[IC]Vynkor[/IC]
I fukcing move. At this point I'm too glad for the possibility of actually getting out of this alive to care much about who offers it.
However, my caution is not entirely gone. I ensure that I am neither the first nor the last in line as I bail with the rest.
I take potshots at any targets of opportunity along the way.

Standing here is a dumb idea, with at least two groups going to pass this spot.
Waiting here for Saoirse might also be a bad idea, unless she's really, really quick...

Move into the hallway to the store room, but stay out of the room yet
Wait until the group inside the room passes the crate below the entry
if Saoirse pops up in the meantime
-hand her the battlestaff
-Throw a nervous glance back at the crossing
If saoirse drops in late
-pass her the battlestaff when possible, or throw it to her when not
Get around the corner and shoot the first alien with the crossbow
close the distance to the other one, get inside his guard
Slash at him/her with the sword

Too much feisty meat, TOO MUCH FEISTY MEAT!

Pick up my knife if I haven't already, and sprint down to the southern exist.
If I still have a grenade, I use my recent experience in using them to throw it into and down the left passage from the south exit, into the 67, 68 and 69 group of enemies, then charge in after it explodes and kill them all.
If I do not have a grenade, stay on the 'safe' side of the southern exit and wait for someone to do all that for me.

Afterwards, if it's all clear in the vicinity of the south exit's other side, go down the right passage, towards the janitor, and find some cover.

Turn 23
Map: Room:
  Frank's in trouble. Enemies to the south, enemies to the north, enemies to the west. Standing still is obviously a dumb idea, and waiting for his allies to arrive is also probably a bad idea. Without any other real options, he opens comms. "Uh, guys? I'm about to get company from at least two sides? Help?!"
  "Hold on! I'm coming!" It's Saoirse - she sounds desperate and worried. It doesn't help Frank's morale in the slightest.
  "I'm retreating to the room where we left our stuff! Don't trip on the tripwire at the top of the stairs!"
  
~~~

  As the spess mehreen commander shouts orders, Caleb turns to Kaquyu questioningly. "Do you know who they are? What they want?"
  But unfortunately, Kaquyu is high as a kite; she leans on Caleb's shoulder and sighs happily. "What I want? I want to take you back to my somid and terino balkoda matse kgefa sifanga." She waggles her lack of eyebrows. She's completely useless right now.
  Caleb swallows. It's pretty obvious what she meant, given her body language. Uncomfortable and awkward, he tries to push it out of his mind and ignore it.
  Buck, on the other hand, does not ignore it. He watches the squid pressing herself against Caleb and drops his plasma baton and gasps loudly in horror. "FUKCIN' KNOCK THAT OFF, YOU SICK ALIEN BASTARD!"
  Kaquyu "knocks it off" immediately, looking at Buck in fright. Then she notices that he dropped his weapon, and giggles again.
  Grumbling, Buck retrieves his weapon and glares at Caleb for not putting a stop to this insanity immediately. "You damn Beta folks are fukced in the head! Keep your pet away from me!"
  
  "MOVE!" the commander roars. She points to the southern door, and takes a few shots at one of the fysar on the catwalk.
  
  Yuuji springs into action. "You guys heard the heavily armed lady!" he shouts. "Leg it!" He rushes over to the spiderbot and tries to pick it up and put it on his shoulder - but it's entirely too heavy. Instead, he puts it on the floor and tells it to follow.
  "To me, my friends!" Brom calls. "Form up and I shall provide the impeccable charm and superb combat abilities to ensure your safety! The time has come to put your skills to the test. Let's move out!" Caleb with Adopan, Vynkor, Sukava, Yuuji, Buck - everyone makes a more or less mad dash for the far side of the room. The spiderbot limps along behind them, mercifully forgotten by the enemies nearby.
  
  Saoirse switches on her rocket boots and jets across the room, flying above the catwalk and completely evading enemy fire as she skirts the ceiling, before diving down towards the southern doorway - but she's forced to stop when she arrives, almost smacking her head on the wall; she brakes just in time, regains her balance, and dashes through the door. In the hallway to her right, a group of enemies have apparently tripped over a tripwire on the stairwell and are taking heavy fire from someone out of view - Saoirse immediately tosses them to the side with a swipe of her gravamp, but in her haste she misses one of them. Only moments afterwards, the stairwell explodes, first with a blast of air and then with a spray of napalm that erupts like a volcano, spewing burning gunk in all directions; the two surviving fysar writhe, screaming while they try to pull themselves down the stairs and out of the gravity well.
  Stopping just short of the flames, Saoirse glances behind herself. Sukava graces her with a crazed expression. "So much feisty meat!" she cackles through a face-splitting grin.
  Saoirse puts Sukava's madness out of her mind and charges forwards, running through the blazing napalm. "Frank!" she calls, as she rushes down the stairs. "Frank!! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
  A machine gun round catches her in her cyborg leg; she stumbles and falls, but gets back to her feet and ducks around the corner.
  
