IC Rise of the Grand Admiral - Episode I - Finishing the Fight

[RandomLunatic]

"We see target," Skira commed. Then, off the comm, he added to Patches, "Anticlimatic." Not quite believing his fortune to have not one but two deserted rooms, he kept his blaster at the ready as he darted forward to claim the prize.

[Thundercracker]

"We see target," Skira commed. Then, off the comm, he added to Patches, "Anticlimatic." Not quite believing his fortune to have not one but two deserted rooms, he kept his blaster at the ready as he darted forward to claim the prize.

As fortune would have it, you happen to spot a small proximity mine near the door, and deftly avoid getting within range as you sidle around it and pick up the flag.

Bright lights come on and an automated voice echoes over speakers: "Training simulation terminated, congratulations. Please exit via the completion route within the next five minutes, and review your progress."
A door opens up beyond the flag.

You arrive in a small debriefing room where statistics are displayed on several monitors. It's less than thirty seconds before one of the doors opens up and Odi, now wearing his standard issue clone armor, walks into the room, followed by Jedi Knight Sadaki.

"...good to get some practice in before a mission," Odi says.
"Indeed," Sadaki adds, then turns to the rest of you, "congratulations on your success, I happened to be able to observe on the monitors. Tell me, what have you learned?"

[Thunder999]

Coralej really isn't sure what they were meant to gain from that, it was certainly easier than any of their actual missions, no convenient stop buttons there, and rather more shielded droidekas. "Going faster gets you shot more? This is much easier when we're not fighting Droideka?"

[Harmony]

Irizi'stal'nafis

“Basic training less than optimal. That we prefer to push buttons that would not exist rather than trying unconventional force. That we have little cohesion, and our communication is low. That not being able to speak will provide a problem until we have are all at the same practice level. That we can show aggression, and that we can find effective ways of taking out our targets. That is all without reviewing it, but we are no where a unit, but more individuals. It will lead to casualties until we learn.” Not that there wouldn’t be casualties anyway, who constructed training courses with switches that eliminated the opposition? It was like they were trained under an illusion that it would be easy for the sake of morale or some nonsense like that.

[Thundercracker]

Debriefing Room

"All good observations, and yet, training does have its place. I'd suggest another run through, at a higher difficulty, but there won't be time. We arrive in a little more than nine hours. Review your teamwork, and get some rest before gearing up," Sadaki says, "we meet at Briefing Room 12 at 0800."

The Jedi will stay to speak more with you if anyone wishes, otherwise he departs, but Odi stays behind.

You can take time to review your run through the proving grounds, or explore the rest of the ship, etc.
(we'll run these scenes concurrently).

The following morning, you meet up with Sadaki, Odi, and the others in a briefing room just as the hum of hyperspace vanishes as you arrive at the Murkhana system. Sadaki presses a button on the console, and it takes a good thirty seconds before the secure communication opens up. The holo of a fair skinned middle aged goateed human appears, Jedi General Roan Shryne.
"Master Shryne, Sadaki Kirusai and Psi Squad reporting in," your commander says.
"Good, we could use the reinforcements," Shryne replies, "I know your earlier briefing indicated the landing platform was to be secured before your arrived, but we've encountered stiffer resistance than expected, and the shield generator is still active. We're currently planning a two-pronged assault, with your team as one side, and myself leading the other along with Bol Chatak and Ion Squad. We'll form up on assault gunships, head down to the surface, breach the shield by rappelling down to the platform, then take the shields down from inside. That will allow the rest of the clones to land and secure the platform and allow us to bring heavy weapons into the city."

"Understood," Sadaki said, "what's the makeup of the enemy?"
"The platform is protected by an entire droid battalion, including two tanks usually stationed on the central platform itself, with potentially more inside," Shryne replied. He must have seen Sadaki's incredulous expression, because he quickly adds, "on the plus side, there are numerous towers and structures behind which to take cover, and the reason for the heavy droid defense is because the platform's anti-aircraft guns have been destroyed."

"Wonderful," Sadaki said, "do we need to take out the tanks out before going inside?"
"It would certainly make life easier," Shryne replied.

"Understood," Sadaki said.

If the group has any questions, now is the time to ask.

[Thunder999]

Coralej certainly has a question "So how do we plan to take out a pair of tanks on foot?"

[RandomLunatic]

Hyperspace
Skira went to watch the replay to see if how long it;d have taken to figure out the pattern of the pop-up turrets from the first room he'd been in.



Murkhana System
Skira was also on the skepticism train. "What kind of tanks?"

