Lancer: The Beautiful Machine IC

[BelGareth]

Biff smiles "Nah don't worry about it, it's been a while...and well, I'm a little nervous I think." he says chuckling, "I can't seem to recall, maybe the old man might know? I was in his unit for a while, but my memories of that time are....foggy at best" he answers and then as if it was done, he nods and then turns to look at his mech, which was finally completed, the giant blade on its back, two missile racks on it's shoulders, and a GMS standard issue Mech Assault rifle.

Walking up to it, it wasn't pretty, but it would do. He touched the frame tenderly, and then, suddenly, initiated the boarding protocols, the hatch at the top opening up with a hiss of pressure and the whir of servos. He climbed the frame using the outside handholds for pilots, and then slid down into the cockpit.

It was start, but...it was his. He began to boot up systems, checking knobs and the startup protocols, his vision lit up, and he could see the whole cave suddenly.

"Mech online" his frame announced.

[Bitter]

Unsure if Biff’s response is truly due to poor memory rather than just not wanting to talk about his past, Ludo gives him privacy and turns his attention to Caliburn as the printer finishes off building Lupo’s mech.

When they realise that Lupo is a knight, or at least ex-knight, many people expected him to pilot a hulking armoured chassis with a sword and shield like something out of an old history. Instead the frame that was printed was the sleek and thoroughly modern shape of the GMS Chomolungma, packed full of the most sophisticated e-warfare equipment known to man. True, his was a little personalised with some etchings related to the Eumat philosophy, but the mech wouldn’t look out of place in any modern military.

Opening up the cockpit, Lupo jumps in side and is happy to see that the printer has recreated it just how he likes it from his personalised settings, even down to the little bobble head of Saint Jerome. kissing his fingers then tapping the bobble head to set it bobbing, Lupo closes up the chassis’s cockpit around him.

“This is Dust,” he says through the comms, reusing his old callsign for the first time in years, “Everything is green my end, ready to roll out.”

[n0ble]

The Printer

"What about Magedon Creek? I hear the Cypher Trees are...beautiful this time of year." The little frame that passes for SLATE's body picks at the ground with one of its foot comps as the last of your mechs are printed. Supporting itself on three of the four legs, the last of the limbs waves you along to the great cavern ahead. "Transplanting signal-chaser." There's a brief moment of static across your comms before a waypoint pings, complete with a path illuminated in white holograph-light lodged across each of your mech's viewscreens. An audio tune pings out as light illuminates the path, synchronizing in time with a bit of brightness that goes out the tone. It is, of course, entirely optional to listen to.

The little frame picks at the ground as the last of your mechs print off and are assembled. On the final time, they raise the limb of their frame up, a tiny stablight glowing at the end. SLATE walks beyond, the sleek namesake-grey of their chassis becoming more and more subsumed as they get closer and closer still to the yawn of the cavern network beyond. Blue and red minerals catch the light and pain the way forward purple for how the former two colors mingle. The odd stablight jammed haphazard into the rock-natural for how untouched it is by human tools-sustains the curious luminance from the crystals. The stablight waves you forward, to the very edge of where the cavern begins its downward slant. A few little taps on the rock cue you into the NHP turning to face you. "Signal should hold out until it doesnt. I've marked the printer-". A green waypoint styled the same way as the holograph-path superimposes itself onto the digital views afforded by your frames. "-here. Good luck, Lancers." The lightsource at the end of SLATE's arm winks off as you begin your descent towards the jamming beacon.

Anyone who hazards a glance back sees the grey outline of the small frame, waving to you from on high. A bit further down, the NHP resumes their tune.

To the Jammer

The trek to the jammer is marked by a few constants. The heat steadily begins to increase over the few hours your journey takes, increasing in time with the amount-and scale-of the underground fauna you encounter. Pallid rockslugs are found much as they are in the ghetto: a keystone to any healthy diet. Salamanders much on them, some of them the size of human forearms for how time alone has let them grow larger than you've seen before. A few enterprising ones leave the carcasses of old mining gear-mirrors to the ones you saw on the path to the printer-to hazard the odd bite on your mechs before easily being shaken loose. The smaller of the amphibians are carried off by the Depth Below's most famous occupant: small chiropterans eating to grow massive. Those of you who study under the Lasdy Kareftis know that their current station below ground is largely a consequence of the sounds brought along with all of the Baronies minining gear. Rock lights the patches of darkness where artifice is insufficient, lending a warm glow to your passage for how the various minerals kaleidoscope their phosphorescence upon one another.

