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

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
Swiftly complies. Once in the storeroom, he cannot help but hope for some more explosives.

Spoiler: OOC

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Stealth (1d20+10)[14]
Perception (1d20+8)[19]

[JbeJ275]

Sal seems ready for a fight when he hears the upcoming enemies, but when he sees stealth is the order of the day he complies to the best of his ability.

Stealth: (1d20+2)[14]

[MrAbdiel]

Sergeant 'Wolf' Vognar is last in the door and is the one to close it - but he doesn't quite close it all the way. The reason is simple, and common in stealth protocol - if you close the door the whole way, the spring loaded tenon would snap audibly into the mortis to secure the door, and that would make sound. Better to almost close the door and not create the sound of a door snapping closed.

But in his haste, he almost closes the door too far; and the unbelievable margin of error created by the grenzsoldat reinforcement group surging around the corner displacing the air around them presses slightly on the door... and it pops shut with an audible click.

The sound is mostly marked by the rush of the soldiers themselves; but as Lt. Xiloscient stands frozen holding the Psychos at attentive stillness with his signal, one of the human grenzsoldat, undisciplined and curious, peels off from the group to check his hunch. In another world, a hunch like that would have marked him for advancement. In this world it leads him to open the door to the storeroom and stare bug-eyed at the squad of bandaged and blooded Amcaran killers staring back at him. His lips part to cry the alarm.

Spoiler: Oh no!

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(1d20+2)[9] is the unlucky soldat's initiative.
You should all roll, too - and you have until his initiative to disable him quickly and quietly so not to alert the other twenty or so that are blowing by up the corridor.

[JbeJ275]

Frustrated by fact that deploying any of his inventions usually comes with some sort of loud release mechanism Sal goes back to basics, taking out a shortsword and trying to quickly and quietly target the grenzsoldat in the lungs.

(1d20+5)[19] for (1d6+2)[8]

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc

Suppressing a sigh, the diminutive medic rushes through between the legs of his comrades to the surprised soldier in the doorway.

He uses the relatively blunt end of his scalpel to lunge up at the Krieger's throat, hoping to crush the larynx. If the kid had to be hurt, he'd rather it was some injury he knew he could treat! He holds back from a useless apology and gets in position to catch the body should it hopefully fall.

Spoiler: Actions

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Attack (1d20+7)[13] for (1d8+4)[8] and (3d6)[6] sneak attack.

If the soldier falls he will try to use his bonus action object interaction to grab the body and drag him inside with the rest of his movement.

He's justifying this by thinking that if he crushes his tgrait then pulls off a surgical tracheostomy in time the soldier will be taken out of action and unable to speak when he starts to come round. Even war stories need some optimism!

[Cavir]

The storage room door opens. Even before the grenzsoldat can cry out, the elven noble turned warrior reacts in a flash. Xilo's right hand that was up in the air in a tight fist grabs the grenzsoldat by the top of the uniform below the throat to get max leverage while his left hands grabs the enemy's face to both muzzle him and aid in the grapple, then pulls and spins to get the enemy into the room to be surrounded by the rest of the Psychos.

Spoiler: OOC

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Pulling him into the room while also using my hips to create greater force and a direction change so that I am between him and the door. Gives the others opportunity to do the permanent silencing. Wolf was controlling the door, hopefully he tries again to keep the door from making too much noise.

Attack roll then Athletics instead of damage roll? If not let me know what to roll. May use a superiority die if needed (in OOC).
Attack: (1d20+6)[26] (extra +2 if this can/should be based on Dex)
Athletics: (1d20+6)[20]

[MrAbdiel]

The Psychos react with terrible efficiency. The soldat opens the door, gawks, and then it's all over. In a moment he is off his feet, with a crushed larynx preventing him from crying out and a short sword penetrating his lungs preventing him from doing much anything else. The Lt.'s maneuver hoists him up and into the room as all this happens, and when he hits the ground, Sergeant Wolf has closed the door almost all the way - and this time, holds it at its perfect increment of closure. Your cover is safe - the only witness now sharing obscurity with you, his blood pooling around him. You are careful not to step in it, and so leave a grisly trail.

As the Lt. holds the group a little longer to give the enemy troops a time to get further away, the rest of the squad scans about. It would be a shame if all this supply were simply to vanish into the logistical machine of the Allied Forces who were soon to sweet the place - especially if it could be used now...