[Thundercracker]

"They are Separatist AAT-1 main battle tanks," Shryne replied.
Odi cleared his throat and spoke up.

"We don't necessarily have to destroy them. A well-placed grenade could take out the droid crews before they close the hatch, or if we're able to get close and blast or slice the hatch open and toss one inside, they'll just be dead weight," he says, "we might even be able to commandeer one or both."

[RandomLunatic]

Or be cut to ribbons trying to get that close.

Let's do this. Skira leaned forward with a predatory grin. "I can drive speeder."

[Harmony]

Irizi'stal'nafis

"Bold tactic." It was very aggressive. It suited her. Still, it was risky. Droid did not have weaknesses like sleep, so there was nothing like that... The Chiss liked nightly raids and use the darkness against their opponents. Technology trumped all that, but technology could be fooled or disabled. She was not sure if the droids were equipped to fight in the darkness, the Trade Federation seemed to cut down on a lot of things when they made their soldiers, just like with the Republic.

"Perhaps there is a button to disable them all?" It was her attempt at humor, perhaps a bit cruel as the practice range taught things that simply were not true to life. "If we have the element of surprise, we can neutralize them quickly. If we don't, we're going to need some heavy weaponry to take them out." Or a lot of dead soldiers. Maybe both. Likely both.

[Thunder999]

"So get Skira and CT-RH-1453 to the tanks and turn them on the droids, or hope the B1s are stupid enough to leave the door open?"

[Thundercracker]

Irizi'stal'nafis

"Bold tactic." It was very aggressive. It suited her. Still, it was risky. Droid did not have weaknesses like sleep, so there was nothing like that... The Chiss liked nightly raids and use the darkness against their opponents. Technology trumped all that, but technology could be fooled or disabled. She was not sure if the droids were equipped to fight in the darkness, the Trade Federation seemed to cut down on a lot of things when they made their soldiers, just like with the Republic.

"Perhaps there is a button to disable them all?" It was her attempt at humor, perhaps a bit cruel as the practice range taught things that simply were not true to life. "If we have the element of surprise, we can neutralize them quickly. If we don't, we're going to need some heavy weaponry to take them out." Or a lot of dead soldiers. Maybe both. Likely both.

The Jedi Master replies.
“It is a two-pronged attack. We will draw the enemy to one side of the platform, which will give your Squad an opening to attack the other. There is no ‘button’, per se, but deactivation of the shield generator will allow reinforcements and close air support. I anticipate the droids will all be deactivated shortly afterwards,” he says.

[RandomLunatic]

Skira went for the obvious follow-up. "Where shield generator?"

[Thundercracker]

Skira went for the obvious follow-up. "Where shield generator?"

The holo switches from Master Shryne to a graphic of the landing platform. It is actually eight landing platforms around a central pillar, which houses the machinery and cargo lifts. The graphic zooms in on the pillar.

"The shield generator controls are located in the central pillar. You would need to acquire Separatist access or slice your way in," Shryne's voice says, "obviously we would prefer to keep the shield generator intact to aid in defending the platform against any possible Separatist reinforcements, but as a last resort, the generator itself can be disabled or destroyed."

The graphic zoomed in on a quartet of shield bulbs near the top of the central pillar.

[Feathersnow]

T'tchiirt uses the time to restore IG-GY's ability to comprehend Basic, but has little to add to the briefings...

[Thundercracker]

Spoiler

Show

Apologies for the delay, been working a lot. Any additional questions can be answered in spoilers.

After a few more questions, the briefing ends, and the party loads up on a pair of LAAT/i gunships and zooms out of the main hold. The cold silence of travel through space gives way to the shuddering turbulence of breaking atmosphere, and as you descend, the doors open up, allowing the wind to enter as you zoom along the surface. What was once a beautiful tourist destination now lies scarred and damaged by the fighting. Fires burn in several places in the city, releasing huge plumes of dark smoke into the sky. Sporadic ground fire arcs up towards your craft, but you're too fast for them to be any real threat. About three klicks out, the four gunships ahead of you, Master Shryne and his team of clones, along with the rest of the Jedi except for Sadaki, accelerate ahead, and then veer off to the right, while your two head to the left. As you approach, you can see the fighting has already started on the platform on the north side of the structure. The three Jedi lightsabers are visible even from this far out, deflecting the incoming fire from the droids moving towards their position. Clearly visible near the central platform are the two tanks, also moving towards the assault force.

