[OW] Die Hards: Eleventh Hour

[Steel Company]

Taking out her utility knife, Scarlett moved into the compartment to cut free the straps as she says to him, “Thanks for the support against the green skins, but we’ve got about nine hours to finish an eight and a half hour march if we want to cross the green line. So we’ve got to go, like now.”

 

As the straps came free, Scarlett grabbed the first aid kit, carbine and power cells as she handed her rifle off to the midshipmen and started to make her way away from the bird.

[Mazer Rackham]

Scarlett:

 

"Don't you have a vox?  Or a transport?  I'm Midshipman Halbast, by the way," he makes the introductions with hurried courtesy, before looking down at the Lasgun in his hand, as though not entirely sure how to hold it.

 

He pales as he sees the corpse of an Ork, crushed and hurled against a tree bole by his aircraft's impromptu landing.  He suddenly stumbles sideways, and fumbles the rifle up in the air, only to drop it into the river, before hurling himself behind a rock.

 

"Orks!  Take cover soldier!"

 

The Lasgun clatters down the river and is lost to the torrent.

[Steel Company]

She watches the rifle float away and hangs her head and sighs out, “You landed on them Sir, right when they were ambushing my squad. I’m convict Katherine of the One-Oh-One stationed at Outpost Lambda, my squad is heading to a place where they hope to grab a Chimera to get us across the green line before the bombardment starts.”

 

After a moment she starts moving to the ledge as she tells him, “No vox, that’s up ahead with the squad, now we need to move.” As she starts to head down she calls back to him, “Please tell me you’ve done more than use a las weapon outside of basic training?”

[Mazer Rackham]

Scarlett:

 

"You're a...convict?" he looks rather embarrassed as he picks himself up, and rubs the back of his neck as he follows you from the hulk of his bird.  In reply to your question, he pats his Laspistol holster, and the leather gives a reassuring tap to show it's full, but he remains silent as to his competency with it.

 

"Vox and a chimera up ahead, you say," he takes another look at your bloodied and bruised condition. "Very good.  Get me off this mountain then, Sol- er, Katherine."

 

His words are noticeably welded together with the unspoken 'carry on peasant' most blue-bloods use, that wasn't there a few minutes before.  He clasps his hands behind his back and follows you at a stroll.

[Steel Company]

“I wasn’t always a convict, Sir. I was a Tempestus, Sir, and I give you my word to try and get you out of here, but don’t you think for an instant, I am going to put up with you talking down to me.” She responds in a tone that borders on telling him to go and fornicate with himself, while she started her descent back down.

[Mazer Rackham]

Stimms:

 

The platoon commander receives no real reply apart from blank stares and comrades looking wary.

 

Whisper, who is blind responds for everyone.  "I think I'm glad I can't see."

 

Judge takes him by the shoulder.  "Alright then, let's check it out.  Skirmish formation, be careful."

 

A sharp cry, perhaps a monkey or one of the Horon Parakeets chirps out, but it sounds like dreadful mockery of what is, in effect, a war grave.

 

As I noted before Beren, go ahead and build as little or as much narrative as you want.   Everyone is indeed dead.  The only sounds are from the canopy above, and the hissing from the Vox.

 

Scarlett: 

 

Halbast blinks in surprise, then realises you're marching away.  "Wait!  I'll make sure you'll get a medal for pulling me from the Valkyrie!  I am awfully grateful!  Katherine?"

 

He staggers after you, kicking shale and small pebbles all over the place, and otherwise speaking as loudly as he can.

[Steel Company]

Scarlett pops her head back up, an irritated look on her face as she says back, “If you don’t shut your trap, Sir, you might bring more Orks. And as for your medal, I don’t care about it, it won’t get me back to the D-82 or make my crime if you can even call it that go away. I just want to get to HQ and get three hots and a cot. Now hurry up!”

 

With that, she returns to climbing back down.

[Beren]

Stimms rises his voice, if only slightly, above the noises of the chattering fauna.

