The Return of Malfeas IC

[sun_tzu]

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Also, since they were Guarding - a 3-tick action - I believe the current order of action is Smith, then Aria, then Watson, then Berger.

[horus42]

The Deathknight screams in frustration as Berger ducks out of the way of his blade, his stroke missing her entirely.

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You're right. For some reason I forgot to take that into account.

[Maugan Ra]

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Better than that, actually. Guard lasts for three ticks, but it can be aborted at any time to allow me to act when I choose. Thus, as the Deathknight emerges once more, Smith, Aria and Watson all get to attack.

Even as the enemy admiral screams in frustrated rage, the Sidereals are upon him. With bullet and staff and energy-wreathed fist, they lay into their foe and seek to tear him limb from limb.

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Watson is going to repeat his earlier trick. 6m and a willpower to activate Metal Storm for six attacks, each of which will have 2m of the Fateful excellency spent on them to make sure that they only need 5's to hit.

Once again, base damage is 14A/6, with hits also stripping away motes or willpower. Or if he has neither left, Shaping him instantly dead.

Attack One: (17d10)[9][3][10][4][8][1][5][5][6][9][3][1][7][6][5][7][9](98)
Attack Two: (17d10)[2][5][10][9][2][6][8][10][7][3][2][4][4][10][3][7][9](101)
Attack Three: (17d10)[7][5][10][1][9][6][10][1][6][6][6][10][3][5][2][7][5](99)
Attack Four: (17d10)[10][9][10][7][8][7][10][10][10][4][9][2][10][8][9][4][7](134)
Attack Five: (17d10)[9][2][2][9][3][8][5][9][7][7][4][8][3][8][7][2][7](100)
Attack Six: (17d10)[4][9][3][4][9][3][7][8][5][6][5][3][10][2][1][2][4](85)

Smith will then use Steel and Smoke Mandala to shoot this guy five times with his Six-Storm Heart-Spitter. Throw 3m of the Fateful Martial arts excellency (Righteous Devil style allows guns to be used as form weapons) at each so that they only need 4's to hit.
Oh, and because of Azure Abacus Meditation, these shots cannot be dodged. They can only be parried if the Deathknight has a way to block insubstantial attacks. And finally, he needs to spend a willpower point on each attack (don't forget that Watson is punching away his willpower and motes!) to do anything but scream dramatically.

Attack One: (13d10)[9][5][1][3][3][7][10][7][5][2][4][2][4](62)
Attack Two: (13d10)[1][6][3][4][9][1][6][6][8][10][2][2][2](60)
Attack Three: (13d10)[1][3][3][3][6][2][7][6][5][9][3][4][6](58)
Attack Four: (13d10)[8][6][9][10][9][10][5][1][3][4][1][8][9](83)
Attack Five: (13d10)[9][8][10][10][9][1][3][2][3][9][3][9][5](81)

Final Note: Remember, sans charms, his DV is decreasing by one against each successive attack from each character.

[horus42]

When the Sidereals finish their assault, Tal Hajus lies dead and broken, blue blood splattered over the floor. It would seem as though he shouldn't have been so arrogant as to take you on alone. His hubris cost him his life, and because he was a better tactician than he was a close-range combatant, it may well have cost the Black Fleet the battle.

At the same moment, Colonel Berger's comm link comes to life, Lt. Stayer on the other end. "Colonel, I've gathered as many torpedoes as I can, it might be a good idea to get back on board the Mercury again. Soon!" There's a trace of panic and extreme urgency in her voice.

[sun_tzu]

When the Sidereals finish their assault, Tal Hajus lies dead and broken, blue blood splattered over the floor. It would seem as though he shouldn't have been so arrogant as to take you on alone. His hubris cost him his life, and because he was a better tactician than he was a close-range combatant, it may well have cost the Black Fleet the battle.

At the same moment, Colonel Berger's comm link comes to life, Lt. Stayer on the other end. "Colonel, I've gathered as many torpedoes as I can, it might be a good idea to get back on board the Mercury again. Soon!" There's a trace of panic and extreme urgency in her voice.

