Tal ensures the lab techs don't touch the artifact till he is present and begins writing up a debriefing paper.
((Partly done. Heading out for a bit. Will finish soonish.))
Keep proved to be four floors, with only three accessible. The fourth holding what I would designate a Denizen and normally inaccessible.
Transit to the dropzone was relatively fast, APC could use a few more shock absorbers but overall, unnecessary. We proceeded to drive towards the keep in a circling pattern. Scanners showed that the air present was exactly the same level of polluted as downtown Detroit. Leading me to question what exactly caused so much pollution within the gateway. Maybe they used to use technology?
Fog was undetected by scanners and samplers, however it completely blocked Xray and impaired visual. Fog appears to have been generated by the crystalline creatures classified as Imps.
As we circled closer, I began detecting several anomalous heat signatures. Or more specifically, a lack of heat. Seemingly humanoid before turning into what I would describe as a mote and darting in a random direction near the Keep. We then began taking potshots. Starting with a Gauss Round, which took the door off the keep on top of shattering the target. Removal of the door enabled scanning within the keep.
As I scanned, the others with long ranged weaponry took potshots. Eventually clearing out most of the ones in the front of the Keep. Arthur began expressing that he felt it unfair to the Imps, and at this point, we were not aware of their capability to seek heat, although I had theorized the possibility, among other possible navigation systems.
We decided that as the majority of Imps in the front of the Keep were dead, we would go in. This was a bad idea and Activated the majority of the Imps, letting us learn exactly what they could do. Said details are below. As a result, Arthur no longer feels sorry for taking potshots. Maximus lost a Trauma Plate to an Imp and Arthur lost a helmet. Imps appear to attack by ramming into targets, although they likely could do cutting damage. They can ram with enough force to shatter Trauma Plates and crack standard issue helmets. Bladed weapons proved to be relatively ineffective against them, especially knives. (Why do people think knives are a good idea when we get swords for free anyways?) However, blunt weapons, such as my staff proved to be extremely effective. As usual, one major fracture kills an Imp. They aren't very sturdy. Fog faded upon the death of the majority of imps. I believe there were approximately 80 total. About 15-20 were fought in close combat. The rest were killed at range without incident.
Eventually we killed almost all the Imps and regrouped. Scans into the first floor of the Keep showed nothing. We took a vote on pulling out or entering due to the armor damage sustained. Arthur swapped his helmet with one of the APC pilots and we voted to continue onwards. Maximus was not significantly injured luckily. Next mission we will need a medic or field surgeon as that could have gone much differently.
The first floor proved to lack any hostiles. I did a thorough scan and detected an armor clad creature, designated Knight on the second floor. The interior of the Keep was warm compared to the exterior. I had the APC circle the Keep and park out front to delete any rogue Imps floating around. They mopped up a few. The Keep stone was found to have heat generating properties. Samples have been brought back for analysis. Upon scanning the first floor, we gathered at the base of the stairs to the second floor.
A spear stabbed through the hatch next to Vigil's head, tearing the hatch off and revealing the Knight. Aria fired a Gauss round into its belly. Killing it instantly. We headed up the hatch and I immediately scanned in every direction. Several bladearmed creatures rushed us. Variations on the later encountered Rushers most likely. The blades proved to be resistant to lowcal bullets, however Aria's LMG and Maximus's shotgun tore through them. Arthur's HE rounds also were proven effective.
With these hostiles gone, I proceeded to scan the second floor. Writing on the walls was scanned and currently being translated. Possible bug in translator software making it take much longer then normal. May want to get a software tech on that.
The second floor had some sort of wood in it on top of the normal stone. Several samples were taken and brought back. Unsure of how wood lasted this long. Additional stone samples were acquired on this floor. We also found the desiccated corpse of one Keith Raynard. Likely a 21st century soldier of unknown nationality, get our history buffs to give the shoulderpatch we found on him a look, might be able to locate where he came from. The late Keith Raynard's body has been brought back fully intact. Additional notes and thoughts on him in the Notes section.
I scanned through the hatch to the third floor and detected a very large group of what are designated as Rushers shuffling in mindless circles around the now recovered artifact. I decided that we should load up the Knight and Bladearms before shooting the third floor. Specifically aiming a bit away from the artifact to avoid damaging it.
Upon breeching the floor with rapidfiring antipersonal rounds, the Rusher Horde swarmed out. Likely somewhere between 200 and 400 Rushers. After about five minutes of nonstop shooting, occasionally moving the APC to avoid them catching up, the horde was turned into a field of the dead. I highly advise this tactic against swarms of Rushers. Fighting this many in an enclosed area with limited ammo is suicide.
Upon the death of the Rushers, we loaded up a couple of their corpses as samples before pondering what exactly was on the fourth floor. Said floor was inaccessible from Floor Three. No stairs. We more or less all assumed it was something nasty, however we spent some time attempting to decide if it was better to shoot at the fourth floor and trigger it or attempt to snag the artifact and bolt.
