Part Three - The Face of Battle

[CrackheadC.]

October 2nd, 1918. Night.

"We are NOT lost." Sgt. Maddox affirms, reaching for his compass. He stares intently at it, holding it scarcely an inch from his eyes. "Damn it all," he grumbles, settind down his rifle and fishing out a match. He strikes it against the brim of his helmet and rasies it to the compass face...

A shot rings out and the match flame wavers and dies. In the split second of light, you soldiers see a gout of blood where Sgt. Maddox's face used to be. It takes you a moment to realize that the white specks you saw flying out where his teeth! A loud hiss sounds overhead and suddenly there is light, blindingly bright, from above. The muddy ground, the squad looking about in disarray, and Maddox's twitching body, all are suddenly all too visible.

Only when the second shot rings out does it hit you: you're standing out in the open, the nearest cover yards away. You look up and see the flare gently sinking to the earth, and now you can make out the trench dug into the next ridge, and close to a dozen soldiers taking careful aim at you. More shots, now, a smell of gunpowder and more screaming. A grenade explodes, jarring you into action. As you raise your rifle you hear a new noise, one that chills you to the bone: the rattle of a machine gun.

What do you do?

Combat,Welcome to the first combat of No Man's Land. It will be bloody and chaotic. Here's what I need to have it run smooth-ish. 1st: You need a 0/1d3 SAN roll for the sight of Maddox's gruesome death. 2nd: You need a SAN roll at the start of combat. If you succeed, congrats your training took well and you can act as normal. If you fail, you lose control of your character for 1 round to me. 3rd: At the beginning of each combat round, I want you to make a 1d6 roll. On a 1-3 something horrible may happen to you. 4th: I have the order of battle set (Below). Post what your character would like to do each round and the relevant rolls for the action. Don't forget your 1d6 roll. I'll try to weave all of your actions into a cohesive narrative of battle. If something happens that I believe might make you want to change your action, I will stop the narrative before your action and give you a chance to confirm/change it. 5th: If you have any questions / are confused, let me know and I'll clear things up.

Order of Battle,90: G4 80: Martin, G8 75: G7, G10, Nick 70: G2, McNalley, Parks 65: Freddy, Ryan, G9 60: Grimm, G3 55: Birdy, G1, G6 50: G5 40: Artemis

[Supercape]

Spoiler:

1d100, 1d3=[51], [1]I think Birdy is in the clear. As for combat, taking whatever cover he can find as first priority! that will mean another SAN roll to keep his head I guess which is 1d100=80 not something he does anyway. As for the 1d6 roll and something awful, I'll leave that in your hands if thats ok!

[Ritterton]

Richter's went wide as he realized that the red splash was what use to be the Sergeant's head. His mind began to race as quick as his heart was racing.

Initial Sanity Check 40,[dice]0[/dice]

[Ritterton]

Sanity loss,[dice]0[/dice]

Richter could feel the bile start to billow up his throat and he clenched his jaw and tightened his lips. The Sergeant's body slumped to the ground as the sound of bullets and German shouting filled his head. "Shoot at them all, we have them surprised." His mind translated the German shouting. Part of his mind screamed, "do something Artemis, do something!"

Sanity combat,[dice]1[/dice] must be below 40 minus loss so anything under 37 would pass. If so, he would drop to cover or go prone on the ground and bring his rifle around to chamber a load. If not, he's under the control of the Keeper. OH..forgot the bad stuff roll [dice]2[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

Nick has gotten used to seeing his fellow soldiers killed, and he remains collected. Reacting quickly, he throws himself flat on the ground as soon as he hears the first shot. His luck has held so far. Wishing he had a grenade, he has to make do with his rifle. He shoots at the machine gunner, knowing that he's the greatest threat and hoping he can do enough damage to take him down.

[DrPeterson]

The doctor stared transfixed at Maddox's skull, or what was left of it, for a moment before he realised what was going on. Instinctively, he reached for his medical kit, but his hand froze mid-motion as he realised he could do nothing.

He snaps out of his daze by eerie closeness of the bullets flying by and shouts to retreat as he starts to leg it himself.

" Back! Back! Get to cover!"

San for Sarge 69%,[dice]0[/dice]

Sanity damage,[dice]3[/dice]

San for Combat,[dice]1[/dice]

Roll for nasties,[dice]2[/dice]

[CrackheadC.]

Mortar and artillery shells begin landing in the clearing throwing dirt into the air, blasting crevices into the ground and lighting up the night. The fwip-fwip-fwip of machine gun fire kicking up little puddles of dirt fills your ears. The Germans capitalize on their ambush, one firing on Pvt. Martin, who dives for cover a little too late and takes a bullet in the leg. Pvt. Parks fares a bit better, scurrying towards cover quickly - one German missing his shot and another having loaded a dud round, probably due to the miserable weather.

Birdy drops to the ground screaming obscenities at the Germans, his allies, and the shells going off around him.