"Good job," Berger said, even as her omnitool's holographic display activated.
"Watson, get us out of here in...just a few seconds...Since we've come here, my omnitool's been monitoring data exchange. Standard input/output protocols and the like. After all, this is the command bridge," she said, nodding at the ship's control console while typing furiously, "and the Admiral here had been in the middle of controlling the dreadnought when we barged in here. I figured he had to still be logged in."
She glanced at the viewing bay, where several megaton yields' worth of torpedoes would be arriving soon. "So, I'm hacking into the control system, ordering the thrusters to go past all safety limits and push this ship at maximum speed...right into this ship," she pointed at another destroyer, "at exactly the right angle to break the entire fleet's formation." In addition to, you know, costing them two destroyers. "And since the command bridge is about to get torpedoed...the remaining crew won't have a way to reverse the...order," she said as she finished typing.

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Int+Lore to hack the system.
6 motes to buy 3 successes, her equipment adds [Essence] dice, and God-Mind Algorithms means that all bonus dice from stunts and equipment are auto-successes. Which means, then, that she gets 7 auto-successes, plus auto-successes from the Stunt (so, how good a Stunt is it...? ^^' ).
(6d10)[1][10][4][3][5][6](29)

Also: Wits+War to determine the optimal way of messing up the enemy fleet in the process, breaking their formation with this ramming maneuver and leaving them open to our own fleet's fire. One WP to buy 1 automatic success, 6 motes to buy extra dice, and hopefully a Stunt here, too. XD
(12d10)[1][7][7][3][8][6][10][6][5][7][7][5](72)

[horus42]

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Take two dice for the stunts.
Hacking: (2d10)[2][10](12)
Tactics: (2d10)[5][6](11)

While she hacks the command console, so that none of the Dreadnought's crew could reverse course, Berger also finds something interesting. A message to Tal Hajus, from the Death Avatar known as First and Forsaken Lion. It's a lengthy, encrypted file, but she downloads it, to be deciphered later.

In the meantime, her orders go through, putting the ships in position for maximum damage.

[sun_tzu]

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Take two dice for the stunts.
Hacking: [roll0]
Tactics: [roll1]

While she hacks the command console, so that none of the Dreadnought's crew could reverse course, Berger also finds something interesting. A message to Tal Hajus, from the Death Avatar known as First and Forsaken Lion. It's a lengthy, encrypted file, but she downloads it, to be deciphered later.

In the meantime, her orders go through, putting the ships in position for maximum damage.

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No need to roll the Stunt dice for the hacking, because God-Mind Algorithm.
...Darn. I gotta fit a 3-die Stunt in there somewhere...

Berger took notice of the file...and the shifting ship movement. "All right, Watson. Ready when you are." She glanced at the body of Extinguisher of Cosmos. "Take him with us if you can, never mind if you can't," she added quickly.

[horus42]

Lt. Stayer's voice comes over the comm again. "I'm in position now! The crew brought a tub of water onto the bridge, so you can just teleport back over. But do it quickly, the torpedoes are closing in!"

[sun_tzu]

Lt. Stayer's voice comes over the comm again. "I'm in position now! The crew brought a tub of water onto the bridge, so you can just teleport back over. But do it quickly, the torpedoes are closing in!"

Berger grinned ever-so-slightly. "You heard the lady, Watson. I think we're done here."

[horus42]

(I believe you mean "heard the lady" )

[sun_tzu]

(I believe you mean "heard the lady" )

((Corrected. Damn my mysoginistic assumptions!))

[Maugan Ra]

"Seems like it." Watson says, looking down at the corpse of the enemy commander. He looks back around at the view screen, which is likely still transmitting across the different fleets. We now return you to your regularly scheduled glorious victory." he says, smiling, and terminates the transmission with a wave. Then he grabs the others by the hands, and once more, throws them out of the universe and back across onto the Mercury.

"It's funny. No one ever seems to expect a Sidereal leaping out of your bathtub to punch you in the face." he says in a whimsical fashion as he takes the frigate's controls once again.

[horus42]

Lt. Stayer moves aside, allowing Watson to take the controls again. And just as he pulls up, the torpedoes collide with the bridge of the enemy Dreadnought.

The bridge explodes, ending any chance of the orders Berger programmed being overturned. The ship moves along its plotted course, crashing into another, causing severe damage to both ships, as well as causing several other, smaller vessels to collide with asteroids as they attempt to escape the wreckage of the two massive ships.

The Black Fleet is thrown into disarray, and the combined Autocthonian and Imperial fleets make a counter attack, bolts of deadly plasma and missiles soaring through the space between the ships, blasting the Soulsteel vessels to pieces.