Eventually, the path laid out by SLATE take you to a series of buildings situated in a wide, expansive cavern tall as a Barbarossa, and it is here that things begin to go wrong. The place may have been capable of sustaining a large amount of life. Once. Now all that remains are the guttered remains of out of date infrastructure, assaulted by the buildup of product from a rogue mushroom farm long since scavenged clean. The signal becomes frenetic, the tone changing from regular steady pulse to dysrhythmic as it tries and fails to lock down onto a viable pathway for you to take. Something in the remains, maybe. Or something worse.

A singular shot rings out across the dimly lit cavern, resounding loud and clear for how the bark of the shot bounces from the walls. The chirp of the munition cutting through the air is lost as the ammo cuts through the air, misses Dust but what sensors read is a handspan, then ends the terminus of its journey with collapsing one of the structures surrounding you. Its as though this is a cue for the hostiles: to the west, a thin, spindly frame rises from the walking mountain it was hiding behind. A scout and bastion. To the east there is a shrieking sound that continues beyond as echoes after the berserker is done raking its chainaxe across stone. And finally, to the North of your position: the mechanical wine of a hive's swarm deployment matrix undercut by the ejection of a large caliber shell casing from the hive's nearby compatriot: The Beastmaster.

The Depth Below's resident Boogeyman cuts an odd silhouette, jagged and unevenly broken for the various armaments strapped to the back and hip of their person. The large bore sniper in their hands-a mech killer-still smokes from the gunbarrel even as its quickly removed from the end of the Beastmaster's gun and replaced with something more akin to a shotgun add-on. Fetishes and trophys adorn the exile's frame-Some Dangerous Game:the skull of a bull salamander acts as one of the frame's shoulder pauldrons while a pair of young chiropteran wings flare out as a makeshift breastplate. Theres the sound of a shotgun being racked for more ammunition before a harsh, metallic voice booms out across the hovel you've discovered. Whatever's gumming up your signal will have to wait.

You just go busy.

Spoiler: OOC

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Alright everyone, a thousand thank-yous for your patience, welcome to our first combat of the game! This sit-rep will be a Signal Chase combat-I'll get the scenario up in the discord for everyone to view. Enemies are deployed where they are per the scenario-I'll get everyones minis up and synched to their respective players. On that note:
- Terrain that is tagged pink on the map is Size 1 (1x1)
- Terrain that is tagged blue on the map is Size 2 (2x2)
- Terrain that is tagged orange on the map is Size 3 (3x3)
I would be happy to draw borders around the terrain if people are unsure of the dimensions-left it out initially so things didnt seem so cluttered.

Enemy comp consists of the enemy type and the templates they have:
- The Beastmaster (Tier 1 Elite Strider)
- 1 Veteran Scout
- 1 Bastion
- 1 Hive
- 1 Berserker

The Combat follows these rules for the sit-rep:
Sit Rep: Signal Chase
PC Victory: A the end of round 6, the PCs have accumulated 4 Victory Points (VP)
NPC Victory: At the end of round 6, the PCs have not accumulated (VP)
The Control Zone (blue on the map): At the start of each round, including the first, the Control Zone that PCs start in moves 3d6 in a random direction and in a straight line (will roll a d8 for direction, north side is 1, right top corner two, continuing clockwise in that fashion). If this causes the zone to leave the battlefield it instead stops at the edge. Movement is then re-rolled until the zone can complete one entire movement without leaving the map. At the end of each round, PCs score **1 Victory Point** if there are more PCs in the zone than NPCs.
Deployment: NPCs deploy, then PCs

Spoiler: Map

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https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/...563&height=406

[ProgressPaladin]

(OOC: Guys, I’m sorry for not posting last time. I had a lot on my plate. Two questions: If I don’t get scouting, could I pick up another reserve? If I can, I’d like the Recon Drone. Also, since I cannot use discord, is there a way you could post the map elsewhere?)

Walking along, Rowen is listening. Waiting for something to happen. Keeping watch while the mechs are being printed off, Rowen is thinking about the last time he was out here. It’s been awhile. The printers finish interrupts his reminiscing, and Rowen suits up.