Spoiler: Treasure?

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Yes! Treasure!

I'd like everyone to roll me a simple d100 for treasure, where higher is better. This represents what you're able to find and grab that is useful to you in the short time you have to delay, in this spot!

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc hurries to try and stabilise the unlucky Krieger, knowing that his and Sal's work was unfortunately efficient. Having made an incision in the larynx he scans the shelves for anything more helpful than his flimsy rubber tubing for holding open the airway. A hasty patch is slapped over the chest wound and then he has to leave the poor kid to fate before they pull out of the closet.

If he's lucky he'll hang on until they clear out the base and can get proper treatment down to him...or at least Thaddeus tries to tell himself that.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Medicine check to try and stabilise the soldier for a bit without actually getting him back on his feet again. (1d20+7)[13]

Looking for medical supplies/loot (1d100)[23]

[Cavir]

LT Xilo releases his grip over the dead man's mouth. "Doc, he's dead. Everyone take a quick look around in here and see if there's anything useful." He follows his own directive and searches.

"Doctor Schiller, you know the room. What's useful in here? What would you take?"

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc pauses, staring down at the lifeless form below him. He slowly nods in response to the LT. He mutters, possibly to himself or the universe at large.

I tried, that has toncount for something, right? Poor soul was just damned unlucky

Hand shaking slightly, he attempts to clean up the body at least a little whilst he packs his gear away. With slumped shoulders he forms up next to his surviving patient, ready to move out again.

[MrAbdiel]

Dr Schiller is flustered - by his general condition, and by the body of the man so efficiently killed infront of him a moment ago - but does what you think is his best to respond. He turns a little on the spot then hobbles to a large, white-metal, pill shaped canister with an aperture on the front that seems to have been designed for wall mounting.

"Zis... is to heavy to take wis you. But it is a field Nachfülllösung; a device recharger, for wands and such. I suspect it is compatible wis your... special rings."

He gestures loosely to the Skyknife ring on Xilo's hand. It's a little distressing to hear out loud, but you have no reason to think the enemy wouldn't learn the nature of that piece of equipment shortly after so many Skyknives were lost and captured during Naphto.

Spoiler: OOC:

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The device can't be taken with you, but it does restore the last loaded spellslots in your Skyknives rings - Featherfall, Healing Word, and Purify Food and Drink unless you've changed them.

"Much specialty ammunition - but here, zese..." He rummages through a crate and produces a small wooden case marked Rekalibratoren, cracking it open to reveal a half-dozen grenade sized cylinders with independently rotating top and bottom halves.

Spoiler: OOC:

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The Rekalibratoren can break in half and allows a soldier to load a round of ammunition of any calibre, which is then closed and the halves rotated to marked values to transmute it into a different calibre. This device's primary purpose is to allow you to use ammo interchangably between different weapons while preserving the thin veneer of military realism; so you may use any special ammunition available to you provided it is credible that your character would have prepared a round or two for your particular weapon.

In special scenarios, for example discovering a critically unique piece of ammunition and needing to fire it right away, or unloading a round from a fallen allies' weapon for use in your own, it is an Item Interaction or Bonus Action to unload and recalibrate a round of ammunition, and another Item Interaction or Bonus Action to load it for immediate use.

Doc is naturally drawn towards less destructive finds. Unfortunately, the nature of this supply room does not yield direct medical supply or technology. It does, however, offer up a slimline pistol and some ammunition cartages for it; as well as a few promising glass vessels....

Spoiler: Doc Finds...

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3 * Universal Antidote.

Price 1,500 gp; Weight 1 lbs.
The universal antidote is a rare and
difficult to create alchemical concoction.
Drinking a universal antidote will instantly
neutralize most diseases and poisons, but
the noxious mixture will likely leave the
patient nauseated afterward. Treat this as
non-magical lesser restoration. A creature
who drinks the universal antidote must
make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or
gain 1 level of exhaustion.

Spoiler: Hilarious Fluff from the book.

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You see the medic reach into his bag and remove what looks like a thick glass pint jar stoppered with a large cork and sealed with wax. Inside the jar is a dark blob that occasionally twitches in some translucent fluid, surrounded by flecks of floating detritus. He cuts away the wax and uncorks the bottle, releasing a strong cloying odor that reeks of musk and bitter spices. “Here,” he hands
you the jar “drink this, the whole thing, and DO NOT chew it. That embryonic basilisk liver is carefully preserved, and well, technically alive. If it’s totally dead it can’t suck the poison out.” As you chug what appears to be some sort of fish oil combined with rock salt and bitter plant leaves, you struggle to force down the squirming mass that’s at least twice as big as your tongue. It seems to fight you and wants to crawl back up out of your
stomach, and it takes everything you’ve got not to let it.

