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[GODLIKE IC] Operation: Husky Blue
Maticore
A Will To PowerRegistered User regular
A Will To PowerRegistered User regular
This is the in-character thread for a game of Wild Talents set in the GODLIKE setting. The OOC thread is here. All OOC text in this thread goes in Spoiler tags. All tactical/planning concerns should remain in the OOC thread, whereas rolls and such should go in OOC tags in this thread.
OPERATION: HUSKY BLUE
Sicily, 9th July 1943, 00:37 Hours
You've been in the glider for hours. It was hot as hell when you took off from Libya but here, hundreds of feet up, it's freezing. There's no view out the open door, just darkness. An hour or so back one of you thought you caught a glimpse of a light, but since there's been nothing.
Suddenly release. You fee lighter than air for a brief moment before you feel wind buoy up the glider. A few of you, those with good ears, catch the pilot yelling "We're loose! Loose!"
In the distance, you hear the loose crackling of anti-aircraft fire and see suggestions of tracers tearing through clouds.
You're through the clouds, tiny lights below. The glider feels like it's being pushed by a giant hand.
That can't be right. That's never happened before.
You hear the pilot yelling something, something about... you can't make it out. The wind is rushing in the open door, it's strong and incredibly loud.
The ground is rushing up from below. The glider feels like it's going to tip on its side, the glider is tipping on its side, the glider has tipped on its side.
You're spinning. Barrel rolling. You stop spinning.
You briefly consider taking off your seat belt. You're not sure you could stay on your feet if you did.
The pilot is yelling. You might be yelling. Someone is screaming.
You catch the flash for a brief second, it's the shape of a man. A man so bright he imprints on your retinas. A man glowing and burning like the sun.
The world is suddenly on fire. The world spins again, this time like a top.
Impact - a taste of the familiar - the feeling of glider hitting earth and sliding. turning a half turn, sliding on its belly.
You come to a halt with a horrid crunch.
The glider is on fire on the starboard side and there are flames coming from the cockpit. Out of the door, it's all black. You can see the outlines of low and scrubby trees, unfamiliar after all this time in the desert. Mouse is already out of his seat. Of course Mouse is out of his seat - he's the fastest Talent you've ever met. He's past you in a literal blur, you can hear him retching up dinner in the woods somewhere.
What do you do?
OPERATION: HUSKY BLUE
Sicily, 9th July 1943, 00:37 Hours
You've been in the glider for hours. It was hot as hell when you took off from Libya but here, hundreds of feet up, it's freezing. There's no view out the open door, just darkness. An hour or so back one of you thought you caught a glimpse of a light, but since there's been nothing.
Suddenly release. You fee lighter than air for a brief moment before you feel wind buoy up the glider. A few of you, those with good ears, catch the pilot yelling "We're loose! Loose!"
In the distance, you hear the loose crackling of anti-aircraft fire and see suggestions of tracers tearing through clouds.
You're through the clouds, tiny lights below. The glider feels like it's being pushed by a giant hand.
That can't be right. That's never happened before.
You hear the pilot yelling something, something about... you can't make it out. The wind is rushing in the open door, it's strong and incredibly loud.
If you have Hypersense, or sense 4d or more:
"The wind is too high, this wasn't supposed to happen, we can't control ourselves... we're nowhere near..."
"The wind is too high, this wasn't supposed to happen, we can't control ourselves... we're nowhere near..."
The ground is rushing up from below. The glider feels like it's going to tip on its side, the glider is tipping on its side, the glider has tipped on its side.
You're spinning. Barrel rolling. You stop spinning.
You briefly consider taking off your seat belt. You're not sure you could stay on your feet if you did.
The pilot is yelling. You might be yelling. Someone is screaming.
High Sense people, Again:
The pilot yells "Ten Seconds!"
The pilot yells "Ten Seconds!"
You catch the flash for a brief second, it's the shape of a man. A man so bright he imprints on your retinas. A man glowing and burning like the sun.
The world is suddenly on fire. The world spins again, this time like a top.
Impact - a taste of the familiar - the feeling of glider hitting earth and sliding. turning a half turn, sliding on its belly.
You come to a halt with a horrid crunch.
The glider is on fire on the starboard side and there are flames coming from the cockpit. Out of the door, it's all black. You can see the outlines of low and scrubby trees, unfamiliar after all this time in the desert. Mouse is already out of his seat. Of course Mouse is out of his seat - he's the fastest Talent you've ever met. He's past you in a literal blur, you can hear him retching up dinner in the woods somewhere.
What do you do?
You all take a single point of shocking damage to the head, and four to every other location. Good thing you were all wearing your seat belts and helmets.
