Chapter 2: Have Gun, Will Travel

[redwarrior]

As Hansel sees the pressure plate, and shouts his warning, his former life's military training takes over and he quickly calculates that the truck is going to hit off-center, as her grabs the side of the truck and jumps free. After a roll that would make his drill instructors proud, he comes up in a kneeling crouch, pulling his laser pistol free and looking for targets. Holding action - since there is not a trigger/specific action, I think this would mean goes last, or unable to go this round? If there is no immediate threat, he will help anyone stuck in the truck. If there's a threat, he'll try to engage it.

Dex+Exert [2d6+2]=11+2=13
12 after -1 unskilled penalty

[cybersavant]

Báleygr Gangleri

exert roll

[Marullus]

Not a great roll! Does this count as surprise (Alert keeps him from being surprised)?

No, you're not surprised. I took Shadrach's Alert and Hans' Specialist: Notice into account but it all happened concurrently. You spotted it was an ambush funnel and Hans was able to yell warning to Taavi, but Taavi failed the driving check.

Holding action - since there is not a trigger/specific action, I think this would mean goes last, or unable to go this round?

You're right - I'm being pretty loosely narrative. In a structured sense:

• I rolled for you to determine surprise and try to evade the trap. (last round)
• You're rolling to evade damage in the truck rollover and narrating your reaction to this event.
• Part of your reaction is forecasting what you're prepared for and expecting. However, technically, firing on any threat that I haven't yet described will happen next round (your action this round is the Exert). I will generally present the threat before you roll against it (which would be another post from me between this round and next round so you can fire next round, if necessary).

You guys are on the ball this morning! Just waiting for Taavi.

[jemmus]

Upside down Taavi unbuckles his seat belt with some difficult and his body drops to the roof of the cab. He opens the truck's door and crawls out, reaching back to grab his rifle. He lies on the ground, trying to use the door for partial cover, and looks down his rifle barrel up the road. "Maybe Báleygr should drive next time," he thinks. "State property or not." He can't help but think about the form he'll have to fill out back at the capital, if he survives. "Appointed a professional pilot as the truck's driver, as the best option for mitigating further damage to state property."

Dex +2, Exert -1.[2d6+1]=7+1=8

[Marullus]

As Hansel sees the pressure plate and shouts his warning, he grabs the side of the truck and jumps free, Emile escaping the cab the same way. Hansel comes up in a kneeling crouch, pulling his laser pistol free. Emile stands, the large bore of his revolver pointing towards the fields, the scarecrows. First to be ready for follow-up action.

Báleygr (-1) and Shadrach (-2) struggle to free themselves from the overturned truck, each suffering a gash from bent metal in the process. A shadow streaks out from under the truck, resolving into a coal-black hound with dull human eyes. It leaps atop the up-turned undercarriage, hackles raised, and a near-subsonic growl issuing from its throat. The overturned truck bed act as an echo chamber, amplifying the near-silent sound of the servos in Shadrach's joints to a dull hum as he emerges from the wreck, his rifle quickly fitted to the pocket of his shoulder as he scans his surroundings.

Landing upside-down, Taavi unbuckles his seat belt with some difficult and his body drops to the roof of the cab. He opens the truck's door and crawls out, reaching back to grab his rifle. He lies on the ground, trying to use the door for partial cover, and looks down his rifle barrel up the road.

There is a tense moment of silence. The reverberating of the shadow-hound's growl eerie in the silence, the truck resting on its side and no longer running. Guns point in every direction but nothing moves save the creaky, rusty-sounding rotation of a scarecrow in the breeze out in the middle of the field. The truck is in a small gully, about two feet lower than the adjacent paved road, propped up on a pair of wooden fence posts with barbed wire strung between them that form a border with the adjacent field of thick-stalked, hairy corn that prevents visibility in that direction. The far side of the road is a low field of hay, blowing lightly, criss-cross tracks weaving through it. You can see a number of the low, black mounds along the chainlink fence that runs perpendicular to the road across the field, some of them now sprouting grass across the top.

The dusty road lies behind you, back through the fields and past the irradiated cattle lowing by the impact crater turned watering hole. The fences separating various fields come together here, a clear juncture between the outer pastures and an inner farmstead. The slowly pulsing red lights on posts of the outer ranch perimeter are fully replaced by physical barriers here, stretching left and right from the road at eclectic angles. About 150 yards of road ahead of you is bordered on both sides by a fence of bolted sheet-metal and sturdy metal slat-fence, beyond which you see another section of barbed wire. The farmstead and barn are only a half-mile mile beyond, yellow electric light shining from the windows. You have about two hours before sunset as the sun dips towards the horizon.


Rolls:

Shadrach Damage [1d4]=2 Balygyr Damage [1d4]=1

[greyarea]

Emile asks, What in Tarnation caused that? Pressure plate means we got ourselves enemies. Like human enemies, not them dogs. No offense, he adds, nodding to Shadrach’s grim with his chin.