Doc also finds a Tranq Pistol:
Range 20/100, with a 6 dart magazine capacity. Targets successfully hit take a DC14 Constitution save or be rendered unconscious for 1d4 minutes. It does 1 damage on hit, which cannot be increased by modifiers like dexterity of the shooter, sneak attack, sharpshooter, or any whathaveyous.

It comes with 2 full magazines of 6 rounds each. After that, you'll have to scrounge for captured ammo.

Pvt. Gabriel Ginger gravitates towards rewards of his own nature...

Spoiler: OOC:

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Ginger finds 4 Incendiary Grenades, which are thrown as normal and require a DC 16 save for creatures within 10ft of the point of impact or take 6d6 damage, half on a success. Targets within the space, or those who fail their save, take half this damage again next turn, and a quarter two turns later, and finally an eighth before the fire is extinguished on its own.

2nd Lt. Xiloscient's eyes catch on a dusty prototype shield in classic kite shape with a 100 degree angle at its middle, and some kind of rail-fed, deployable lower half which functions to turn it into a pavise. Amcaran operations haven't found making such things en masse to be sustainable for their troops - this one is almost certainly mithril so its mechanisms are not unacceptable heavy, for example - and the Kreigers seem to have taken it off production, too.

Spoiler: Lt Xilo Finds...

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A Deployable Ballistic Shield.

A shield in all the normal respects, except with the following exceptions: against ballistic attacks, this shield grants you half cover even if you do not have half cover. When deployed, it becomes a freestanding object rooted to the ground with pneumatic pitons, and provides 3/4 cover until removed or knocked down by a significant force (DC 20 Strength check).

It takes an action to deploy, and undeploy. Arguably, a medium sized creature and a small creature could both take cover behind it in its deployed state, though in that scenario both would take disadvantage to attack from cover as they crowd each other.

...But it's Pvt. Salamir who finds the most sophisticated loot - an armband he breaks out of a small locked footlocker at the back of the room, with a sampling of the tear-away activation 'scrolls' like those the enemy Trenchers seemed to employ back on Naphto. It is designed to be worn on the bicep so the user can look down at the patches upon and grab the right one - just as well, since some of the symbols look dangerous indeed...

Spoiler: Pvt. Salamir Finds...

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An Arm Bandolier of Useful Things. It features several sewn on, tear away patches with vague instructional iconography as follows:
2 Patches Featuring A Human Silhuoette In Front Of A Door
- This one you know to function like the Dimension Door spell, based on your observations back at Naphto Beach.
2 Patches Featuring A Tyrannosaurus Rampant
2 Patches Featuring A Jeep
2 Patches Featuring A Human Silhuoette Enclosed in a White Sphere Upon Which An Arrow Breaks
2 Patches Featuring A Medical Cross, Superimposed Over A Drop Of Blood
2 Patches Featuring A Medical Cross, Superimposed Over A Cogwheel
1 Patch Featuring a Mushroom Cloud

K'ral grabs handfuls of ammunition, and stuff them into his pockets. The Sarge comes up with a sealed, fine looking leather satchel with four detachable pouches held on by brass fasteners.

Spoiler: Group Loot!

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The bag is Herr Eisenkrugen's Even Handier Haversack. It's a Handy Haversack, though the four detachable pouches reach into large central pocket even when detached from the main item, as long as they are within 100ft of the main bag. Items wider than a fist can't be placed in or withdrawn from these secondary pouches because of their limited mouth, but they are suitable for members of a team passing scrolls, potions, or ammunition to each other over a distance; through accessing the Haversack from any of its openings requires an Action, as always.

Additionally, the group gains a bunch of special ammunition:

12 Adamantine Rounds (Ignores Resistance to Piercing or Firearm Damage, or to Non-Magical Damage; does 1/2 Damage to Tanks.)
12 Bleeder Rounds (Targets Struck take 1 Piercing Damage each subsequent turn until healed or treated with a DC15 Medicine Check)
12 Mage Breaker Rounds (Targets Struck make an additional DC12 Concentration check each turn until the bullet is removed (DC15 Medicine).)
12 Tracer Rounds (Successful Hits grant advantage to shots from allies adjacent to you against the same target.)
12 Cold Iron Rounds
12 Silver Rounds
12 Sunlight Rounds (One second after firing, creates enough sunlight to illuminate a 100 yard battlefield for two rounds. Ideally fired into the air.)