Walking into the cavern, something immediately feels off. Wouldn’t there usually be more people in here? But when the shot rings, Rowen systems whir to life telling him all the information he needs to know. “You guys told me to be the leader? Ok then!”, Rowen says on a comm channel to the group. ”Biff, you take the Berserker! I don’t want any of us more fragile things get crushed by it! Echo, Dust, stay together, we need all the synergy we can get. Echo, try to take out the Scout before it can do anything to help its allies. Dust, I want you taking out the Hive, as you’re best equipped to deal with its tech attacks. Thanatos, you have the heavier firepower, try to focus that on the Beast-master over there. I’ll try to take out the Bastion. Over and Out.

Rowen shoulder mount will start up, and he will pull up his Anti-materiel Rifle and fire, shooting at the hulking mountain. He will try to scan, working past it’s quite meager electronic defenses. Rowen will then run into a closer range, hoping to get into his thermal rifles range.

Spoiler: OOC

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My attacks:
Anti-materiel rifle: Attack Roll (1d20)[14]+(1d6)[1] for (2d6)[4] AP damage
Scan: Statistics, Bastion
If I get recon drone: Scan, Beastmaster.

[Bitter]

Lupo jerks in his seat as the sniper round misses him by inches, sending Caliburn stumbling to the side for a moment before righting itself.

Lupo swings Caliburn down behind cover and sets his variety of scanners to maximum active power, no longer sneaking and relying merely on passive augur data. The details of five mechanised frames quickly spill through into his system and the Chomolungma’s frame pattern recognition system quickly spits out the likely capabilities of the enemy frames. As he assesses the options he feels a reassuring calm come over him as his implants reroute cerebral pathways to optimise his tactical thinking and reaction time.

“Negative,” responds Lupo over the comms, his voice devoid of passion. “Beserker archetype frame is a dedicated close-combatant. I’m most suited to making sure it can’t reach or stay in close combat.”

[CateranEnforcer]

Derek grits his teeth inside his bone colored frame. He kneels down scanning the horizon with the Heavy Machine Gun while the other arm wraps his Sagarmatha in a mech sized camo cloth. Not much use right now other than a little bit of protection.

"I've been waiting a long time to do this.... just try and stop me!" He takes the directions as just a matter of convenience. He didn't care which enemy he blew up first.

[BelGareth]

It had been a smooth walk down, the local salamanders amazed Biff, and he was enjoying seeing each one as they crossed them, especially the large ones, he grinned as they passed, giving them names, Yellow-bellied Sandra ain't no pick o'the littler James-Red-nosed, I think ya can do better, look at Yellow-Rings-Karen over here. He chuckled to himself, and a cathartic memory of his time with the Condor's fluttered back to him, rising to the surface of hsi conscious like an unbidden serpent from the depths.

They had just liberated the Consuls son, and he had pulled out all the stops as they marched to deliver him back, pink streamers unfurled int eh air as they walked triumphant, people cheering, and
....*CRACK*

The first round was enough to wake him from his reverie, where his finely honed instincts took over, immediate action drills his body couldn't stop if he tried, his mech rolled to the right, immediately finding cover, and bringing his main Machine gun online, he allowed the e-suite package to come online, absorbing all the data it streamed to him, like some AI munching on the data, a quick scan of the data and he saw his target, confirmed by the chatter.

"Roger that Rowen, Lupo, I'm your wingman, you have point, providing covering fire."

Spoiler

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Character_Profile:
  Call_Sign: "Registered_Offense"
  Mech_Frame: "GMS Everest"
  Stats:
    Structure: "4/4"
    HP: "12/12"
    Armor: "0"
    Stress: "4/4"
    Heat: "0/6"
    Repair: "5/5"
    ATK_Bonus: "0"
    Tech_ATK: "0"
    LTD_Bonus: "0"
    SPD: "5"
    EVA: "10"
    EDEF: "8"
    Senses: "10"
    SAVE: "10"
  Mech_Attributes:
    H: "0"
    A: "2"
    S: "0"
    E: "0"
    Size: "1"
  Weapons:
    Main_Mount:
      - Type: "Assault Rifle"
      - Specs: "Range 10; 1d6 physical; Reliable 2"
    Flex_Mount:
      - Type: "Missile Rack [1/1]"
      - Specs: "Range 10/Burst 1; 1d3+1 Explosive; Loading"
      - Type: "Missile Rack [1/1]"
      - Specs: "Range 10/Burst 1; 1d3+1 Explosive; Loading"
    Heavy_Mount:
      - Type: "Heavy Melee Weapon"
      - Specs: "Threat 1; 2d6+1"
  Core_Systems:
    Hyperspec_Fuel_Injector:
      - Charges: "2/2"
  Systems:
    - "EVA Module"
    - "Personalizations"
    - "Rapid Burst Jump Jet System"
    - "Custom Paint Job"
    - "Manipulators"
    - "Bonus CORE"
  Talents:
    - "Combined Arms 1"
    - "Juggernaut 1"
    - "Executioner 1" 

