The buzzers finally left him to the bend of the river. The sigh of relief was cut short seconds later when Ric shot his warning over the tacnet. Breathing another sigh, this time of frustration. Saito powered down the beacon and placed it in his backpack. Alright boys. I'll keep on their six at a distance. Shadow them. You guys stay safe out there. Make sure they don't breach our tacnet Ric. Or we'll all be made. Saito made his way back towards the bridge to get back up the gorge. Figuring there would be a sensor sweep. Saito took that into consideration as he made his way back.
[Ric as leader of a Progressive (3) Athletics Group test, spending 3 Momentum. Evading Morats: Athletics TN12 FOC0: 5#1d20 7 4 11 16 5 OH YEAH! I was extremely tense as I clicked for that to roll. Outcome: +1 Difficulty, 4 Successes. -3 Momentum So that's D2 with a total of 6 Successes (1 from Eddy and 1 from Warebot), so 4 Momentum. I spend 3 Momentum to complete the test. I want to use the last Momentum generated to create an obstacle and add +1D to any tests the Morats make to determine where we're going (ie. I want it harder for them to pursue us over the long term). But I'll hold of doing that until we hear back from Saito: if he gets seen we may need to engage the Morats after all. Edit: holding off resolving the test until everyone has an opportunity to post.] Ric leads the team into the jungle, after about 10 minutes and he's opened well outside sensor range of their last known position he slows their rush; picking a path that complicates pursuit as much as it allows them to open away from the area quickly.
Keeping to the shadows.... Well the jungle. Saito kept himself some distance from the the group's former position but still close enough to be nearby to pick up the shadow when the morats come back. A hundred meters or so. Saito settles himself down and waits.Making sure he's disturbed as little as he can. Stealth D1 test. TN 14. Roll is 12, 2. With TO camo, that makes 4 successes.
Doin an Assitance Roll with the Pilot Skill to help navigate through the jungle Target is 4 with 1 Foc and the Ace Skill Support Pilot: 2d20 24 [2d20=5, 19] I am rerolling the 19 Support Pilot reroll: 1d20 12 [1d20=12] Makes to successes to help going through the greens.
The Morats had left & Kenn-Taal was thankful for that. Now he had to make it back to the group or else he'd be claimed by the emerald hell that is Paradiso. Kenn-Taal: "Igor..lead..nevermind carry me." He uttered while catching his breath. "I'm not going to stumble about in this place sick." He thought to himself. "What good is a beast of burden if you don't use it to relieve yourself of tasking chores. Like walking." Also there was Igor's wellness to account for. He wasn't under the weather not to mention more alert to his surroundings. With him cradling Kenn, the Tohaa could shut his eyes and try to cope with the Sweats that never seemed to end. The less stress he put on himself the better his condition would get or so the Tohaa thought. With the command given Igor picked up his master and began to trek through the jungle keeping away from open areas just in case the Morats came back. At least he could easily keep up with the humans that were nearby. After short trek Igor finds a place near the group to place the sick Tohaa down. Kenn managed to get some rest but Sweat symptoms along with the movement of being carried by Igor. The Alien was wondering how much further would they have to go before the mission was done? He didn't want to face anymore dangers regardless of his health condition. The sooner he left Paradiso the better. As long as it wasn't in a coffin.
[Progressive Test to evade Morats D1, 3 Momentum Results so far, +1 Difficulty and 7 Successes (4 from Ric, 1 from each of Eddy, Warebot and Konrad). So we generate 5 Momentum. I spend 3 Momentum to complete the test. I spend 1 Momentum to create an obstacle and add +1D to any tests the Morats make to determine where we're going (ie. I want it harder for them to pursue us over the long term). I bank 1 Momentum. Ric is now on 3 Momentum.]
Momentum: Ric: 3 Eddie: 2 Igor: 2 Saito: 2 Konrad: 2 Pappy: 2 Atl: 2 Waremart: 2 Kenn: 1 Xo: 0 Heat: 11 ++++ On the Run Ten minutes left enough time for Ric to devise a retreat plan. A quick pep talk from Eddie boosted his confidence and Konrad imputed some parameters into Waremart that would let it navigate through the jungle easier and take the easiest course. On top of that Ric instructed Waremart to take point and bulldoze through any obstacles.The mulebot responded with a gleeful emoji and trucked off into the jungle. Everyone followed and following an easy path set up by Waremart they put some ground between them and the Morats. Speaking of the Morats the sound of their Buzzers indicated they showed back up to the teams previous position. [The team has put 270 meters between them and the Morat platoon. Their trail has been obscured as well.] Stalking Morats Saito picked out a perch on a high tree to watch the incoming Buzzers. They skirted along the gorge lip and did a visual and probably sensor sweep of the area before they decided to land. They settled on a barren spot on the edge of the gorge and disembarked troops there and did so in shifts. One dropped off while the other stood overwatch before they switched spots. This was a heavy set platoon. Not an uncommon sight for Morats though who ran much more hard hitting and intermixed platoons then human forces did. He counted twenty four Morats in total. No remote support. They were doing this old school. The platoon fanned out and began a slow march through the jungle. @Daemon of Razgriz Give me an Education D2 to properly identify the composition of the Morat platoon. Partial success will still get you info. The Buzzers themselves began to circle and try and spot the team through the thick canopy. Survival D3 test to track team (TN10, FOC2, spending 1 heat for extra d20): 8, 14, 19 Spending 1 Heat to activate No One Hides, They Only Run special ability: Reroll up to 2d20s on Observation or Survival tests. Rerolling the 14 and 19: 5, 11 2 successes. Test fails. Buzzer Observation was D3 before Ric adding an obstacle so it's D4 now. I'm not even going to roll that. @inane.imp Give an Observation D3.