Loaded up with these opportunistic finds, you prepare to rush on to the Dracotelemetrics lab...

Spoiler: OOC:

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In case anyone wanted to do anything - load rounds, use spells, heal allies - this is the last chance to do so before the next Lab!

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc is quite encouraged by his non-lethal finds, but it is as Dr Schiller points out Nachfülllösung that his eyes go wide. He immediately starts fussing over the group, encouraging everyone to activate the healing in their rings to patch any minor injuries whilst they can be recharged.

Come on now you big lugs, now is not the time to try and be tough, let's get the last scrapes sorted out. No-one's going to find your scars attractive if you don't make it back!

Edit: Desperation!

Despite trying to focus on the wounds of his squadmates, Doc's eyes keeo drifting back to the body on the floor. Could he have saved the youngster if he'd just tried hard enough? Wolf, Ginger, and K'ral were all still standing because he'd pushed himself, didn't every life deserve the same?

Other faces swim into view, Krieger's hit by his grenade, the enemy squad in the tunnel carriage. The lich on the bunker had been a monster, not to mention that dragon, but the others might have been no different to his squad but for the accident of their birth. Hadn't he sworn an oath to do no harm? His hands begin to shake again. Boy, I could really use a drink.

Spending 3 HD to reset his uses of the healer feat

[MrAbdiel]

After a breif bout of mild healing and some opportunistic snatching of useful items, the window of opportunity is closing and you hustle onward - back into the corridor, down the way to the Dracotelemetrics lab. You line up either sides of another metal door before spinning its locking hatch, throwing it open, and storming in. A half dozen startled technikers throw up their hands immediately, baffled at this arrived threat.

"Kämpft nicht! Kämpft nicht! Wo ist Doktor Nagelbaum?", Dr. Schiller calls in an attempt to expedite the process. Most of the technikers are bitter even if they aren't willing to die; but a younger half-orc woman spills the beans without a need for lengthly coercion. "He-he took a call from the Oberst-Techniker. He said he would be back in an hour!"

This doesn't work for you - you don't have an hour to faff about with that VIP somewhere else. But you have a scientist captive, and as many of these technikers as you think you can herd; and around this lab, as huge and full of mad science as the last one, you have a great deal more.

A massive plaster replica skeleton of a blue dragon hangs above the chamber on cables from a track; perhaps for inspiration. Below it is a massive empty square platform scratched and scored by giant claws. Workbenches and stations through the room feature incomplete armor plates and gizmos which seem to be designed for such creatures. And imporantly, blessedly, one workstation features precisely what you came for - a techniker working on some small, disassembled brass spheres and technical documentation relating to them. The plans are gibberish of insider-craftsman shorthand even to Salamir's eyes; but they seem to correspond.

What there isn't, in this place, is any sign of frantic evacuation like there was in the automatoniks lab; no desperate rush to get the important stuff out and destroy the less important, even if they had no expectation the place was going to blow up after all. These workers seem to be operating even now under the assumption that they don't need to go anywhere at all - they must have heard the alarms, but have been insulated from how severe the invasion had penetrated their facility. Being that as it is, no effort has been made to hide, or destroy the technical data for the dragon-beacons. Sometimes, thankfully, thinks break in your favor.

While the squad secures prisoners and snatches intel, Xilo receives another message from the 1st Lt. A lively exchange of gunfire plays in the background.

"Xilo, are you -...ing? We're on the surface, but the Kreigers are pouring out -... like angry termites. Facility much better def-... earlier estimations. Could use-... -p!"

Spoiler: OOC:

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I'll take Investigation checks from everyone to who wants to search the room, Perception from anyone who elects to keep watch, and Insight from anyone trying to look after the prisoners - if you intend to take them all!

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc

Seeing an opportunity to hopefully preserve life, Docnsteos up to corral the scientists.

Hey, hey, all of you calm down and stick with me. We want to get you all out of here safely, which will be a damn sight easier if you co-operate. Don't make me put any of tou in a full Nelson!

