Kasserine Pass

Title: Kasserine Pass
DM: Indrakashi
Players: Slinger. Katral. Posh.

MPRI holds many contracts world wide, one of the most prominent being in Africa <It's a hot bed for good security services>. One specifically, is for a multi national corporate research facility situated in Kasserine Pass. Used to research desert agricultural projects, and capturing the various Paracritters of the continent. <Oh and don't forget, it makes a wonderful forward base for rescue operations for lost people in that area>.

Recently, a Manastorm was brewing up in the deep desert, and many of the staff were evacuated in case it swung out wide. Leaving behind a minimalist security team behind. Whom reported 'Strange shit' after the storm subsided and under Corporate Orders, which MPRI was less then happy with. Went out to investigate, possibly capture some thing.

They went dark twenty four hours ago, and two resupply flights to the base are confirmed as shot down by Sat photos. Local contacts claim some thing came with the Storm, and it was moving -towards- Kasserine Pass. So that is why MPRI needs people.. YESTERDAY who are used to the bizarre.
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls History:
1 2 15
«Auto-Judge[]» Katral (#293) rolls Intelligence vs TN 8 for "What do I know, eh?":
1 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Geography:
2 5 7
«Plot» Indrakshi says, "Katral barely knows Afrika has a history of war. Posh and Slinger know significantly more, they at least remember reading some articles about the second World War and the battle of Kasserine Pass almost routed the US Forces."
«Auto-Judge[]» Katral (#293) spends 100 nuyen for "Rations to bring along in case we're stuck in a desert with no food or water.".
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Survival for "Extending Katral's rations":
2 5
Katral will agree to the run, and will also ensure he spends a moderate amount of time figuring out how their parachutes work. And sit close to them at all times.
«Plot» Katral will be bringing along his gas mask, his two guns, some of his explosives, armor, and kits in case some doors need unlocking. And the rations.
Posh arches an eyebrow as she looks over at the other. "Well," she says. "I really don't know much about what this is about," she says. "But I'm happy to serve as protection for this gentlemen, as well as…" She grins. "Quartermaster, you could say. I have a bit of a stash I can arrange," she explains. "To make sure that we've got things that aren't too fancy, but would come in handy. Dual-charge grenades, I'm fond of concussion/superflash, superflash/smoke, and concussion/smoke. I'll be carrying a launcher with smoke, superflash, and the like. We can also bring a supply of LAWs with seeker heads, or dumb-fired MAWs, but that's the best I can do. Those I only want to bring, though, when we have advance notice of enemy vehicles."

She looks over at the others. "Just as well you two are bringing me. It appears the Americas were about to be thrown out of Africa a hundred thirty years ago, before experienced British reserves came to pull them out of the fire, she says, with a little wink. "So," she says. "I remember the first time 'round, Rommel write afterwards that the Americans focus only on what is in front of them to the exclusion of the larger picture. So I'd recommend on this job, just as…a matter of theme, we make sure we always hold onto the big picture, instead of what's in front of us."

She turns back to the MPRI officer. "So. You've got a facility that's gone completely dark," she says, thoughtfully.
Katral raises a hand "Uh, one question though, how intact does the place have to be? I'm asking for a friend."
The MPRI Officer is used to glouts of questions, since people do always seem to have them.

"We need the facility intact."

He cautions Katral before turning to Posh.

"Yes, it has gone dark, and with reports of things emerging from the Desert, some of which have disrupted supply flights, we suspect the Mana storm has left unpleasent things behind."
"Tell us about the facility. Give us a timeline," says Slinger, as he lights up a smoke. He'd drinking all this in."
Posh gives a smile to Slinger as he smokes inside the office, and though she feels a tug of temptation from the curl of rich smoke, she holds firm - at least for now. Instead, she smiles.
The MRPI Officer fires up a projector, to show the research base. It's pretty much what you'd expect. Prefabs and sand barriers. Small air strip incorporated into the design.

