Galactic Adventures IC

[Lt Gravemind]

"Fire escape sounds like a better idea to avoid a fiery explosion of death."

[Triskavanski]

Gmork grabs the first card he can reach and yanks it off as fast as he can, running after the others. Helps getting through an armored facility when you have a key after all.

[DyerMaker]

Torq will follow Rez toward/down the fire escape. He'll stay as close to her as possible.

[digiman619]

Perry makes quick work over to the fire escape lest he be left behind.

[Darvin]

At a sprint the party makes their way through the hallways. There are shouts in the distance and the clapping sounds of approaching boots, but if anyone saw the five of you pass them they shrewdly kept their heads down. The final corner seems a dead end at first, but in a hidden recess is a nondescript doorway. At first it resists attempts to force it open, but with a bit of leverage the door swings open.

The door is shut behind you, and a moment later calamitous tremor shakes the building. You stumble to catch your footing as the ringing in your ears ceases. You stand at a crossroads, so to speak. The fire escape leads in two directions from here: up, and down.

Perception Checks
Rez (1d20+6)[12]
Torq (1d20+4)[23]
Sarkus (1d20+9)[29]
Perry (1d20+5)[10]
Gmork (1d20+4)[10]

Spoiler: DC 15

Show

You hear footsteps coming from the floors below

Spoiler: DC 20

Show

It sounds like there are between 3-5 people coming up the the fire escape

[DyerMaker]

Torq

Okay, people. We have 3 to 5 guards coming up the fire escape. We're on the 100th floor. Might as well go up to avoid any further melee.

[digiman619]

"Up it is, then."

[Lt Gravemind]

"Up is as good as any direction."

[Triskavanski]

"Going up!" he calls, trying to get up as well.

[BarbieTheRPG]

Still playing evasion, Rez finds cover and finds cover and whips out her laser pistol while whispering, "This is what you wanted. I'll observe."

[Darvin]

The group scampers up the fire escape, seeking to avoid the approaching footsteps from below. Four stories go by before the shouting begins. It comes from several stories below, a confrontation that - strange as it may seem - does not involve any of the five of you. The voices are muffled, but one is raised with a tone of abject fury.

"Drop your weapons," the voice demands.

You can barely make out a much quieter voice, but what was said in response eludes your hearing.

"I said drop your weapons! Now!"

There is a moment's pause, then the sound of gunfire erupts below. An ear-piercing crackling overwhelms your hearing, as if a bolt of lightning just struck within the confines of the tower. When sound returns it is joined by a chorus of screams. Then there is a second thunderous crack, and there is silence.

The five of you find yourself on the 105th floor, an unmarked - but unlocked - door in front of you. Behind you is a battle scene you are not quite sure you understand.

[DyerMaker]

Torq

Grrr
If the threat is indeed below and not behind, Torq will move for the unmarked door.
If the unfathomable threat is behind. Torq will hold for now.

[BarbieTheRPG]

Rez looked around and shook her head but couldn't suppress a grin, "Yup. Just like we planned it. Obviously there's another team in here working for whoever doing whatever. Sure would be easy for us to take the blame for their actions. So ........ set-up. We've been duped by Galvinchi. And if it isn't his doing I'm still paying him a visit when we walk get outta here. Now. We can check the roof for a way out OR we go guns blasting back down. Thoughts?"

[Lt Gravemind]

"Well, we're not getting paid to harass every set of guards we know about. I don't like it, but there might be a maintenence shuttle on the roof. No comms, no one to report an unauthorized borrowing." Sarkus commented, taking a moment to regain his focus and do a once over on his armor. "Course, good chance that anybody coming to check this place out might come through the roof. Maybe even that other team that generously blew up the backup server room. If they're dead now, I'm sure they wont miss their ship."

[Triskavanski]

"I would rather not do it your way, and avoid the combat instead. So far there is only one person who can really point at us and say we are the bad people. Honestly we should have removed that loose end there. But what is done is done. We go up faster." Gmork says, putting away the server part he was carrying into a bag, and pulling out his flashlight.

[DyerMaker]

Torq

Roof it is.

[digiman619]

"Let's head up; here's hoping there's someething on the helipad."

[Darvin]

The party continues their climb up the fire escape. Their echoing footsteps are the only sounds to accompany them, and there are no apparent signs of pursuers. The first few dozen floors seem easy, but the tower stretches on an on. At last the one hundred fifty seventh floor passes by. There is a moment to catch your breath before you press onward and open the door to the roof. You are immediately taken aback by the gust of wind and the bright light. The overcast of Inixa is beneath you, and from this vantage it stretches like a veil over the city. Blotches of smoke can be seen in some places, though the status on the ground is impossible to discern.

The situation before you on the landing platform is a mixed one. There is indeed a vessel here, some kind of armored personnel carrier, but there is a large gash in its cockpit left by some kind of heavy ordinance. About a dozen soldiers are on the platform, possibly more on the inside of the craft. One is severely injured and being tended to by his compatriots. From the looks of their faces, his prospects are grim. For the moment, none of the soldiers seem to notice you. A commanding officer is speaking into a commset.

