"Right, we'll take North, Issa and Hawthorne take South, Redburn and Starling East, hopefully Talbot can figure out the rest for himself." He said just before turning tail and sprinting off to the factory with Rourke. Something had already gone off inside so the whole mission would already be treacherous. By the looks of it, the explosion had been in the Northern sector where he and Rourke were now headed.
As he ran, he realised something. Something he hoped Rourke with his military experience would also realise.
"That... looked... like... ar...tillery" he forced out. Inside the northern section was a weapon and it was trying to fire on something.
This post distinctly states that they are running into the factory from the north having left the other members of the group to head off in their own direction all save Talbot who is not there
So they met up just not with Talbot??
I see what happened, I think.
Corsair exercised his prerogative as GM and moved the scene to the ground.
Then, you misunderstood, and took that particular post out of the context of the ones preceding it, the misunderstanding exacerbated by Corsair's references to running and having having seen something that looked like artillery (I ythink he's actually referring to the drawings. I coulod be wrong, of course) I'm not very good at doing multiple quotes, etc., but I'll try to post the actual sequence of the posts:
MWBailey
Slowly, pictures began to emerge from the pencil, and before long, there was a representation of the exterior of the complex; it looked like a russian mionastery gone mad, with St Basils style onion domes and turrets interspersed with bits of what looked like pieces of a giant cuckoo clock; off to one side was a massive manufactorial pile, festooned with several smokestacks, all belching a massive amount of smoke. As Mina dove in through a broken window, rank upon rank of steam tanks and other mechanical monstrosities presented themselves. Then, she passed through a window to the outside on the far side of the factory, and there slowly emerged from the pencil a sight to chill the blood: thousands on thousands of greenies, in uniform...
/quote]
Cpt Wallace
Snr. Officer
He fell through the air tumbling like a rock the wind lapping at his face, it had been along time since he'd free falled like this, he waited perhaps long than he ought before pulling the release cord and arresting his descent, crashing through the canopy of trees knocking the last of the leaves from them as he dropped through them, he landed hard but dropped as he'd been trained to rolling to spread the weight of the fall and came to his feet pulling at the chute he dragged it too him and bundled it back into it's pack before stuffing it into the roots of some nearby trees, the bat swooped over head as he turned gaining his bearings. He sniffed the air turning slowly he knew there was a township nearby it had been located on the map, he should have been able to smell it, but all he could smell was the factory the sickly sweet smell of oils and furnaces the waft of worked metal and of munitions, a faint odour caressed his senses it smelt of blood and of battle, the faintness his sumerised was due to the distance, he headed in what he guessed was the direction of the town his discomfort rising as he strode through the woods, the place was eerily quiet, too quiet. It took him too long to realise there was no sound of animal life no scent of animal, it was as if the place had been vacated of all life.
The township came into view and he knew before he'd even reached the outskirts that it was a ghost town he could feel the absence of any life there, he strode into the centre of the township turning to regard the buildings, there were signs of battle, bullet holes riddled walls and doors had been torn from the frames, his eyes rested upon a dark stain of dried blood leading from the small school yard into the school it's self. He turned in the direction of the factory, he could see it at this distance and from his new position he could clearly smell the scent of death, an all to familiar smell from Egypt.
"Greenies."
His anger rose boiling beneath the skin he doubled over snarling as pain gripped him, bones cracked loudly as his breathing came ragged and fast like a wild man he looked up his eyes burning with fury and hunger, he closed them to the township he pushed the anger down deep within him drawing his breaths in slowly his bones realigned painfully and he pushed himself to his feet shrugging off the over coat.
His breathing grated angrily from his mouth, it took him a second to locate the bat, not through sight but through sense an knew Rourke would be well aware of what was down here, he wondered if the bat had come this way, if she'd shown him the ghost town they had used as for practice, to test their undead on.
He dumped the satchel angrily tearing the aviators uniform from it he went to the nearest building which smelled like a charnel house and was filled with rotting corpses of women and children but no men, he changed in the corpses presence then strapped the two heavy pistols about his waist and the short sword to his leg he turned towards the factory and the meeting point he'd arranged with Rourke, the bastards were going to pay even if he had to rip them limb from limb with his own hands he was going to make them pay. He broke into a run his long strides covering the distance quickly he would be there long before Rourke and the others were due to meet him, he pushed his thoughts out as he ran his heart pumping like a drum.
'Mina, if you can hear this tell Rourke to send the others in as soon as possible, come from the east over the township but don't land in it.'
[/quote]
That's Talbot's advisory for the others to come as soon as possible. I see now that it could be taken for an order, but it could just as easily be taken for an urgent request, as in a police officer's urgent request for 'backup.'
