Or or will fire a shot (4) SEU from his laser rifle at a creature W6 side.

The wolf creatures, which appear like large, hairless wolves, attack with surprise and speed, gaining the first initiative as they leap from the foliage. They are clearly intelligent and have studied you during the last hour that they have been tailing you.

Six of the beasts score hits (W1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9). One of them (W7)(critical fail) attacks Shemp the robot and screeches like a surprised parrot when its teeth clamp on hard metal. It immediately panics and runs back into the woods. Three of the wolves mistime their attack and miss, but the others scratch and bite as follows:

W2 and 5 get Desi, biting and thrashing. (11 total STA damage)

W1, 8, and 9 get Orvo, biting into his Dralasite flesh like a delicacy. (18 total STA damage.)

W4 bites into Bartja, and the teeth clamping onto him make it difficult to control the robot. (3 damage, -30% to controller.)

Hammer hits W1 with his laser pistol (34 dmg.) The injured wolf creature screeches like a parrot and dashes into the woods.

S'krllk misses.

Bartja fires his first 10 round burst at W3, hitting it. (45 STA damage.) This wolf creature also yelps in pain and scurries off into the shrubbery.

Bartja's second shot from the robot does not go so well. The heavy laser almost hits W4 (as well as almost hitting Bartja himself) (nearly a critical miss), but instead lights the bushes next to Bartja's head on fire.

Desi hits W2 with both shots of the gyrojet rifle. (42 STA damage.) W2 shrieks in pain and also shoots off into the trees to run away.

Orvo fires but misses.

The remaining 6 wolf creatures see their pack fly into the woods and lose morale. They fly off in different directions, leaving you alone to tend to your wounds as they scramble and disappear into the foliage.

You continue traveling southeast for another two hours. About an hour into it, you again see shapes in the distant trees. It appears the wolf creatures are again scouting you out. You try to observe them but cannot really see much. Even the feedback from the scouting robot cannot tell much more than vague shapes in the underbrush.

You begin discussing what to do before the hairless wolf things can attack again when the next problem hits.

A warning buzzer on the hand controller goes off and the power indicator suddenly drops to zero! Just a minute ago, the battery was fine! There are only two minutes of flight left to land the robot before it crashes.

Bartja has plenty of time to bring the robot down safely. However, there is an unfortunate lack of convenient clearings to set the craft down in due to the heavy brush and trees. Bartja has three choices, and he must choose one quickly:

1. Let the robot select its own landing spot.
2. Scout for acceptable landing spots on joystick control.
3. Land in a marginally acceptable clearing visible 200 meters away.

Hammer had taken up the scouting post again but now hangs back to let Bartja land the robot. he also moves in closer to the group in case the wolves make another surprise attack. "I have a feeling we need to dispatch these wolves once and for all or they will keep trying to pick us off in short skirmishes. I'm just not sure how to do that.

After the group stops after two hours, "OK, fan out!  360 degree security.  Let's take a couple of minutes and assess injuries and equipment.  Orvo, you got personal injuries.  Bartja, robots.  Hammer, keep checking our route please.
 Everyone else, Security.  I'm going to try and get some eyes on these creatures.
 Maybe get a pop at one of them, cut their numbers down or finish off one of the wounded ones.  They're stalking us it looks like.  Seems like another attack on us is imminent."

Desi will try and find a spot where she can get herself in a position so she can use the 3X magnification on her gyrojet rifle to get better eyes on the stalking creatures.

While the party stops and Bartja decides what to do with the malfunctioning robot, Desi steps from her scouting position to see what she can do away from the party.  There are no hills in the area, and the foliage is thick, making it very difficult for her to see using magnification. She would have to climb a tree and try from there, or she could go to the clearing mentioned above.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:49, Fri 06 Mar 2020.

Bartja decides to land the robot in the marginal clearing and focus' on controlling its descent to prevent major damage to it. 

"Let's gather in that clearing and prepare to defend ourselves there.  We can work on the robot and setup our perimeter where they can't use the trees so well.  Maybe fire will discourage them."

"Great idea!  Let's make it happen!"

As they rush for the clearing, Bartja tries to collect any dead-fall or dry branches he sees as they move along.  He directs Shemp to do the same.

"We should see if we can get a fire going before they decide to attack again.  Maybe fires all around our perimeter.

I'd like to capture one with a Tangler grenade if we can.  Maybe they're sentient and we can program a Polyvox to communicate with them.  It's going to be a long trip back if we have to dodge these guys the entire way.  If we can communicate with them, we might be able to avoid these confrontations."

Once the group gets to their new resting location, Orvo will inspect Desiraye's wound and then his own (no others were injured, correct?).

After his assessment has been completed, he begins to gather what he can to assist in making the fire on their perimeter.   "Probably a bit out of my league Bartja but, do you think we have the time to 'experiment' for lack of a better term, on a local wild creature?"

Hammer says, "The only concerns I have are that it will cause a delay to set up here and try to wait them out. it could be hours. And also that if we get to the river, I doubt they will be able to keep up once we are on the water. That can be our way to outrun them if we can just get to the river."

For now, Hammer will follow the others into the clearing but his suggestion is to move quickly to the river and lose them from there, or kill them if they attack again.

Bartja is able to land the robot in the field 200 meters away without incident. The party moves to the clearing and Bartja begins an inspection. (15 minutes.)

As the party settles in and finds some firewood, Bartja inspects the problem. (Success)

NOTE: the large field is too big to completely surround with firewood, especially in a short amount of time. You have enough for a bonfire or to surround a 20 foot diameter area with small amounts of wood.

