Apr 06 109 PA - Absolute insanity
From Chronicles
It's a lovely sunny spring afternoon, somewhere else. It's not that bad here through really, just a light spittle to go with the overcast that seems nearly perpetual in Dregtown. The refugee camp is a busy place after last night's efforts. Everyone is working hard to try and repair and refortify after the explosion.
Tek is already here, possibly has been here all night, working on whatever his skills will be best used on. Whether it be just manual labor or intricate mechanical or electrical work, to weapon repair and maintenance.
Sabbat has been drawn into the conflict, for she heard about Bella's demise, and that upset her enough to finally buck up enough to come help Tek. Course, all she has on is her light security armor and sidearm, proving just how ill-equipped she really is after fleeing to Kingsdale. "This place looks like a ...pile." She mutters to herself.
Pavel has been up most of the night assisting the refugees with shoring up the breech in their east wall. His face is set and subdued, though, as it was a sad evening. He does his best to both design new defenses and install others prepared by other experts.
Bernard is down on the ground, near the north-eastern corner of the warehouse with some of the other defenders, nominally watching the eastern breach in the refugee camp's wall. He has his leather armor on, as well as his flintlock pistol and a sword and hammer on his belt.
At the gates Sabbat finds some guards. Who will happily direct her on how to find Tek or Pavel should she mention either name. Over at the breach much is being done for fortifications, but not in the way of resealing the wall. No better to encourage the enemy to use an existing whole than make a new one. Instead the refugees are looking into every from of discrete defense for the breach possible with the help of Tek and Pavel.
Tek is near the breach at the moment talking with Pavel over the loud ruckus going on around them he speaks loudly in Euro, << So do you think we should add a moat there and there to prevent any normal vehicles from getting through the hole? Also I was thinking of adding a fortified firing position back here as well. What are you thinking my friend? >>
Sabbat will go off to find Tek, careful to avoid work crews, she doesn't want to slow them down, but once she finds Tek, she tries her post-dramatic hero pose as she addresses him. "I heard they needed help, which gun position you want me on?" She'll ask in English.
After listening to Tek, Pavel looks back at the breech and what has come of the efforts to shore it to this point. Since Euro is a good language for him, he replies in kind, pointing as he goes. << Only if they bring in the same kinds of vehicles as last night. If they're hover vehicles, it wouldn't matter. We're not going to properly seal the breech, I think we'd be best served simply piling up as much rubble as possible down its length. Gives the people something to fight behind, and gives the mercenaries something to trip over if they try to get in. Nothing big enough for them to hide behind on the eastern face, just enough to trip them up and slow them down. >> He looks to Tek and adds, << If you can get a firing position a distance back from the hole, they'd have additional coverage, sure. Though... I'm not exactly a soldier. >> His lips purse and he shrugs. As for Sabbat, he has no opinion or good idea of what to help her with, and only encourages her to move quickly. In broken American, as that's apparently the right language.
Bernard moves towards the small gathering of Tek, Sabbat, and Pavel from where he was near the outpost, "Would any of you be willing to offer me some of your mystical energy so I can enact some of my more potent incantations? You'll feel nothing, and you will be refreshed after a good night's rest with no negative consequence, and it will only take a moment." He says to the small group.
As the professionals discuss options refugees are already working on the obvious. The heavy turret that was brought out last night is present to be set up to cover the breach. With it a camouflaged portable fortification for concealment. Outside the breach a number of tripwires and traps are being set up to add to the difficulty of exploiting the large opening.
Tek smiles to Sabbat and points to the refugee who is in charge, "That guy there would be who you need to talk with. Just let him know what you are skilled at firing and he should be able to direct you to where you will do the most good. And it is good to see you here Sabbat." With a smile he turns as Bernard approaches, "I need my mystical reserves sorry." And then he looks back to Pavel and says in Euro, << I am going to go see if he wants me to set up this firing position or not. Can you help with the fortification portion? >> Then looking back to Sabbat he adds, "I am going to talk with him now if you want to come along?"
Sabbat would have gone off on her own, but in a few moments Tek offers to lead her, so she nods her head a bit and goes through the motions of checking her sidearm to ensure it has a full charge. "Ought to just put me right in the turret so I can run it till the barrels melt down, and we're forced to pull back.."
Pavel holds up a staying hand at Tek's request for help, instead directing his gaze at Bernard. He maintains his speech in Euro. << You can take it from me, if it will help. I don't really need the energy out here. But don't take everything. >> The smith holds a hand out toward the other man to make contact easier. He shoots a gaze toward the breach, nodding quickly at the efforts of the refugees. He told them he wasn't a soldier, and hadn't thought of that.