"Given the millions upon millions of nuyen involved in the base. We would like an experienced team on site inside of a day. It's mostly a research outpost. We don't ask why the Corporations pay us to guard the eggheads. Not a concern of ours. They want to poke and prod at the desert? Fine by us. We just keep paracritters and foolish locals from attacking it."
Katral raises a hand again "What about, like, on-site security that was automated? Is any of that still operational?"
The man shakes his head at Katral. "We didn't rely on automatic turrets, they kept firing on every thing that moved. We had riggers for it, but they've gone dark."
Katral says "So they'd be out of ammo by now, or out of power?"
The man gestures at the projection.

"Our Corporate pay masters ordered the security team to investigate the reports some thing came out of the Desert, the drones went with to provide security. They have since gone Dark."
Katral says "And doors and such, needing a lot of keys, would they?"
The MPRI Officer sighs quietly at Katral.

"We will provide you with the keycards needed."
Posh turns her head to Katral for a moment, nodding at the notification bout the keycards, but seems to consider something else. "Any biomonitor or system information, since you have a connection to the facility? Or did the riggers simply stop contacts?"
The MPRI Man is less annoyed with the next question at least..well , so it seems.

"They didn't use a biomonitor system. It was all hands on."

This could be code for 'Corps are cheap bastards.'
Katral taps his nose a few times, then nods. "Anything you can bring along that we could use out there, knowing the area and all? We've dealt with some shit, but not all of us are desert afficionados"
The MPRI Officer shakes his head at Katral.

"We're hiring you on the assumption you are capable of handling your selves."
Katral shrugs. "Worth a shot. I'm in, any 'case. "
Pohs nods. "I see. So they stopped reporting," she says, rather thoughtfully. "All right. It sounds like we're going to be heading in there with no ideas of what we're facing. That means we'll have to go equipped with a wide range of gear, but it sounds like we won't be expecting vehicular opposition. However…" She thinks for a moment. "So. All of the combat is likely to be in enclosed spaces?"
Slinger listens, offering no real comments. "All right. From the fact that aircraft are being shot down, that implies that whatever this is, it isn't natural or paracritters. We have hostiles. The base went dark, with eggheads as you fondly call them. That implies hostages." Slinger grunts. "Not fond of hostage situations, I have to admit. My first instinct is to do some astral recon. Any reason that'd be a bad idea? The more information you can give us, the better. As for damage to the base, we'll definitely try to minimize it. You may need a few new doors," he says with a chuckle.
The MPRI Man is looking like he's convinced the team will probably ruin his career with all the talk of destroying buildings and the like!

"We are not even sure there will be any combat. Manastorms leaving things behind means we're outside of our element."

Which is why he stares at Slinger, the mage.

"It's Afrika. Does any thing ever go correctly?"
Katral says "Right. How do we contact you with the all clear? Some kind of device at the site, or something ya bring with?"
«Plot» Indrakshi says, "Katral; as part of the MPRI Standard package stuff. You get a radio beacon to activate when exfil is needed. No worries on that. Unless you break it."
Posh nods at the MPRI officer. "And can you arrange transport for us and our gear? As well as mapsofts of the facility?" she asks, turning to the others. "I've got a display link hookup, so I can play orienteer if I'm needed to," she explains.
"True, that," says the young mage. "All right. So where were the planes shot down?" asks the youth. "And where is the base relative to our point of departure? I assume we'll be flown in to Afrika, and we'll have a forward base of some kind on the continent to use. Best to do our staging from there. Including astral recon."

Slinger nods to Posh. "Got one as well in my armor. And yes, getting our equipment there and back in a timely fashion is definitely a requirement. We can arrange it ourselves, but the cost goes up significantly."
The MPRI officer goes to change the display, to show the coast line and flight paths leading -to- the Outpost in Kasserine pass. There is two blinking red highlights that presumably, are where the supply flights went down.

"We were just running drone flights, but they were shot down once they crossed over the coast. Or ..worse."

Maybe Slinger thinks it isn't Parathings, but that doesn't mean this man believes it.

"We already have a plane on standby a the Denver airfield. Fifty thousand nuyen a head for this investigation."