[CateranEnforcer]

Grayson eyeballs the horizon and levels his weapons at the beastmaster. His bloodlust almost takes over, but he stops. They needed to locate that jammer at all costs. Damn it all.

"Ugh no, the frames are a distraction. If we lose the trace, this could be over before it starts. We have to get that data." Thanatos pulls back on the controls and turns his frame around and tries to pinpoint the signal. "Here, try and hit us now." He drops one of his grenades that emits a large cloud of smoke. Still, he couldn't help but aim his underslug launcher at the Bastion and Scout.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move 4
Quick Action: Boost to get in the zone
Quick Action: Pop smoke grenade in the marked zone
Overcharge QA: Use a Hex charge on the Bastion and Scout, 6 damage rolled

[n0ble]

The Beastmaster answers the plume from the smoke charges by engaging the servos tacked onto the outside of his frame. The systems lend the frame a surprising amount of speed, allowing it to accelerate well beyond what a normal mech is capable of. Crude thrusters engage on the brachial features of the frame's joints as its reposition ends, continuing the movement past Echo and behind a building. The Beastmaster levels the wide bore end of its rifle and looses a concussive shot across the cover it occupies. The round fragments and paints the cavern red, orange and yellow as it impacts with the shoulder of Echo's mech, the force of the blow shunting them away in an effusion of pattern-smoke, momentarily backlit by the light of the shells impact.

Spoiler: OOC

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On its turn the Beastmaster (Tier 1 Elite Strider), used its Reposition reaction to move its speed.
Quick action 1: it then boosted another 4 space
It then moved 4 spaces into the size 1 hard cover
Quick Action 2: The beastmaster then skirmished against Echo with its Explosive Rifle, hitting with an 11. It dealt 6 damage and knocked Echo back 3 spaces out of the smoke's soft cover.

[BelGareth]

Biff's attention shifted from the 'zerker to the strider in an instant, his HUD displaying the signal they needed to capture, he moved Registered_Offense in a lurching run towards the strider, activating his core as he ran, the Mech energized fully, the reactors pumping out additional energy, overcharging his weapons and systems, lights lit up like a Furtive Festival parade, his Mech picked up speed and began flying as he sped up, he wheeled around the local obstacles with his heavy blade held high, bringing it down in a powerful slash against his opponent.

Spoiler

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Actions:
move left 5
free: Activate core
free: Boost another 5 left
Boost left 5
Skirmish within threat 1 using Heavy melee weapon

(rolled in Roll20)
To-hit 13 +1 lock on + 1 core = 15
Damage = 6

Procs Combined Arms 1 gaining soft cover while within threat (and any adjacent allies)

Character_Profile:
  Call_Sign: "Registered_Offense"
  Mech_Frame: "GMS Everest"
  Stats:
    Structure: "4/4"
    HP: "12/12"
    Armor: "0"
    Stress: "4/4"
    Heat: "0/6"
    Repair: "5/5"
    ATK_Bonus: "0"
    Tech_ATK: "0"
    LTD_Bonus: "0"
    SPD: "5"
    EVA: "10"
    EDEF: "8"
    Senses: "10"
    SAVE: "10"
  Mech_Attributes:
    H: "0"
    A: "2"
    S: "0"
    E: "0"
    Size: "1"
  Weapons:
    Main_Mount:
      - Type: "Assault Rifle"
      - Specs: "Range 10; 1d6 physical; Reliable 2"
    Flex_Mount:
      - Type: "Missile Rack [1/1]"
      - Specs: "Range 10/Burst 1; 1d3+1 Explosive; Loading"
      - Type: "Missile Rack [1/1]"
      - Specs: "Range 10/Burst 1; 1d3+1 Explosive; Loading"
    Heavy_Mount:
      - Type: "Heavy Melee Weapon"
      - Specs: "Threat 1; 2d6+1"
  Core_Systems:
    Hyperspec_Fuel_Injector:
      - Charges: "1/2"
  Systems:
    - "EVA Module"
    - "Personalizations"
    - "Rapid Burst Jump Jet System"
    - "Custom Paint Job"
    - "Manipulators"
    - "Bonus CORE"
  Talents:
    - "Combined Arms 1"
    - "Juggernaut 1"
    - "Executioner 1" 