The fire will quickly consume the glider's mostly wooden frame.
Hypersense characters only:
The fire will quickly consume the glider's mostly wooden frame.
Hypersense characters only:
You hear a roaring, like a dozen bonfires, receding with incredible speed into the distance
What the hell just happened?
You crashed.
No, but like, what's going on?
You're part of Operation: Husky. You are the 167th Talent Operations Group commandos. You're invading Sicily on June 9th, 1943, it's just past midnight. Clearly things aren't going well.
You were to land with the body of your force and make your way North, to the bridge at the Pont Grande south of Syracuse (Local Name, Siracusa). You're to hold this bridge until the British troops land on the beachheads south of you at about six in the morning and make the 11km trek north to back you up against the Italian garrison of the city. Intelligence estimates of the Italians' potential in the area, you've been told, are about three thousand men - but don't worry, relief should arrive on time.
You're under the command of Captain William 'Mastermind' Garland, an aristocratic Talent from Atlanta, Georgia, USA in command of TOG 133. Also with you are TOG 88 and two squads of British SSO Commandos (the 115th and 205th). Well, they're only technically with you, because right now it looks like you're all alone.
Who's Mouse?
He's the 10th squad member of TOG 167. He's a Hyperfast, Hypercoordinated, and above average intelligent Talent from Toronto, Canada. He serves as the squad's radioman. He's soft spoken and mostly uses his abilities to speed-read cheap pulp action novels. He also has a fairly weak stomach.
His real name? Oh, Jean-Jacques Yves. Yeah. Mouse.
Also with you are John MacLachlan, your Glider pilot, and Gregor MacKenzie, your Co-Pilot. They're Scottish airmen with the RAF.
So what are we supposed to do?
I don't know, I'm not the superpowered commando. If you asked me, you should probably:
1) Figure out where you are
2) Get to the rally point at the Pont Grande bridge
3) Link up with your companion units
Oh, and do remember, maintain radio silence until 0600 hours.
You crashed.
No, but like, what's going on?
You're part of Operation: Husky. You are the 167th Talent Operations Group commandos. You're invading Sicily on June 9th, 1943, it's just past midnight. Clearly things aren't going well.
You were to land with the body of your force and make your way North, to the bridge at the Pont Grande south of Syracuse (Local Name, Siracusa). You're to hold this bridge until the British troops land on the beachheads south of you at about six in the morning and make the 11km trek north to back you up against the Italian garrison of the city. Intelligence estimates of the Italians' potential in the area, you've been told, are about three thousand men - but don't worry, relief should arrive on time.
You're under the command of Captain William 'Mastermind' Garland, an aristocratic Talent from Atlanta, Georgia, USA in command of TOG 133. Also with you are TOG 88 and two squads of British SSO Commandos (the 115th and 205th). Well, they're only technically with you, because right now it looks like you're all alone.
Who's Mouse?
He's the 10th squad member of TOG 167. He's a Hyperfast, Hypercoordinated, and above average intelligent Talent from Toronto, Canada. He serves as the squad's radioman. He's soft spoken and mostly uses his abilities to speed-read cheap pulp action novels. He also has a fairly weak stomach.
His real name? Oh, Jean-Jacques Yves. Yeah. Mouse.
Also with you are John MacLachlan, your Glider pilot, and Gregor MacKenzie, your Co-Pilot. They're Scottish airmen with the RAF.
So what are we supposed to do?
I don't know, I'm not the superpowered commando. If you asked me, you should probably:
1) Figure out where you are
2) Get to the rally point at the Pont Grande bridge
3) Link up with your companion units
Oh, and do remember, maintain radio silence until 0600 hours.
Maticore on
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Posts
After the impact, he clutches his gear to his chest, cursing all the while in his urban Irish accent. "Jesus, Mary, and Joe. Who in the hell was that flaming bastard?"
As soon as he sees people exiting the glider, he touches his rosary and turns insubstantial, pushing through the fusilage to avoid tripping over anyone in the rush to get out. Jem heads to the cockpit to try and assist the glider pilots in getting out of the wrecked craft. If he needs to, he will phase through to the cockpit to try and drag anyone heavily injured out of the glider.
~-~-~-~-~
Allen shuts his eyes and braces for the impact, trying unsuccessfully not to join in on the yelling.
"You forgot a bit of that, Gypsy!" he says jokingly to Jem as he shakes of the crash.
Allen quickly unbuckles himself and stands up, grabbing his gear. As soon as he is out of the glider he pulls out his map and starts (unsuccsessfully) to try and get an idea where in God's name they are.