~~~
  
  Frank charges into the weapons room, crossbow at the ready, and comes face-to-face with a nasty-looking fysar holding a very big gun. In most places, that's considered bad news. This is no exception.
  The fysar shouts something, revving up his plasgun and firing a blinding barrage at Frank; the ex-janitor manages to dodge, just barely, and releases a shot of his own; the crossbow bolt sails across the room and hits the fysar dead in the chest, exploding with enough force to spatter a spray of greenish-brown blood and gore on the floor. The bug clutches at his chest, stumbling.
  
  A second enemy steps out from behind the first, another plasgun at the ready.
  
  Frank drops his crossbow, reaches for his sword -
  - but it's too late. Frank sees the gun flash, a light coming at his face, and then... nothing.

~~~

  The REKT crew continues to progress steadily towards the far door, inching through cover as enemies pour in from the catwalks and doorways. One of the Cybersuits on the right takes a ton of enemy fire as he attempts to decimate a swarm coming in through a side hallway. In desperation, he reaches out with a palm and sprays a huge jet of burning napalm across his foes, but he only catches the half on the ground; the ones on the catwalk above rain down hell upon him.
  At that moment, the catwalk shakes violently, reverberating with a resonating crash as three plasbombs splatter three of the four remaining fysar into goo. The Cybersuit, crouched behind the crates, looks over his shoulder and sees Yuuji, and gives a nod of appreciation.
  Yuuji returns it and continues on.
  
  Enemies swarm the catwalks, pouring out of every crack in the room they can find. Kinorvan's and Feb Keshor's men don't even seem to intuitively know each other at this point - friendly fire happens frequently and with a vengeance.
  A lone Cybersuit storms out of the northern hallway, cutting his way through the masses. He waves a hand; a blast of air knocks a group of enemies to the side as he charges past, firing rounds into their faces as he goes. The Commander shouts an order; he brakes to a stop and begins to cover everyone's retreat.
  
  Brom dashes through the room, firing at the enemies around him with his assault rifle; he manages to injure a couple of them on the eastside balcony. Switching to his shotgun, he continues his mad, blind run towards the south door.
  Vynkor chases after him, taking potshots at enemies as she can. Even as she goes, the chamber is beginning to fill with ever more warring enemies - above, behind, in front, and on the balcony to her left. She fires a few plasma shots at them, trying to pull them off the Cybersuit they're trying to execute - and though she manages to down one of them with a lucky shot, it's ultimately useless. Cybersuit is overrun by the green tide. In desperation, he tries to climb over a tall stack of crates in the corner, trying to dodge the ambush, but his suit just can't take any more abuse; blood drips from its damaged joints as it seizes up and collapses to the floor.
  
  At that moment, Vynkor gets shot in the hip by a pistol fire. She stumbles, looks for cover - then realizes that at this point, there is no more cover - and makes a mad dash for the far door, following in Brom's footsteps with Buck right behind.
  As she passes, Vynkor sees the downed Cybersuit go up in a vigorous blaze, melting itself into a bloody, unrecognizable mass.
  
  On the other side of the room from the doorway, another Cybersuit is hard at work trying to keep a never-ending flow of FMU from overrunning their position. His electric trap - while powerful and resourceful - is already starting to fail; it managed to electrocute and kill a few of the mercs that tried to force their way through it, but at this point they've wised up and are firing at the mechanism itself. It quickly breaks, and the trap goes down; a horde of FMU pours out and begins attacking Cybersuit, who holds his ground alongside another of his buddies. The Cybersuits do an admirable job, but are ultimately losing ground until a trio of plasma bombs happen to find their mark, splattering two of the mercs and sending up a huge cloud of gore from the pile of corpses they're standing on. The multicolored blood drenches the wall nearby in a horrific, surreal pattern in a way that more or less ensures the survivors will never again be able to appreciate abstract art.
  