[Spending 2 Momentum, Observation Test D3 (TN13 FOC0): 4#1d20 16 17 8 15 Re-roll 5 I input the code wrong on Orokos and told it to roll 4#2d20 rather than 4#1d20, because of momentary stupid. I've taken the first 5 rolls as the 4 original dice and 1 re-roll (due Sharp Senses). Which with Super Awareness is just barely a success. Outcome: 3 Success, -2 Momentum]
Clearing the immediate vicinity of their previous position, the team pauses for a moment as Ric works out their next move. Once he's figured out their new route, he steps forward; about to signal to the others to get moving again. He freezes. He makes out 8 human figures in cover in the jungle around them. Two fireteams, set up in an L shaped ambush. If they wanted the team dead, Ric expected to have already taken fire. So, the team didn't seem to be this ambushes target. Seeing they're human, Gabo initiates an electronic handshake using their StarCo credentials. Simultaneously, Ric lowers the muzzle of his Fulgor and raises his left hand, waving sheepishly to the ambushers. Since they hadn't been shot already, it probably paid to be polite. @All. Guys we've got human company. Stay chill. The locations of the unidentified humans get pushed to the tacnet.
Hiding up in his tree, Saito watched the Morat's landing with a cold stare. It's business time and the former (not) ninja was going to make sure he did his job. Counting the morat's numbers, he passed it on over the tacnet to the team. It was at this point that Saito was mentally kicking himself for forgetting his binoculars. Making do however he could. He tried to use his HUD to magnify the view. But to a lesser degree than he would of wanted. D2 Education roll. TN 10. foc 1. Roll is 3, 15. Using disciplined student. (As long as you roll 1 success. You can roll an extra D20 to add to the result.) Roll is 14. Bugger. Morats are coming toward you somewhat in a wide, slow scouting formation. These guys want to find you. Saito starts his descent once the enemy begins their scouring to find his teammates. Following them at a roughly 50 degrees to their back left. Keeping the Morats between him and the gorge. Making sure to avoid any native wildlife where possible and not to make much, preferably any noise as he shadows his prey.
Eddie babysat Kenn... well more Igor as the Chaksa carried the sick Tohaa around. "Wish I got that kind of service around here." Eddie said offhandedly. When Ric called out contact, but not a threat, Eddie did his best to relax. However, the nanopular was feeling awful heavy in his palm once again. @All Hopefully they aren't dicking us around. Not very polite of them to play with their prey. Eddie looked over to one of the highlighted targets in the brush near him and tipped his stetson at them. He was following Ric's lead of being polite. Doubtful it would save them from being shot but it was better then nothing. On The Run Ric doesn't get a electronic handshake back but a man in front of him rose up from the ground covered in a digicloak and a molotok in his hands. "Hello to you as well, who ever you are. You got some good eyes on you, lad." The man said to Ric in a very apparent Caledonian accent. He signals to the others to come out. They do so with weapons present and ready for use. "So which one of you was the dobber that discharged his rifle earlier? You're lucky it was just me and my boys that got curious first." [After Konrad fired his rifle at the Scorpionettes I rolled on my random encounters table to see who might of heard it.] "Then the apes." Another one says. "I doubt it... too quick even for those paranoid assholes. Gotta be a patrol."
Ric double taps a tooth with his tounge, activating small speakers mounted in his helmet. The volume low, to carry clearly only a few tens of feet in the thick jungle terrain. "Hola amigos. Good to see some friendly faces." He ignores the remark about the gunfire: they'd fraked up, but he'd be damned if he admitted that. He continues immediately to the meat of the problem. "Our scout has eyes on the monkeys. They rolling heavy: full platoon with mixed Fireteams. 3 Suryat/Vaguard teams, full Yaogat clearance team and command element. Just under 10mins behind us. Way I see it, two options. Either we boogey now, fast.. Or we grak 'em: hasty ambush focus on taking out the Yaogats, then break contact before those flyers can get a bead on us. Thoughts hermano?" Gabo messages Saito while Ric is talking. Gabo@Saito: Friendly contact with Ariadnan patrol. Maintain shadow. Wait.
"Our orders are not to engage unless engaged or threatened... but we have a lot of wiggle room. We're LRRP not a raid team." The team lead said to Ric. "So my thoughts are you stick with us, lad. The apes have never bagged a Scots Guard LRRP and I'll be damned if we're the first." "The apes know this place well but we know it better. Who do you think keeps tabs on their patrols for Paradiso Coordinated Command out here?" The furthest most Scots Guard whispered.