We decided the latter, and after some debate, we decided on how to go about it. Wasn't the safest option, but was fairly good. We spent some time looking through the APC for soft things and made a small pile near it. We then set up the APC tow cable as a zipline on the third floor. Arthur volunteered to snag the artifact. Once everything was set up, Arthur went up into the keep. I kept my scanner trained on the third floor just in case. Upon getting close to the artifact. Denizen 001 awoke. It proceeded to smash through the ceiling and land directly next to Arthur. Who proceeded to sprint to the artifact, grab it, and hop on the zipline. 001 got a hit in on him and sliced through several of his Trauma Plates. Although he was otherwise unharmed. Aria unloaded all four Gauss Rounds into 001 and everyone besides Arthur opened fire. 001 fell off the third floor and charged the APC. At this point, Carmine B, the gunner switched from AP rounds, which weren't too much damage to HE rounds, which ripped into it. As 001 reached the APC, it began dying. In its last moments, it stabbed an arm into the APC, said arm almost took my head off by two inches. Seemingly satisfied with its talon buried in its prey, 001 let out a wail and passed away. Arthur landed soon after.
We loaded up the landing pile and retracted the tow cable before returning to the gateway. Artifact Recovered, Samples Acquired. Mission Accomplished.
~~
Dweller Imps
Crystalline creatures. Invisible in the visual spectrum, capable of floating and jamming radio signals, possibly capable of jamming other spectrums as well. A shard of one has been brought back for analysis.
Imps appear cold on the IR spectrum until angered. They do not appear capable of sight and do not react to their fellows being shot at range. However getting within approximately fifty meters will result in them getting quite hot in the IR spectrum and charging enmasse. When in this state, they constantly emit a screech in the AM and FM radio bands, functionally jamming communication. They are susceptible to lowcal weaponry. A single pistol bullet is enough to shatter one. Upon shattering, they will dissipate and die.
Fog appears to form with a certain concentration of them. When Active, they produce additional fog, lowering visibility. Upon death of the majority of Imps, the fog dissipated.
Possible origin of Imps being a former corporeal being? How such a thing might occur is unknown but worrying.
-Notes from Squad:
Arthur recalls the Imps being armed with crystalline sticks, possibly reminiscent of swords. Although I believe those shattered upon their deaths. In the future, will attempt to recover one for study.
Maximus was capable of killing an Imp with a punch to the face. The Imp however exploded and cut his hand.
Stabbing Imps caused them in several cases to shoot a rather hot jet of smoke before exploding. Melee is not advised but is a valid option if necessary provided hands and face are sufficiently guarded. Requesting padded gloves for squad to protect hands in melee.
Some squadmates report that the Imps whack with their sticks rather then ram. However as only two Imps have managed to land hits, and the combat was rather frantic and against semivisible enemies, additional encounters with Imps will be required.
~~
Dweller Rushers
Rushers are fast moving humanoid hostiles. They exactly as squishy as a normal human, lowcal bullets are effective, often come in swarms, tend towards ambush or rushing tactics, and are the leading cause of death in previous missions according to the camera feeds. They attempt to sink their teeth into their targets and rip them limb from limb. Unknown if the bite is infectious beyond the brute damage due to all known bite victims having been torn to shreds.
According to accumulated data from previous missions, at least one subtype is capable of clinging to the ceiling and dropping on their prey.
Four Rushers of the Bladearm subtype were encountered this mission. Their bodies (minus the heads) were brought back as samples. Two Normal Rushers were brought back as samples. Heads included.
Notes from squad:
Arthur states that the Bladearm Subtype was vulnerable to HE rounds, this is true.
((HE is actually High Explosive by the way Heydude, AP is Armor Piercing.))
~~
Denizen 001
Denizen 001 is the first recorded of the class of creatures I would like to call Denizens. behemothic, heavily armored, and heavily specialized.
001 was seemingly melee oriented. Reminiscent of a Hydralisk from a 21st century videogame called Starcraft. It is unknown if 001 had ranged capabilities along the lines of the hydralisks, however as we brought him back, we will likely find out during the autopsy. It is unknown how developed 001's brain is. 001 has shown to be capable of cleaving through solid metal with minimal difficulty. Vigil would like a swordblade made out of one of the talons. I approve of this idea. Likely better then his current sword.
Upon full analysis completion, I recommend Jenny get the head of 001 as a trophy.
If possible, I would like cloaks made for me and my squadmembers out of 001's scales. Those things are extremely durable.
I request the tip of one of the talons as a dagger if possible.
--Squad Notes:
001 proved to be immune to all but Gauss and HE/AP round fired from the APC. Maximus's shotgun did minor damage and Jenny caused some damaged with her rifle as well, however said damage was along the lines of pinpricks to it.