Spoiler: Roll

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Insight (1d20+8)[14]

[Novabomb]

Pvt Ginger much refreshed after the outpouring of healing elects to keep watch.

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception: (1d20+8)[23]

[JbeJ275]

With others watching their prisoners and their exists Salamir set about exploring the lab for their desired technology with gusto, searching every available holding space in the room.

Spoiler: rolls

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Investigation: (1d20+8)[28]

[Cavir]

2LT Ladaran Xiloscient

Xilo was happy with the squad's efficiency and how things were going with the prisoners so far. He had his rifle slung, mithal shield in his left hand, and his pistol in his right.

"Dr. Schiller, please explain to them the offer. Have them quickly grab any important documentation and hand them to Sal. This is their only chance to preserve their work. Sgt, rig the lab for detonation. This area is not safe we need to keep moving. Get to it!"

He covers his mouth with his pistol while lowering his voice so that only Lt Bathory would receive his response. "Charges for primary mission being set now. Secondary mission complete. Priority now is safe extract of prisoners. Can you fall back to allow enemy to evacuate and call in cavalry?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Insight (1d20+2)[13]

[MrAbdiel]

The technikers look unhappy with this arrangement, as the pale and wincing Doctor Schiller explains to them their predicament; but with Xilo's and Doc's eyes on them, there is no window for them to try anything. A quick search relieves them of their mostly ornamental sidearms and numerous small tools that could easily be turned on the Psychos at an inopportune time. Ginger and K'ral keep eyes on the corridors up and down from the area, while Sergeant Wolf and Sal scour the room.

Salamir swipes a specialized, miniature set of tools likely used for the fine artificery involved in creating the dragon-attracting beacons; possession of them will help in the investigation of their manufacture, once the technikers are made to spill their beans about what they're doing here. But the most salient discovery is, like in the elevator down, a false wall revealing an activation mechanism - for which Sal's keen investigating senses quickly determine the purpose. When the switch is thrown, the central platform will rise and the roof will open. Judging by the scrapes on the platform, this chamber has been used previously as a kind of 'garage' for the repair or, perhaps, healing of dragons and whatever strange wargear the Vult are giving them.

When 2nd Lt. Xiloscient gives the order, Wolf trades Gabriel off watch to free the squad's putty-animal to lead K'ral insetting up a couple of weasels to blow out the most important and consequential consoles and records, at Sal's indication.

Spoiler: OOC:

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No roll for the setting of the charges; you're trained professionals. Though it will cost two of the squad's Weasels! Volunteers?

"Zey will comply," hisses Doctor Schiller through clenched teeth; a feature born of his injury than a specific act of disrespect. "But to exit zis place vissout arousing much attention, ve will have to go back ze vay ve came-"

But then, that does not seem like an avenue without complication.

The ground shudders with a series of muted, underground thumps; and the walls of the lab begin shaking.

"Ahhh!" Schiller begins to panick, before Wolf grabs him by the back of the neck and steadies him with inherent threat - but the sergeant does look to the 2LT with worry. Tools, armor scraps, and papers begin shuddering and vibrating off benches to the ground with the rumble of the earth.

At the same time, the 1LT's reply makes its way back to Xilo's ear.

"Cav-... -ncoming, they'-... -ou alright? Please confirm, the ground is moving and we-... -inned down. Gods, did they rig the whole -...?...-out of there!"

[Cavir]

2LT Xilo puts his hand to his ear while he listens to the message during the quaking. He addresses the group, both friend and prisoner.

"Time to get out of here, fast! No time to get to another exit. We take the elevator here. There's a firefight up top so be ready. Our followup forces are approaching." He turns to the prisoners. "Looks like they left you behind to be buried alive in here. If you want to live stay close to us. If you run you'll probably be shot by others in the chaos of battle. Got it? Where does this elevator end up on the surface?"

He tosses his Weasel to K'ral then responds to Bathory while moving to the elevator. "Taking elevator to surface." He includes the location where the elevator reaches the surface. "What is your location? Can you meet us up top? We have seven POWs. Over."

"K'ral finish with the charges first. Everyone else on the elevator. Move!"

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc

Doc hands over his Weasel as well and beginsvto herd the prisoners towards the elevator..

You heard the L-T, get moving! When we get up top stay close and keep your heads down. If one of you can tell us what's up top it'll help us keep you safe. I'm very good at patching people up but prevention's better than cure!