~~~

  Saoirse charges into the room. The first thing she sees is Frank's body, face-down on the floor in a pool of blood. She's horrified, but dashes and grabs her battlestaff from the floor before either of the enemies can get a good attack in. Grabbing it by one end, she swings it as hard as she can, and with a couple of satisfying THWACKS both enemies fly backwards. One - the injured one - simply can't take that amount of force on his chest; he crumbles and moves no more - but the other enemy crashes against the stack of crates behind him and falls painfully to the floor.
  With a shout, Saoirse advances, swinging her battlestaff about and trying to smack the remaining fysar in the face; he rolls to the side and fires a charged shot, but Saoirse blocks it with her battlestaff. With a powerful strike she knocks him off his feet again, and again he smacks his head into the crate - only seconds before Brom and Caleb both step into the room, focusing fire on Saoirse's foe and... well, not really saving the day, but it's a grand (and loud) entrance. (But I mean, that's pretty much the norm for Brom, isn't it? So it's nothing new.)
  
~~~
  
  Brom charges into the southern hallway behind Sukava and stops her before she can set herself on fire trying to stab an enemy to death. Said enemies are standing in a field of napalm on the stairwell, attacking a group of unseen enemies further south. After one of them falls to the incoming fire, Brom dispatches of one enemy with a gauss shotgun blast to the face, ripping its head clean off. He then rounds the nearby corner and sights a group of fysar. He ducks back into cover and booms, "Hold your fire! My name is Connley Mckale, and my team and I were sent here by Men'ko Mokila. We're allied with Feb Keshor, and we've been tasked by him with apprehending, and ensuring the safety of a prisoner. You have friends in the large room to the north that need your immediate assistance."
  The two fysar, clearly on Feb Keshor's side, give a shout of acknowledgment. Without waiting to ask questions, they rush up the stiars past Brom and take cover by the doorway to the main room.
  
  At that moment, enemies begin to pour in from the opposite end of the corridor - Kinorvan's men - and Buck rushes to meet them in melee as Vynkor, limping and bleeding, gets into cover and starts taking more potshots. Sukava charges forwards as well, swinging her knife. With Buck, Sukava, and Keshor's men working together, the first of Kinorvan's men falls, and then another.
  Fire from assault rifle and plasma alike goes wide as the incoming horde of enemies attempt to take out their attackers. One of Keshor's men takes too many rounds to the chest and slumps to the ground, clutching a gaping wound on his stomach.
  A Cybersuit storms in through the doorway. Without a word, he begins firing heavy plasma rounds into their faces; the fysar heads burst, ripped apart by the blasts - before suddenly the whole corner lights up in a fireball as three plasbombs murderize the unlucky survivors. A spray of gore, blood, and bodyparts spatters Buck and Sukava, nearly knocking them off their feet. At long last, the corridor is empty.
  Everyone turns around and sees Yuuji, hefting a smoking plasbomb launcher above his shoulder.
  But after a few moments of calm, the fysarian zealots continue to pour unheeding through the passageway. It's ultimately a losing battle; there's just no way to keep up with their swelling numbers.
  "MOVE! GO, GO, GO!" the commander shouts, as she storms through the fire and flames.
  Caleb, carrying Adopan, is already on the move, dancing through the burning napalm while carrying his heavy load.
  
  
  
  ((Frank is not dead. He's bleeding out and is unconscious. He'll be dead quite soon though. He's lost a good deal of blood.
  Next turn will not have a map, and as such not have normal combat. To exit the field, just follow either Caleb or Saoirse through the passages. Frank and Nilo also knew how, but they're kinda ... not feeling so well at the moment.
  The southwest room is now a "safe room" - I'm not going to put any more enemies into there, and the ones that show up will be held off by the spess mehreens.))

Notice Sukava attempting to loot Frank as though he were dead.

"There is no need to go looting the fallen, my good woman!