[sun_tzu]

Colonel Berger observed the battlefield. They just saw their FLAGSHIP - with their commander on board - ramming into another of their dreadnoughts. Right now, at this instant, every single enemy here knows in his heart that the battle is lost.
So might as well capitalize on that.
Activating communication back, she broadcast a message toward the entire Black Fleet, her resplendent golden anima flickering around her: "Soldiers of the Black Fleet! Your leader, Extinguisher of Cosmos, has fallen! Your command structure is falling apart! Your capital ships are being erased one after the other! Your formation is breaking like glass under a hammer!
There is no force in this galaxy that can save you now. But we are not a merciless lot. Your only chance now is surrender, or retreat...and even retreat is dangerous.
Do not make the same mistake as Extinguisher of Cosmos. You are a beaten army. Lay down your arms."

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Charisma+Presence. Spending motes to buy 4 extra successes. Hope the Stunt helps.
(10d10)[10][1][4][8][5][2][10][3][7][4](54)

[Maugan Ra]

"I doubt it will work, somehow. The Black Fleets have something of a reputation for being... well, psychotic death-obsessed lunatics." Watson says, as he watches the ongoing destruction.

[sun_tzu]

"I doubt it will work, somehow. The Black Fleets have something of a reputation for being... well, psychotic death-obsessed lunatics." Watson says, as he watches the ongoing destruction.

"If it makes even one in twenty among them hesitate, that's still a worthwhile tactical advantage," Berger pointed out. "And any of them who surrender would be a precious source of information. We just don't know enough about the Terminus."

[horus42]

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Go ahead and take one die for the stunt.
(1d10)[6](6)

The warriors of the Black Fleet take no notice of Berger's message. It would seem that Watson was correct, and none of them are concerned with their own lives... if they even have lives at all.

The battle continues, more ships on either side being destroyed. The longer things go on, however, the more it seems like the Black Fleet is going to be defeated.

[sun_tzu]

It's no good. We're winning, but we're suffering heavy losses in the process.
Berger observed the numerous ships flying about and shooting at each other with a myriad of devastating weapons. Movements. Flight patterns. Tactics. Essence floating around her, she analyzed the immensely complex situation, trying to find the one point of optimal effect.
"There," she pointed at one of the remaining enemy capital ships. "This dreadnought is exchanging fire with one of our dreadnoughts. It's an equal exchange so far." So let's unbalance it. "Watson, I want to fly according to this specific path," she highlighted points on the hologram. "Heading at full speed toward the dreadnought's command bridge. Let its commander think we're ramming him. Force him to pull down by ten-fifteen degrees. If he doesn't, pull up at the last half-second - playing chicken with destroyers isn't something we can half-ass," she grinned slightly. "If it works, if he blinks, if in a second of fear he pulls down... then for the next 30 seconds, his ship will be completely exposed to the Imperial destroyer's cannons." At which point, they're toast.

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Wits+War. Spending my last 3 motes for extra dice, plus another Valor Channel, all in an attempt to optimize Berger's tactics into whatever will help the most with the battle:

(16d10)[7][5][3][1][10][5][8][7][8][4][8][8][4][10][3][5](96)

[horus42]

Colonel Berger's plan goes off without a hitch. The helmsman of the enemy Dreadnought executes a dive at the last moment, leaving his ship completely vulnerable to fire. Its engines are destroyed, and the ship is caught in the gravity well of a nearby asteroid. A few escape pods jettison, but most of the crew is still on board when it crashes into the massive hunk of rock.

Meanwhile, after ordering his own, and the Imperial ships out of the way, Autocthon himself joins the fray. A pulse wave of energy is emitted from one of his weapons arrays, reducing everything caught inside of it, Sousteel ship and asteroid alike, to their component Essence, annihilating them on a motonic level.

"Wow..." says Lt. Stayer. "It's nice to actually see an SI on our side for a change..."

The Black Fleet is reduced to a fraction of their original force, and though both the Autocthonian and Imperial fleets have sustained losses, it seems as though they are going to win the day.

