Wordslingin'

Operation: Counter-Ambush the SRID had… mixed results. While the mission objectives were to incapacitate but not kill all four SRID team members, instead we found up with two dead and two escaped. Oh, and it seems like our old antagonist The Bear has picked up our trail again. Just because we didn’t have enough problems already.



[We prepare our equipment for our underwater ambush mission.]
Zac: “It’d be great to have a harpoon gun.”
Georges the GM: “One could make a harpoon gun.”
Julie: “If one’s name were Fennec.”

[More on the topic of harpoon guns.]
Fennec: “Do we really want spear guns?”
Torgath: “Do you want to be caught without anything that can fire underwater?”
Lukas: “In a rare occurrence, I agree with Torgath.”

[Harpoons away! Sorta!]
Zac: *rolls 3 on tinker*
Fennec: “I just don’t have access to good materials!”
Georges the GM: “Sure, blame it on that.”
Zac: “I will! They don’t need to know I welded the wrong thing.”

[Winters’ meeting will take place in the “Downtown” secondary cave of New Baja.]
Georges the GM: “It’s only inhabited by Bajans.”
Brock: “Morlocks.”

[Meanwhile, we conduct our secondary mission, surveilling the guy who was watching Lyta’s fight last session.]
Georges the GM: “I’m just trying to think what equipment you have to observe him with.”
Brock: “The naked eye.”

[We discover the guy is wearing a patch from a Southern MILICIA unit called The Rapiers.]
Lukas/Brock: “What was their war service like… I ask Torgath.”

[We prepare to get some answers.]
Julie: “What’s our plan?”
Georges the GM: “What is your plan?”
Brock: “Go up and talk to him.”
Julie: “Are we gonna try the diplomatic route first?”
Brock: “Isn't that what I said?”

[We knock on the door and spook the target, who flees.]
Georges the GM: “He’s two floors below you on the fire escape.”
Julie: “Well, I’m not taking the stairs.”

[Torgath has been observing the situation on a nearby rooftop and decides to intercept.]
Lukas: “Use your monofilament!”
Torgath: “My what?”
Lukas: “Third pouch from the left on your belt.”
Torgath: “I have a belt?”

[Torgath zip-lines in to intercept. But not well.]
Georges the GM: “You could break your fall.”
Brock: “With your legs.”

[Torgath is on the way to intercept!]
Georges the GM: “Roll your stealth.”
Brock: “All your screaming might give you away.”

[Meanwhile, Lyta is chasing the target and has managed to get between him and the stairs down to ground level.]
Georges the GM: “He turns and jumps off the balcony.”
Julie: “I follow. We seem to be playing to my strengths tonight.”

[Cue the epic chase music!]
Georges the GM: “When Lyta rounds the corner, he is…”
Brock: “Running away.”

[Torgath is trying to circle around the far side of the building.]
Ariel: *botches athletics roll*
Julie: “You’ve suddenly developed asthma.”

[Lukas, meanwhile, has his own agenda for what to do at this important juncture.]
Brock: “I search the room, looking for hidden… stuff.”

[Back on the ground, the target has jumped onto a motorcycle and is picking up speed. Torgath wants to knock him off balance.]
Zac: “He doesn’t seem too agile to me.”
Brock: “He’s going pretty fast – it doesn’t take much.”

[The target gets away. Alas.]
Georges the GM: “Thank you, dice. You provided excellent drama. I totally expected him to get caught.”

[Some might say we failed in our objectives. Others, however…]
Ariel: “I succeeded in not killing him, so I consider this a win.”

[Time lapse!]
Georges the GM: “So, it’s… later.”

[We meet up with Riley Markus, who tells us a little more about the target who got away.]
Lukas: “Pascal ‘The Pain’ Pigeon? It’s alliterative…”

[Turns out that The Pain is working for The Bear, a fact that goes over some people’s heads but not others.]
Riley Markus: “It’s nice to meet you in a cozier place than the Alliance. Not on the run, no one lying all the time…”
Everyone Else: *uncomfortable silence*

[We make more plans for our underwater mission.]
Riley Markus: “Watch out for the pike. That’s P-I-W-K-E.”
Zac: “Wouldn’t that be ‘puke’?”

[It’s always best to have the appropriate attire.]
Brock: “We’ll rent the black wetsuits instead of the florescent orange ones.”

[Also nice to have the right equipment.]
Zac: “So, these waterproof bags are such that we can carry basic gear?”
Georges the GM: “Even advanced gear.”