"NORMALS OUT FIRST," bellows a deep voice that makes your teeth rattle. "By gods, when get hands on Mouse, abandoning men to burn!"
(Denis will get both pilots out as quickly as possible - through the side of the glider if need be, tossed over his shoulders if not under their own locomotion - then return to salvage the squad's heaviest equipment first.)
Activate invisibility.
Perception Roll: Perception roll to spot any threats in the area (6d10=24) 0 Matches. Seriously?
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2439765/
I'll use his Wiggle die and match it with his 8 for a pair of 8s.
A large steel shield floats around with a tinged aura, rotating swiftly around his person to block potential attacks.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2439768/
No sets.
"This is a fine mess," he mumbles under his breath as he takes off his glasses and wipes down the lenses, and looks around, seeing only chaos.
Mouse is quite suddenly next to Gypsy. "Sonic boom. Der Flieger? Doubt it. Not on fire."
As Deniska tears into the cockpit, he sees a rather gruesome sight. The glass of the canopy is glowing and melted, along with a good chunk of the glider's nose. The smell of burnt flesh is everywhere. Gregor is struggling to pull himself out of his tangled belts. John is obviously unconscious - his right leg is missing below the knee and his left is missing its foot and most of the shin - the wounds are cauterized, though. They were obviously right in the path of whatever flaming missle took out the front of the glider. The big man is easily able to rip the pilots out of their seats and crash through the side of the glider into the forest beyond.
Reconsidering entering the glider, Deniska realizes that the aft section, where the ammunition is stored, is on fire.
Let's keep rolls and OOC comments in Spoiler boxes.
He unshoulders his rifle, still insubstantial. "Well, you think it's coming back?"
~-~-~-~-~
Allen is still looking at his map, and is shaking his head. "Does anyone know where in God's name we are?"
"Mouse, Tower, rescue who you can, then Mouse, find us some cover. Ghost, scout the surrounding area for spaghetti vendors, make sure we're not in immediate danger. Everyone else, quickly grab the equipment you can, and help the injured to head south about about two hundred metres; we'll rendezvous there. We need to get away from the crash site before enemy troops start converging."
Gap hefts his own rifle (along with any mission-critical intelligence) and proceeds to extract himself from the wreckage, taking a look around to see what the surrounding area looks like.
Outside, the others are scanning the tree line. LeDoc is examining John's wounds and muttering the Hippocratic oath to himself. "Lieutenant," he says, "this man will never walk again. He must be carried."
Scanning the horizon, Gap is barely able to make out the form of a tower rising above the tree line to the southeast. The tree line itself is about a hundred meters away to the south. The crashed glider is at the north end of the meadow. With barely a word, Mouse follows the Lieutenant's gaze and streaks off across the field towards the tower. "Good eye, LT" floats back on the wind.
Tower, Sense: 2x6
And Gap, because of his roll, can open it up.
Everyone else failed. Look up your character name on Invisiblecastle if you *must* see what you rolled.
Meanwhile, the squad is able to salvage three satchels of rifle ammunition, five spare Garands, two satchels of rations, and the pilots' Colt M1911A .45 pistols, along with the Pilots' helmets and kit. Everything else is too close to flames for comfort.
Without further delay, the squad sets off across the field to the south.
Mouse's character sheet is in the OP of the OOC thread now if you're interested - along with the complete squad.
"Uh, folks. I think I hear a rumbling to the West. Could be enemy armor or could be a vehicle we can acquire. I'll move the rest of the glider wreckage and we can get out of here. Who's on point?"
"Gol' darn, don't shoot me! I'm a friendly." He shakes his head frantically as he puts his hands up, walking in from the nearby brush.
"I lost my gun and my boots, but otherwise I'm okay. What in the damn hill happened back thar?"
A disembodied voice responds promptly from the trees "I'm on it, Sir!"
~-~-~-~-~-~
Allen steps forwards to grab some of the scavengeable gear. "We got shot down, Goob. The LT wants us moving for cover."
He starts walking for the treeline, staying as close as he can to the main group as a whole.
LeDoc finishes up with what's left of john's legs, then takes a quick look at everyone else; seeing no other life-threatening injuries, he approaches Deniska and begins speaking in Russian. "'Spaghetti vendor' is a... how do you say... 'racial epithet' directed at Italians. I have never understood what is so bad about it, though."
"Nothing wrong with spaghetti. Excellent carbohydrate intake. Too many vegetables in sauce," Deniska says philosophically.