Certainly not while he's still breathing, as we might still be able to bring him back.
As long as he could potentially be useful to us, we should try our best to treat him as one of our own.


Of course, it won't do to leave you without weapons either.
Fortunately I, the great Connley McKale always comes prepared!"

give Sukava a thumb up, and remove both the laser pistol, and the electron sword from my pack, and offer them.

"I suspected that a couple of my colleagues had passed through here recently, and I was hoping that I might run into them.
I obtained these weapons just a short while earlier to aid them were our paths to cross.
Please, take your pick of weapons. The stronger my allies are, the more likely my followers are to survive!"

"There is no need to go looting the fallen, my good woman!
Certainly not while he's still breathing, as we might still be able to bring him back.
As long as he could potentially be useful to us, we should try our best to treat him as one of our own.

"Well I can damn well USE IT BETTER THAN HE CAN RIGHT NOW! So, do you then maybe happen have another sword for me to use? NO?"

Of course, it won't do to leave you without weapons either.
Fortunately I, the great Connley McKale always comes prepared!"

Watch as the meatsack idio---- HANDSOME MAN OF AWESOME PULLS OUT MY ELECTRON SWORD?
"Gasp?"
Drop the sword I had just looted from Frank, and snatch my electrons sword from Brom.
"Ohmygawd."
Turn the amazing thing on and off to make sure it works.
Feel the happiness fill my veins.
"Brom I love you." Inhale. "VYYYYNK! SISTER! THIS HANDSOME MAN OF PURE AMAZING HAS YOUR LASER PISTOL!"

Take Frank's crossbow (and ammo) anyway (leave him his sword), give Brom a hug, and charge for the exit with everyone else.

[IC]Vynkor[/IC]
I move into the storage room and start looking over the Tartarus gear with interest. Realizing that none of it is my medkit—nor my wallet—I turn away.
As I watch Brom pontificate, I note Frank's medkit. Perhaps I could…

Marina wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 11, 2020 1:22 am

"VYYYYNK! SISTER! THIS HANDSOME MAN OF PURE AMAZING HAS YOUR LASER PISTOL!"

I sputter for a half-beat before grabbing the laser pistol. "Yeah, sure, thanks, salad man. You wouldn't happen to have my wallet in there too, would you?"
I fix Frank up with his medkit as best as I can, before dressing my hip with whatever supplies I have between it and my stolen medpack, and taking a painkiller for good measure. Void knows I need it.

"S-somebody help! Frank is sh-shot and he's bleeding f-fierce..."
I fret and guard the entrance (against enemies, not the spees mahreens since they seem not hostile atm) while Vynkor patches up Frank.
If Frank survives:
if someone else is gonna carry Frank or he looks like he can walk by himself/with the help of someone else, I lead the way outward shielding the others with my battlestaff. Otherwise I carry Frank out myself or help him walk, sticking to the middle of the group.
If Frank does not:
I wipe away tears, and blast the fysar who shot Frank with lightning ((I'm aware I don't know which it is and he's already dead)) saying "He just wanted to get out of here, you [redacted irish]"
If only I'd been able to get here faster...
After some more consideration, I hoist Frank's corpse over my shoulder and get out with the rest of the way, pointing the way if needed.

Either way, on the way out I occasionally pop up shields to dissuade anyone hostile from getting to us, making care not to block our new friends as long as they are friends.

Run to the southwestern room, still confused at to why the robo-aliens are so invested in helping us
Upon seeing Frank, do a double take, him being absent from the battle until now

Dinosawer wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 11, 2020 8:21 am

"S-somebody help! Frank is sh-shot and he's bleeding f-fierce..."
I fret while Vynkor patches up Frank.
If someone else is gonna carry Frank, I lead the way outward shielding the others with my battlestaff. Otherwise I carry Frank out myself, sticking to the middle of the group.

At presumably seeing his grizzly head wound, whistle and say:

"Bleedin'? With that kind o' shot he's as dead as a doornail!"

If I see Frank suddenly awaken, comment:

"Huh. Or not."