"Si. We'd much prefer to avoid contact: we've got a similar profile. Lead on." Ric doesn't introduce himself, he'd worked with Ariadnans before but it was easy to forget that they didn't have access to the tactical patinas he was used to. @All. Scots Guard patrol are going to lead us out of here. Get ready to move out. Quietly. The trick would be breaking away from the Scots without tipping their hand about what they were really up to.
Konrad not trying to look guilty when those Scotsguard mention his overreaction comes over the tacnet: Yes, lets follow this nice people away from that aliens and look for a chance to slip away.
Kenn-Taal: "What is going on? Are we safe? Who are they? Ohhh..." It seemed that talking quickly was not as effortless as before. While Kenn was feeling somewhat better from being carried about he wasn't out of the woods yet or in this case the jungle. Oh how he dreamed of leaving this deathtrap. What was he thinking coming here in the first place regardless of his financial situation. Kenn-Taal: "This is the last time I set foot on this planet." He thought to himself. "Or that I'll take a request from Haqqislam." Seriously, did those desert people even care about what was happening to him or the group? Of course not. If they did they wouldn't have asked someone to send them here in the first place!! The Tohaa was getting the more peeved at his employers the more he was down with the Sweats. It didn't help matters much that certain aspects of Haqqislam reminded him of his own species' society which in turn rubbed Kenn the wrong way. Quest of knowledge, bio-engineering, "the bestest doctors ever", among other things. If he wanted that he'd return to the Tohaa. Not that he could now or anymore that is. Frankly he was happy that he'd never have to deal with those spiky haired... Wait, that tree..plant..thing was different the last time he checked. Where they moving? Why wasn't his previous questions answered? What was going on?! Kenn-Taal's mental rambling while being carried seemed to have distracted him from the recent on-goings of the group.
Momentum: Ric: 3 Eddie: 2 Igor: 2 Saito: 2 Konrad: 2 Pappy: 2 Atl: 2 Waremart: 2 Kenn: 1 Xo: 0 Heat: 11 Following the Nice Men in Camo Local Time: 1800 The team moved out with the Scots Guard element for a good four hours moving deeper into the jungle and along the mountain range. The Scots Guard were right they knew this place like the back of their hand as in those 4 hours they covered twenty kilometers in super thick jungle. The nav suites show the Scouts Guard team led you west paralleling the front line. That meant they were close to the next breadcrumb. So what Ric thought would take days their impromptu guides covered in hours. Funny how that worked out... Saito also smartly disengaged from the Morats. They picked up on the teams old path but the speed at which the Scots Guards moved meant the Morats were at least eight hours behind them... that's if they picked up on their new trail with the Scots Guard. They were more of a nuisance then an actual threat. He joined back up with the team when they stopped for a break. [Team is back together.] [Being with the Scots Guard LRRP the team has shaken free of the Morats and any chance of them picking up on your trail now are very low.] [Also survival book keeping: The team once again spent 2 bottles of water and 1 ration each (so 10 waters and 5 rations). Survival D1 to replenish water.] The Scots Guards were taking it easy. Easy enough that it looked like they were going to camp out here. Their lead, or as everyone came to know him as Captain Lucas Abernethy, looked over at them with a hefty datapad in his hands. "I suggest you all put yourselves down for the night. You or us are not going to be covering much ground when it gets pitch black down here under the canopy." He brings the datapad up and starts tapping at it. "You said you were StarCo, right? What bring you over this side of the front?" Elsewhere the other Scots Guards were going about their camp set up routine. Three on watch and three getting set up. Some of it the usual but one of the soldiers brought out a patch of dried twigs from a pouch and lit them on fire creating a light white smoke and waved it over his prospective sleeping spot. Another knelt down and grasped a charm around his neck and said a prayer in Caledonian before making up his spot. [Education D1 or Lifestyle D2 for anyone that wants to know what's going on there.]
Saito having trailed the Morats quite extensively, got the call over the tacnet to disengage and rendezvous with the team. It took a bit, but he managed to catch up to the group without too much delay. Having stopped for a bit and looking like this would be camp for the night. Saito, still in his armour, kept one eye on his new 'friends' and the other on the task of setting up his sleeping quarters for the night. Education D1 test. TN 10 Foc 1. Roll is 2, 14. 1 success. Disciplined student. 1 D20 extra. Roll is 1. Three successes. Noticing the superstitious practice of the Scots guard, Saito relays the tradition through the tacnet to his friendlies. Once he set up his space. Saito got up and declared that he was going to scout the perimeter and try to find a fresh water source to refill the team's supply. Noticing the captain motion for a Caladonian to join him. Saito commented. "It's not that i don't trust your protection captain. I just like to know what i'm surrounded by at all times." With that, Saito spies the least difficult part of the vegetation to enter in, and proceeds to begin his task. "What's your name again, buddy?" He says to the accompanying Scots guard. Perception test. TN 10. Roll is 4, 19. One success. Saito also wants to really map out the surrounding terrain. Quite well. Incase we need to hide or slip away. He really wants to know the best pathing, etc. What test do you want me to do for it? I'll edit and finish post once i know.