[Novabomb]

Pvt Ginger cheerfully finishes setting up on the consoles.
I guess we don't have time to watch the bang?

[Cavir]

"And be buried alive in here? We have better places to get to. Sal, get us going up."

[JbeJ275]

The command snaps Sal out of his focused searching of the mechanism, and brief spike of paranioa at some potential trap. Instead he reaches and quickly throws the stitch.

"Alright Alright. We're going up boys, make sure you've got all your gear with you when you leave the elevator, and thank you for travelling with messy Vultar elevator rail today."

[MrAbdiel]

"Ve are under ze bastion of Tyr in ze southeast of Alonn - ze primary surface hatch is north, just off ze road... I-I-I-I- didn't know ze had such a... a Drachenlift installed!" Schiller seems rattled, both by the shaking of the facility (and your earlier talk of explosives) and the presense of this elevator. Suppose he isn't particularly popular among his peers - or the Automatoniks discipline is kept out of the loop of other matters entirely?

Whatever the deep reason, Sal has no trouble activating the mechanism by extending this principles learned at the similar machine in the manor house. Behind the walls of the lab, stone shaft rumbles by; above you, secondary mechanisms clunk along on well lubricated gears and the ceiling slides away into the edges of the walls in rolling, shutter slat until above you the square chasm walls with their hoisting cable engines are laid naked before your eyes. The excess rumbling, that associated with the shaking of the ground and not the machine, dies off; but the lifting machines begin to mechanically strain as they compete against something else: a sourceless, downward pressure that affects machine and man alike. It's a bitter, shapeless heaviness that drives some of the technikers to one knee, though Echo Company is sufficiently conditioned not to permit such weekness and just shrug through it.

A particularly indecipherable message comes back to Xilo, from Bathory.

"H...-... -ead? We-... -ow the hell it's-... - ng!"

But finally, a blue line cracks in the sky above, between to twos of red blinking bulbs at the middle of two huge lifting doors. It turns of the elevator terminates inside the three hundred year old Bastion of Tyr at the south east of time. The whole interior of that building must have been gutted to accomplish it; the fortified walls with their steel bar artistic webs filled out with stained glass scroll by you as the vaulted ceiling of the holy place, steeple and all, splits right down the apex and slides off on huge hydraulic runners to either side so the 'box' of the structure is unimpeded, and your playform settles even with the height of these roofless walls. Now, the shingled sides of the roof form sharp slopes to the grassy ground either side, where a small graveyard for Tyrite faithful spreads with moss-caked headstones and withered, votive bouquets.

It is the only wholesome, peaceful part of the vista that sprawls around you. From your elevation, the land slops up to the north; you can see the mansion through which you infiltrated, and the slope you elected not to shimmy down. But to your south, you do not see more Aquituaean countryside and a phalanx of fighting machines coming to save you. But you do see a stub of broken, terminated road that goes seems torn off at a cliff-edge and what must be a massive drop. Grass seems to have been shredded by tank treads that stopped, then reversed back the way they came... and a lone tank, a Stallion class fighting vehicle that has formed the mainstay of the Amcaran armored line, teeters on the edge of that road. You see the tank's commander crawling out of the hatch, and toward the front of the vehicle and secure ground. A tiefling man, with tan skin and nubs where he has apparently filed down his horns to not get caught on things within the tank. He blinks up at your silhoettes on the mechanically opened church before him, in stunned silence; but then another member of the tank's crew tries to climb free, this one a half-orc, and everything goes wrong for them. The teifling calls back a warning to the half orc, but it's too late; the shift of the weight of the crew's position within the machine is the delicate different on the fulcrum, and the Stallion tilts back, and away. The halforc vanishes from veiw as the tank slides back off the edge; the tiefling makes a desperate springing leap, but the movement of the steel beneath him confounds his footing and the jump turns into a spinning disaster, cracking his upper body on the road and then he, too, goes over.

Thirty five tons of Amcaran steel falls away where the road your cavalry should have come through should have been; and you don't hear it tumble or hit the ground beyond.

You hear the distant road of powerful engines; but muddy enough and not like the engines of tanks coming to your rescue. And north of you, toward the village centre, you hear the echos of orderly shouting - and flashes of black and grey soldiers moving through the light tree cover that is between you, and Alonn's central road.