Bernard gives Tek an incredulous look, "You don't much look like a practitioner of magic." He comments, "Just relax, and will your energy out of your body." He offers to any others willing to participate as he attempts to draw the magic energy from any willing within 20 feet of him.
Of course all these efforts depend on the breach actually being exploited. And there is the heavy expectation that another attack won't happen in broad daylight. Would make it rather visible. Such is some radio chatter discussing men in armor congregating in the southeast.
Tek gives Bernard a look like, what the blazes do you know, before moving over to the refugee who is currently in charge out here in the field, "Would you like me working on setting up the turret and fortifications to cover the breach? Or is there something else you would like me to do?"
Pavel is lucky to hear radio chatter coming from other radios, as the best he has is a little communicator. As the refugees seem to be doing their own thing with the breach anyway, he looks for a way up to the roof as he began the previous evening. He slings the hammer across his back, and draws his equally huge bow. Once up, he'll head south as fast as he can, looking for these men and trying to put them at the outer range of his shots.
Bernard begins back towards the warehouse as well, in a position near it so he can move in whichever direction he needs to in response to the possible impending attack.
Tek will be encouraged to set up the heavy turret and calibrate it as Pavel makes his way to a better vantage point. There the chatter shows some truth, about a dozen people gathering in armor to the southeast. In oddly brightly colored armor. A neon rainbow of style choices.
Tek gets busy at his work. First thing he does is use his built in laser distancer to figure out the best position that offers the best range of fire. Once he has that figured out he begins setting up the turret.
Pavel moves into position near the turret, using various bits of air conditioning equipment and all of the other junk that one would expect to find as a roof for cover. For now, he simply watches the gathering of men, gauging distances, but not firing. He attempts to use his communicator to reach Tek. << There are a dozen men here, but they're not doing anything yet. I guess they're waiting for night, so we should either try to start hitting them now while we can all see well, or wait until the fortifications are better. >> There's a long pause as he's just a smith. << I don't know which is better. >>
Bernard isn't on the radio frequency, and he doesn't speak Euro anyway. He does remain down below however as everyone begins deciding what exactly needs to be done to defend the compound from the impending attack.
Were they supposed to wait till nightfall? Maybe they didn’t get the memo as all twelve are charging the wall now. Moving fast too, faster than most humans could. Maybe it's because they're not running like most humans would. Preferring to bound along like beasts instead of men. On the plus side as they near they don’t appear to be especially well armed. No rifles on their backs or nothing.
Tek is in the middle of setting up the turret when his radio goes off. He replies to Pavel in Euro, << How many, what equipment can you see and how far from the wall are they? >> He has the robotic arm extended on his armor and the built in welding torch is fired up as well. His work only pauses for the slightest second while he responds to Pavel. After answering him he turns on his loud speaker and re-tunes in to the frequency the refugees have been using as he says in American, "Enemies are gathering near the southern turret it seems."
The smith pulls a high explosive arrow from his quiver and knocks it, drawing back the bow. << They're about one-thousand feet out, coming very fast.. but... no equipment that I can see. Just armor, I think. Not running either, they're bouncing like animals - and they're very fast. They're charging me and the south turret! Send help, maybe they will jump over the walls? >> Pavel uses this extra time that he has to take careful aim on the front runner. Or bouncer.
Bernard calls over to Tek, "I'm going invisible if they're inbound." He says, "I'll be on my way to ambush any who penetrate the defenses." He adds to the fellow, then begins his incantation.
Their charge continues and it's quite clear now the group is not coming for a friendly visit. Whoops and howls echo with their charge. But they still look like men, in heavy spiked armor, but men. They just act like crazed beasts. Not wanting any crazed beasts both turrets spray fire down on the entire group to try and deter them.
Tek says over both the loud speaker and radio, "The southern turret is under attack. It seems they could use a hand." Tek continues setting up the turret however knowing that if the attack changes direction and comes for this section of wall the turret will be a needed thing.
There's no hesitation this time, as Pavel looses the arrow that he has so painstakingly lined up on the closest charging mercenary. There is plenty of time for him to call over the radio, << Send people down here! >> He then grabs another high explosive shaft, but as he watches the attackers, suggests not-so-helpfully, << They will get over the wall, but I don't know if they'll be on the ground or not! >>
Bernard continues his casting of spells, this time bringing a deathly aura over his invisible form, charging the spell with extra energies as he makes himself truly invisible from observation.
Well someone got a good hit on one at least. Pavel's arrow finding its way in between armor plates to be particularly effective. Doesn’t seem to deter the brightly colored things at all though as they near the wall. If they have some means of passing it they will be doing so shortly. Meanwhile the refugees were a bit slow to react to this unusual tactic but are now gathering to cordon off the south corner.