He says..and is handing over datachips. With your security clearance, maps of the facility. Which is truly fairly basic.
Posh frowns a bit. "I don't like this, but it sounds like the facility's anti-air assets must have been taken over?" she asks. "Is there any indication or data, specifically, on what downed the supply flights?" she asks.
The MPRI officer shakes his head at the mention of AA defenses being compromised. "For one, it did not have stand off defenses..and none of our standard AA defenses are capable of engaging at those ranges. You'd be looking at weapons used to hunt Dragons."
Katral rubs his hands together. But stays silent.
Posh frowns thoughtfully. "Insertion by air is out," she says. "Unless…" She smirks a bit. "Well, i do -happen- to know someone with a watertight limousine and an air supply. It sounds like a submerged insertion and then traveling to the facility on ground level would be perfect for this one. But, she'd probably drink deeply from our payouts, and we should think of another solution to this problem," she says. "It looks like an air insertion is absolutely out."

Slinger looks at the map. "All right. It could be unrelated, then. Probably is, unless it's a bigger situation than we thought." He considers. "So there is a possibility that the facility no longer even exists. That it's been taken over by… whatever." The youth furrows his brow, thoughtfully, and then nods. "Astral recon is a must."

Posh turns to Slinger. "You can do that from here, right?" she asks.'
Katral turns to Posh "Actually, I'd like your idea more. Unless there are giant squid near there or something."
Slinger chuckles. "I've never tried it from halfway across the planet," he says. "Guess I could, but my chances of finding it are… yeah. Let's just say that GPS doesn't work well in the astral. If we have a base on the continent, that makes it easier. All you have in the astral are landmarks."
Slinger could project from the plane while it's on approach.
Pohs nods to Slinger. "Ah, I see," she says, taking a brief look at the sat photos of the facility. "So the facility is an hour away from the coast. By what? Foot, car, thunderbird, camel?" she asks.
Slinger regards the map for a moment. "So let me get this straight. We're looking at doing a transatlantic flight, and landing at that airstrip, directly. That plane is /going/ to get attacked by whatever's taken out that facility, most likely, so I hope you're sending something armed for bear. Could be paracritters, I agree. Where were the people when you lost contact with them?" asks the young mage, as he considers.
Posh nods. "It is indeed," she says to Slinger. "That's why I suggested perhaps calling up submarine limo lady if we can't figure out something else. I've survived cutters antfarming my insides and a crazy supercommando with an LMG. But not even I'm interested in being the third plane to get shot down."
The MPRI Man smirks -just- a bit at Slinger.

"At least with you -on- a plane, you can take a handle of the situation, and this plane is meant for speed. It's technically what would be used for medical evacs. Much faster, and it isn't going to run basic drone AI."

Then he looks at Posh for a moment, she clearly has no idea that Africa is another continent, then back to Slinger.

"Last we had eyes on, they were entering a sand storm under Corporation Orders. Then we never heard from them again. That was several days ago."

Slinger nods thoughtfully. "All right. So." The youth exhales. "I think we need to be ready to parachute in. Or levitate," he says with a smirk. "Because I want out before the plane lands. I'm nervous in aircraft. They have a nasty tendency to get shot, stop flying, and I'm often safer outside of them than inside." He grins. "Paradoxical in its own way. I'll need to grab gear and then I'm ready. When and where?"
Posh rolls her eyes. "I was talking about an airdrop shortly off the coast, for the submarine, and then she gets picked up," she says, patiently to the unimagniative MPRI man who completely misunderstands her intentions. "But, if we're going in with a vastly different resources, then, well, I suppose that's enough for me," she says, glancing at the different uploads of the shot-down cargo vessels and the high-threat insertion vehicle. "So we'll be disembarking directly on the strip. Got it," A small smile, and she turns to the others. "All right. We'll stop by my stash on the way out to load up. I want to bring a few special surprises: bola rounds and netguns on this one," she says. "I can sort us some Roomsweepers to fire them out, or a shotgun if you can use them," she suggests.
People can rush around and do their things of acquiring gear, the plane at the Denver Airfield is infact, marked as a medical vehicle, a sleek twin engined plane. That is being remotely rigged. It at least is much smaller then lumbering cargo planes meant to resupply field bases. There's enough seating for people to stretch out for the half day high speed burn. To Africa. Infact, nothing seems out of place until the coast line! When the Radio begins to spout German.
German? Slinger spricht Deutsch! At least, with the aid of his Mnemonic Enhancers, which provide the vocabulary he needs when he needs it. He then eyes the radio. "Sausages?" he asks. "Are we flying over German-controlled lands?" The youth stares at the radio for a moment, then picks up the mic and hands it to Katral. "You sound more German than I do. I sound like a Warrens kid tryin' to pronounce things," grunts the young mage.
For those who -speak- German? The message is sounding off in a tinny racket..but it's definitely some one confirming they have identified a British bomber and are breaking off to engage!
Katral raises a hand, while shuffling towards the exit with a newly acquired backpack. "Uuuh, by the by, this thing got any weapons or drones? We may've incoming planes?"