Spoiler: Map

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[Bitter]

Dust rushes into cover in the smoke, heavy thunks echoing out with each step as his frame breaks into a run and charges across the cavern before disappearing into the eletromagnetically opaque cloud of smoke that his teammate had dropped. From his hidden position, he triggers a wave of electronic warfare signals intended to interfere with the enemy's weapons and causes the Bastion's joints to to seize up almost entirely. while also sending a targeting solution on the beastmaster to his comrades.

Spoiler: ooc

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Boost and two tech actions from the Chomulungma 1/scene frame trait. First missed, second hit Bastion and applied fragment signal (2 heat, slowed, impaired) and locked on to Beastmaster

[n0ble]

The Beastmaster's retort is simple: another shot from their explosive rifle thunders around the expanse of the cavern, the detonation's force pushing Dust narrowly past a patch of oozng lava. Theres a very faint whine from the servos of the strider's frame as the reds and oranges of lava and explosion are cut through with a thin blue from the frame's inbuilt brachial jets as it speeds away, the grace of the escape only slightly offset from a retort by Thanatos. As they decelerate to standing, the blunt end of the explosive rifle becomes capped with a the heavy, cylindrical end of a siege mortar. Aimed high for a parabola-shot, a gauntlet locks down over the Beastmaster's free hand-styled like a pair of jaws over the wrist- and wreathes it in a sphere of energy as the frame extrudes a rapidly solidifying cube of 3D print material. The cover raised by this device is utterly negated by Biff's downward cleave on Dust's targeting solution, a blow that cuts deep into the strider at the shoulder of the arm used to raise up it cover.

Near deep enough to part the the limb from the frame.

The enemy scout moves to engage, the spindly legs underneath it lending the frame a suprising amount of speed. It unholsters a small, box like configuration of a gun that begins to spool up with the same sort of quiet whine as the strider's jets. Crude lights emanate and fan out from the box before coalescing at Dust and onto points that highlight the damage already done by the Beastmaster. The light stays where it is as the Scout turns off the marker rifle. The Scout continues its as it engages its own limb structures. The reactor adds to the sounds with a curt scream and the much louder sound of accumulating heat as the Scout backpeddles, a curious charging sound adding to all the noise, a tone that builds to some sort of phantom pinnacle.

And then the Scout and Strider become awash in reflections and refractions, all blended together and jumbled with the jagged angles of rock and the light of the lava. The stealth drive installed into the Scout's frame winds down in time with the cacophony of all the conflict at play.

Spoiler: OOC: Strider Turn 2 & Scout Turn 1

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After Dust's turn but before Biff's, the Beastmaster took their second turn of the round as per the elite template.

The beastmaster moved 4 spaces then they
Shot at dust with its explosive rifle for 6 damage and knocked them back three (through a lava patch-we can discount it if its not visible to people but they should be now)
They then boosted 4 squares into the center of the zone and switched to their Siege Kit, which lets them deploy a size 1 piece of hardcover (the cube in front of them) and lets them scatter a size 1 AOE of difficult terrain that persists for the rest of the combat (bright red square within the smoke-to differentiate from the Hives AOEs which will be dark red/burgundy on r20).
While moving they were overwatched for 3 damage by Thanato's Shotgun.

Biff then took their turn. Following this, the Scout took their turn

NPC Turn 3
Scout Moved 6 Spaces.
Boosted 3, hit Dust with its marker rifle. Dust is locked on and shredded while they have this lock on
The Scout then completed its boost and boosted back 3 spaces to where its first move had left it.
It then overcharged per its limitless trait to pop its cloaking field- gaining 4 heat and the following effect: NPCs within three of the scout are invisible (50/50 chance to hit-roll a d6, evens hit, odds miss). This effect lasts until the end of the scouts turn and the scout is immobilized while its active.