Tek finishes up aligning and calibrating the newly set up turret. Passing the manning of it off to the closest refugee Tek starts to run for the south wall pulling his UTI Zapper Gun to the ready position.
With the other arrow having been knocked after the first shot, it's a quick matter for Pavel to line up on the same target and let fly. He sneaks in a quick glance to see exactly what the refugees are doing to help this corner of the compound.
Bernard is doing something, but it's hard to really tell with him being invisible and all. Without any valid targets from his vantage point however it's likely the mage is just preparing.
In rapid succession the brutes bounding towards the wall reach its bramble border. And in quick order they jump it to land atop the wall then jump again to breach. But all the while they also split into three groups of four. One turning north, one west, and the last jumping again to claw into the side of the building and climb up. 25 feet till they hit the roof. Currently this puts all of them out of the lines of fire for the turrets, up to the refugees for the moment.
Tek levels his Zapper Gun at the lead man running his way and let fire as he says into his radio and loud speaker, "BREACH!!! They are inside. All hands be aware the compound has been breached."
Quickly swapping bow for hammer, Pavel runs toward the edge of the building, where these seemingly inhuman armored climbers are making their way to the top. << They're coming up the wall for the turret, send help! >> The enemy whom he'd managed to hit earlier is by chance one of the climbers, and he focuses his attention on the man, ready to strike as soon as he can possibly reach him. << I'm not supposed to fight four against one! >>
Bernard continues to remain unseen, like most invisible mages do as the battle begins to rage inside of the compound.
The madmen are more leaping up the wall then climbing. In jumps of ten feet at a time they scale the structure to land on top and face Pavel, their first volunteer. Meanwhile below they charge at the groups of refugees that have assembled to greet them. One in the lead taking all the fire, and dying in a beastly roar. The other three though are then free to jump the groups though, vibroclaws lashing wildly.
Tek is not discouraged by his first shot that went wide and lets loose with another couple bursts from the UTI Zapper. He also is yelling, though not through the speaker or radio, "Come and get some you sons of goats!!!"
Pavel has no urge or time to goad his enemies upon the roof, finding himself outnumbered and alone, with the refugee assistance coming from behind but still distant. He simply attacks the already wounded man with his hammer in a great overhead swing, hitting him a second time if he doesn't go down, otherwise swinging at the next closest bastard. It has served him well so far.
The cacophony of noise and scent from the conflict could draw attention of all kinds. Aya is one kind, coming from the west to investigate the disturbance. Instead of her cloak, she wears conventional body armor. This makes her only identifying feature the metallic staff she uses as a travel aid.
Bernard continues moving through the camp like a virtual ghost, invisible and the like as the fighting continues to the south, the range is still too great for his magic, for the time being.
Well the refugees behind Pavel could open up on the bastards with laser fire if he wasn’t in the way.. But if he wants to take point they won't object. He seems to be doing a great job on the one. The first blow seriously damaging the armor, the second finishing it to reveal a human man. With cylinders in his head. He snarls in annoyance at the smith and all four jump him with neural maces..
It's not good when a bunch of people whip neural maces out of nowhere and beat you with them. Fortunately, Pavel's armor is nice and thick. Still, knowing that he cannot win this battle, he takes his best option - he attempts to simply avoid all of the strikes by throwing himself off of the thirty-five foot roof. It almost goes really, really well, but one mace gets in a lucky tag. He still makes his escape, in a way, landing below alive and unharmed, but sits there, clearly stunned by the effects of the weapon.
On the ground the other groups are making a mess of refugees that are clearly better suited to firing a rifle from a safe distance. The trios jump refugees and throw them into each other like rag dolls, all the while possessing uncanny agility. The smart refugees fall back to leave their comrades for better firing position and make some progress. This is what is unfolding before Tek and Aya.
Tek takes aim at the third crazy dude that he has not yet hit and fires an electrical bolt from his Zapper Gun at him.
Down below the southeastern turret, Pavel struggles to get up, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his stunning effects of the club that struck him. Rather than trying to wade into combat that he was never meant to do, he simply picks up his things and wanders to find a safe place to sit and rest up against the building.
Aya makes a rapid assessment of the situation. Some of the most disadvantaged also appear to be the nearest; namely the refugees swarmed by the second group of intruders. She begins a brisk sprint towards them. Two hundred meters are reduced to nothing in ten to fifteen seconds.
It'd probably be quite interesting if you could see Bernard, alas he's running around invisible, probably moving to help everyone with his spells and stuff, of course.
Pavel did not fall in vain. His efforts allowed the refugees to take out two of the maddened attackers before they were upon them, putting them in a position to possibly win against the other two. The ground groups aren’t doing nearly so well, things are just too nimble.
