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Shimmer, Glimmer, & Gleam - A Quest of Loss & Gain

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Morrowlark said:
As with all -mancy words, a strict translation would be 'divination via glass', though here I'm pretty sure Kermie is aiming at a meaning closer to the vernacular; 'glass magic'.
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Yeah, that's roughly what I meant to say. Sometimes I just make up words like that. Apologies for the confusion, it may happen again.
 
OH SON OF A BITCH I DID IT TO MYSELF AGAIN -

Excuse me while I edit a great deal of 'Nikkie' to 'Nattie'
 
[X] The explosives you didn't need for this first strike

explosions are always the answer.
 
Wait, does Mime's Knack have synergy with Glazier's Dominion? Like if Orchid used MK on a clear plastic, would it then be usable for GD?
 
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Waking Nightmares 9: Project Throwback
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    • Your Squad has assets that can be lost or expended, just like named characters do. Your current Squad consists of 9 Sentries, 3 Former Asset Protection Members, and 15 Spider-Women; Jill and Sasha expend their assets separately, as do you, as does Doctor Hillborough, the young surgeon you're bringing with you and one of your three overall available doctors. These assets are as follows:

    Health: Excellent (boosted by the spiders)
    Morale: Good
    Ammunition: Solid (recent expense of ammo)
    Stealth: Abandoned
    Extranormal Awareness: Limited

    Some distant part of you understands that what is about to happen is sad. Not emotionally sad, but professionally sad; the high ground you'd been so worried about on the way here, not without reason, has turned into your dominion. Those police pickets are coming here to die.

    So you take cover with the hostages who didn't flee the field (no time to chase the runners, you'll just need to trust that they can survive somehow), and get on the walkie-talkie again, peering down the street with binoculars. Sure enough, there come the bubblegum lights, sirens wailing as they approach the still-screaming bodies of their companions. Those squadcars are dead, they just don't know it yet.

    When the first of the ethanol tanks starts leaking into the fire, it flares with a heartwarming brightness. You might be losing the battle with your nascent pyrophilia. Do you care?

    Well, right now you don't, at least. You depress the button on the walkie-talkie: "Sasha, you see those squadcars?"

    "Confirmed, Elector," comes the playful answer. You're gonna have to have a talk with that little nerdlet that gave you a title.

    Button down: "I don't want to."

    "Understood."

    Nine rifles make a particular kind of sound when they're all raised and set at the same time. You hear Sasha calling out: "Lances forward! Hold! Hold!" Where have you heard - she's copying that fucking strategy game she plays - "Loose!"

    The three squadcars in the front experience what it's like to have their engine blocks pierced by the same virtue by which they themselves move; physics currently being out to buy cigarettes and having not come back yet. They go careening, smashing into half-eaten parked cars, slamming into lights, clogging up the street -

    Sasha's voice has a deep, malicious joy in it as she gives her next order: "Grease the fucking pigs!"

    Your team aren't soldiers. But they don't need to be. When the last of the dying squadcars loses its grotesque 'leg', rendering it unable to escape, you stop watching and start working on calming down the former hostages.

    "You're gonna be okay," you tell them, and you try on a smile. "We're here to help."

    * * * *

    Getting in touch with Nattie and letting her know to let you in is something you're glad you did early, because getting everyone down from those roofs takes forever. No one, wisely, wants to try and go floor-by-floor down through the inside of the buildings (and the spiders wouldn't fit anyway), but there is an awful lot of undignified yelping and shaking from some of your team.

    And then there's Sasha. "M-m-ma'am are you single -"

    Without turning around, you call back: "Sasha, they're not people again yet."

    "You've got to be fucking KIDDING ME -"

    The person who runs up from behind the gate is in body armor that has seen better days; slashed up, helmet cracked, dark circles around its eyes. Its brown hair is plastered to its forehead with sweat. But just above its heart is a tag that says:

    BRIAN HEMP
    CIVILIAN RESCUE
    ​
    It unbars the gate from its side and everyone helps push it open so all of you can rush in. Well, no. The spiders just go up over the wall, waving happily at the distant University; you can hear someone from out there bellowing at the top of its lungs to HOLD YOUR FIRE, and that's a relief, honestly. Once the gates are pushed shut again and barred, all of you follow 'Brian' up the road that goes to the parking areas. Here the cars are all but untouched; ones where you can see (and hear...) the glass statues have been marked with bright pink spraypaint, but the rest are entirely undisturbed. You hear someone ahead call out that friendlies are coming in, and the imposing but ultimately fragile wooden gates of IU-SBC are opened to admit your motley crew.