"Ghost, please to investigate oncoming vehicle, yes? Direction of travel, any Talents along for ride, numbers of men. The rest of us will find good spot to ambush. We will use guns as long as possible, no Talents unless necessary. Let them think we are nothing special so they do not pull out big guns. Try to avoid blowing up desired vehicle, yes?"
"Yessir. Going with you, LT. Goober, quit poking at that thing and get in line. OOF! Be careful, Deni... I may be able to lift a tank like you, but when it comes to humans, I'm just as frail as the rest of us." He gingerly lifts John into a cradle position, struggling with the effort of the weight. "It's been a while since I'd lifted someone with my own strength," he grunts.
He appears to mentally calculate with some effort, and the glowing shield now is protecting both Alvin and John.
Goober:
"I'm just tryin' to find me a new pair of booties. All them brush and rocks hurt when I walk over them. Aww, hell with it." He lifts off the ground a couple of meters with his blazing fire jets and zooms to the treeline, leaving a trail of fire in his wake, scorching low-lying bushes in the process.
He walks over to Deniska. "Hey, Sergeant, I speak Italian pretty well. If they're not to threatening looking, do you want to try and negotiate for the truck?"
~-~-~-~-~-~
Allen shoulders his rifle, and moves over to the group that is heading to intercept the incoming vehicle. "Hell, if all else fails, I can make a pothole for the front tire, or something."
The full moon comes out of the clouds as you cross the field, and the wind kicks up again, whipping across the island hard enough that walking into it becomes difficult (well, not for Deniska, but for the others.) With the moon out, you can see the west end of the field decently well, and make your way there in good time. When you get there, you find that the forest here is about ten yards thick and heavily overgrown, but you're able to fight your way through it with considerable difficulty. Moving through the thick scrub, you find yourselves standing adjacent to a threeish foot high stone wall. On the other side of the wall is an unpaved road about seven yards wide, with another stone wall bordering its other side. There is a thin screen of trees growing alongside the wall on the other side, and beyond that is a large field of tilled earth.
The road is a straight shot fifty yards to the northwest before it curves away west and runs straight southwest of you into the darkness.
As the Talents reach the roadway wall, moving through the scrub, they see lights shining on the other side of the field to the northwest, heading along the road in your direction. Estimating, you guess that they'll probably round the bend in thirty or so seconds.
Ghost sees the same things, but arrived at the road a good thirty seconds ahead of the others, giving him a minute to act before the assumed vehicles round the bend fifty yards away.
Other Group (Gap, Tower, Goober, Mouse, John, Gregor):
As you move away from the others Mouse comes out of the trees and starts walking alongside you all, he's holding his flashlight in one hand and a map tube in the other. He addresses the Lieutenant, "Permission to light torch sir? Must figure location. Can't read by moon alone. Tower is a Church. Empty. Graveyard around. Doors locked. Other orders? Oh. LT. Also - want me to stay under sonic? No big booms?"
When you make it to the line of the trees, you can make out the Churchyard beyond, the church is a long, stone building with a big central door near you and another visible doorway at the other end. There's a small outlying cottage, as well.
The post I want from people most describes what you're doing in the next thirty seconds.
Are the nested spoilers getting on anyone's nerves?
Any stealth attempts made to hide are at +1d from the deep shadow
"Everyone else, let's see if we can fortify that church a bit. It looks like a good spot to see if we can figure out where the hell we are, maybe wait until morning when we can break radio silence and get some orders."
"Did someone say the door was locked?" He concentrates, and with a crunch, the door is torn out.
"Err, I'll barricade that with some furniture later. We can get inside now." Giving the inside of the church a once-over, he lays John gently on the floor. "It's going to be okay, John. You're going to make it, buddy."
Alvin slowly approaches inside the church and looks around, his sidearm free and pointed at any potential threats. Glowing scraps of wood float act as mobile cover in front of him (continuation of the Defends from the previous roll).
Goober:
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Any of y'all find any boots up thar?" He follows the group, taking the rear, his sidearm also drawn.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Allen falls prone near to the doc, and tries not to move too much.
Deniska blinks. "Truck might not be full of hostiles? This had not occurred to me. Er... da, yes, very good plan."
"Gypsy, you will stand in road as they come. You and Ghost least likely to be hurt if shooting starts, and wish Ghost to stay unseen. Would stand in road myself, but not very good at looking not dangerous. Try to start negotiations if no one greets you 'Hill Heitler.'"
"Everyone else, stay out of sight behind wall unless necessary. Large group of men with guns liable to cause panic. Victor, fine where you are, but keep gun down. If there are Talents, shit about to hit fan anyway, no need for hiding."
