are wide and near to delirious with panic. Whether this is the innocent's fear of danger, or a collaborator's fear of justice, one cannot say for sure; but she has not started screaming blue murder just yet, for whatever reason.

Spoiler: OOC!

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Sal and Doc are free enough to intercept the civvie (K'ral keeps watch), but on the assumption they have one opportunity (each) to do something before she continues to flee or kicks up a fuss, what are they going to do?
You're both in a situation where you can move an attack, if you wanted to attempt to grapple and restrain; but if you want to gamble that she's an innocent party, you might even be able to talk her into standing down. Or, if you want to just give her the old expert goodnight-tap with the butt of your service pistol, you can make an attack with the stipulation you are fighting to subdue. Or anything else you care to sell me; those are options too.

[JbeJ275]

Skidding to a stop with his hands empty and his he’ll fire rifle slung over his back Sal puts his hands up and in front of him and says as calmly as he can.

”Look miss, I know this is scary but keep calm and we’ll get you out of here to safety okay?”