 

"Sir, if you would, I'd like to go and check out the med-ftent, see if there's anything left we can put to use, maybe see if there's anything more I can do for Wide-eyes,"

 

Waiting for Judge to authorise his request, Stimms tugs Wide-eyes by the elbow and gestures ahead.

 

"C'mon, you know the way, dont you lad?"

[Mazer Rackham]

Scarlett:

 

Thankfully, the descent is a little quieter, if socially awkward.  Halbast, while reasonably fit, is nowhere near combat condition, and is forced to stop, either bracing on his knees or perching his posterior for a minute.  He is beginning to behind, although not by much, and it is likely lucky that walking downhill is speeding him up.  His silence allows you to think, to read the lie of the land and gauge the best route to the bend in the river agreed with Judge, where you expect to meet him.

 

It's going to be a cross-country slog to make that rendezvous.

 

This vantage point provides a spot for you to plot the link-up.

 

Please make a Difficult (-10) Navigation (Surface) Test.  Failure by 2 Degrees will add 1 Hour to your travel due to going the wrong way, thicker brush than anticipated or simply evading a bevy of Ork patrols.  Failure by 4 or more Degrees will add 1 Hour and +1 Fatigue .  Success by 2 Degrees will cut an hour of your time and you will link up early.

 

This is up to you to narrate.  Halbast is a JTAC/FAC type, so will know the area (albeit from top down), and may assist you/allow a re-roll on the test if you ask him nicely.

 

Stimms:

 

Judge waves you onward, whilst he takes the others up, over a small ridge of soil which forms the outer berm of the camp.  Even Lughead seems to sense the oppressive nature of what was wrought here, moving carefully, menacing the trees with his ripper gun, jaw set in pugilistic determination, daring the Orks to reappear.

 

The truth of the situation is simple: the rest of the 101st is dead, completely overrun by Greenskins.

[Beren]

Stimms lightly prods Wise-eyes to keep the other Penal Legionnare in front of him, occasionally throwing a glance at the others as the two grew more distant from the group.

 

They weave and meander their way through bodies and collapsed tents, with Stimms stopping briefly to scavenge every time he sees somebody else marked as a medic.

 

At last he pushes the other trooper into the medical dugout, relaxing into a casual slouch once inside but grimacing as he did so. Half a greenskin corpse lay slumped over on the floor, it's ichor splattered across the walls. The bodies of the former bedbound patients were little better, most showing signs of hving been brutlly hacked at while they lay helpless.

 

Who had used the grenade that killed the Ork, Stimms didn't know. Frankly, nor did he care. Instead of lamenting, he hunches over and starts to scrutinise the wreckage for anything that might be of use.

 

"You know Wide-eyes,  this whole place in gonna be a pile of slag in a few ours. Provided we get ourselves clear, it strikes me that the only way command knows we got clear is that we walk up to them and tell them ourselves. if we didn't..."

 

Stimms unfolds to his to his full, if diminuitive, height and turns to face the other trooper directly.

 

"Not that Judge would hear word of this mind. Still, if the God-Emperor were to provide an opportune moment, I'd say that'd be a pretty good indicatior of 'is will. Just... be ready, that's all I'm saying"

 

The medic smiles broadly, reassuringly.

[Steel Company]

Scarlett rolled her eyes as the Midshipmen tried to keep up, but at least he was quiet now. Taking a knee and lifting her carbine to her shoulder and sighting down the built-in scope to look over what’s ahead of them. Pressing her lips together as she lowers the weapon before she starts to draw a rough example of what she saw in the dirt and rocks around them.

“I can help with that if you want.” The Midshipmen spoke.

“I’m good, Sir.” She responded as she looked at the layout.

Navigation (surface hard-10 TN: 23): 1d100 11
Pass with 1 DoS

After a moment she wiped it out with a hand before saying to him, “We’re going to stick near the river, but about twenty meters into the brush to avoid any possible patrols either from the air or surface near the shore.”

Getting up and getting her weapon ready, she looked over her right shoulder at him as she added, “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Do you understand?”