Slinger growls. The young mage hunts around for something akin to a window. "Just tell me that they got actual windows and not just sensors and display screens!" He moves through the plane, and then toward the cockpit. "I do /not/ want to have to ride on the tail!" And on the way, he glances at the altimeter, if there is one.
«Auto-Judge[]» Katral (#293) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5
Posh glances at Sling, turning quickly. "Can you…shatter something or shred something very quickly?" she asks, looking around for anything reflective inside the plane. She goes first for the survival supplies Katral brought, looking for some of those kinda shiny metallic survival blankets.
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Intelligence:
4 4 4 5 5 8
"For fuck's sake, I thought I was born a hundred twenty years too late to be shot down by the Jerries," whines Posh.
Katral says "Why'd ya ask? I don't think my meat's any good. Too stringy."
It doesn't take much to see the rusted, pitted, some how flying fighter with the Iron Cross. a FW-190. A butcher bird..and the plane they are on is quite low <Well, fast and low is a pretty solid way to avoid radar. But this fighter lacks it, it was using it's good ole eyeballs!>. The runners can even see the decayed pilot as the plane closes in with in a few hundred meters. This plane must have sat on the ocean floor for a century and yet flies again. Fortunately, their plane has myriad hatches. Unfortunately? It's still a Butcherbird
Katral dons his parachute one way or the other. "So, no air-to-air weaponry? Not like we can just stick our head out and fire at it, right?"
Katral picks up a nearby radio device, keys in the same frequency they called over, and starts speaking German"
Katral says in German, "* * * * * *"
«Auto-Judge[]» Indrakshi (#6312) rolls 1 for "Do bad things happen":
2
Just like that..as Katral speaks German, the Butcherbird begins to back off, doing the wing tip waggle and peeling away to disappear into the clouds..as a Distinctly -British- Voice begins to speak.

"Tally Ho! We've found Rommel's transport! Lets put him into the drink!"

And then banking from upon high, a Spitfire, in similiar conditions as the Butcherbird, begins to scream down at the transport plane!
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Intelligence for "Perception":
1 1 1 3 3 3 4 5 14 15
Katral knocks his head against the wall. Figures.
Katral says "We're, uuuh, we're not German either! We're…. Swiss!"
Katral tries his best to speak in a bad southern German accent. Which would be 100 years ahead of its time.
"What the hell?" asks Slinger. He eyes the spitfire, and works on keeping it in his field of view. "Get on the radio and call it off. Rommel? What the frag?" Slinger growls. "If he shoots at is, I'm taking him out," the young mage says. "I'll try to be gentle."
"We've got nothing to worry about," she says. "Low velocity twenty-millimeter cannon," says Posh. "I presume that the downed cargo transports were unarmored?" she asks. "Wait, though…that's only if they're shooting shells," she says. "Not if they're shooting whatever magic lets those things still fly."

She spots the Spit, however, arching an eyebrow, then looking over to Katral, and then the others, drawing upon the times she's been around Carpenter, her reading, pretty much everything she has to draw upon.

"Negative. We are a transport carrying internees from Switzerland," she explains. "Both British and German recovering prisoners are aboard."
Slinger glances over. "We're doin' what? Do they think this is 1945 or something?" the youth asks. "What the frag?" It makes no sense to Slinger, who /knows/ as a mage that time travel doesn't actually happen. "Somebody's fraggin' crazy." He nonetheless keeps the spitfire in his line of sight. Windows.
Posh is British, the undead Pilot is British. It's all very confusing, I mean, even if not for the undead part, but the Spitfire pulls up level, and the dessicated corpse inside the cockpit does a visual inspection of the plane. It has red cross markings, and a wing waggle and crisp salute follow.