Your two gunships hover over the platform's shields, and release rappelling cables which slowly slip through the barrier. Beneath you, only a pair of B-1 droids stand at the southernmost platform. Sadaki goes first, leading the way, and slices through them easily. It is an odd sensation, pushing your way through the shields from above, but before long, the entire team is assembled, and the gunships fly off to circle the platform and wait for the shields to drop.
"C'mon, we've got to take out those tanks before they reach the other group," Sadaki says as he leads the charge towards the central platform.

Broken down speeders and charging blocks provide ample opportunities for cover as you approach the vanguard of the droid battalion. The path splits, and you can follow Sadaki to the left, where one of the tanks has just vanished around the far side of the central pillar, or take the path to the right, where the second tank sits near the pillar, about 150 meters away (100 squares). With the fighting focused around the northern platform, your arrival appears to be unnoticed so far.

[RandomLunatic]

When he alighted on the landing platform, after making sure there were no other droids in the area Skira took a moment to asses the two wrecked B-1s to see if their weapons had outlived them. If they had, he took one, set it to stun, and stuffed it into his bandolier strap in case one of the VIPs showed up. Then he took off after the rest.

Not seeing any strong arguments either way, Skira just followed Master Sadaki to the left, eyes open and longblaster at the ready.

[Thunder999]

Coralej heads towards the other tank. "If Skira's going that way then we need to get CT-RH-1453 to the other tank"

[RandomLunatic]

"Hold it. It take 2 to run tank, and nobody else volunteer," said Skira, stopping and turning around to join on the right side.

[Thundercracker]

Left Side

Sadaki charges straight in, and you come across a squad of battle droids, six B-1's led by a B-2 super battle droid. He ignites his lightsaber and charges towards the enemy...

Spoiler

Show

Anyone staying with the Jedi, roll initiative.
Sadaki: (1d20+12)[25]
Enemy: (1d20+3)[5]

Right Side

As fighting breaks out on the Left side, you make your way past ruined speeders and other debris. You don't encounter any droids, and then you spot them farther up ahead, near the tank. At the top of the tank, you can see a B-1 pilot with its head out, watching the fight currently taking place on the route from the Left platform.

There is ample cover for you to try and sneak closer, though that will take precious time and there's no telling when they might decide to join the fight against Sadaki and the others. You could also charge straight in, or take pot-shots from where you are at either the group on the Left platform or the tank crew, though shooting would certainly give your position away.

[Harmony]

Irizi'stal'nafis

The indecisiveness and lack of structure, frustrates Zistalna, but it seemed that they were taking aggressive action. At least that she could get behind. With no clear teams, it would seem all of them attack one tank, which would cause a trouble if the other flanked them. She makes handsignals for the the troopers to follow her to the right side.

As she spots the head of the pilot, she drops prone to aim her carbine, motioning for whoever is with her to advance, ready to take the shot when they are in position or if they are spotted.

[Thundercracker]

Irizi'stal'nafis

The indecisiveness and lack of structure, frustrates Zistalna, but it seemed that they were taking aggressive action. At least that she could get behind. With no clear teams, it would seem all of them attack one tank, which would cause a trouble if the other flanked them. She makes handsignals for the the troopers to follow her to the right side.

As she spots the head of the pilot, she drops prone to aim her carbine, motioning for whoever is with her to advance, ready to take the shot when they are in position or if they are spotted.

The clones follow you down the right side. They keep low and out of sight of the droids in the distance.

[RandomLunatic]

Skira peered at the tank for moment. Then he extended his hand towards the nearest Clone trooper. "Give me grenade. I go steal tank, drive back here. You hold and give cover if I spotted."

Assuming there agreement with his plan, Skira slung his blaster over his back, got down on all fours, and set off across the landing pad, scurrying from cover to cover.

((Stealthing closer while double moving, so -5 to Stealth. Going to try to close to about 12 squares of the tank or until spotted, whichever comes first.

Stealth - (1d20+9)[25]))

[Thundercracker]

Skira peered at the tank for moment. Then he extended his hand towards the nearest Clone trooper. "Give me grenade. I go steal tank, drive back here. You hold and give cover if I spotted."

Assuming there agreement with his plan, Skira slung his blaster over his back, got down on all fours, and set off across the landing pad, scurrying from cover to cover.

((Stealthing closer while double moving, so -5 to Stealth. Going to try to close to about 12 squares of the tank or until spotted, whichever comes first.

(1d20+9)[29]))

As you get closer, you spot four B-1's arrayed around the tank, plus a single B-1 inside the tank, for a total of five within sight.