[sun_tzu]

((I still need my Stunt ratings, esteemed Storyteller. ))

"Looks like we're wrapping up," said Berger. "Now it's all about minimizing our losses." Once again, she scanned the battlefield. Her eyes settled on on an Imperial cruiser, locked in battle with a Terminus ship of comparable size. "The Neutronium Nemesis looks like it's in trouble. Watson, perform a close-range fly-by of the enemy battlecruiser. Its gunners are too busy with the Nemesis; they won't have time to deal with us. When we're this close, we can fire at the enemy ship's gun turrets, and hopefully turn the tide in the Nemesis's advantage."

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Again, Wits+War to try and make as big a difference as possible in this battle: (7d10)[6][3][4][7][8][9][7](44)

[horus42]

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Herp a derp... two dice. And take one for this most current action.
(1d10)[7](7)

The Mercury gets into position, ready to fire.

[sun_tzu]

"Gunners, this is going to be a close fly-by! Aim for the cruiser's turrets!"
Don't try aiming where the enemy turret is now. No time. You're flying by too fast.
But you've seen where it is. You know the relative trajectories of the Mercury and the enemy cruiser.
Calculate. Determine where the turret will be in 1.5 seconds.
Aim there.
Wait 1.4 seconds.
Then fire. 0.1 second for the impulse to go from your brain to the trigger, for the railgun to shoot, for the projectile to hit.
And for the Neutronium Nemesis to have one less thing to worry about.

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Dexterity+Firearms, spending all my six motes: (18d10)[6][2][1][10][7][9][4][1][5][7][8][6][9][2][6][5][4][1](93)

[horus42]

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I'll give another one die stunt for that.
(1d10)[6](6)

The turret is destroyed in a brilliant flash of light and fire, as the Dragon-Blooded officers manning the Mercury's other guns open up on the enemy Dreadnought as well. As the ship concludes its first pass, many of the turrets are disabled, leaving the Nemesis a much weakened target to finish off.

[horus42]

After the assault on the enemy Dreadnought, as the remnants of the Black Fleet are being wiped out, a hailing channel opens to all allied ships, and the holographic form of Autocthon is visible on screen.

"The attack... it was a distraction. My security has been breached... They took something, but I can't find what it was yet. Whoever it was did a damn good job of covering their tracks. I request the aid of any Exalt who can be spared..." Suddenly, the display flickers, and his appearance becomes pixelated and distorted. "Please..." His voice sounds wrong, deep and slow, much more obviously artificial. "Help me..." The feed cuts out.

[sun_tzu]

After the assault on the enemy Dreadnought, as the remnants of the Black Fleet are being wiped out, a hailing channel opens to all allied ships, and the holographic form of Autocthon is visible on screen.

"The attack... it was a distraction. My security has been breached... They took something, but I can't find what it was yet. Whoever it was did a damn good job of covering their tracks. I request the aid of any Exalt who can be spared..." Suddenly, the display flickers, and his appearance becomes pixelated and distorted. "Please..." His voice sounds wrong, deep and slow, much more obviously artificial. "Help me..." The feed cuts out.

Son of a bitch.
What's big enough that they'd use a multisector fleet as a DISTRACTION while they get it? Even if they expected to win the battle, they had to know they were going to lose a lot of capital ships.
Frantically, she tried to reestablish communication with Harshaw's flagship. "Admiral, I believe we need to prioritize this above all else." But I'm practically out of juice...Nevertheless.

[horus42]

When contact is reestablished with Admiral Harshaw's ship, the Admiral herself isn't there to answer. Instead a grizzled looking, broad-shouldered, bearded man answers the hail.

"Admiral Harshaw has been wounded, and is in the infirmary. I'm Captain Zechariah Conrad, currently in command of this ship. I agree with you, Colonel Berger, the Black Fleet is practically a non-issue at this point. We should see what was so valuable that the Tomb-Stars were willing to throw all of this away just for a chance to get it."

[Maugan Ra]

"Aria."

The Chosen of secrets nods, and with a swift gesture, summons the small green spider from within her uniform. It chitters excitedly as she whispers to it.

"What was just taken from Autocthon, and where can we find those responsible?"

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May need to use two activations of EST for this, but it works.

[sun_tzu]

While the Sidereals did their thing, Berger typed on her omnitool...to send a text message to Watson: "Try to get some data on Zechariah Conrad. I'm probably just being paranoid, but since not everything in this situation is what it seems..."

[horus42]

The spider appears and answers the first question:

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The secrets of creating Alchemical Exalted

Before disappearing and returning to answer the second:

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In a small fighter, headed towards Michilimackinac