    Someone in a uniform a lot like Brian's shrieks and faints when the spiders come in, and you mutter something under your breath that might be 'weakling'.

    The person at the end of this atrium who's standing on crutches must be Nattie, though the nametag on its own fucked-to-shit armor reads:

    NATALIE SORROW
    CIVILIAN RESCUE
    ​
    You jog up, absently barking orders for your troops to take ten and hydrate, though you see that the doctor is already moving, asking to be shown to the wounded. That's excellent. Getting closer to Nattie, you see other patches have been sewn onto her armor, many now-shredded by gunfire or blades, though one depicting a cartoon cat in a bright yellow dress punching its way through a dragon gets your attention (the 'caption' reads PACI-FIST!!!). It - wait, no, she, Nattie's she - turns her head when you get closer, and limps over to meet you, offering a hand out for a firm shake. Gods above, she's so young -

    ...

    Excuse you, did this 'Captain' pick her up when she'd just turned eighteen or something? Are you gonna have to kick your own ass?

    "We owe you one," Nattie says, in a pained voice. "We weren't expecting the squadcars...we'd just cleared this place of a staggering number of slashers and refracted beasts, lost men and ammo and time. And then the cops."

    You nod. "And then the cops," you echo. "How many can't walk?"

    A shrug. "Thirteen, maybe as much as sixteen if you wanna be real careful. Your doctor might get a few on their feet, but the thing about slashers is they don't really leave a lot of wounded if they can help it. Why?"

    You gesture at the gate. "If this position is lost, maybe we get a new one. On foot, we might be able to get out ahead of SWAT and lure them into a killing ground where the rest of the guns are -"

    "Are you insane?" Nattie asks. "We can't - what're you gonna do if one of those APCs gets us because you fucking mistimed it? We've got to hold out until Hoch and his boys get here."

    "Four days," you remind Nattie, plaintively. "Can we hold for four days?"

    She bites her lip, unsure, and glances at the spiders. The one with the graduation caps on her arachnid body looks like she's on the verge of happy tears; she hugs herself and just gazes everywhere, a look of longing on her face...

    "They can't have endless reinforcements," Nattie reasons. "If we could set up an ambush..."

    You shake your head. "You saw how they make those puppets. For all we know, the precinct is the actual cop and the rest of these are just drones. They could have endless reinforcements."

    The two of you resolve to call the Captain for advice, but whatever the voice that is yours is doing, it doesn't pick up. A call to Hoch confirms that he and his 'boys' are still en route, on the ETA he gave before. Which, good, but also, fuck. You chew a pencil, and look to Nattie: "You got food in here to spare?"

    "...It's a university, yeah, we've got food," Nattie answers, deadpan. "Why?"

    "Need it for webs if we stay..."

    The Wounded: The situation here is somewhat ambiguous. A lot of people have defensive wounds or took bullets to their limbs; a few are unconscious. The doctor is working on them now, and that puts them in a much better position than if there was no doctor, but any attempt to move the wounded does carry risk. Further, a number of the walking wounded are on crutches or otherwise limited in mobility; they're going to slow you down.

    Doubling Back: This route goes through something that is like, but not quite, a 'downtown'. Most of the cars are parked at the sides of the road, enabling movement in a tight formation and the possibility of people riding the spider-women on overwatch from above, greatly enhanced by Nattie's troops having fully automatic rifles and actual training to go with them. However, this also means that the APCs that Nattie is worried about just need to pancake a few statues to catch up, should they catch your trail.

    The Freeway: This route is longer, and the clogging situation is fucking dire; any march through here will be in a long formation, picking its way through cars, semi trucks, and other such obstacles. Frequent exits provide the theoretical opportunity to abandon this route for an even more convoluted one, should you want to take the risk of unknown territory. Nothing on wheels is getting through here easily, not even if it's using the bony legs the squadcars evidenced.