Whilst we are having this respite, take out my PDA again and try to cover our tracks by disabling as much cameras as possible in the compound and wiping their video feed for the last 24h. If I am unable to do both and have to make a choice, disable the cameras
Don't really assist with Frank or even show any concern, instead focusing entirely on my PDA and appearing genuinely uncaring about his situation (and this isn't an act)
Follow my squadmates once they leave the compound, if they do

If I see that Frank has expired and Saoirse's reaction, comment in an unusually serious tone for my character:

"That's why you dun' grow attached to your work collages, you'll learn that real quick. Damn shame, though."

Additionally, if I see Saoirse trying to carry away the corpse and having trouble with it/slowing us down, cynically comment:

"Not like he'll give a shit. We need to get off this shithole as quick as possible if we dun' want to all end up like him."

The room we're currently in appears clear for the moment. I set Adopan down for a moment before I notice Frank...and Sukava fucking looting him!

Before I can lay into her though, Brom steps in and stops her. I glare furiously at the woman before rushing to my fallen friend's side. FSM, I hope he makes it through, because it doesn't look good...

I do my best not to hover as Vynkor patches Frank up. To try and distract myself so that I don't disturb Vynkor's work, I focus on policing up our lost weapons...though I don't really succeed much at that first goal.

I grab my weapons and any of Frank's that are not on his person right now. Frank's weapons go into my backpack. Once Vynkor is finished trying to patch Frank up, I pick up Adopan and lead the platoon through the corridors to the exit. If any enemies attack us, I take cover with Adopan and shoot at them with my shotgun until I run out of rounds for the turn. If When Frank dies, I attempt to blank my emotions as best as I can, likely being rather unsettling as a result.

Triggerhappy wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 11, 2020 1:22 am

"Brom I love you." Inhale. "VYYYYNK! SISTER! THIS HANDSOME MAN OF PURE AMAZING HAS YOUR LASER PISTOL!"
Take Frank's crossbow (and ammo) anyway (leave him his sword), give Brom a hug, and charge for the exit with everyone else.

Surprised by Sukava's sudden change of tone, (and already having returned her sword to her) I ignore the theft.
((It's more fun this way, and I doubt Frank will have the strength to use it effectively right now anyway.))

"Another good deed done by the Connley the Magnificent!
Go now to victory, my young follower, and may you walk always on the path of Brom!"

0111narwhalz wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 11, 2020 1:32 am

I sputter for a half-beat before grabbing the laser pistol. "Yeah, sure, thanks, salad man. You wouldn't happen to have my wallet in there too, would you?"

"I'm afraid no such items were to be seen on my way here, or I would have surely noticed them.
What I took was only what I thought I could safely carry. No more, no less.
It's very possible that its contents were pocketed by Feb's men."

"With a break in combat finally upon us, I believe introductions are in order.
Having already introduced myself (not that I needed to, but it is polite), you should all know me as Connley Mckale!"

Point to Caleb
"You there, with the appreciable taste in weaponry!
Excellent choice with that shotgun! Wonderfully powerful device.
Getting back on track, would you be so kind as to introduce me to yourself, and the members of your group?
Putting names to faces will help to facilitate teamwork, and discourage backstabbing!"

Hema wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 13, 2020 4:00 pm

"You there, with the appreciable taste in weaponry!
Excellent choice with that shotgun! Wonderfully powerful device.
Getting back on track, would you be so kind as to introduce me to yourself, and the members of your group?
Putting names to faces will help to facilitate teamwork, and discourage backstabbing!"

"Connley" isn't quite the person I least want to be talking to right now, so I respond in kind- though I'm not exactly in much of a state to return his excessive politeness, given how close I am to losing it.

"I'm Cole, that's Estelle, and that...is Sam," I say, hesitating when I get to Frank.

I never was much for religion...but I send off a prayer to the FSM in my head as I watch him.