With an 12 that is also 3 DoS for your target and he resists your power, yet feels your grasp for his mind and shudders.

The one who had hallucinations before is normal again but still very confused and therefore gets -10 on tests.

The two wounded men (one wounded by Cade, the other by himself) head back for the door and fire on Asterius (the light source) while doing so.

Only one hits with 1 hit, but scores 13 damage with RF on the left leg if Asterius cant evade.

One of the others readies a smoke grenade and covers the entrance area in deep smoke (-20 on BS tests made to hit one of the 4 men), the other one readies a frag grenade, throwing it towards asterius.

He fails and throws 1m to short, but thats still enough for asterius and dammek to be inside the blast radius (cover helps though).

7 damage on asterius (reducing cover value to 5 but having no other effect) and 17 damage to dammek (which reduces the cover to 4, but only 12 damage remain after cover reduction).

The old man on the ground tries to fire inside the smoke, seeing almost nothing with his old eyes.

He takes his time to aim, concentrates and remembers what he has learned during years of his life.

And rolls...1 with a damage of 12, hurting his target a lot.

Captain Thrain takes position at Asterius side, but misses due to the smoke cloud.

"Like in the old times" he smiles to asterius with a mean expression on his face.

[Dodge roll to avoid grenade blast, target 50 (40 Ag+10 cover); rolled a 47 for 1 DoS]

Dammek sees the frag grenade bounce across the floor and quickly dives out of the way. The lethal hail of shrapnel tears the door frame to pieces, but he just manages to move out of the explosive's radius. His ears still ringing from the blast, Dammek wheels around and takes aim at the retreating enemies.

Captain Eyeball is bawling commands and generally making a bullet magnet out of himself, so Dammek feels safe diving into the open. The enemies are retreating, and Dammek wants to take down at least one of them before they escape...

Next:

- Asterius

- Dammek

- Cade

- Dral

- Enemies

To make post timing easier, you may make your turns in an order you like, as long as you dont go faster than your enemies.

I don't even try to dodge the shots from the assailants [between cover and armor, they don't manage to cause any damage, so no RF].

I laugh at Thrain's comment and answer:

"Except that, in the old times, you used to hit them!"

I move towards the intruders [half action], dropping my revolver and stablight on the ground and draw my shotgun [another half action], and order, just before getting inside the smoke:

"I TOLD YOU TO SURRENDER! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND GET DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!!!", moving purposefully towards the one closer to us, shotgun at my shoulder [roll intimidate again to keep them under pressure - Roll: 72, reroll: 19]

I don't even try to dodge the shots from the assailants [between cover and armor, they don't manage to cause any damage, so no RF].I laugh at Thrain's comment and answer:"Except that, in the old times, you used to hit them!"I move towards the intruders [half action], dropping my revolver and stablight on the ground and draw my shotgun [another half action], and order, just before getting inside the smoke:"I TOLD YOU TO SURRENDER! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND GET DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!!!", moving purposefully towards the one closer to us, shotgun at my shoulder [roll intimidate again to keep them under pressure - Roll: 72, reroll: 19]

Your distance to the intruders is about 10m now (about 13-14m before the movement) and you are not yet inside the smoke, nor are you in cover anymore if you really wanna move out. To reach the smoke you need to move your full movement rate.

Dropping your stablight brings back the darkness penalty to everyone, including you (this doesnt stack with smoke though).

If a RF attack does not create damage, it causes the loss of 1 wound instead - so this takes place now.

Sure you wanna do this ?

Gaunt,

One thing about smoke grenades:

The cover for smoke grenades goes both ways. At the same time our vision is obstructed as we are outside looking in, their line of sight is hindered as they are inside looking out.

And, althoug it would never provide the same kind of illumination, I don't believe the stablight immediately stops working when it falls to the ground (like a lightsaber). It's light will loose focus, and everything will be shadowed, but we won't be in total darkness.

Besides, as I knew I would drop it, it doesn't surprise me, but the removal of the light source would work to confuse the attackers.

That's why I moved towards them in a manner that looks so reckless, particularly taking into account that I dropped my stablight, suddenly removing the beacon they are using to aim at me.

I'll even throw in a: "DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!" for effect!

Regarding RF, if it gives a point of damage anyway, I'll try to dodge: [Roll 44, crap. ]

Seeing Asterius moving out of cover and advancing on the attackers I think he is either very brave or reckless and settle on a combination of the two. Feeling a bit safer with the focus taken off me for a moment I raise my las-pistol and give Asterius covering fire.