[Also important: weapons. Weapons are always important.]
Zac: “How effective are rubber bullets against people wearing ballistic armor?”
Brock: “Not at all!”

[Thankfully, we have some better weapons.]
Brock: “Is this the Paxton integrally suppressed SMG?”
Georges the GM: “Yes.”
Brock: “Ooh, we’re keeping these!”

[From the department of running jokes…]
Brock: “If I were planning an amphibious assault, what would I do?”
Ariel: “I’m training some cats for underwater attack.”

[We investigate the possible entry points for the SRID team we want to ambush.]
Brock: “So there’s a 360-degree field we need to cover.”
Zac: “This isn’t a great meeting spot she arranged, is it?”

[Of course, some entrances are better than others.]
Brock: “I would come out of the water. Which is why we have scuba suits and are coming out of the water.”

[To deal with people in the water, we come up with the idea of mining the approaches with explosives. Sadly, Fennec rolls poorly on her ‘making explosives’ roll.]
Georges the GM: “You know what’s better than making explosives? Getting ready-made explosives.”
Zac: “…I don’t usually think that way.”

[Fennec and Torgath go steal some blasting explosives from a construction site.]
Georges the GM: “You guys come away, mostly through Fennec’s competence, with 48 sticks of small-scale dynamite.”
Zac: “Hey, I have to succeed sometimes.”

[A crucial part of a counter-ambush is not being seen while the ambushing team is moving into position.]
Zac: “Where are we setting ourselves up?”
Julie: “Not underwater if we’re setting up depth charges.”

[We consider a way to hide our depth charges. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to disguise them. The bad news is…]
Georges the GM: “They’re turning this area into an artificial fish farm. They chose it because it already has a lot of natural flora.”
Julie: “Not for long!”

[After a great deal of planning, we launch the op.]
Ariel: *rolls 4 on camouflage*
Georges the GM: “You’re pretty sure you’re not well hidden.”
Ariel: “Can I try again?”
Georges the GM: “Well, if you don’t want the op to go smoothly…”

[Miranda Winters shows up at the meeting site.]
Georges the GM: “A 7 perception is enough to tell she has a concealed a weapon.”
Ariel: “A Paxton weapon?”
Georges the GM: “That would be a safe guess.”

[We get a blip on the makeshift sonar array we’ve placed among the depth charges.]
Brock: “This is where we blow up completely random divers for no reason.”

[The SRID launch their ambush. Fennec and Lyta set the depth charges to take out two in the water, which leaves another two on land – one spotted and one still hidden.]
Fennec: “Do we wanna scout the area before we jump out?”
Lyta: “Sure. Do we have a periscope?”
Fennec: “…That would have been a good thing to bring.”

[Lukas has a somewhat different method of bringing down the SRID.]
Lukas: “New Baja police! Get on the ground!” *charges SRID guy*

[Lukas charges the SRID guy.]
Georges the GM: “Dodge twice, dropping two dice each time.”
Brock: “This guy does not want to get into a dice war with me.”

[Lukas shoots the guy as he’s running and actually manages to deal a deep wound.]
Georges the GM: “I can’t believe you had a -6 penalty and still did 51 damage.”

[We discover the last SRID guy has taken up a sniping position on a rooftop. Lyta rushes in with parkour while Fennec backs her up.]
Zac: “If you’re laying down covering fire, it’s always nice to hit them while you’re at it.”

[Fennec doesn’t succeed in hitting the guy, but she does succeed in pissing him off.]
Georges the GM: “Fennec has definitely drawn this guy’s attention and ire.”

[Fennec and the guy on the rooftop trade fire.]
Zac: “I have no more dice, but I’m conveniently behind cover. I think I’ll stay here.”
Georges the GM: “They have no way to know that.”

[With Fennec ducked behind cover, the sniper looks for other targets.]
Georges the GM: “Lukas has attracted his attention.”
Zac: “He’s wearing xp-sensitive goggles.”

[Lukas has deep-wounded the guy he was charging. The two in the water are either dead or injured. Only one left.]
Georges the GM: “It’s quite simple at this point.”
Julie: “It’s all down to me and my crappy rolls.”

[The guy on the rooftop escapes mere seconds before Lyta arrives. Meanwhile, the other guy isn’t doing too well either.]
Brock: *botches first aid roll on injured SRID guy*
Georges the GM: “He’s dead.”
Brock: “…He succumbed to his wounds.”
Zac: “Where do the pike gather?”



Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game