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[Xander Morhaime]

The doctor went to work, having been volunteered this time to fix the generator. The interior of the maintenance section was quite a mess - all the support pillars bore deep claw marks, and in places the marks had gone deep enough to actually damage vital systems. The four other hazmat suits were also there, still on their owners, or what was left of them, dead in the pattern seen recurring throughout the colony.

It took an hour to identify all the damaged components and retrieve replacements and necessary tools from the storage compartment in the control room - it would have gone quicker were one person not left to stand guard and the other sleeping blissfully. It took a further two hours to install the replacements. Still, though the task was complicated and outside the actual expertise of the person performing it, it was eventually successful. The monitors finally all showed systems in the green. All it took was the flick of a switch...

*click*

For a moment you thought the tower was going to shake itself to bits from the intense vibrations set off by the reactors overhead starting up. The whole room seemed to be rumbling, which precluded any sleep for the time being. After a few seconds the rumbling subsided, though a powerful vibration was still clearly felt through the structure of the tower, before finally the generators kicked off properly, settling into a nice, even humm that quickly settled into the background noise.

For a moment, you felt a sharp pain in your heads, as if brought about by a high-pitched scream, though you couldn't hear anything beyond the generators at work. Whatever it was, it left a persistant ringing in your ear before fading after a few seconds. Then all was calm again.

In the control room, in the maintenance areas beyond and the stairwells behind, lights began to flicker back to life, shedding their bright white light on the scene, the large patches of blood on the floor grating and the claw marks covering the place. But hey, at least you could finally see where you were. Even the door panels flickered back to life, immediately displaying their error messages as the doors next to them were little more than twisted chunks of metal now.

Chapter 2: Lights are on, but nobody's home.
Time since arrival: 7 hours

[Silhar]

When everything calmed down a bit, Doc left the main control room, staggering and coughing. He walked closer to the other two folks, removing the anti-radiation suit at the time. It fell to the ground with a soft and wet flapping sound.

"My ears... ! Blast, it is the last time I am fooling with this kind of stuff. Thank Merciful Lord for that >>Complete Idiot's Guide to Maintaining a Generator<< I picked years ago...", he whispered loudly to himself, crossing the door blown up, but the sound drowned it all. A shotgun was clutched in his right hand, a rosary on weapon's barrel chiming silently.

The old man seemed very tired and slightly stunned by roaring machinery. He looked towards Hagezi, then moved his tired, bloodshot eyes towards Shioban, smiling faintly.

"Task done, lights were hit, let the show begin... I must admit, I am quite suprised that you actually could sleep with that poor guy around, miss...", he stated, pointing at the technician's broken body in the corner somewhere near them.
"There were more of these poor souls torn apart inside the generator chamber. We must remain as cautious as we may... Eh. You know, walls and pillars also carried deep marks of claws. Seems like there was something bigger and meaner than those little freaks we were spotting occasionally... What is more, even those bigger ones are able to move freely around ventilation systems.", uttered Vince. After pondering for a while, he loaded his favourite weapon with solid slugs instead of regular shotgun shells. There was a pleasant click or a few.
"I would be happy if I could catch some breath, but don't let my weak flesh stop us."

[Gargulec]

'How could have I slept next to this poor fellow, you ask, Doc? You've never been holding an outpost that was constantly under a barrage so heavy that you simply could not bury you squad members when they got unlucky, I suppose ' replied Shioban yawning.

'Thanks for turning the lights on, by the way. Now, we will be able to see what killed us, at least. Anyway, for now, all that I want is a ration bar... I take that you don't have one, don't you?

[Silhar]

"Your outpost was under heavy artillery fire, but you still had time to have some sleep... I suppose you've lost it, don't ya ?", grinned Doc. "Food. Ask him, for I have none.", he added, nodding at the technician. "I am pretty sure that the guy had some lunchbox around here before he became one himself. Must be enough before we get to find any food storage..."

He yawned and sat by the wall. He was not that tired to fall over yet, only around eight hours have passed since he left his cryo-pod.

[Gargulec]

Shioban shared the smile. 'I was exaggerating a bit... a lot, actually. Solider tales... Anyway, there was some outpost, some sleeping with the dead and some artillery fire, that's for sure. Anyway, you just grow accustomed to rotting corpses over a time...

'Lunchbox, you say? Let me see.

[Malek Deneith]

- Sorry, only one ration on me, and not even sure if it's stil eadible. - Hagazi replied - Shame nobody thought of taking the MREs from the broken shuttle - hopefully we'll find some other food here. As for taking a bit of rest - admittably it might be a good idea, though if none of you will object I myself wouldn't mind backtracking to security and finding an armory of some sort - that way we'll at least have additional resources at hand should one of that things find us while we rest.