[Full action – Supressing Fire – BS 31, rolled 44. I do not have the rules to hand to check the penalty for supressing fire but with darkness I do not hit anybody, but should hopefully pin one or two of them]

[Half action aim, half action Overloaded single shot at the desk attendant's target. Target number 44 (34BS, +10 range, +10 aim, +10 single shot, -20 smoke); rolled a 13 for 4 DoS. 8 Damage, 2 Pen]

Dammek squints through the smoke and sees one of the intruders stagger back under the impact of the desk attendant's shot. Seizing the opportunity, he lines up his shot and fires a single powerful las shot at the enemy. The laspistol's capacitors whine in protest, but the bolt flies true and slams into his target's chest.

Gaunt,One thing about smoke grenades:The cover for smoke grenades goes both ways. At the same time our vision is obstructed as we are outside looking in, their line of sight is hindered as they are inside looking out. And, althoug it would never provide the same kind of illumination, I don't believe the stablight immediately stops working when it falls to the ground (like a lightsaber). It's light will loose focus, and everything will be shadowed, but we won't be in total darkness.Besides, as I knew I would drop it, it doesn't surprise me, but the removal of the light source would work to confuse the attackers. That's why I moved towards them in a manner that looks so reckless, particularly taking into account that I dropped my stablight, suddenly removing the beacon they are using to aim at me.I'll even throw in a: "DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!" for effect!Regarding RF, if it gives a point of damage anyway, I'll try to dodge: [Roll 44, crap. ]

Yes and no - they could either have preysense goggles (unaffected by regular smoke) or move to the smokes "border" before they shoot. Thats why I asked.

By dropping the light you have a good risk that it breaks. I rolled for it and you are lucky - it remains intact and gives some light, but not enough to blind anyone anymore.

Dral is able to put 2 of them under pinning (the two not being at the door).

These two move to the door in their remaining half action, where they can go into cover. Now all of them take cover at the remainings of the entrance door.

One of them recovers from pinning at the end of his turn, the other doesnt.

The two who already were at the door throw frag grenades into the room to cover their withdrawal.

But target on the intimidating Asterius, but get -20 because of the smoke.

Both miss, but the scattering is not far enough to save asterius.

He suffers 12 to his left leg with Righteous Fury and 12 to his left arm.

You may try to dodge one of them.

The RF effect would be a "3" on the critical table.

Yes and no - they could either have preysense goggles (unaffected by regular smoke) or move to the smokes "border" before they shoot. Thats why I asked.

By dropping the light you have a good risk that it breaks. I rolled for it and you are lucky - it remains intact and gives some light, but not enough to blind anyone anymore.

[Certainly!

But if they had any of those kinds of targeters, the smoke would give us no bonus, just penalties, and I wanted to avoid it.

The light held? Thank the Emperor for small blessings!]

Dral is able to put 2 of them under pinning (the two not being at the door).

These two move to the door in their remaining half action, where they can go into cover. Now all of them take cover at the remainings of the entrance door.

One of them recovers from pinning at the end of his turn, the other doesnt.

The two who already were at the door throw frag grenades into the room to cover their withdrawal.

But target on the intimidating Asterius, but get -20 because of the smoke.

Both miss, but the scattering is not far enough to save asterius.

He suffers 12 to his left leg with Righteous Fury and 12 to his left arm.

You may try to dodge one of them.

The RF effect would be a "3" on the critical table.

As I see the bastards throwing the grenades, I roll forward [half action, move and dodge - as both are area attacks, if I roll forward away from the area, wouldn't I be in a position to dodge both? Roll 19, 2 DoS!]

Having moved forward, I believe I'm now at point-blank range with my pretty Lawmaker Combat Shotgun!

I fire at full-auto [lots of bonus and penalties here: -10 for full auto, +30 for PB range, +10 for scatter, -20 for smoke; that nets a result of +10 - Roll: 10! I just love this game!]

[That's 3 DoS, for 2 extra hits (if we're using the difference in the total number, instead of the Beta system, which would give one more DoS). - The first hit goes to the one who is trying to run away. That's a (7+4+3) for 14 to the head, without cover. The second and third go to one of the fethers who thought he could toss a grenade at me. That's a (4+4+3) 11 to the head and a (9+4+3, almost got a RF!) 16 to the left arm]

I look at them with my fiercest war face, my shotgun ready for another burst.

As the grenades both came shorter, you cannot avoid them by getting towards them. You can, however, avoid one of them by dodging backwards. So you avoid the RF one, but get one 12 damage hit.