Spoiler: Perception (Visual): DC15

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You squint down range even as you begin instinctively minimizing your own profile, but you see atleast two ten-strong squads of soldiers rushing toward the Bastion of Tyr. And not the soft, untested Grenzsoldat you've encountered in such numbers and destroyed already today. These men have black and grey flak armor, goggles on their faces, and red feature trim on their uniform - like the lone, unfamiliar enemy you encountered and shot down trying to extract the elven maid in the manor house. These seem to be a more elite offering
of Vult enforcer - perhaps one your battered group cannot face with seven prisoners in tow. They have not, however, seen you; or atleast, you must hope not.

Suddenly, one of the technikers sees his moment and takes it. A youngish man of unremarkable human arrangement, with no outward sign of the 'courage' he is displaying, breaks past Wolf and slides down the shingles on his backside, tumbling once and then grunting to his feet. He begins to make to run toward the approaching force from the north - and immadiately, K'ral is lining up a shot on his back, with the barest moment of hesitation.

Spoiler: OOC: Ahh! Action!

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You are back on the surface, on the top of a church that has apparently been converted into a dragon-elevator.
to your north, there is a treeline (perhaps two hundred feet away) with forms moving through it. To your south is the stub of the road that you could have sworn was connected to the rest of Not-France when you came here initially, but now seems to break abruptly into a cliff's edge off which you witnessed a tank take a tumble. East leads to light tree cover and the edge of the village - but further towards the Vult force's line, not your own. West leads through through some very light tree cover and then the cluster of homes and buildings at the south-east corner of the village of Alonn; where you had hoped more of the cavalry would have been coming to guard your extraction. What now? Stand and fight?
try to sneak away? Flee? And what to do with this prisoner, who is moments away from drawing more attention to your position or being loudly shot in the back?

[Waistcoatwill]

Doc is only distracted by the kaleidoscope of beauty and horror fir a second, but that was long enough for one of his charges to get free. Usually he'd give his patient's some autonomy to make bad decisions, but not this one.

His dart gun appears as if from nowhere, sights trained on the fleeing lab tech.

Some Schmendrick's just don't want to be saved!

The dart flies out and Doc holds his breath, hoping the Krieger will fall before the squad have to drop him.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Doc pulls out the dart gun and uses steady aim before firing at the runaway.

(1d20+7)[12] or (1d20+7)[16] If the guy is still within 20ft short range for 1 damage.
DC 14 Constitution save.

[JbeJ275]

Sal had spent most of the ride up the elevator with a few parts he’d palmed in the lab. Managing to plug some more exotic components to repair the busted prismatech in his shield generator he allowed the familiar sensation of outer shield to float over the group once more.

(1d8+5)[8] Temp HP

Then he faced the group with the rest, starting a few steps towards the distant sight of the tank before realising it couldn’t be saved. Then taking the situation in and mostly disregarding the poor fool making a runner he turns to Sarge.

“So, are we running or are we fighting?”

He is fingers rest on the jeep and T-Rex icons on his newly pilfered items as he asks this key question.

[MrAbdiel]

Doc's first shot from his looted pistol flies true - with a mercifully quiet burst of prepellant air like a muffled cough, it dispenses a dart that thwips through the air, sticks into the back of the running techniker's neck, and he flops forward midstride, skidding unconcious on his face for three feet before he can meaningfully draw any additional attention from the oncoming enemy forces.

Sergeant 'Wolf' Vognar swats Doc on the shoulder in congratulation for the shot, then gets about the job of a good NCO - doing what he was last ordered to until an officer tells him to stop, and that means getting away.

"Whether we're fighting or running, we're not doing it on this naked rooftop. Come on - you first, Kreigers. Schnell!"

With his shot made redundant, K'ral helps Sarge herd the prisoners down, sliding down the shingled sides of the church to the ground but then hoofing around its rear side, towards the edge of broken road where the tank fell away. If they were going to have to climb to freedom, Sarge figured it'd be better to start sooner than later, when the bullets were flying.

[Cavir]

Xilo receives a garbled message from Bathory. As the elevator nears the top he hopes the signal is better. "Bad copy. At Bastion southeast of town with prisoners. Where are you? Come to us."

The LT is surprised by the new landscape. He wants to live so there's no time to dwell on what did it, just how to deal with the new scenario. One of the prisoners makes a run for it. Doc drops him with the tranq. With pistol raised he firmly but quietly barks at the other prisoners. "Anyone else who runs gets shot with real bullets!" He glares at Doc Schiller to make sure the message is passed along.