Pvt. Richter stands in shock, staring at the corpse of Sgt. Maddox. "I can help you, sir" he says, trying to put the man's head back together. A German at the far end of the line takes careful aim at the young soldier and squeezes off a round that slams into the soldier's gut. Ritcher falls to the ground as another German tries to finish him off. Luckily for Ritcher, the German was aiming at him before he fell and his shot zips passed.

Nick, failing to locate the exact source of the machine gun fire, shoots the nearest soldier - who does a half-spin as the bullet brings him to the ground. The tough-as-nails gangster, Pvt. McNalley, seems to have lost himself in the din of battle and stares dumbly at the German line. Freddy manages to get low behind a nearby tree and shouts for the squad to get into cover. A yelp escapes from Freddy's throat as the farm boy Pvt. Ryan misfires a round that hits a tree near the doc in his surprise from the ambush.

"Get down! Covering fire!" Cpl. Grimm is unphased by the ambush and lets loose three volleys from his BAR. The first volley hits dead center mass as the four bullets travel up the German's body hitting his heart, throat, mouth, and skull - killing him instantly if God has any mercy. Grimm's second volley goes wide as he adjusts his aim towards the next source of gunfire, but luckily the third volley finds its mark and drops another German. The remaining Germans change targets to retaliate at the soldier causing havok on their lines, only one of the four finds his mark and drops Cpl. Grimm. Grimm is hurt badly, but manages to stay conscious.

After another bullet grazes Freddy's tree, the squad can hear what sounds like a trumpet over the din of gunshots and artillery. Just as it looks hopeless, the other two platoons come running over a ridge with Lt. Wilhelm in front- drawn by the sounds of gunfire. The thirty-odd men surge into the light, and Wilhelm screams, "Charge! Let's smother 'em boys!" The stunned members of the platoon come to their senses as they see part of the German line turn their fire towards the stampede of soldiers.

OOC,[Round 2 has started. Everyone may act. Richter, I need a CON save to stay conscious as you have taken a major wound - If you pass you can act, if you fail you take a little nap. As always advice and criticism is welcome. Damage assessment: Both Cpl. Grimm and Richter have taken a major wound. Martin took a bullet in the leg, but isn't in big trouble. Three Germans that you have spotted have been killed outright or downed.]

[Supercape]

Birdy gritted his teeth, and clamped on to his rifle. He started a half-crawl, half-run to the nearest big tree he could find.

Every shuffle and footstep he spat a curse under his breath, largely directed at the stupidity of the army brass, but with plenty spare for the Germans and the Universe in general.

He kept his eyes fixed on the tree, and only when he crawled up to it did he allow himself a moment to take the horror in.

[DrPeterson]

D6 of Destiny,[dice]2[/dice]

Relieved to hear the proverbial cavalry arrive, Larch raises his voice and shouts: "Get them, get them! Shoot them where it hurts!"

Which is pretty much everywhere, he added as an unspoken afterthought. Freddy took of his pack and extracted his medkit, took a few deep breaths and then made a dash towards the nearest casualty.

Even is Richter - Uneven is Grimm,[dice]0[/dice]

OOC:,If he can still do it this round, Freddy is going to try to administer first aid to Richter's wounds. [dice]1[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

Knowing that he's still in danger even though the figurative cavalry has arrived, Nick scrambles behind the nearest tree. Once behind cover, he takes aim at the German who had shot Corporal Grimm and fires another accurate and deadly shot.

[Ritterton]

Richter felt the bullet hit and knock the wind and strength out of him. A strong pain shot through his torso followed by a deep pulsating heat from his core. "Good God, I have been shot," he was not sure if it was said aloud or shouted within the confines of his mind as he fell to the ground.

CON 55,[url=http://orokos.com/roll/329612]Constitution Check - Chpt 3[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]65[/b]

His mind raced and the pain swelled stronger until the edges of his sight began to fade from vibrant colors to gray to black. Slowly the blackness overcame him and sleep greeted him.

[Supercape]

From behind the tree, Birdy gritted his teeth and poked his rifle out. With the flashes and bangs, he picked out a shadow, and fired.

It was hard to make out, but he was pretty sure he hit the man (whom he hoped was a German), and hit him hard. He fancied he saw the man's head splinter asunder.

Spoiler:

1d100=10 to hit, which I think is an impale, and 4d6=19 +8 = 27 damage!

[CrackheadC.]

The crash of boots on the ground fills the air as the other platoons charge the line - a few men falling to gunshot wounds as a few of the Germans turn their attention from their ambushed prey to their attackers.

As Freddy attempts to clean Ritcher's wound and begin first aid two of the Germans take shots at him. Though they miss, he is forced back behind cover.

Pvt. Martin takes a shot from his position on the ground, but misses. Three of the Germans turn their attention to the charging soldiers and fire into the crowd, dropping two of the unfortunate men.

Nick unloads into the the soldier who hit the corporal. His aim is true as his bullet tears into the man's guts bringing him to the ground. Followed very quickly by Pvt. Parks who fells another German on the line. Nick feels a rush of adrenaline as a bullet slams into his cover, the first soldier he wounded now back on the line and shooting at him.