He shook his head and she sighed, shaking her head as she explained, “We don’t want to go too fast to leave a mark and make it easy to track us. Orks are dumb, but we don’t want to make it easy for them to follow us. So shut up, and step where I step and we might make it out of this and meet up with my squad on time.”

[Mazer Rackham]

Stimms:

 

Just as you smile, you hear the damning thunder.

 

"Stimms!"

 

It doesn't quite sound the way you expected Him On Earth to sound.  In fact, it sounds a lot like Judge.

 

"STIMMS!"

 

It's coming from the CP Bunker.

 

If you move to the CP Bunker, you'll find Walker and Judge outside.  Inside will be Nails, barely clinging to life, pinned to the Vox console with alien blades.  He's in critical condition.

 

Scarlett:

 

You trek carefully onward, the long grasses and thick foliage hide your small party as you carefully work your way towards the rendezvous, sensing where you are relative to the mountains, and the sun baking the foetid greenery around you.

 

Alert for anything, you are distracted by the sound of soft splashing behind you, and turn to find Halbast caking mud over his blue Navy uniform.  He is also attaching foliage to his belt and epaulettes, and although his actions are...well intended...his personal camouflage attempt is somewhat lacking.  He gives you an emphatic 'thumbs-up', just as you hear the tread of heavy feet thrashing into mud, and guttural growling.

 

There's definitely more than one of them.

 

Halbast pales and looks like he's going to faint.

 

Please make a Routine(?) (+20) Concealment Test due to thick cover you're hiding in, and the fact you were moving slowly enough to halt smoothly.  I'll roll for Halbast off-screen.  Any attempt to move suddenly will negate the bonus.

[Steel Company]

With a careful hand motion to avoid making a sound or disturbing the foliage around her Scarlett motioned for the Midshipmen to hide as she herself lowered into the tall grass and carefully brought up her carbine and waited.

 

Silently she spoke a prayer to the Emperor, Oh Emperor of man, please let me live through this and survive this midshipman’s idiocy.

 

There is no concealment skill, the closest I could find is Stealth  (page 132 OW sourcebook, second line:  A character with the Stealth Skill can move silently or conceal themselves from others, either to escape from their foes or take them by surprise.)

 

TN: 75 (AGI 35, +20 from training, +20 mod)

Stealth Check: 1d100 11

Pass with 6 DoS!

 

[Beren]

"Throne-above!"

 

Stimms grabbed his lasgun and sprinted out of the medical dugout, Wide-eyes trailing behind him as the medic scrambled his way towards the bellowing voice. He stumbles a couple of times in his urgency, but makes it to bunker without injuring himself. Judge jerks his head inside, and Stimms gingerly peers around the doorway.

 

Nails was pale, blood leaking from his wounds as his head slumped downwards towards his chest. The Orks either knew what they were doing or were supremely incompetent, because every spot that might have done him in quickly had been missed. Didn't mean that shock and blood loss wouldn't finish the job through.

 

"Wide-eyes, come here. Gonna need your help, need to remove the blades one by one, bind each wound before we move on to the next. If they 'adn't left him pinned up there he'd be long gone by now."

 

Dice roll if required-

Int 40 + Experienced Medicae 20 + Medkit 20 = 80 before further modifiers.

d100: 24 (5 DoS)

[Mazer Rackham]

Stimms:

 

The senior Vox operator is in bad shape, but you have saved his life.  He manages to whisper a few words before passing out.

 

"Judge?  Last transport.  Thunder.  Point.  Thirteen..." then he slumps unconscious.

 

You and Wide-eyes are the only witnesses.  The CP Bunker, as you'd expect is covered in maps and half-destroyed cipher books.

 

Perhaps an opportunity...

 

Scarlett:

 

There are six greenskins.  You can hear them distinctly now.  Breath grunts into the air above you, the smell of rotten meat, the type you don't want to know about, floats down to settle around your hiding place.  You can see Halbast opposite, the reeds and grass wrap around his shoulders in an odd kind of quiff.  The Ork patrol are uncannily quiet.  As one enters view, you can see it's brutish face and piggy, red eyes are broken up by different shades of woad, and his gear is taped down, or tied off.