I'm not clear how long the party intends to spend here doing the fire and waiting out the creatures. It would result in a random encounter roll every hour to see if they attack again. You could wait them out, figure out a different solution such as hunting them down, or make a break for the river as Hammer suggests.

Bartja's inspection determines that the robot's emergency power override system mistakenly determined that the main power was almost gone, and sw1tched automatically to emergency power. The problem is very minor, and Bartja begins the repair process (15 minutes for each attempt).

NOTE: I am also not sure what Desi is doing. Is she in the clearing with the party, hiding in the brush trying to pick off the wolves, or attempting to climb a tree to get a better vantage point?

The clearing itself is 30 meters in diameter. The trees are thinner here, and Desi could hide in the brush and bushes to try to spot the creatures, or she could go another 30 meters to the tree line to attempt to climb a tree.

6:30 p.m. (39.5 hours remaining) (5.5 hours travel with no rest)


This message was last edited by the GM at 07:14, Mon 09 Mar 2020.

"I think a bonfire might keep the critters back while I attempt this repair.  Shouldn't take me but a few minutes here. The robot's emergency power override has come on.  Might be a corrosion issue, but I think I can't get it running again."

Bartja opens up his toolkit and instructs Shemp to guard his back in case the wolves attack as he works on the Survey Robot.

"Once I get this running again, I agree on heading towards the river.  Maybe with the rafts, we can move fast enough to lose this pack of giant forest rats."

Hammer will guard Bartja while he fixes the robot, ready to shoot at any wolf creature that jumps out. (SEU 10)

OOC: Sorry for the delay again...

...Desiraye will try to get into a tree and spot the creatures.  She will inspect the tree before climbing.  She believes, that she can cover the group once she gets up there?

Desi finds a tree and starts climbing. She scopes out the outskirts of the camp. To her dismay, she only sees two of the wolves in the distance, walking among the grasses and hiding. She could take some potshots (-50% to hit), but it's a tough shot give the distance and coverage.

She doesn't see the other 8 wolf creatures.

The others make a bonfire while Bartja inspects and makes repairs. Either the bonfire is working or they are simply not attacking yet because there are no incidents.

NOTE: Next move will be to finish up repairs and start you heading southeast again. Not sure if Desi will try to shoot at the beasts or climb down and rejoin the group. Will you put out the fire or risk a forest fire? 15 minutes to put out a large bonfire properly.

In reply to GM Heath (msg # 65):
Desi only decides to try and spot the creatures and keep them where they are and not closer to the group.

Put out the fire before we leave.  Set a perimeter while that happens.  Eat and prepare to move back out.

Once the robot is repaired, Hammar will put out the fire and help lead the party to the southeast once more.

Bartja repairs the robot, and you prepare to eat and put out the fire.

7:00 p.m. (39 hours remaining) (6 hours travel with no rest)

You decide to eat and put out the fire before leaving.

Desi climbs down off the tree to go rejoin the group. That's when she realizes where the other 8 wolf creatures have been. They are skulking in the grass and bushes behind the tree, waiting for her descent.

She hears a rustling, just in time to turn and see 8 figures rushing to leap at her...

Grabbing the joystick, Bartja activates the robot and hastily sends it aloft to 50 meters.  Using the robot controller and his acute dexterity, he commands the machine to fire it's weaponry in defense of Desi.  The heavy laser is aimed at the pack leader, the auto-rifle spraying a group of the buggers to try and injure as many as possible.

Hammer also runs toward Desi, firing 2 shots at the nearest creature when he is at 25 meters distance. (SEU 10)

Desiraye spins around with her rifle to the direction she hears and sees the wolf-creatures.  Her stomach pitches when she realizes how bad of a situation she just got herself in and wondering were they went to.  "Frak my life," is all she says before she switches her gyrojet rifle to 'BURST' setting and tries to rip into as many as she can before being torn apart.

Burst Fire setting at the biggest cluster of wolf creatures

In reply to GM Heath (msg # 68):
After getting himself ready to move out with the others, Orvo moves as fast as he's able to go off and help Desiraye.  Once he gets a clear shot at one of the creatures, he will take one with his laser rifle.

The ambush on Desi gives little time to react...

Of the 8 rushing her, three manage to get a bite or claws on Desi.  (15 STA damage)

Desi fires a spray on burst, hitting...

But given the sudden pounce, only one of the creatures is hit. However, she hits it solidly and it falls over dead. (W8)

Bartja gets the robot aloft and has it fire twice. The first shot (critical miss) misses the dogs but hits Desi in the leg, crippling her. (10 STA dmg).

The second shot hits W6. (50 STA dmg).

Hammer is also running toward the dogs, trying to aim (-10% while running). (Critical miss: 100% roll! Second hit, almost critical miss: 93%). Hammer's laser pistol explodes in his hand. (9 hp dmg.) The pistol is no longer usable (scrap) and his hand needs bandaging before he can use it again.

S'krllk fires with careful aim and hits W2. (-36 STA)

Orvo moves into range, takes aim...and misses.

Status of wolf creatures:
W1=66 STA
W2=22
W3=55 (on Desi)
W4=100 (on Desi)
W5=100 (on Desi)
W6=50
W7=100
W8=Dead
Out of view
W9=100
W10=100

NOTE: The average range of S'Krllk, Orvo, Hammer and Bartja is medium range (-20%) from Desi for range purposes. You can take careful aim +15% if you decide to only fire at one half rate during the combat round.

Combat modifiers are on page 22 of the guidebook in case you want to use any of them. The wolf creatures are currently considered "walking/moving" (no modifier).

Hammer looks at his injured hand. Luckily, he is ambidextrous. He runs to Shemp to pull out the spare laser pistol, set it quickly to 10 SEU and fire quickly on whatever wolf is farthest from Desi.