Ch. 6 Dark Heart of the Swamp

[Tori]

Tori broke the hug and began uncasing her bow. It was all business now. She looked at the two positions, and opted to use the boat for cover. It wasn't the best, but two fields of fire could be helpful.

"Remember, ballistic arcs with yer hi-ex arrows. Aim fer groups so we can get as many as we can in tha blast. We want 'em to think this is a mortar attack, and maybe they'll go squeelin' home to their mommies."

She moved to the boat and brought it between her and the rats. She peered out from underneath, watching and waiting for the attack. This was her first moment to really think about what she would do in a battle, rather than only reacting. As she opened her quiver, she took a pinch of catnip before lowering her visor. The stripy little cat made sure each arrow would arm in flight and waited for the inevitable, watching the swamp beyond.

Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Detect mines/traps [dice=100] needs 45
Camouflaged

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76
Prowl [dice=100] needs 85
Perception: [dice=20][rand=0329624279689774154706389467252700748062134790083915730759304359311]

[Mierin]

Sam freezes when she hears Shep's message over the radio and says "Good luck, Shep." She is surprised by the hugs but just quickly hugs back and nods at the cats. Sam has worked with Shep long enough to not count him out too easily. She wouldn't believe it was actually Shep that was gone until she saw a body and, based on past events, she would have a hard time believing it until it was guaranteed it was actually him.

Getting herself mentally prepared, Sam keeps a sharp eye open for signs of rats. If she sees one, she'll fire on it immediately.

perception [dice=20]
detect ambush [dice=100], pass
detect concealment [dice=100], pass
prowl [dice=100], pass
strike: [dice=20+2]
damage, if hit: [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][rand=7055388712670498935473178485779677073180870230843229038918916951]

[Janxi]

Janxi left the hug. Tori and Sam were all left from the original group. They'd made it through the swamp for their last stand. Nike and Redfang seemed on top of things.

Now the wait. Like Tori, she decided to enjoy one last nip before the battle. She readied her explosive arrows and tested her bow string.

"It ain't a bad plan, Smurfette. A mortar barrage should make anyone run. Let's hope them rats got some sense."

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]/ 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]/58
Locate sound [dice=100] / 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] / 76

Camouflage self: [dice=100] /65
Prowl [dice=100]/75
Perception [dice=20][rand=14094946612766888786326164849533967871204180431014499532982567231]

[dakota]

Though they couldn't see any rats yet, something detonated the first explosive, and the squeals of multiple rodents joined in the noise of the blast.

[Tori]

The squeals of the rats was music to a feline's ear. Tori might not be able to see the rats yet, but if she heard them squealing and hear them moving, she could find them. Cats hunted with sound as much as sight, and their ears were every bit as good as directional microphones. What she sought now was a collection of five or six rats, in a tight grouping within range of her bow's ballistic arc.

She knocked an arrow and waited for a good target to present. Without getting too intrusive, she began to project a 3D image of the battlefield to Janxi, Sam, Kai and Nike using her telepathy. Any clumps of rats were in the gauzy and barely-there image, as well as the location of all traps.

If any approached her command detonated traps, she would blow them now. But for the moment, she waited for the collision that was now unavoidable.

Actions:
Trigger traps if any groups are near
Ready bow
Fire bow if any rats are in range and clustered within blast radius (if needed)
Strike [dice=20]+10

Dodge (if needed) [dice=20]+12

Damage [dice=6][dice=6]
If no targets present, wait until we have contact.

Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Detect mines/traps [dice=100] needs 45
Camouflaged

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76
Prowl [dice=100] needs 85
Perception: [dice=20][rand=5198269933210496130890482688243553179088592610185326779382118622974]

[lwcoyote]

Nike hunkers down at the rock-pile, hoping it will provide proper cover for awhile; if their plan works, it should. After pulling out and setting up her bow, the coyote sets aside all six of her high explosive arrows, as well as her laser rifle, for easy access. The image of the battlefield, as projected by Tori, startles Nike at first, causing her to utter a low growl of confusion, but given the provided information it doesn't take her long to simply accept it for what it is.

Notching one of the HE arrows, Nike crouches behind cover, her ears rotating left and right, seeking to catch nearby sounds, while waiting for the right moment to strike ...

Perception [dice=20]
Detect Ambush [dice=100] / 40%
Prowl [dice=100] / 51%
Track by Smell [dice=100] / 49%
(Would Sixth Sense kick in?)[rand=3007949522124035332371568413882745604035148528409399570846773586]

[Janxi]

Jan added her own layer of battlefield observation and fed it back to Tori. The two cats could work like an AWACS on the deck, pinpointing enemy positions, without betraying their own.