 

This is the most professional looking Ork you've seen on this moon to date, and it obvious it is one of the fabled Kommandos that the brass dismissively laughs at.

 

They are punishingly real.

 

Halbast is shaking like the leaves around him, and he seems to slowly lowering himself into the water.  As he does, there's a splashing sound, and a brief glance out of the corner of your eye reveals the Ork next to your position is relieving himself.

 

Whilst it may be of little comfort - the satisfaction of blue-blood Halbast sharing the sewer and getting splashed - it is a relief when the Orks move on, melting into the swamplands without having even grunted orders.

[Steel Company]

Scarlett holds he breath waiting for a good few minutes for the Ghosts of Horon to move on before she uses her rifle to sight in on them as much as she can and try to record the image of the Ghosts of Horon.

 

Once they are out of sight she waves over the midshipmen so that they can continue their careful and quiet approach to link up with the squad.

[Beren]

For a moment, Stimms is silent, standing over the critically injured Legionarre. Then he's a flurry of movement, moving from one wall to the nest, his finger whipping from map to chart to geographical survey to reconnaissance reports...

 

"Thirteen... Thunder Point Thirteen... Where in drought-dammed Terra is it?"

[Mazer Rackham]

Scarlett:

 

You push on through Oliphant grass strong enough to slice Guard fatigues and inflict nicks and cuts on the fingers that are annoying more than anything else.  As the miles tick by and you both you and Halbast get used to swatting insects from your face.  You discover a particularly nasty frondleech six inches long clinging to your calf.  it has bitten through the clothing to get at your blood.  It's stalk-stem eyes look up at you belligerently, almost daring you to do something.

 

Or maybe that's just the heat and stink of Ork urine getting to you.

 

"Katherine," Halbast hisses, he's holding up a silver-chased hip flask, and a dead frondleech.  "Evil little bastards eh?  Can't hold their booze though!" he whispers loudly.  He stalks closer, offering you the flask.  A rich aroma of powerful alcohol wafts from the neck and on his breath.

 

How long he's been 'sipping' is anyone's guess, but it shouldn't be long now until the rendezvous.

 

If the survivors made it that far.

 

Stimms:

 

The charts and tables reveal the location of a water-borne transport called The Medusa, at Thunder Point, a staging zone built onto a the river before it joins the confluence of the Daggerback Falls, the mouth of the river that cuts through the swamps, tearing a great scar across the moon's face.  Hastily scribbled notes suggest it arrives at 1300hrs today.  A quick finger-measure shows it an hours' march away.

 

You can see Judge is obviously trying to take you across the bridge that spans the river, connecting to the long, long road to the Sawtooth Camp, which is beyond the bombardment zone.

 

The rendezvous point with Scarlett - if she even survived - is close by.  It would just be a case of an opportune moment...

[Beren]

Stimms begins to meticulously remove the charts, stowing them in his gear whilst simultaneously attempting to memorise them, his mind ticking over as he did so. 

 

This might just be it, this might just be what got him out of this mess, out of the Legion! Just an hour... Well, just an hour was still an hour through hostile jungle that served as the breeding grounds for the most hostile fungal infection he'd ever seen. Without Judge, or the Ogryn... and they still needed a good moment to slip off. There was Scarlett... that would be a gamble, the same bloody gamble he'd normally refuse. Still, Stimms suspected he might have an inkling of which strings to tug at...

 

Of course, if anybody did survive that crash and she actually get them out (or if she, y'know, died) that whole plan would be drowned. Wouldn't be too bad, just pretend you found the charts on a corpse, play the helping hand as always.

 

However, there was one gamble he wasn't willing to take.

 

Briefly lifting his finger to his lips as he lools at Wide-eyes, Stimms turns for the entrance whilst fixist an impression of angst to his face and shuffling into Judge's view.