"Good showing then! Careful of the Jerry!" The spitfire remarks and dives low, to chase the butcherbird!

*PLAYERS RPED THEIR WAY OUT OF BEING BOUNCED BY TWO FIGHTER PLANES!*
Katral wipes sweat off his brow. "Phew. Glad we weren't flying in with a fighter plane now."
It /could/ be an illusion. And just to make sure, Shawn shifts his vision into the astral, looking closely at the plane as it passes. "This makes no fraggin' sense," he says again, his voice a low growl. He sounds annoyed.
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Centering + 3 (centering focus) vs TN 2 for "Centering against BG count, etc.":
1 1 1 3 4 5 5 5 9 9 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "Astral Perception.":
1 1 2 2 2 3 4 5 5 7 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Aura Reading vs TN 4 for "Complementary.":
1 3 4 5 = 2 Successes
Posh takes a deep breath. "Well," she says. "I had to come up with something that didn't ruined the cover, but also had to be friendly with the Germans, yet meant that the 'We're Swiss' exclamation would still work. Fortunately, I remembered that we have the medical markings," she says, taking a deep breath. "As impossible as it might sound…" She says. "It sounds like…like they think the war'd still on," she says. "I mean the one from 120 years ago."
«Plot» Indrakshi says, "Slinger; it glows, but it's not an illusion. You would guess some how, the Mana storm ..reanimated things."
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Magic BG:
1 1 3 4 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Magic BG for "KP 1":
1 1 4 5 8
Slinger knows these aren't illusion, just delightfully impossible. Fortunately, you staved off being shot down by either of the pilots, who are engaged in a rolling dog fight as your plane zips through. Fortunately? Landing is -alot- easier now, the remote rigged plane coming in for a landing on the small airstrip. It just seems desolate with no one coming to meet you. But the base is very much so intact and you all have the credentials to access most of the buildings!
"So… maybe the mana storm reanimated something from the past. Or brought something through… well, I guess time travel into the future isn't ruled out. Hell, General Relativity says that it's very possible. Just never known magic to really manipulate time and space. But with manastorms… well, you never know."
The young mage lights up a cigarette as he watches, inhaling deeply, and he stares at the dogfight beneath him. "I feel like we should intervene. But… if there were a LOT of them reanimated, then we may well have a serious problem. If there's a whole squadron of planes… still trying to fight a war that's 120 years old…"

Katral nods his head at the magical people describing things he has no idea about. "uuuh, sure?"
Katral says "I'll be honest with you, I just thougth the guys on the radio were insane re-enacting gangers strung out on something running ancient tech"
Posh shakes her head. "Did you get a glance at him? His face was as leathery as my boot," she says, looking back to Slinger. "Well," she says. "Here's the question. Do you want to be be British or German?" she asks. "We've got one German-speaker and one proper Brit," She frowns a little bit. "How's your German? Could you pretend to be a Czech who doesn't speak fantastic southern German?" she asks.
The base by the by, has a Command Center, near to the air field, probably a good place to start trying to find out how a security team just goes dark!
Katral says "Worst comes to worst, I can do a smattering of Italian? Or possibly Russian-ish something. Or if we're going for the neutral countries, Sweden. Since that's what we're going for here, right, countries from World War… was it 1 or two, I forget."
Slinger chuckles. "I think," he says, "that I'd like to be invisible. I'll be the voice in your head… and I'll be the magic behind the scenes. Your secret weapon." Slinger furrows his brow, and then steps back. "I'm going to get into my armor. Because things may get very interesting. You're thinking of doing it socially, trying to schmooze our way in?" he asks. He looks at Posh. Looks at Katral. "If these guys have taken over the base, we may have an interesting time of it. Because no way do we look like we're from that era. I've got pointed ears, too," smirks the elf.