Your shot just gets +10 for short, not +30 for pb then, which results in just one hit - I give you the 16-3 = 13 though, which puts one of them into heavy injured state (the one who hit you with the grenade).

Next:

- Dammek
- Cade
- Dral
- Enemies

Ignore this, will post shortly

(Asterius, not sure what Gaunt thinks and apologies if I am wrong but i think you only have a reaction to dodge the frag grenades and Cade stills needs to act before another round... )

Yes...right - Cade still can make his "old" turn.

Ignore this, will post shortly

I thought that initially as well, but Gaunt mentioned that we could go in any order, as long as we didn't skip actions.

As the enemies had moved, I took my action together with the reaction, as both were intertwined.

its fine - just dont forget good ol Cade ;D

its fine - just dont forget good ol Cade ;D

See, that's where being a responsible student gets you!

[Full action to move towards the enemy, moving to the side of the room opposite Asterius to make sure we both can't be hit by the same frag grenade. Then single overcharge shot at Asterius's target as a Free Action using Desperado ability. Target 34 (+10 range, +10 single shot, -20 smoke; if I make it into point-blank range the target is 54 instead); rolled a 57 for 2 DoF. Damage is 6 (rolled a 2, but counts as a 3 because of Proven from Hammer of the Emperor) in case it is relevant for harming cover.]

After seeing Asterius dive through grenade blasts while closing on the four autogun-armed intruders, Dammek shakes his head in disbelief. That crazy fether is going to get himself killed if he keeps this up! Dammek certainly has no fond feelings toward the Arbitrator, but a carapace armored, shotgun-wielding nutcase does make an excellent meat shield. In the interest of preserving his own hide, Dammek decides that he should do everything in his power to keep Asterius alive.

He presses the attack, spreading out as he advances to prevent the grenade-happy intruders from hitting him and Asterius with one blast. He fires a quick shot as he moves, but his hurried attack misses the target and scorches the wall.

Cade & Dral still to go - then the bad guys.

Cade noticed the smoke bomb deploy-- it was rather hard to miss! He also heard Asterius's stablight clatter to the ground and the Arbitrator charge forwards. Cade hoped that he knew what he was doing! These men were well armed, and dangerous! Though the smoke was difficult to see through, thanks to the still lit light source from Asterius, Cade believed he could still see flickers of movement, and adjusted his aim to focus on them. Thunderous blasts filled the room as grenades started going off.

Just like old times Cade thought somewhat regretfully. It seemed they had shifted their targets from himself to the much more vulnerable Asterius. Although Cade could see the movement in the smoke, he acknowledged that making a shot here would be much harder. He realized in that moment he needed to get closer. So that is exactly what he did. Cade began a slower advance than Asterius, walking forwards towards the smoke cloud and opening fire on the closest movement he saw within the cloud.

[Half action move towards the smoke cloud, half action shooting]

[need a 26-- rolled an 11 for 2 DoS. Cade got a very lucky shot.]

[Hit to the body, rolled a 1+2 for 3 damage. Not so lucky there.]

I watch on in disbelief as Cade and Dammek move forward into the line of fire, with frag grenades going off left, right and centre. They are all mad I think, what kind of men have I been assigned too! Shrugging I lower my Las-Pistol as my colleagues have moved into my line of fire. I pick out a random target through the smoke and try to pierce their mind as I reach into the immaterium...

[Half action, Hallucination, Focus power = opposed willpower test; (WP) 41 + (PR2) 10 + (psy focus) 10 = 61, rolled 42; 2 DoS]

Your target tries to resist, but has only 1 DoS - he is filled with paranoia and panics.

In their turn, all 4 retreat into the darkness outside.

Silence remains in the corridor, where the smoke slowly fades away.

As you carefully approach the door, you cannot see any of them. It is dark outside and you know that your chances of finding them here in the labyrinth of small streets is nearly impossible (you would need a successful survival -10 test to find a trail, and a successful navigate test to follow it fast enough).

You have no idea who this men were - but they definitely were no random thuggs. Both the way they attacked, and the way they decided about their retreat and how well they managed it, brands them as professionals.

The corridor lies in ruins. The walls are full of bullet holes and fragments of the grenades. The upper door, the entry door and the desk are destroyed and the old man is heavily wounded on the ground, where Captain Thrain tries to help him with a medikit.

Thrains facial expression seems to be a mix of hate and desperation - that was something that definitely doesnt happen every day to him. He seems not to be sure if this is your fault, or if he should be happy as your presence here saved his life.

"What the feth is going on here ?" He asks Asterius out of breath.