Deniska crouches down behind the wall, and realizes after about half a second the three foot high wall will utterly fail to conceal him in any way. Muttering, he lies on his back behind it instead, and clasps his hands on his chest.
As Gypsy is about to step out onto the road the team sees the set of lights that has been heading towards them disappear, and can see now that another vehicle was clearly behind the other this whole time. Illuminated in the light from behind, the team can discern the outline of a large bedded truck. As it rounds the bend it pulls to the side of the road and the other vehicle stops, still on the road, behind it. They see men carrying rifles get out of the back of the truck. Before the other vehicle pulls around the corner, from behind the trees separating road from field, its lights cut off as well, though the noise of both vehicles' engines remains behind. The curve in the road, and where the vehicles were when you could see them, is about fifty yards away. All you can see now is a mass of shadows.
Ghost (2x5) can open:
You're about ten yards from the rest of the party, who're all in a big hiding cluster alongside the road. You're about forty yards from the vehicles/people at the crossroads.
Team Gap (Gap, Tower, Goober, Mouse, John, Gregor):
As Tower finishes tearing the doors off of the Church building the door of the nearby cottage opens and light shines out, showing the outline of a man holding a lamp in one hand and dressed in a nightgown. He yells out a short sentence in Italian - since the cottage is off to the right of the church he clearly can't see the doors or you through the darkness.
"Hey, mebbe that furriner has some boots that I can have. What do you mean, 'git down'? Oh fine. I'll hide." He sighs heavily and hunkers down inside the church.
Alvin "Tower" Jackson:
"Anyone here speak Italian? What do we do about the native, sir? He could be an enemy, or he might just be an innocent priest." He looks at John, then also finds a place to hide inside the church and keeps the person walking out of the cottage within view, rifle at the ready.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Gypsy dives into the nearest hiding spot, preferably the one he had picked out before he was ordered into the road. If he can't make it there in time, then he leaps over the wall into some overgrowth to hide.
2x10 success, with a 2x7 if they gobble the first one.
Mouse, get over there and give him the universal sign for 'if you make any noise, I'm going to shoot you.' We'll catch up in a second. Gregor, get John into the church while we take care of this guy." Gap sets down his machine gun just inside the church door, draws his pistol, and begins to run towards the house.
Deniska reaches up and grabs the top edge of the wall. With ease, he vaults directly over from a prone position, landing rather ungracefully. Casually, he begins strolling toward the two silent trucks.
Deniska walks about ten yards there's any reaction from up the road. You hear yelling in Italian.
As the yelling begins, the headlights of both vehicles come on. You can see ten men in Italian army uniforms and holding rifles, one of the men is holding an Italian submachine gun as well. Two of the men are standing in the middle of the road, beside the truck, pointing their rifles at Deniska. The other eight are on the right side of the road taking cover in the brush - it looks like they were heading into the woods. You hear an engine throttling up as the rear vehicle backs away and rotates to point its lights toward you through the trees.
Just then, a sound of popcorn popping can be heard through the trees, followed by an explosive whump and a flash of light - all from the direction of the crashed glider. The glow of the fire is very visible through the trees now. Several of the Italians dive for cover.
The two Italians in the road start yelling louder.
The team is fifty yards from the enemy vehicles, mostly concealed in the brush. Ghost is thirty yards from the enemies, and Deniska is forty.
Team Gap (Gap, Tower, Goober, Mouse, John, Gregor):
As Gap, Tower, and Goober round the corner they see Mouse standing with his rifle up, but not pointing directly at the man in the nightgown, and a single finger over his lips. The man is older - probably in his fifties - and has raised his arms. He's repeating something over and over in a hushed voice.
"Latin," Mouse says when the others reach them, "I'm guessing he's a priest."
As the four look at each other over what to do with the man, they hear a rattle of popcorn in the distance followed by whump and a flash of light - the old man cowers and covers his head - they turn to see a mushroom of fire above the low trees.
After it happens, they hear screaming voices in Italian from the west.
He runs out to Mouse and says, "There's no time, we're being shelled or whatever. Just help me grab the guy and get him in the church with us." He then goes to the old man and says, "I know you don't understand me, but we need to get to some cover right now!" He waves and points widely to the church, while grabbing the man's arm and setting up a shield to protect the old man along with himself.
Goober:
"Hooey! That's one great ball of fire! That reminds me of this one time when Jimbo and I... aww, heck. You guys never let me tell any stories." He continues to try to cover Tower and Mouse and the old man with his gun, while hunkering down in the church. "I wonder if there's a basement in this place... seems like a good place to hide, if it does." He wanders off to try to find a basement.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Allen stays flat on the ground, and tries to stay as silent as possible.