How bad is the truck? Can we flip it and get it going again? We can hoof it but ‘tain’t the preferred way.

[jemmus]

Well, it's pretty clear that these people don't want visitors, Taavi says. But at least they aren't shooting. Agreed, I think the first thing is to get the truck righted and see if it will still run. We need mobility in case we have to get out of here in a hurry. One skilled shooter, please stand guard. Others, could you help me push the truck over?

[Marullus]

So, rolling the truck is a STR+Exert (diff 10) to do with no tools. Those helping can roll anything they think can help and anyone* succeeds at Diff 10 it gives a +1 to the main roll. Then it will be a Fix roll to check the damage and get it running. Continue to roleplay, but add your rolls.

*Normally there's a maximum of +1. In this case, its a big truck and more help helps.

[jemmus]

Strength +0, no Exert so -1.
[2d6-1]=3-1=2
Can't ever get a decent roll with this character. Consistently no good.

[redwarrior]

Hansel sees the activity by the truck and lends his strength, since we're not being attacked right now. being in a ditch probably isn't helping.


Exert [2d6]=8 Fail. unskilled - and STR + cancel out

[cybersavant]

Báleygr Gangleri crawls out from under the truck and lends a shoulder to try and push it back on its wheels.
Strength +0, no Exert so -1.

[greyarea]

Emile keeps his eyes sweeping the horizon, keen for trouble.

[Marullus]

The grim-hound rocks the truck from atop its chassis while all five humans strain to up-end it out of the gully and back onto the road via brute force, but to no avail. Without some form of winch, tool, or aid, this task seems beyond your means. The truck is stuck.

Next action?

Rolls:

Shadrach STR+1 Exert-1 [2d6]=3
Grim STR+Exert [2d6+1]=6+1=7

[jemmus]

It's been a long time since Taavi has been stranded in the middle of nowhere with vehicle trouble. But the uniquely bad feeling of gloom and desperation is the same. Well damn, he says. So, some apparent options. A) Continue on foot and get help from the resident or residents. By force, if necessary. The must have a tractor, they couldn't operate a farm of this size without one. B) Continue toward Windfall on foot and retrieve the truck later, with the help of Windfall residents. C) Search the fields for something we can use as a crowbar. For example, a part from a fence or some equipment.

He takes his binoculars from his backpack in the truck cab and surveys the area around the barn. Then tries to assess how effective a post from the barbed wire fence would be if used as a crowbar, and how long it would take to dig one out with his metatool.

Fix (or whichever skill is appropriate (all at -1)) [2d6-1]=9-1=8

[greyarea]

Farm ain’t far, points out Emile. Let’s get hiking while we have daylight.

[Marullus]

Taavi considers his options. It would be closer going back to Prudence, which was only one day's drive behind you, than going to Windfall which is two days from there and not on your forward path. You're not heading to Windfall, afterall, but straight into the Badlands towards the transmitter that the Vukodlak were using to communicate with Sheriff Skender.

Looking with his binoculars, he sees the barn appears well-kept and in good repair. Pens of goats and chickens are visible attached to the structure. High tech farm equipment is parked in the packed-earth yard between the barn and the house.

A variety of posts are used to string the barbwire - evidence that it is repaired often. Some of them are two meters tall and look suitable for a crowbar - you don't think you'd have any problem detatching and pulling them out with the aid of your metatool if you walked the 200 yards to retrieve them.

[jemmus]

Taavi reports to the marshals what he sees through the binoculars. We could dig up one of those tall posts there ahead and use it as a crowbar. Of course, the residents here might not look very favorably on us dismantling a part of their fence. They seem to keep this ranch in good order. But we could replace the post and restore the fence when we're done though, I'd think.

Or we can just hike to the ranch house and ask for help, as Emile suggests. Either way, I think we should watch for more traps along this road.

[Enoch]

"That trap was clearly set as a defensive measure, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily hostile. There are enough ugly things out here in the badlands to protect against. The fact that there's no incoming fire seems to imply we might benefit from just knocking on the door."

[redwarrior]

"That trap was clearly set as a defensive measure, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily hostile. There are enough ugly things out here in the badlands to protect against. The fact that there's no incoming fire seems to imply we might benefit from just knocking on the door."

Hansel ponders for a minute and then speaks. I think he has the right of it. Normally, if you were facing a hostile, a trap would mean an ambush, and we would likely be facing a wall of bullets. The fact that we aren't means that they, at the least, are not actively hostile. At the worst, they may want us to go away. On the other hand, I cannot believe that we are not observed now, even if we weren't before the device was triggered. Digging up part of my defensive perimeter is the sort of thing that I would take poorly too if I were the sort to plant mines in my driveway. I propose we walk, weapons holstered/slung, in plain sight, up towards the house.

[jemmus]

Taavi says, Having some defenses up is understandable, considering the location. Alright, it sounds like we're in agreement. And agreed have slinging and holstering weapons. Let's start hiking.