Posh shakes her head. "There'd be no reason for Swedes to be off the coast of Morocco at the time," she says. "Well," she says, thinking for a moment, before she curses. "Drat," she says, looking up at Katral. "Italian?" she asks, with a smile. "Perfect. What we want is to not be able to 'make' our accents. By this time, most of the Italian units were further east, although you could certainly liase," she says, drawing on her memory. "Another good thing is Germans are less likely to be Italian uniforms." She nods, thinking for a moment, turning to Slinger. "Pretend you're a doctor, and I'm your assistant, nurse…no less important, I know nothing about medicine. Servant?" she asks. "Ward, perhaps?" She chuckles. "In any case, I think that's how we should go for this," She says, nodding at Katral. "You're an Italian desert observer who's escorting two enemy medical /civilians./" She grins. "This is the first outpost of opportunity before you help us get to Casablanca. How's that sound?" she asks, with a little chuckle, bringing palm to forehead. "Fuck," she says. "You're right, we're not going to pull this off with a normal cover. Sometimes these things are quite the hassle."
Katral says "I can do a few medical procedures, like… uuuh, splints and the like. I'm no expert though. Hand me some uniforms or something with a red cross on it and I can make a good pass of it."
«Plot» Indrakshi says, "I'll rule due to the fact this base is multi function, you can find stuff to reasonably resemble medical staff!"
«Plot» Indrakshi says, "So what do you guys do first then? You can explore the base, or go off into the desert. There's one or two land rovers left."
<Auto-Judge[]» Katral (#293) rolls Disguise:
1 4 5

"Don't worry about me. If these guys are /actually/ from that era, they'll have no mojo at all," says Slinger. "If that's actually what happened. Meaning that I'll be able to be completely invisible until I'm needed. This is going to be… interesting, at best." He drags hard on his cigarette, and grins. "You'll need some of my smokes. I don't think they had cigarettes with filters," he points out, with a chuckle. He pauses. "I can also disguise one or both of you."
Posh nods and she smiles at Katral. "I was thinking you'd be an Italian soldier," she says. "But we don't know what happened. These could be far more recently dead corpses. It could be anything. The only thing we know is that they /fix/ it," she suggests.
Katral snatches one of the ciggs, already on his way to putting a makeshift uniform on, made from whatever cloth and leftover survival gear he can scavenge from the plane. Some rubber gloves and plastic bags become scrubs, one of the oxygen masks becomes, well, an actual mask. And a nice big red cross is made from some tape and red marker.
Katral says "Oh, soldier? Dang, lemme get all this off."
«Auto-Judge[]» Katral (#293) rolls Intelligence for "What do I see in the local area":
2 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 10
"I didn't know you smoked," Slinger says. "Huh. Learn something new all the time," remarks the young elf. He lights up a fresh one, while he works on putting his armor on, getting equipped. "All right. Tell me how you want to appear," he says to Posh, firmly. "I won't be able to adjust it once it's activated." He reaches up to remove the earring in his right ear, and then carefully holds it out to Posh.
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Magic vs TN 2 for "Filtering. Duration is 13 * 9= 117 turns.":
1 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 7 7 9 9 9 = 14 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 7 (power focus) vs TN 4 for "Physical Mask, F4 into focus":
1 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 10 10 10 = 15 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Willpower + Sorcery Pool: 3 vs TN 3 for "F4, +1M, 3M drain.":
2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 7 11 = 10 Successes