    Choose 1 approach
    [ ] Evacuate
    [ ] Hold this position

    If you choose to evacuate...
    [ ] Who transports the wounded (Nattie's men/the spiders/your team)
    [ ] What route (double back/take the longer route through the clogged freeway)
    [ ] What do you do with the explosives (take them/leave them as a trap/use them as a distraction)

    There will be a separate planning vote if you choose to hold this position, so I can appraise you of your assets and liabilities

    You are forty-four days old.    ​
     
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    • Hmm, the spiders are athletic, right? Good at holding poses or so on, or controlling their bodies? Because, yeah, it really fucking seems like we need to evacuate...
     
    Plan GTFO!

    [x] Evacuate

    If you choose to evacuate...
    [x] Spiders
    [x] Freeway
    [x] Trap

    We get everyone stable, grab whatever food and useful books are immediately available, and we GTFO! This position is known, whatever intelligence behind the squadcars just lost the whole area, and it was already likely to be sending more. Taking the freeway back means they have two trails to pick from if they attempt to track us, while also giving cover, AND the freeway is the perfect place to set up a bunch of hidden traps as we go, which will delay any attempted pursuit significantly. Hecc, it might even cause them to turn back if enough get caught in the first couple explosions.
     
    The Laurent said:
    Hmm, the spiders are athletic, right? Good at holding poses or so on, or controlling their bodies? Because, yeah, it really fucking seems like we need to evacuate...
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    They certainly seem to be, and if you're evacuating anyway y'all can afford to give them a real meal to energize with first.

    Also welcome to the party, new guest! I'm not gonna lie, watching the notifs blow up is a little flattering to my ego.
     
    Morrowlark said:
    They certainly seem to be, and if you're evacuating anyway y'all can afford to give them a real meal to energize with first.

    Also welcome to the party, new guest! I'm not gonna lie, watching the notifs blow up is a little flattering to my ego.
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    Hmm, how steady/even is the doubled back route, in terms of security/etc?

    Also, how clogged is the Freeway? Since squad cars would presumably have to graze their way through it if it's clogged enough...
     
    Honestly, both of those choices are difficult without knowing more about how the injured are doing, and what resources we may have for moving them available here. If, for example, they have taken injuries to their limbs, but can be pretty safely fireman carried over a shoulder, that is easier to deal with than if their guts are being held in by gauze and a prayer. If there are wagons/wheelbarrows/etc that will be easy to maneuver around the cars clogging up the streets, that makes evacuating more appealing. What assets are Nattie's crew adding to the people that came with us? How far to the nearest defensible building that the cops don't know to target?
     
    However, if the information we have is the information we get, my vote is to

    Choose 1 approach
    [x] Evacuate

    The cop's reinforcements are coming *here*. We do not prefer to be here when they arrive.

    If you choose to evacuate...
    [x] Who transports the wounded (your team)

    Nattie's team is presumably combat trained, mine is not, and the spiders have other advantages available that might be squandered on carrying duty. They will make better scouts, for one thing.

    [x] What route (double back)

    Without knowing exactly what we are looking at vis the injured beyond ability to walk, getting them to the full team of doctors as swiftly as possible seems like the best move.

    [x] What do you do with the explosives (take them)

    We can use them to block off pursuit, or for other purposes should the need arise once we know what kind of battle is coming at us, or we can save them for our next rescue mission if it turns out we don't need them here.
     
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    The Laurent said:
    Hmm, how steady/even is the doubled back route, in terms of security/etc?

    Also, how clogged is the Freeway? Since squad cars would presumably have to graze their way through it if it's clogged enough...
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    WalkingSnack said:
    Honestly, both of those choices are difficult without knowing more about how the injured are doing, and what resources we may have for moving them available here. If, for example, they have taken injuries to their limbs, but can be pretty safely fireman carried over a shoulder, that is easier to deal with than if their guts are being held in by gauze and a prayer. If there are wagons/wheelbarrows/etc that will be easy to maneuver around the cars clogging up the streets, that makes evacuating more appealing. What assets are Nattie's crew adding to the people that came with us? How far to the nearest defensible building that the cops don't know to target?
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    Y'all raise excellent points, my apologies. Lemme correct my mistake here and then edit it into the update as well:

    The Wounded: The situation here is somewhat ambiguous. A lot of people have defensive wounds or took bullets to their limbs; a few are unconscious. The doctor is working on them now, and that puts them in a much better position than if there was no doctor, but any attempt to move the wounded does carry risk. Further, a number of the walking wounded are on crutches or otherwise limited in mobility; they're going to slow you down.