Spoiler: OOC

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Pausing here hoping there is time for a response from Bathory now that we're near/at the surface to to clarify our surroundings. With the OOC perception roll of 20, any sign of the other squad? Is the new landscape to the south totally cutting off the south east-west wise or could we head south / southeast around it to head towards friendly lines?

[MrAbdiel]

"...Oh, gods..."

This is K'ral's utterance; the eladrin squinting up at the sky. This direction of attention draws it from the prisoners, also. Doctor Schiller is most alarmed of all.

"Nein! Nein, verdammt, ihr bastarde, ihr habt es getan - ihr habt gelogen, und ihr habt es getan!"

Spoiler: OOC: Kreigspiel

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"No! No, damn you bastards, you did it - you lied, and you did it!"

The sun is crawling across the sky. It draws the clouds with it like a phalanx of guards; the spectacle immediately disorienting to all observers. It is still the hours of the morning; the sun belongs in the sky in the east. But here, it glides slowly to a new place; approximately toward the north-north-east. The nature of this mystery resolves to you, faster than it might to others. You are men of the air as much as of the land; you are used to having to orient your world in three dimensions more robustly than others. But that doesn't make it any easier to believe. The forces on the ground are forced to believe it; because they see it.

But it does connect some dots, for you; why some of the facility was evacuated, and why some wasn't; the confusion about whether there were explosive charges in the lower reaches of the facility or not. Klaus, the ill-fated Vult soldier whom you were forced to cut down during your breach on the mansion. He was convinced that it was important to leave. But his warning, and his urgency, were not based on a fear that the complex was going to explode, precisely...

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

* * * * *

Captain Lorana Longsummer gazes up, shading her eyes with one hand. She had thought this would be over by now; the armored company racing to seize Alonn proper now that Echo Company's special insertion squads had a chance to seize personel and data. But she had watched from the passanger seat of her jeep as the column halted on the road into town; felt the rumble of breaking earth; and then witnessed the impossible excision of land from land. A mountain of earth ripped itself free in slow, regular shuddering; lifted on the strength of massive eldritch engines of unthinkable power into the sky. With dread, she watched the lone tank that had not been able to escape before that hideous ascent struggle at the cracked edge of what once was the road into town; and then pitch backward and off the edge, falling hundreds of feet before slamming into the gutted earth cavity from which the mass had come. They had wanted to know what was being worked on, in that Vult facility in which they at the least were developing dragonstrike technologies. The most significant answer now sailed into the sky away from her - they were working on gravity-defying technologies beyond the wildest estimations of the Amcaran speculators; and had used it to tear the entire village of Alonn out of the ground and into the sky... taking Bathory's Batch, and Xilo's Psychos with them.

* * * * *

As your guts and your eyes and your Skyknife instincts come to the conclusion, Sarge vocalizes what you are all concluding independantly. "We're in the air. Godsdammit, they've turned the whole damn village into a... a flying fortess!"

Another message comes to Xilo - this one, finally, clearer than before. Clearer than ever. "Xilo! Xilo, it's a bust; there's no backup, we've got to get down from here or we're overrun! We've got men down and we're making for the-... For the edge! We're behind the Lamnda church - we're going to break for the edge and jump it before we take casualties we'll have to leave behind. You need to..." She trails off. Bathory's squad has casters with auxiliary spells suitable to assist an escape from such a circumstance; but she clearly is straining for a way to assist your squad's escape, too. But the Church of St. Lamnda of the Almighty and the Bastion of Tyr are too far apart to reunite your forces - the encroaching Vult will be on you long before you bushwhacked through the light forest in-between.

Spoiler: OOC:

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That should clarify the surrounding - you're a football field away from the edge of town which used to be attached to the surface of the earth, but now is a plunge into open sky.

Incidentally, should be become relevent, I'm going to make the rule that a creature under the influence of a featherfall spell can have other characters clinging to them - but they deplete the spell's effect somewhat. A creature landing by themself under the effect of a Featherfall spell takes no fall damage. Carrying one "passenger", they and everyone they are carrying will take 2d6 falling damage on impact with the ground. With two passengers, 4d6; with three, 8d6; with four, 16d6; etcetera.

[Novabomb]

Pvt Gabriel Ginger
El Tee, if this is a mobile fortress, it probably has sortie-craft. We should locate some before we blow this rock