Now she could only wait. If any approached her traps, she'd blow them back to hell, if in sufficient numbers. IF any small groups were within bow-shot, she'd bomb them too. For the moment, her mantra was patience.


Trigger traps if needed
Bomb with bow if in range and close-spaced:
Strike [dice=20] +8
Dodge (if needed) [dice=20]+10

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]/ 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]/58
Locate sound [dice=100] / 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] / 76

Camouflage self: [dice=100] /65
Prowl [dice=100]/75
Perception [dice=20]
[rand=72074934679255939170572526166102130860472576341047928475999735565]

[Red Fang]

Kai managed to hide behind anything that would vaguely conceal her form from being directly out in the open but enough that she could still scan the area for more rats.
She readied her rifle, and if the cats hear a group of rats near the blast radius of one of her traps she will hit the trigger and blow them all to pieces.

[Mierin]

Sam finds a place she can use for cover as she readies her rifle, getting ready to shoot the rats when they appear.

detect ambush [dice=100], pass
detect concealment [dice=100], fail
strike: [dice=20+2]
damage, if hit: [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][rand=37675700238913086720117984611517227721708994252609888899409003915]

[dakota]

More squeals came as the outer line of explosives were tripped in near succession, this time giving the team even more shrieks and a look at rats, or at least pieces of them being thrown in the air with the blasts. The animal's advanced senses could tell the advance had slowed or stopped because of the explosives.

seven suddenly appeared crawling up various trees spread across the approaches, with Sam the first to fire at them, picking one of the closest ones off and blowing it out of the tree with a shriek. The other six tree climbers were between 60 to 100 yards out, leaving most of the perimeter line set out snaked amongst them. The climbers saw Sam's hit and began to shot warnings to the remaining on the ground and were starting back down.

[Tori]

"Contact around the flanks," she said into her radio with a strange calmness.

Tori switched to her rifle, and decided to light a couple up. One needed the right tool for the job. She put the red dot of her sight on a rat's head and opened fire, before repeating with two more.

Actions:
Trigger remaining traps if any groups are near

Strike [dice=20+12] (called shot head)

Strike [dice=20+12] (called shot head)

Strike [dice=20+12] (called shot head)


Dodge, action reserved (if needed) [dice=20+12]

Damage
[dice=4]x10
[dice=4]x10
[dice=4]x10

Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Detect mines/traps [dice=100] needs 45
Camouflaged

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76
Prowl [dice=100] needs 85
Perception: [dice=20][rand=3797318022419742552789949817982899481346898249212931457973215932]

[Janxi]

"Damn!" The traps were keeping most at bay, but these rats had got through. Janxi grabbed her rifle and took shots at two Tori did not shoot. The crosshairs of her scope fall on rat faces, which a single shot would quickly eliminate.

Strike [dice=20+13]
strike [dice=20+13]
Damage [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
Damage [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]

Dodge (if needed. Action reserved) [dice=20+10]

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]/ 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]/58
Locate sound [dice=100] / 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] / 76

Camouflage self: [dice=100] /65
Prowl [dice=100]/75
Perception [dice=20][rand=36255433045208585759480472934207117590831114738483219344275999093]

[dakota]

(ooc- I'm going to wait for some of the others to post before pushing the battle forward)

[Tori]

(They're armored, so one-shot-one-kill ain't necessarily so. Blending them to salsa is a good idea. )

[lwcoyote]

(Daks: I don't suppose we could get some sort of rough map of the area, with our positions, cover, and known rat positions? )

Nike watches as Sam and the Cats light up the tree-climbing vermin. A frown, the canine shifts position a little bit, watching the rats movements and actions, trying her best to determine where some of the ground-rats are based on the tree-rats souts and such. If she can get a rough idea, she'll fire a pair of explosive arrows at where she thinks ground of ground rats are; if this seems impossible, though, she'll switch to her CP-40 to make burst-fire attacks on the observers.

Perception [dice=20]
Detect Concealment [dice=100] / 29
Detect Ambush [dice=100] / 40
Intel [dice=100] / 46

Explosive Arrows #1 [dice=20] #2 [dice=20]
( I dont think I get any bonuses with them, particularly since I'm doing indirect fire )
Damage if applicable [dice=6]+[dice=6] MD (Not sure on the blast radius, using MD high explosive arrows)

If using rifle, then
Burst 1 [dice=20+1] inflicting [dice=31+5] MD
Vurst 2 [dice=20+1] inflicting [dice=31+5] MD[rand=5873653671603054622755893489124137705163161505133740458274073316]