Cpl. Grimm unleashes the rest of his BAR into the German line, the bullet spray seemingly cutting one man in half. He holds the trigger down until there is a faint click-click-click. Reacting quickly, a man who appears to be an officer shouts in German and three more soldiers appear on the line, Pvt. Ryan - the squad's crackshot - manages to wing the officer, but not bring him down.

From his new cover, Birdy turns a German soldier's skull into a (satisfying?) spray of red mist.

As the battle rages on, one of the soldiers charging his blown back in parts - whether he stepped on a landmine or was on the receiving end of a mortar you cannot tell. Pvt. McNalley is covered in flecks of leg bone and gore as the soldier's torso comes to rest in front of Pvt. Parks and Freddy, right next to Richter's unconscious body. Freddy, you can't help but think the corpse is staring at you.

OOC,Start round 3. Freddy needs a 1/1d3 SAN roll (Even if he fails, the loss won't happen until after the battle, too much adrenaline). Everyone is getting crazy rolls, Grimm has impaled twice already! The other platoons are still charging. There appears to be roughly 7 Germans left after their reinforcements hit.

[Mr. Handy]

That one wasn't meant for me, thinks Nick with some relief. This isn't how I die. While he'd like to plug the German who took a shot at him, he knows it's more important to bring down the officer. He leans around the tree and fires at him, but his shot misses very badly.

[Ritterton]

darkness, slumber and darkness

Con Role Extreme 14,[url=http://orokos.com/roll/329901]Con Role - Extreme == 14[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]86[/b]

[Supercape]

"Come and get some, come and get some..." said Birdy through his teeth. Not so loud he would be heard, not soft he could not hear himself above the screams and yells and bullets.

It was too dark to see, but he fired anyway, at the sounds beyond...

[DrPeterson]

Sanity 68%,[dice]0[/dice]

D6 of Doom,[dice]1[/dice]

Freddy curses at the leering corpse, shakes off the unexpected staring competition and shoots out from behind his cover again. He grabs Richter by the shoulders and drags him behind the tree, grateful for the slippery mud to assist in the process. He leans down, nose close to the wound and sniffs to ascertain if the bullets perforated any organs. Happy that it didn't, he puts his hands around the wound and pushes down hard to stint the flow of blood.

First Aid 75%,[dice]2[/dice]

"Come on, Private, today's too nice a day to meet your maker. Stay with us!"

[Ritterton]

Ritterton sees the fog clear and his eyes open. A tree looms over him, and a face looms large shouting at him "Come on Private.." the shouting is lost in the confusion of the moment and the sound of gunshot. He tries sitting up, but his mind remains fogged, confused.

Sanity 40,[url][url=http://orokos.com/roll/330209]Sanity roll[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]75[/b][/url]

His mind continued to flutter with his eyelids.

Bad Stuff roll,[url][url=http://orokos.com/roll/330211]Bad stuff roll[/url]: [u]1d6[/u] [b]1[/b][/url][spoiler-button]

OOC:   That sound is me thumping my head on the table...

[CrackheadC.]

A shot wizzes by Birdy in response to his fire making him glad for his cover. "I got him," Pvt. Martin shouts as he scopes out the German firing on Birdy and takes his head off. "Give Larch some covering fire!" Cpl. Grimm bellows as he strips the empty magazine from his BAR and slaps in another.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" You see Pvt. McNalley break cover to run three yards and throw a grenade towards the newly arrived Germans. The metal sphere sails over their heads and thumps down behind the trench. Whether they didn't see it or just didn't take cover in time, the accompanying BOOM throws a small amount of shrapnel into the Germans' backs. McNalley pays for his gambit as a German plugs him in the chest, you see him go down but know he's still alive and awake because you can hear him cursing about how he's "Gonna kill every last one of you Hun bastards!"

While Birdy, Nick lay down some indiscriminate covering fire for the medic, Parks and Ryan take clean shots. Parks' capitalizes on the German officer being jostled by the grenade and shoots him in the chest. The squads sharpshooter, Pvt. Ryan, takes the head off of another German. The remaining Germans begin shouting and firing towards Parks and Nick - luckily today does not seem to be the Americans' day to die as the bullets narrowly miss their marks.

Over the din you can barely make out the german, "They killed Hans, get up here!" A few more Germans budge up into the line, but they don't fire right away. There is some confusion in their voices and eyes, "What the hell is that? A new American weapon?"

Then you feel it too, a strange tingling sensation spreading from your neck down your spine and back up to your skull. Your hair begins to stand up. The feeling seems to intensify with every exploded artillery shell.

OOC,Begin Round 4. Two more NPC impales. This has to be a record for luckiest combat in all of Call of Cthulhu. Only German speakers can half make out what the soldiers are saying - so Freddy, Birdy, and Artemis. There are more roughly six Germans on the line now and the other platoons will be on top of the rest of the trench shortly.

[Supercape]

"What?" mumbled Birdy to himself, wiping the sweat off his brow and holding fire.

"Lads, they are saying something! Some kind of secret weapon???" he shouted to his squad-mates.

He cupped one hand to his ear, trying to catch snippets of German over the gunfire and screams.

"The Lady weeps through rubber elephants???" he translated, trying to make sense of the half-heard and misheard.