    Doubling Back: This route goes through something that is like, but not quite, a 'downtown'. Most of the cars are parked at the sides of the road, enabling movement in a tight formation and the possibility of people riding the spider-women on overwatch from above, greatly enhanced by Nattie's troops having fully automatic rifles and actual training to go with them. However, this also means that the APCs that Nattie is worried about just need to pancake a few statues to catch up, should they catch your trail.

    The Freeway: This route is longer, and the clogging situation is fucking dire; any march through here will be in a long formation, picking its way through cars, semi trucks, and other such obstacles. Frequent exits provide the theoretical opportunity to abandon this route for an even more convoluted one, should you want to take the risk of unknown territory. Nothing on wheels is getting through here easily, not even if it's using the bony legs the squadcars evidenced.
     
    This would reduce our potential stealth, but increase our potential speed: Could we... pilfer one or a couple of the abandoned vehicles at the university with no statues in them, maybe a van or two to stick the injured in, which could be leveraged into a roadblock later, should the need arise, allowing combat-ready folks on foot to be on guard, and injured folks to get a smoother ride? I assume there are keys around that could be made to use in the pilfered vehicles.
     
    WalkingSnack said:
    This would reduce our potential stealth, but increase our potential speed: Could we... pilfer one or a couple of the abandoned vehicles at the university with no statues in them, maybe a van or two to stick the injured in, which could be leveraged into a roadblock later, should the need arise, allowing combat-ready folks on foot to be on guard, and injured folks to get a smoother ride? I assume there are keys around that could be made to use in the pilfered vehicles.
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    We have a keycard and the ability to As-Above-So-Below it into any other type of key, we could just do that.
     
    WalkingSnack said:
    This would reduce our potential stealth, but increase our potential speed: Could we... pilfer one or a couple of the abandoned vehicles at the university with no statues in them, maybe a van or two to stick the injured in, which could be leveraged into a roadblock later, should the need arise, allowing combat-ready folks on foot to be on guard, and injured folks to get a smoother ride? I assume there are keys around that could be made to use in the pilfered vehicles.
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    I mean

    You ARE a key

    This is quite plausible, at least through Uni Town; after that is the freeway portion of either route.
     
    OK
    Choose 1 approach
    [x] Evacuate

    Steal 2-4 vehicles to transport the wounded closer to base, preferably vans or larger vehicles. (Having a couple vehicles is easier to turn into a roadblock.)

    If you choose to evacuate...
    [x] Who transports the wounded (your team)

    Keep anyone capable of combat on foot.

    [x] What route (double back)

    We want to be as far from here as possible when the reinforcements arrive.

    [x] What do you do with the explosives (take them)

    We can use them to block off pursuit, or for other purposes should the need arise once we know what kind of battle is coming at us, or we can save them for our next rescue mission if it turns out we don't need them here.
     
    WalkingSnack said:
    If you choose to evacuate...
    [x] Who transports the wounded (your team)

    Nattie's team is presumably combat trained, mine is not, and the spiders have other advantages available that might be squandered on carrying duty. They will make better scouts, for one thing.
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    My decision for the Spiders carrying the wounded comes down to my decision for the freeway path. They can handle the wounded over the very rough and clogged terrain, thus making the journey for them relatively comfortable and safe. It gives us cover, makes sure any attempts to follow will be very slow and very loud, and even though doubling back and potentially using cars could be faster, its also makes the chance of us leading a strong enemy force directly back to our home all the more likely.

    Our defences are ready back at the community, but they aren't strong defences in the end, so this path also gives us a good chance of potentially keeping our home off the radar a little while longer. That way the wounded can heal, the Spiders can be helped towards being People fully again, we can work on fortifying further, AND we get the breathing room needed to work on saving the folks beneath Salt Bay Lake
     
    Choose 1 approach
    [x] Evacuate

    If you choose to evacuate...
    [x] Who transports the wounded (your team)
    [x] What route (double back)
    [x] What do you do with the explosives (take them)
     
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