[Xander Morhaime]

As you stood and discussed the matter of finding food, another sound could be heard, just barely, over the constant humm of the generators. A faint clicking of something hard on metal, and quite a lot of these sounds, coming from the stairwells in the entrance area. All the clicking finally culminated in a loud clang as something resembling a big dog leapt from a stairwell and landed on the floor. It stood on four legs, keeping low to the ground, with a long, sinuous tail lashing about. The long head mounted on a short neck whipped suddenly in direction of the door, as three more of the creatures arrived down the stairs, and more could still be heard coming. They seemed tense, perhaps even a bit erratic in their movements as they milled around, turning in your direction...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Presently, Malek has initiative, having had (I assume) enough time to turn to the noise and see what was going on, and react accordingly. Further initiative will be determined afterwards.

This, such as it is, is the current engagement map. Hopefully the important bits are clear enough... where you are and where baddies are. For game purposes, one field = 1.5 metres.

Code: [Select]

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#..##>a..a>##..#
#..#..a...a.#..#
#..............#
#..#........#..#
#..............#
#######//#######
#..............#
#.......M......#
#..............#
#..............#
#....S.........#
#..G..........%#
#######//#######
#..............#
#....#....#....#
For reference, monitors are on < this wall.

[Malek Deneith]

- Hostiles! - A quick shout came from Hagazi followed shortly by sound of single round beeing fired from his rifle. The bullet hit the creature in the shoulder with enough force to make it fall to the ground, but it wasn't enough to kill it and the... thing... quickly started to get up. Hagazi wisely moved back from the door.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

14 on to-hit, 6 for damage, hyuk. Moving four squares down.

[Xander Morhaime]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Current initiative order:
1. Malek (25)
2. Gargulec (22) (-8 temp for next round)
3. Silhar (19)
4. Aliens (9)

You have Silhar to thank for his tactics skill and such high initiative results. As M's already taken his turn, it's now G's turn. Also, as I cannot use colour in code tags... I think I'll switch to numbers for representing enemies, if only to more easily keep track of which was which. M hit #3. S, if you'd be so kind to somehow work the use of tactics into your post... :P

Code: [Select]

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#..##>1..2>##..#
#..#..3...4.#..#
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#..#........#..#
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#..G....M.....%#
#######//#######
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[Gargulec]

'Oh, really!?' shouted Shioban, pulling up her rifle and quickly shooting twice at the closest hostile head.

[Xander Morhaime]

The first shot hit the creature, causing it to rear up on its hind legs, before a secound struck it full-on in the chest and sent it sprawling to the ground with a shriek so high-pitched it was only barely within your hearing range and made your ears ring painfully afterwards.

It did not try to get back up.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

G is using a custom type of attack, allowing for a second shot with greater accuracy, but considerably reducing initiative the following turn.

Code: [Select]

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#..##>1..2>##..#
#..#..3...%.#..#
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#..#........#..#
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[Silhar]

"Squad, stick together, fall back to the doorway and keep firing for God's sake ! Go for heads !", screamed the Doc standing up to the crouch, slowly leaning backwards and aiming his shotgun at a random beast in his line of sight. There was a silent beep of a security system reading the old man's fingerprint, a loud crack and a silent chime of rosary on a shotgun's barrel.

"Ooh, beware, those flumps are hard to bite...", the professor drawled, pulling the trigger and then pumping forcefully as beasts were closing in. An empty shell hit the ground with a silent toll. The first, the second, even more...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Moving backwards and firing, possibly aiming, possibly to the head. Remember that Doc's weapon is loaded with solid slugs instead of regular shells. My mistake.

So those are my rolls for to-hit (attacking #2) :

5 (2k6 roll) + 3 (skill) + 1(aiming) -1(range, since I was waiting for that sunnovabitch to come in closer), for a total of 8.

If I hit, then it is 5 + 5 + 5 + 4 (4d6) = 19 damage. Dig it, sucker.

Moving one square south if I may.

Initiative -2 due to recoil.

[Xander Morhaime]

The alien was hit by the slug, hard enough in fact to make it slam against the wall behind it. Despite the large wound, however, it got back to its feet, as did the one wounded by Hagazi. As the two wounded aliens began creeping forward, the one that remained unscathed raised its head and shrieked. Or at least it opened its mouth - the sound it made was such a high frequency you could barely hear it, and it physically made your ears hurt, leaving a ringing in your ears. What's more, a few more such shrieks echoed up from up the stairwells. The alien leapt forward, clearing the entrance area and already bracing for another leap by the door, while behind it loud clanging noises signalled the arrival of more of the creatures.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Current initiative:
1. Malek (25)
2. Silhar (19/17 temp)
3. Gargulec (22/14 temp)
4. Aliens (9)

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#..#..3..2..#..#
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#..G.S..M.....%#
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[Malek Deneith]

- To hell with this... - Hagazi muttered seeing more creatures coming in and moved his hand to grenade launcher trigger, taking a good aim...

- Frag out! - a small package of death flew out towards one of the wounded aliens and hit it squarely causing thundering explosion. When dust started to settle two creatures were no more - the rest remained, albeith thrown to ground and stunned.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

2 and 3 be dead

[Xander Morhaime]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Current Map:

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#..#..%..%..#..#
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#..G.S..M.....%#
#######//#######
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