Tek lines up another shot aiming first at the one he hit first and then the second shot at the one he hit last. While doing so he yells out, "Anyone got some blinder grenades I can use?"
After taking a moment to do his best to remember the situation, Pavel gets back to his feet. His speech is slurred when he speaks into his communicator, but he manages to express to Tek that he's going to move toward the group of people on the ground to the south, as there are fortifications in the north. Or he tries to express that, because as he's stunned and not thinking straight, he says all of it in Russian. Still, the end result is that he moves slowly south along the wall, looking for the corner to turn.
Aya continues her dash towards the overwhelmed citizens due east. With only her stave and the blades in armored vambraces, ranged intervention is not an option at the moment.
Bernard continues his invisible hijinks as the fighting and chaos erupt all about the place, lurking his way about the battlefield.
The refugees on the roof take down another crazy. With Tek's help those in the east take theirs down to two. Perhaps the blinders won't be needed. Still the refugees ready them at Tek's suggestion. In front of Aya though nothing is going well. Two refugees are down already.
With a blinder grenade at the ready Tek thanks the refugee though leaves it near him ready. He levels his Zapper Gun at the same guy and fires.
Pavel just keeps walking, using the wall as something for his right shoulder to lean on as he seeks out both a clear head and the southern combat.
Aya concludes her charge with a literal leap into the fray, closing the last few meters with a jump. Her choice of landing spot is one of the attackers, but she does not linger. A step and turn follow before she grabs for the limb of another to twist and contort in an attempt to put him to the ground. None will harm anyone in armor, but it might reduce three foes to one, if just temporarily.
Bernard's invisible shenanigans continue, whatever he's up to. But he's quite busy at it while people get neuro-maced, and shot, and zapped on the southeastern part of the compound.
The refugees finally dispatch the last crazy that ascended the roof, then move to aim over the edge at the south group. There Aya is quickly turning things around knocking the crazies around like they were with the refugees. Eager for payback the troops focus fire to take one down. In the east Tek and the refugees have just one fluorescent crazy left.
Tek decides to switch to his built in weapon on his armor for his next attack on the last crazy near him.
Pavel drags himself around the corner, where he can see through blurry eyes the combat between Crazies, refugees and the woman whom he knows on a slight basis. He reaches back to draw his bow, but apparently thinks better of launching anything into that mob in his current state of mind. Once more, he simply begins to walk slowly toward the conflict, waiting for everything to wear off.
Aya focuses upon the one she did not put to the ground, now that there is one less on the ground to be concerned about. Then hooked blades extend from each armored forearm and all four are thrust at the one standing. Or at his shoulder. Even if the strikes are not lethal, less arms equal less threat.
The lack of magical support may be a bit curious by now, but Bernard's still nowhere to be seen for the moment, getting up to whatever mischief he can get into. Luckily, the Crazies are getting beaten back without him, however.
In the east Tek and his refugee team take down the last crazy with a flurry of lasers. And in the south the refugees take out the other Aya knocked down, leaving just the one for her to finish if she can.
Pavel is still reeling from the ridiculously lucky strike from magically appearing weapons. He rests.
Aya strikes again at the damaged limb armor, intent to remove or limit the threat as quickly and efficiently as possible.
And Aya does not manage to do so this time, so the refugees finish the job for her. No need for an outsider to get her hands dirty if they don’t need to be. With that the threat ends, and things immediately begin to calm. Till alarms sounds of theft from the medical bay..
Pavel does his best to move toward the source of the sound. He's got to become clear one of these minutes.
Aya also turns her focus to the warning sound after the last immediate danger is removed. This one could have been a diversion for another attack.
When everyone gets to the medical bay a diversion is indeed the most likely case. Staff were here, attentively waiting for wounded. Yet the cabinets behind them were robbed of many pricy medical supplies. Not a fortune, but definitely worth note. Especially since they won't be available to the refugees now. Clearly an invisible thief had his way here.
After finding out what happened Tek starts searching around the place for the invisible thief.
Pavel's head is clear by the time he reaches the medical bay, but he can do nothing but curse himself for what he knows he did. Assisting a thief. He calls out in three languages, << A mage named Bernard has stolen your things! >> As for himself searching, he sees no point in it, and only does what he can to help secure any other potential theft sites.
Aya is at the entrance when the comment is made, and halts there. A moment passes before she states, "There is no one hiding here." She turns on her heels to move along the paths towards the nearest viable exit from the compound, seeking any that may be attempting to go unnoticed.
Which would be immediately north to the gates, but that turns up nothing. It would appear the thief got the best of everyone today.
After Tek searches the compound he shrugs and goes back to fixing whatever might need fixing.