 

"Sir, I got 'im stable, but we try and move him and there's no way I can keep those wound closed. No way he can walk under his own power either."

[Steel Company]

Slinging her rifle for a moment Scarlett takes her survival knife and slowly starts to work it around the sucker of the leech, as it comes free, she drops it back into the water before taking the flask and rinsing out the bite, while making sure to dump the entire contents of the flask before telling the Midshipmen, “If you’ve been drinking this entire time, I won’t be able to save your hide if we get into a firefight.”

 

 

With the wound clear as well as the flask, she hands it back to him before taking out the first aid kit and starting to wrap a bandage around her calf as she continues to berate the Midshipmen, “Doing stuff like that, while in the field could have put us at risk with the Kommandos, what if they had smelt this on your breath? Or worse, what if you were doing spotting for artillery and were drunk? How would you feel if you dropped an entire Basilisk battery on friendlies because you were drunk?”

 

Look at him she lets off a sigh before getting back up and on her way again as she says to him, “Come on, we should be at the rendezvous point shortly.”

[Mazer Rackham]

Moon of Horon - Terullian Sub, Dalthus Sector c.920.M41

Grid Ref: 1011-2307-6.0MN (Thunder Point Bridge - Approach).

 

Time Until Naval Bombardment: 08:08:59

 

After gathering what supplies the squad can, the remaining troops of the 101^st march off from Firebase Condor.  Judge has taken the decision to leave Nails behind, and Whisper, tired and too traumatised to go on, has elected to stay behind with him, each man allotted one of Judges precious frag grenades and a spare laspistol.

 

His last words were "I'll just slow you down."

 

Judge pats Stimms on the shoulder with an appreciative nod for a good job, before he too leaves the scene, the Platoon Commander bringing up the rear this time, with Walker and Lughead out on point.

 

The Ogryn carefully tramps down the trail, with time of the essence, Judge has elected the worn path from the firebase in an attempt to squeeze the clock.  After half an hour's march, he checks his chrono and taps Wide-eyes on the shoulder, jerking his hand to pass the instruction down.

 

When all eyes are on him, Judge wheels his left hand over his head, and moves towards the Ogryn to make it simpler for his comrades to close on him.

 

"Alright, this is the spot.  Scarlet is due here in...five," he keeps his voice low.

 

Lughead is visibly agitated, sniffing the air as his ripper gun traverses the muddy trail.  "Boss, I konk rotgut."

 

"You sure?"

 

"Shure as breakfast, sah," he rumbles quietly.

 

"Alright, spread out, defensive circle, Lughead is the front.  Move."

 

Alright chaps, up to you how you tackle the next bit and rejoin with the squad.   There's some leeway here for checking maps and stuff.  For Beren, the trail to Thunder Point itself, will be coming up in the next "update", so it's nearby.  This is just to reconnect the squad, have some interaction between both players if desired.

[Beren]

Stimms motions to Wide-eyes to move back, well away from whatever's approaching. Five isn't a good number for a pair to slip away unnoticed, but if something happens...

 

Stimms raises his lasgun, and waits with a measured patience.

[Steel Company]

Scarlett makes a motion with her right hand to get low in the tall grass as she raises her carbine to check up a head to make sure it's the squad before stepping out into the open.

[Mazer Rackham]

Stimms/Scarlett:

 

Halbast watches Scarlett's hand signal, then looks to where she's pointing.  He peers and carefully discerns the shapes moving through the trees, shrubs and vines, all writhing with the wind and slick with the now lifting mist.

 

This gentle, almost pastoral scene is shattered quite handsomely by a braying snort reeking of exceptionally fine liquor.

 

"I say, is that an Ogryn?"

 

His blue-bloodedness is a rival to the oft-parodied Naval Officer abroad on a Pleasure World.

 

Loud and proud, it echoes through the trees.

[Steel Company]

"Throne!" Scarlett gives off a whisper cruse as she moves quickly to grab the Midshipmen by his belt and pull him down low, continuing to chide him, "Are you stupid or just ignorant? We encountered Ork Kommandos on the way here already!"