Spoiler

Show

to get to 26: (1d20+9)[29]
to get to 14: (1d20+9)[29]
to get to 12-8: (1d20+14)[27]
extra roll: (1d20+9)[12]
extra roll: (1d20+9)[17]

Dodging around wrecked speeders, cargo cranes, and refueling pumps, you manage to get within 40' of the tank without being seen. All of the droids' attention appears to be focused on the Left bridge, where the Jedi is nearly finished slicing his way through the droid opposition.

Irizi'stal'nafis

From your position, you are able to draw a good bead at the tank pilot.

Spoiler

Show

you can ignore its partial cover, but if you can move to within 30 squares, you'll be in point blank range with a rifle

[Feathersnow]

T'tchiirt directs IG-GY to provide covering fire for Skira. She considers running after him, but she is too slow! Rather than a repeat of last time, she simply wants with her flamethrower.

[Harmony]

Irizi'stal'nafis

She'll stay there, ready to take the shot. when the rest of the team either starts being noisy or do their advance.
"I have the pilot in my sights." She whispers over radio.

[RandomLunatic]

Skira paused for moment to catch his breath, grinning with anticipation. By weight, the AAT would be his biggest kill. And he'd made it to striking distance with his prey none the wiser. Speaking just loud enough for his throat mic to pick up, Skira commed, "In position. Open fire on my mark. Three, two, one, MARK!"

Even as he said the word, Skira dashed forward, bounding towards the tank. In the last final steps, he pushed up with his arms, pushing himself upright and giving his underhanded grenade lob a little extra arc.

((Init - (1d20+14)[26]
If under 22, Reroll - (1d20+14)[18]

Move: Move 6 squares towards AAT.
Standard: Ready an action to toss a grenade down the pilot's hatch after Zistalna takes her shot and (hopefully) destroys the pilot droid.
Attack - (1d20+6)[23]
Damage - (4d6+2)[19]))

[Thundercracker]

The blaster bolt sails over Skira's head, and he dodges towards the tank before the droids are able to respond. The grenade sails through the air even as the pilot droid shudders and drops down into the open hatch, and the grenade clatters in behind it. With a muffled *whump*, a plume of black smoke shoots out of the top of the vehicle.

The clones, who had all taken up positions behind cover and aimed at the droids around the edge of the tank, open fire.

Spoiler

Show

attack: (1d20+4)[19]
damage: (3d8)[13]
attack: (1d20+4)[8]
damage: (3d8)[16]
attack: (1d20+4)[10]
damage: (3d8)[18]
attack: (1d20+4)[15]
damage: (3d12)[27]

Three of the droids are struck from the hail of blaster bolts from the clones and either break into pieces or deactivate, but one is narrowly missed, and runs around to the far side of the vehicle, out of sight.

The clones all break cover and start hustling towards the tank.

Spoiler

Show

Player turn. Skira, you have an extra move action you can take, because your first move was during the surprise round.

[RandomLunatic]

Skira ran the the last few steps to the AAT and quickly mounted the steps up the the hatch. Unceremoniously shoving the remains of the pilot aside, he dropped down, closing the hatch behind him, and settled in at the pilot's station. Then he brought up power to the repulsors, rounding the tank's horseshoe-crab nose on the fleeing droid and bringing the repeaters to bear. Skira depressed the trigger as the sight lit up with a target lock.

((Bonus move: Move up to the AAT

Move: Get in tank
Standard: Make an attack run on the B-1. Slide 4 squares sideways (so the tank doesn't block LOS to the rest of the party) and make a normal attack
Attack - (1d20+9)[26]
Damage - (3d10*2)[18]+4))

[Thundercracker]

Skira ran the the last few steps to the AAT and quickly mounted the steps up the the hatch. Unceremoniously shoving the remains of the pilot aside, he dropped down, closing the hatch behind him, and settled in at the pilot's station. Then he brought up power to the repulsors, rounding the tank's horseshoe-crab nose on the fleeing droid and bringing the repeaters to bear. Skira depressed the trigger as the sight lit up with a target lock.

((Bonus move: Move up to the AAT

Move: Get in tank
Standard: Make an attack run on the B-1. Slide 4 squares sideways (so the tank doesn't block LOS to the rest of the party) and make a normal attack
[roll0]
[roll1]+4))

You shove the broken droid aside and take the pilot’s seat. The screens inside the tank have all been destroyed from the frag grenade blast, but you know roughly where the lone remaining B-1 is standing. You steer the tank in roughly the correct direction, and hear a satisfying clink bzzt as you run the hapless droid over.

The immediate vicinity falls quiet with the end of active combat, for the moment.

Anyone not inside the tank can see Sadaki has dispatched the droids on the southwest bridge and has continued moving towards the central pillar.