"Hello? Hello? I'm losing you again. Argh, anyone!? This is Tango Upsilon Team; we took a hit from an rogue aircraft, our pilot is down and our craft is damaged. We're parked on the top of Tower A and need a status update. Anyone! Anyone!?" the commanding officer throws his headset to the ground in frustration. One of his subordinates taps him on the shoulder and points in your direction. The officer turns to address you, "You there! Please tell me you have the slightest clue what's going on,"

[DyerMaker]

Torq

Tired. Sweaty. Head aching. The last thing Torq wanted to see was a damaged ship.
Rioters in the building...or who knows what they were...explosions...bad juju... Hey, does that bird still fly? I can get you and your men back in the thick if it does.

[Darvin]

"It still flies. Well, barely. Problem is, we don't know where the thick of things is or if it's safe for us to move. My communication connection keeps dropping on me, and I haven't been able to get anything close to an answer," the commander grimaces, "And to make matters worse, I don't think the imperial divisions are deploying. It's just the Basur divisions out here, and we're getting hammered,"


Knowledge (Nobility) check:
Rez (1d20+2)[3]
Torq (1d20+1)[19]
Sarkus (1d20)[7]
Perry (1d20+3)[14]
Gmork (1d20+2)[12]

Spoiler: DC 10

Show

Military command in the empire is divided between the Imperial Core - which is appointed by and answers to the emperor - and the individual military forces of the seven great houses. Most soldiers in the empire are under the direct employ of the seven houses. Although all such soldiers carry equal authority and privilege under imperial law, they have separate chains of command. Typically officers from the separate lines of command are cooperative with each other, but at times they have other agendas.

[DyerMaker]

Torq

Torq whispers to Rez.
Do your thing. Get us on that bird.

OOC: Based on that Know roll. What does Torq know about the Basur that he can use? Are they the best-of-the-best? Do they wear pink panties? Is there a conflict where they were recently victorious?
Torq is not a charmer, so he needs common ground to introduce ideas to Rez and the team who might not know them.

[Triskavanski]

Gmork eyes his companions waiting to see what they would do, expecting them attack again. Not that he was looking like he would at all, holding nothing more than a little flashlight in on hand.

[BarbieTheRPG]

Rez gets in and stats going over controls, "It's a POS but it might make do." She attempts to get the bird flying.

[digiman619]

"You'd best not go too fast", Perry chimes in, taking a closer look at the damage. "You can see the fracture in the chassis here. Going high speeds or too many aerial maneuvers might cause irreparable damage."

[Darvin]

One of the soldiers notices Rez trying to start up the vessel, "We don't know if it's safe to fly right now. You should talk to the commander before we make any moves," gesturing to the officer talking to Torq. Or more accurately, talking at Torq as he continues to rant about the massive cluster-frag of a response this has been so far.

OOC: Based on that Know roll. What does Torq know about the Basur that he can use? Are they the best-of-the-best? Do they wear pink panties? Is there a conflict where they were recently victorious?

House Basur is one of the seven great houses. Most of the planets in the empire are administered by one of these seven houses, and Inixa is assigned to House Basur. The Imperial Core and the Emperor do not concern themselves with the day-to-day governance or domestic policies of individual planets, instead assigning the territorial rights to one of the great houses. That house becomes responsible for collecting taxes, undertaking any infrastructure projects, setting domestic policy goals, and maintaining a military garrison. The great houses maintain their own military forces, including war fleets. Very few of the soldiers stationed on Inixa would be part of the Imperial Core, and their role on the planet would be different from those under the command of House Basur. Ordinarily they would be cooperative in an emergency situation, but given what has just been said this doesn't seem to be the case right now.

Military forces can vary substantially. House Basur would employ everything from basic recruits up to the most elite of special forces. However, surface garrisons are generally of the lowest quality while special forces are deployed on a "need only" basis (which means it's entirely possible that House Basur will send such a force to Inixa; you probably don't want to be here when they arrive, because like most of the imperial forces House Basur's response to an uprising is overkill. However, it will be days or weeks before such a force can be deployed).

(also, do let me know if you feel you want more background on the setting; I've got a bunch of notes, but I don't want to exposition dump it on you guys so I'm only going to bring it up as it becomes relevant)

[DyerMaker]

Torq

Torq looks around at his team, especially Rez.
Is anyone getting anything on comms? Anything concerning the concentration of fire or where Basur's troops and focusing fire, at the moment? We need to get these troopers back in the heat, and off of this roof.

[Triskavanski]

Gmork moslty ends up standing around awkwardly glancing between the soldiers on the roof and the rest of his crew. Talking was not his strong suit, nor was piloting cruisers. He knew how they worked a bit, but not even how to repair them, and it was certainly not time to get down with his badself and do a little boogie.

[Darvin]

"Seems everyone is having troubles. The primary, secondary, and tertiary channels are all down. I've tried reverting to manual communication channels, but they're completely overloaded. Everyone's trying to talk at once, so it's just sentence fragments in between unintelligible gibberish," one of the soldiers, a short woman hunched over some technical equipment, answers Torq's question, "As best I can tell, there are insurgents all throughout the tower complex doing hit-and-run attacks, but no one seems to be able to coordinate a real response,"

"Look, I'm pretty much giving up on contacting anyone remotely at this point. We're going to have to make a call since we're sitting ducks right now. Who do you guys report to, anyways? Do you know any officer we can rendezvous with?" the officer interjects.

[DyerMaker]

Torq

Torq mumbles the only name he remembers, Gourgos. We report to Gourgos. ... Captain, lets load up. I'll drop you and your men at the base of Tower 3.

[BarbieTheRPG]

Nodding in agreement with Torq, Rez readies the controls, eyeing the area.