As Slinger begins doing his finger wiggling, it seems Katral is poking around. He finds the empty drone bays, the missing land rovers. Leaving two behind <one of which looks like it's at least a decade older then the other>. Then he finds the command center..and a sleu of waiting messages on the main frame!
Katral peers at the mainframe, with its many secrets and lovely messages to spill into his eyes. Or possibly ears. He isn't particular about it.
«Auto-Judge[]» Katral (#293) rolls Computers + Task Pool: 3 for "Let me know your innermost secrets, son of computers":
1 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 9 10 20
<Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 4 + 7 (power focus) vs TN 4 for "Improved Invis F6 into focus.":
1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 8 10 = 8 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Willpower + Sorcery Pool: 3 vs TN 4 for "F6, +1M, 4M drain.":
1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 9 17 = 9 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 4 + 7 (power focus) vs TN 5 for "Levitate, F3, into focus.":
1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 10 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Willpower + Sorcery Pool: 3 vs TN 3 for "F3, +2M, 3M drain.":
1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 9 9 = 9 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 7 (power focus) vs TN 10 for "Increase Reflexes F4 into focus, TN is reaction (10).":
1 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 8 9 21 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 7 (power focus) - 1 (succs) vs TN 10 for "Increase Reflexes F4 into focus, TN is reaction (10). KP 2/41":
1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 8 11 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Willpower + Sorcery Pool: 5 vs TN 3 for "F4, +1D, 3D drain.":
1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 8 11 = 12 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 4 + 7 (power focus) vs TN 4 for "Stealth, F6, into focus.":
1 1 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 7 7 7 9 10 11 = 13 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Willpower + Sorcery Pool: 4 vs TN 4 for "F6, +1M, 4M drain.":
1 1 1 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 7 8 9 17 = 8 Successes
Katral indeed, can access the myriad messages on the mainframe. More or less a security log going over things. Rather dull until Katral accesses the more recent logs. They mention the planes going down. They mention a drone going out into the Desert collecting samples being shot at. It details the fact the security team ended up being ordered out there by Corporation officials. It then goes over how about 100 Kliks out, they engaged an enemy force. Numbering some thirty men, with a 'Piece of Drek old tank'. There is Images; they have the German Iron Cross, they are skeletal, and definitely antiquated uniforms and firearms. He also notices a trend..monitoring posts are going dark..in a beeline..for Kasserine Pass! Which is -about- where they are!
Commlink-Slinger> Slinger sends, « Comm check, Slinger. »
Commlink-Sneaker> Katral sends, « Well, seems despite being ragged as all hell, these guys can put up a fight. And whatever is doing this is getting… closer, I think? »
Commlink-Sneaker> Katral sends, « Famous last stand, anyone? Got a lil while 'fore they get here, few hours at least. »
Commlink-Slinger> Slinger sends, « The mana storm has passed, hasn't it? »
Posh gives a grin. "Well," she says. "I brought a flaregun, a couple roomsweepwers with bola rounds, and a net gun," she says. "But I've got nothing to use against that tank. We had no advance notice of advance vehiceles," she says. "Look to see if any of the enemy soldiers are carrying what looks like…just a tube with a ball on the end," she suggests. "What they used to use before we had multiple-grenade launchers."