~~
Dweller Knight
Knights are what I would designate as a semidenizen. Considerably stronger and more durable then the Rushers they may or may not command. Heavily armored, extremely strong, and often carrying oversized weapons. Low caliber weapons are functionally useless against them as proven in previous missions. We brought back the one we encountered in the Keep as a sample, including its spear. Knights have also been seen wielding human sized swords in previous missions. Will endeavor to recover one of those in the future if possible.
Do not ever engage a Knight in melee. They have more endurance then you, can and will kill you in a single hit. Are immune to lowcal weaponry, are faster then you, and can and will chase you until you trip and die. An entire squad has been systematically exterminated by one of these before. Engage at range and with highcal weaponry. Recommendation of Gauss Rifle at any range and snipers at long range.
~~
Notes:
Supplies for all fielded APCs that would be useful would be some sort of deployable trampoline (similar to what firefighters use), gas masks, and a lowcal ammo resupply crate. A medical stretcher or two and several emergency first aid/surgery kits would be beneficial as well. A sack that can be hooked onto the APC tow cable might be useful.
APC firesupport proved absolutely vital for the mission. We could not have completed the mission without it. Recommending testing of light artillery on later missions for similar reasons.
Keep materials can be damaged by APC mounted weaponry. All squads are advised to trigger heavily populated floors and rooms and gun down their occupants from outside as the occupants rush them, safer and more efficient.
As of currently, no ranged hostile combatants have been encountered. Range is essential. Request for all squads to be supplied additional lowcal ammunition, if we had entered the Keep's third floor without checking, we would have run out and been torn apart.
All known biological hostiles have been shown to undergo rapid decomposition soon after death. Blood samples have been taken from Knight and Bladearm Rushger subtypes for analysis.
Head of Knight has been brought back, hopefully the brain is intact enough to get an estimated intelligence level. Knights have been shown to use tools and think at least somewhat abstractly. Bladearm Rushers have proven to show minor self preservation instincts and learning abilities. Raising their blades to protect themselves from gunfire. Clinger Rushers have shown to use ambush tactics but lack self preservation instincts. Normal Rushers have shown a lack of self preservation instincts.
Body of Knight has been brought back separate of head. Didn't want to take chances. Unknown how resistant to force the armor is, as a gauss round killed it instantly. Armor has been brought back for testing. Chest area is warped somewhat due to gauss.
Normal Rushers have been seen to walk in endless circles around their artifact. Possible form of worship? Possible mind control? More data required.
Gas Masks are requested, as rapidly decaying corpses put off mildly toxic fumes.
I request that the corpse of Keith Raynard be returned to any descendants and said descendants get nonviolently questioned if they know how he ended up in there after a full analysis is complete. Hopefully the bone is intact enough to enable DNA sampling. We should follow this lead. Perhaps early gateway testing caused this? May be able to discover something of value.
Requesting additional snacks and water for the APC, Vigil eats a lot and it was a long ride back.
Jenny also requests a wider variety of snipers be added to the weapon options. To quote Jenny "I think the same for my bolt-action rifle. Big bullets is good, but shooting too slow is bad. Snipers should get Semi-autos" I personally recommend adding autoaim sniper rifles as well. That tech was fielded early in the 21st century to great effect. ((Irl, we've fielded autoaiming snipers, relatively new tech, but still effective. Same goes with electronically aimed morters. They can actually link in a network, allowing the sniper or morter techie to control several weapons at once.))
Maximus requests a wider variety of shotguns be added to the weapons options. To quote him. "I think that Shotguns are a sad mix between firepower and quantity in missions. Not as powerful as LMGs and heavier guns and far less ammo than any others. And with the speed of everything, pump-action shotguns are just too dangerous, maybe Automatic ones with drum magazines will prove to be a better mix." I agree. Maybe a higher caliber also, At least ensure it can pierce a material of similar strength to the Knight we brought back's armor. Low caliber does nothing against that.
Jenny also requests a wider variety of snipers be added to the weapon options. To quote Jenny "I think the same for my bolt-action rifle. Big bullets is good, but shooting too slow is bad. Snipers should get Semi-autos" I personally recommend adding autoaim sniper rifles as well. That tech was fielded early in the 21st century to great effect. ((Irl, we've fielded autoaiming snipers, relatively new tech, but still effective. Same goes with electronically aimed morters. They can actually link in a network, allowing the sniper or morter techie to control several weapons at once.))
Aria recommends cheaper Gauss rounds. They are rather expensive for what are literally aerodynamically shaped beams of dense metal. I personally recommend making a Gauss Pistol available as well as a cheaper alternative that is capable of taking down heavily armored hostiles. I know Squad B from two missions ago would have liked to have one. All they needed to do was to pierce that Knight's armor and they would have lived. Maybe an alternate round designed to fracture into shaped shrapnel midair due to the atmospheric stressors of flight and pepper a wide area Sort of like a shotgun crossed with a sniper.
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Topic: Castle: Foxhound Chronicles (Choking your Bad Dragon in the Void) (Read 371565 times)