MWBailey
'Mina, if you can hear this tell Rourke to send the others in as soon as possible, come from the east over the township but don't land in it.'
Mina passed the sentence verbatim to Rourke, and he told the others as he handed them the sketches. "Talbot says ta come as soon as posible, from the east over the town, but not to land in it. I suggest we pack up n' wing it down 's soon's we can all get ready, say, in ten minutes? Capn'n Bledsoe, if you could bring'er down about another thousand feet, tha'd be a big 'elp. Then take 'er up again in case o' enemy fire."
That is Rourke's transwmission of the request
Stella Gaslight
Starling gave Old Betsy a once over. She looked more like a family relic than anything workable and that was fine by Starling. Then she made sure the new pistol was loaded. It felt so small in her hand and she felt as if it would fall apart at a moments notice. "Rourke can you give this a once over. I want to make sure I have it loaded right. I haven't fired a pistol since the first time my father took me hunting."
Oops, sorry , Stella, I neglected your post!
The Corsair
Finally finding the others, Joe took the opportunity to but in to the discussion with time before arrival running short.
"I had an idea. the building is massive and we have no idea what the room layout is like. If we want to be in and out of there without getting caught we can't do a room-by-room search together, then go and place the charges. I propose we split the building into 4 regions and split up, detonating each once we've identified the weak points. The building is so large by the looks of these images that heavy damage in one area won't stop normal movement throughout the rest of the complex. Who's going with whom?"
That was Rooney suggesting they split up and attack from four directions
Cpt Wallace
He slowed his approach striding through a river he crested an outcrop resting on a fallen tree, he looked at it realization dawning that it had been broken at the base by something unnatural.
Leaning on the tree he craned his neck to look down upon the factory, he could see the clockwork mechanisms sprouting from the building hear the labour force working inside the buildings, the stench of the greenies the smell of blood and of death.
He snarled letting out a low threatening growl.
Soon.
He clenched his fists calming his anger forcing it down letting it burn under the surface.
That was Talbot on his way to the Factory; it looks to me as though he has in fact left the RV point that he himself specified.
walkthebassline
Redburn looked at Starling. "We'll be going together. We've made a fairly good team in the past. Splitting up makes sense in this case; that's too much ground to cover if we stick together. Everyone just take care of themselves. Now if you excuse me for a moment, I need to change."
Redburn stepped out of the room and hurried to his cabin. He changed quickly into the somber black suit, frowning at its simplicity and blandness. The coat had a slight military cut to it, but he still felt like a preacher or an undertaker. Checking the loads in his pistols, he slid them into their holsters and attached a sword to his belt. He chose the shashka in this case; somehow it just felt right. He hurried back to the boardroom, hoping he hadn't missed anything important.
That was Redburn preparing hgimself. Still no one besides Talbot and Mina have left the ship at this point.
MWBailey
"I suppose You and I could go , Joe, I imagine Issa an' 'awthorne'll be wantin' tae go on their own. Tha'll make four pairs. I'll take an ATLATL with two rockets just in case there's not enough dynamite to do the job, or if we run into hard targets." Rourke wondered if he and Mina-bat would be back together at some point. He hated to admit it, but he was kind of fond of the little leather-winged ball of fluff.
Just try and stop me, Hannibal, Mina's mischievous voice echoed in his head. I'm working on a small distraction to cover your crew's descent, she intoned again, as she flapped through the foundry area and buzzed a ladle operator, who lost control of the ladle full of molten iron and thus poured it out onto the foundry floor. Alarm bells and klaxons sounded, and she flew on through various conduits and ventilation courses, and arrived in the Munitions section, where she knocked over a couple of crates of explosives, starting a veritable avalanche of grenades, mines, and other explosive devices.
"We might want to hurry, Mina's wreaking a little havoc of her own," Rourke said, as a small cloud of sooty cordite-laden smoke rose over one corner of the factory.
Mina, stop 'at, or we won't be able to get in to destroy it!
Oh...oh dear. I think you might not have to worry about destroying the munitions section, dear, Mina thought back in a slightly worried tone as the section was rocked by a series of massive explosions.
Rourke organizing the split-up, and minna's "distraction." No one has left the ship yet.
Stella Gaslight
"I memorized a few very simple battle spells for tight spots and if I can manage that seeing colors thing without falling over I could use it to see people before the see me. All those greenies tho." Starling shook her head. "Hopefuly I have enough darts because Besty only has 10 shots in her before she is a fancy club." She was angery, plauges were something to be whiped from the world not cultavated. Using it as a tool of war was madness and in the end all it would do was make sure the winner would be the last devoured.
[/quote]
Starling preparing. No one has left the ship.
