Jan 8, 2020
One of the play groups in the Beam Saber discord did a mission against Lady Elreth. Hadrian was one of the players, and with the group's permission, wrote up what happened during the mission to be shared in the discord and here. Enjoy.
Employer: Jovangellian Empire(The Landed Regent)
Target: Lady Elreth
Objective(s): Plant a Jovangellian flag on her corpse.
Rules of Engagement: Leave no witnesses alive. Bonus to Engagement Roll if we plan to kill her in her mech.
Tactic: Scientific
Detail: Animating her own trophies to fight against her in her nest.
Pilot Loadouts:
Neoprene: Heavy
Toccata: Heavy
Park: Medium
Notes
Region Rule: Elreth's Nest: -1d to Resolve resist rolls due to the overwhelming presence of death brought on by the many ruined AWVs.
Gather Information:
Neoprene (3); Limited Information about Elreth's travel patterns.
Elreth is very difficult to track, shows up randomly at battles and leaves, never in the same direction. Evidence indicates that she might never leave her vehicle under normal circumstances. A good place to find her might be her Nest, where she keeps her trophies.
Toccata (5); Standard information, asking Peaches, a corrupt Norian officer about Elreth's support staff. They say that Elreth does not have support staff, she just occassionally refuels and restocks her mech. the only associate they know of is that Elreth picked up a war orphan and raised her (Elisha Shade, Park's Rival), their relationship is strained but they remain close.
Park (5); Standard information about the current disposition of The Sword Wings. The Sword Wings are currently working on driving the Jovangellians off the planet.
We approach the mission by ambushing Elreth in her "nest," a scrapyard/trophy field where she brings the remnants of the vehicles of defeated foes that she deemed worthy of remembrance.
Engagement Roll: 6
Starfall: Airborne on 4 massive sprawling wings. 2 Large fanlike horns with blades extend from the head. The body of the mech seems to be lined with guns.
As Starfall approaches, the horde of AWV's being remotely manipulated by Neoprene (the Hacker, with In the Machine) begin attacking one after another, Elreth is vulnerable.
Neoprene Data Bombs Starfall to slow Elreth, granting better effect to following rolls.
Consequences: Lvl1 Damage: Resisted with Armor
Park (the Ace) attacks (Improved Vehicle Weapons Squad Upgrade), driving their beam lance into a crack between carapace plates on the Starfall's back.
Consequence: Elreth identifies threats, Moving us to Desperate Position
Neoprene hacks Elreth's sensors to fuzzify them.
Toccata (the Engineer with Robot Fighter) attacks with her Fine Beam Cutlass! Damaging one of Starfall's Wings and releasing a cascade of plasma.
Consequences; lvl 2 Dmg (Fried); Resisted with 1 Quirk
Park; FLASHBACK 1 Stress; has placed explosives on a decoy mech, using them to perform a setup action by distracting/blinding Elreth.
As the explosion goes off, Park receives a transmission from Starfall. ELISHA SHADE is onboard! She tells park "Do not throw your life away! You are a great fighter, but not great enough for this!" As a rival, Elisha inflicts consequences. Park resists the lvl 2 Harm (Faltering) with Resolve, takes 5 stress, maxing out their stress track.
In an act of defiance, Park takes a DIRE ACTION, charging rocketing toward the Starfall at full burn,
seeking to impale its sensor suite with their lance. Toccata had just finished Enhancing the thunderbolt, park's AWV last downtime and tells Park to "Push the Red Button." Park expends the new mystery quirk to and a Jovangellian dueling cloak cascades out from the left shoulder of the Thunderbolt. BATTLE! 6!
Elreth's sensors are now badly damaged.
Park pushes the brief advantage, taking another DIRE ACTION. Toccata Assists, fending off the attacks from Elreth's blades as Park repeatedly attacks Starfall with the beam lance. BATTLE! (!CRIT!)
Park Heals 1 Stress, is no longer making Dire Actions
Neoprene; INTERFACE (6); In The Machine; use zombie AWVs to dogpile Starfall all at once.
Elreth is pulled from the air by a swarm of her trophies reaching out from their grave.
As Starfall comes to rest on the ground, disabled, for now, Elreth addresses the squad, "If you want to kill me you will have to do it in person. Access hatches open on the abdomen of the gigantic vehicle. Toccata leads the squad into the labyrinth that is the internal hallways of Starfall.
Current Squad Stress:
Toccata: XXXXXXXX-
Park: XXXXXXXX-
Neopren: XXXXXXX--
Neoprene; INTERFACE (5); Fine Retrival Program; Locate the cockpit.
Consequences: Elisha Shade is inside the Starfall with Elreth and is armed.
Toccata, the Jovangellian noble, raised in a boarding school for Imperial duelists declares a Bandoleer for 1 load and tosses a Flashbang into cockpit.
After storming the bridge, Toccata pulls her dart gun, Toccata and Park both spend 1 Drive Clock to remove Elisha shade as a Rival, and then tranquilizes Elisha, removing her safely from the combat.
Toccata; STRUGGLE (4); She then also shoots Elreth with tranq gun.
Consequences; Move to Risky Position
Toccata; STRUGGLE (5); Toccata draws her dueling saber and attacks Elreth. She lands a glancing blow but Elreth clearly has her outclassed and playfully tosses Toccata to the ground.
Consequences; Lvl 2 harm (Outmatched); Toccata heals 2 stress (Cool Under Pressure)
Toccata immediately spends those 2 Stress to give Neoprene +1d and +Effect; Neoprene declares a shotgun and charges Elreth but rolls a 2. She resists the consequnces by declaring armor.
Consequence: lvl 2 Harm (broken ribs), Reduced with Armor
Toccata pulls a capsul from her bandoleer and flicks it at Elreth, it is expanding restraint foam, unfortunately she rolls a 3 and Neoprene suffers the consequence lvl 2 Harm (Stuck), which she reduces with armor once again.
Park, in a fit of desperation, begins yelling at Elreth about the Evils of Nor, successfully distracting her for a split second SWAY (5) as Elreth throws one of her weapons at Park, inflicting lvl 2 Harm (Concussed) Park declares armor to reduce the harm.
(edited)
Toccata, regaining her footing, takes advantage of the distraction, attacking Elreth once again with her dueling saber. STRUGGLE (6). Elreth deflects the blow but Toccata steps past her and reverses her blade, driving it home and delivering the killing stroke.
As Park gather Elisha's unconscious body and prepares her for transport, Toccata pulls the Jovangellian flag from her pack, uses it to wipe the blood from her blade, drops it on the corpse and sheathes her weapon.
Operation Name: DEICIDE.
Mission Complete.