Katral rolls up his sleeves, then rolls them back down, remembering he's wearing armor. "Oh, yeah. Didn't you bring anything flammable yaself?"
Slinger considers that. "We got anything that can penetrate modern APC armor?" he asks. "Because I got nothin'. My spells are going to bounce off of it. Explosives… maybe." He draws hard on his cigarette, and then chuckles. "Of course, they use gas, right? It won't have modern sensors. I can sneak up on it and climb up and drain the gastask." He grins. "Or open the top."

Katral points to the plane. "I left some high-grade boom in there, about enough to level a few buildings at least. Should be enough to split that thing wide open."
Katral says "Now, if only we could make it roll over it…"
Slinger nods thoughtfully. "All right," he says, upon being given new information. "Well, easy way to do it. Give me the explosive-thingy. I'll carry it out there, plant it on the thing, we set it off, and boom. No more tank." He considers. "But they said 'skeletal'. What if they're dual natured and can see into the astral?"

Posh frows a bit as she sees the security team engaged by the tank. She watches the dessicated Germans closely to see how they fight. Are they fast, slow, do they seem as smart as before, that sort of thing.
«Plot» Indrakshi says, "Posh; they move and fight..just like they did 120 some years ago. They're using cover, they provide fire support with the tank. They have MG42s."
And with that, Slinger looks at the map, checking the relevant landmarks and distances. And then he finds a place for his body — and detaches from it. He checks the immediate environment around the base first, looking for anything unusual — and then he heads off in that direction, exercision caution as he draws up closer to their estimated position.
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Stealth (Astral Observers) + Astral Pool: 13:
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 7 7 9 11 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Stealth (Astral Observers) + Astral Pool: 13 for "KP 1":
1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 7 7 8 15
The usual vermin are about; devil rats, things like that, but they aren't the concern. No, it's the fact Slinger finds about thirty some Germans and a tank, doggedly marching along the way <Destroying monitoring posts in classic assault tactics>. When he gets closer? He can see them pointing rifles towards him and firing. Now..they can't actually hit him, but they're firing their small arms. Tank does seem rather oblivious though!
"Whatever we're dealing with…" she says. "Is it possible that they're actually spirits themselves?" she asks. "They're fighting exactly like I've seen in the footage," she explains.
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Intelligence for "Assensing. TN is 4+BGcount":
3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 10 10
"And I mean a hundred and twenty year old footage. So these guys are not just animated corpses in German uniforms. They are…long dead German soldiers, they're just not dead anymore."
Commlink-Sneaker> Katral sends, « Think we may need to set up and ambush for these things. Problem is, all I've got is one, maybe two shots with the explosives, unless we run at it and try and throw the explosive at it. Resulting in whoever runs at it being turned to mincemeat »
Commlink-Sneaker> Katral sends, « Anything we can scavenge from the base's defenses? »
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 7 + 7 (power focus) vs TN 3 for "Stunball, F6, targetted far enough away from me that I'm outside the blast. Targetting at S damage.":
1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 9 9 10 16 = 13 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Willpower vs TN 2 for "F6, -1(DL+1), 2D drain.":
1 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 7 = 10 Successes
Posh grins at Slinger. "Can you cover it with oil or something by snapping your fingers?" She seems to be as clueless about magic as she was when she first met Slinger.
«Auto-Judge[]» Indrakshi (#6312) rolls 1 for "How many does Slinger hit?":
5
Slinger sends out a wave of energy. Getting shot at isn't much fun right now. But this is a test — to see if the stun energy affects them physically, like it would a spirit. He sends out a wave of it, even as he moves upward, his astral form taking to the skies above, and he sends the wave downward to resonate in a massive, spreading ball of magical energy. On the astral, it is impressive. On the physical realm, less so, since the spell has literally no existence there.
When Slinger drops a number of the Germans, they displace in a staggered line and proceed forward in a charge, the tank rumbling forward, High Explosive shells pummeling likely positions. They seem to think they are in an ambush, and the best way to do things? Charge forward to close where the artillery is less useful! <Slinger, make me a Perception check in the astral>
Five of the things go down, collapsing into a pile of bones. The young mage considers, then zips back to his body, quickly.
« All right, » comes Slinger's voice over the comm. « I found them. And they're nasty. They're… basically reanimated corpses. Not true zombies. It's like… magic is animating them. Spirits, in a way. But the ones I faced weren't that tough. I actually was able to take out some from the astral. Wanted to consult before I did more, though! »
"They look like they think it's a standard artillery. Keep it up, and we'll open fire on them to make them seek cover," she says. "If they're being fired on it'll be much harder for them to notice what's happening." She looks for a place to get some cover and to rest up her smartguns - with reloading, she'll be able to really lay down a hail of fire on that approaching situation, but she also has to move before the tank gun swings to engage.
«Auto-Judge[]» Slinger (#69) rolls Intelligence for "Perception":
1 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 10 16
You paged Slinger with 'Slinger! You..see far away into the desert, a much bigger glow. You think it is..two armies fighting.'.
Slinger pauses. "The trouble, though, is that this isn't all there is. This is a scout force. This is basically an expeditionary force. These guys are just the lead troops." He lights a cigarette. "This is a bout to get nasty."
The downside to being dual natured, unaware, and undead? They can't grasp the concept of Slinger being any thing but a Liason aircraft. Not that the team would understand this, they can't truly get in their minds. To the German Reanimates? They're under artillery fire from dogged US Defenders. Their tank retreating when many of the Panzergrenadiers end up fried by Slinger. There's some Second World War relics from the dead..and in a few days, the residual energy of the Manastorm resides. Leaving the forgotten dead..Forgotten again.

Yet does this foreshadow perhaps..War leaves new problems for the future? What if an SS unit had ever revived some where in the world? Instead of trying to capture it's objective..perhaps it would turn to killing -all- of metahumanity. The Humanis would surely abuse this yes? But..well. They'll never know..at least not -here-.

END LOG.

GM NOTE:
Players were all having to leave, etc. So I cut it short. Also I didn't fully think through what -Slinger- could do to these man. The Run would have been incredibly difficult if not for Slinger. A PZIV. Mortar fire, MMGs. Proper infantry tactics from doggedly resistant undead German Soldiers from the Second World War.
They also managed to avoid fights with -two- fighters, who could have easily dropped their transport.

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