Cpt Wallace
He started as part of the factory exploded drawing his Russian pistol just in case he looked round.
"Hells are they under attack from someone else?"
He made to set off then paused as the bat flapped into view coming through the smoke of the explosion.
"Mina."
He relaxed a little looking down at the factory he could hear angry shouting in Russian coming from the site as foremen and officers stalked around demanding to know what in hells name was happening, the greenies were on the move too disturbed by the explosion their cognitive brains were interpreting the explosion as a threat and moving to investigate.
"Smart Greenies, great."
He noted that a lot of them were modified for war, with heavy plates of armour and weapons both ranged and closed fitted to the ends of their limbs. This was a dammed army to hell with any alliance this was what he feared in Egypt a dedicated force of undead greenie soldiers armed and ready for battle.
His grip on his pistol tightened as his hand shook with anger, he slid the Russian gun into it's holster and drew the colt, checking the load in the pistol he checked his spares frowning slightly, he drew one of the spare rounds looking at it with an uncomfortable grimace the shell was engraved the tip bright an silver with an embossed cross of engraved silver a slight recess in the point told him it was hollow point and he knew the contents were quicksilver, he rolled it round his fingers looking at the workmanship that had gone into this single bullet it would almost be a crime to fire it.
"So you were designed to kill vampires, lets see how you do against greenies."
He wondered what Mina would make of the round if she saw it, the thought brought a thin smile to his lips while she maybe the Queen of the British Underworld the true Crown of England never allowed anything on her soil she did not have a counter for, he knew of the Royal Orders and that certain members were trained to fight the forces of darkness, he'd worked with them on occasion and suspected they'd have their own methods of slaying vampires but the Intelligence Corp and it's special departments had never truly fought their likes before and were coming up with their own methods, this colt was one of them and he wondered just how many they had manufactured or if this was the only one.
He slid the bullet home and looked up at the factory fire crews and work teams were gathering, he had to give Mina her due she'd caused a fine distraction but he'd of waited to go in under the cover of full darkness, he looked over the factory noting the structure, the munitions store would have been a useful tool they could have moved munitions to key locations and spread their own charges over a wider space, he only hoped the fires that were burning now would weaken the structure somewhat.
Talbot's attack on the factory. still no one has left the ship.
MWBailey
"Twas but a lost bat, Kapitain Smolensk, said one of the Interior Guardsmen. "the little thing flew in and got tangled up with Subitj at the ladles, and caused him to let go of the controls to fend it off, vhish caused the ladle to spill, and a fire in the foundry. Then either the same bat or another flew into Munitions stores and knocked over a box of grenades and a keg off percussion fuzes, und BOOM, da whole place went up. It was wery firghteningk.
Smolensk shook his haed and wiped his brow irritably. "Vell, pull da men from 5 unit und the Tank und Battery sections, and let us get zis fires undar kontrol, da?"
---------------
Rourke said, "I suggest we go now, without delay, so we can take advantage of whatever distraction Mina's cooked...up..." he trailed off as several huge-sounding detonations sounded from below and ahead. "Um...well, thats Mina for you. When she puts 'er foot down, she really puts that foot down..."
The interlude with the guardsmen at teh factory. No one has left the ship yet.
The Corsair
"Right, we'll take North, Issa and Hawthorne take South, Redburn and Starling East, hopefully Talbot can figure out the rest for himself." He said just before turning tail and sprinting off to the factory with Rourke. Something had already gone off inside so the whole mission would already be treacherous. By the looks of it, the explosion had been in the Northern sector where he and Rourke were now headed.
As he ran, he realised something. Something he hoped Rourke with his military experience would also realise.
"That... looked... like... ar...tillery" he forced out. Inside the northern section was a weapon and it was trying to fire on something.
that was where Corsair moved the scene.
[
MWBailey
"It looked," Rourke said, as he slung on the ATLATL and settled the two rockets onto their hooks, "Like a multi-stage steam gun that I saw covert daguerrotypes of several years ago. The Prussians tried to use one on France, using the old Minsk fort as an emplacement site, but 'something or someone' went wrong" (he said in an oddly smug voice), "and caused it to malfunction and destroy itself. The shells were big and powerful enough to level three London city blocks. or was that the gun that you were referring to?"
At That point, I was under the mistaken impression that we were still aboard the ship.
So, it seems that the scene was moved to teh ground.
Still, though, Corsair made no mention of landing in the north. He in fact said that we had landed at the rendezvous (RV) point, adn Talbot was not there, having "run off." In fact, while Talbot did not simply run off, he did leave the rendezvous point, then upbraided Rourke and Rooney when they arrived,
with the others.
Not alone. So, while the punch may not have been totally justified, it was still understandable under the circumstances.
Can we please move on?
