Content Warning: Strong Language
This is part 2 of Episode 20. As with episode 19, the whole scene ended up being nearly 2,000 words long, so I split the episode in two
Scene Chaos Factor: 4
Albey jumped up and peered over the top of the wreck, scanning the eastern sky.
Wits check: Can any of them spot the drone before it arrives?
Eamon: Five dice - 1, 5, 5, 6, 6 - Two successes
Summer: Two dice - 1, 2 - No successes
Albey: Five dice - 1, 2, 4, 4, 5 - No successes
"I can't see anything," Summer said. "I can't hear it either."
Albey shook his head. "You sure, man? I got nothin'."
I caught a movement about a hundred yards out, when something dark blocked out the light of a couple of bright stars. It was coming in fast, and headed straight towards us.
Drone is a Civilian Flyer.
Does the drone open fire on its first pass? Likely - 21 - Yes
What type of neurocaster is the pilot using? 1d5 - 2 - Stimulus GO (P + 2/N +2/G + 1)
Agility Check: Does the pilot hit anyone on the first pass?
Drone: Eight dice (6 Agility + 2 Networking) - 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6 - One success
Who gets hit? 1d3 - 2 - Albey
Agility Check: Can Albey's Dodge - Five dice - 1, 3, 3, 4, 5 - No successes
Does the car wreck work as cover? Four dice - 2, 4, 4, 6 - One success
The cover provided by the wreck cancelled out the drone's one point of damage.
The night sky was lit up by the muzzle flash of whatever weapon the drone was armed with. Bullets zinged off the car wrecks, or kicked up the dust off to the side. Summer screamed and collapsed back to the ground, her hands covering her ears. Albey yelped and swore, and hit the dirt next to the wreck
As it zoomed over the top of us, I snapped off a couple of rounds back at the thing.
Agility Check: Does Eamon hit it? Drone will Stand Tall.
Eamon: Seven dice (5 Agility + 2 gear from Handgun) - 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 6 - Three successes
Damage: 2 from Handgun + 2 for extra successes - 4
Drone has 2 points of Armour - 1, 5 - No successes
Drone's hull points reduced to 5.
By sheer fluke, one of the rounds slammed into the bottom of the drone as it went over, sending out a shower of sparks. It must have gotten the pilot's attention though, because it almost instantly came to a stop, and spun the weapon back towards us.
I yanked Albey's pistol out of the back of my jeans as I dove for cover near the other wreck. "Albey! Catch!" I yelled, as I tossed the pistol across to him.
Agility Check: Can Albey catch the pistol, so he can use it this turn?
Eamon: Five dice - 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 - No successes
It was a shit throw, though, and he wasn't able to catch it. It landed in the dirt near him, and he was scrambled to get back into cover with it as the drone opened fire again.
Is the drone shooting at Eamon? Nearly certain - 13 - Exceptional Yes
Eamon will Dodge
Opposed Agility Check:
Drone: Eight Dice (6 Agility + 2 Network): 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6 - One success
Eamon: Five Dice - 1, 1, 2, 5, 6 - One success
The attack misses, due to the tied number of successes.
As I scrambled across the ground to find cover, bullets sprayed near me, throwing dirt and pebbles across me. The drone started hovering, slowly lowering itself towards the ground.
Albey lay on the ground, clutching his pistol with both hands, and took careful aim at the drone.
Agility Check: Drone is focused on Eamon, so it will Stand Tall
Albey: Seven dice (5 Agility + 2 gear): 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6 - Two successes (3 damage total)
Drone has 2 points of Armour - 2, 6 - One success, which reduces damage taken to 2
Drone's hull points reduced to 3.
Albey's double tap found the mark, and spun the drone around in the air. "Take that, motherfucker!" he yelled.
I took advantage of the drone's momentary distraction, and snapped off a couple of shots myself.
Agility Check: Drone is spun around, so it will Stand Tall
Eamon: Seven dice (5 Agility + 2 gear): 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6 - One success (2 damage total)
Push the roll: Six dice - 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 5 - No additional successes
Eamon loses two points of Hope, dropping him to 1.
Drone has 2 points of Armour - 2, 5 - No successes
Drone's hull points reduced to 1.
The first shot hit the drone, sending out another shower of sparks, but it was still airborne. I was starting to get worried we'd never take this thing out, so I popped off another shot. But I must have been shaking too much, as the shot went wide. I dropped my head back down into the dirt, and started praying that we'd take this thing out soon.
The drone settled back into a steady hover, and spun around so that it was facing towards me again.
Eamon will Dodge
Opposed Agility Check:
Drone: Eight Dice (6 Agility + 2 Network): 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5 - No successes
Attack misses.
A round from the drone zinged off the car wreck above me as I clutched my hands over my head, as Albey got up on one knee, and snapped off another couple of rounds.
Agility Check: Drone is focused on Eamon, so it will Stand Tall
Albey: Seven dice (5 Agility + 2 gear): 1, 1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 6 - Two successes (3 damage total)
Drone has 2 points of Armour - 1, 5 - No successes
Drone's hull points reduced to -2, destroying it
Somehow, my frantic praying actually worked: Albey's shots both slammed into the drone, and it plummeted to the ground in a massive shower of sparks.
The desert night was suddenly silent apart from a low crackling from the burning drone and Summer's sobbing, the air thick with the smell of gun smoke.
End of Scene Bookkeeping
While the group was victorious, they were on the back foot, so the Chaos Factor rises to five.
Added Survivalists to the Character List.
Added Summer Byron to the Character List.
Added Albey Dagan to the Character List.
End of Scene Notes
This was an interesting scene for a couple of reasons. I let the dice rolls fall where they lay, so at the beginning of the scene. Albey wasn’t having any of the idea that he and Summer should join up with Eamon. That would have been OK, but it went against the “Activate Group” thing from the previous scene. It also meant that the dialogue was going round and round in circles and nothing much was being achieved.
So, I took some advice from Evil Hat’s old Spirit of the Century RPG: when things get slow, send in the ninjas!
Originally, I was thinking that a drone would approach and just spook them, causing them to run away. But when I got the Exceptional Yes result for whether the drone pilot knew the group was there, I escalated things. How the pilot knew, I don’t know (yet). But, it certainly made things interesting.
Consequently, I played out my first combat scene in The Electric State RPG. A few observations:
Combat in The Electric State is no where near as deadly as it is in the Blade Runner RPG, which is probably a good thing.
The group got very lucky with the way the dice rolled, especially with respect to hitting the drone.
Admittedly, I did make it a little easier on them by electing to have the drone “stand tall” each turn.
Drones in this game are tough. The basic civilian flying drone has nine hull points, which is more than double the Health points that any of the characters had. I’d hate for the group to come up against a military drone.
So, the group will now plan to bug out of there together in the next scene (unless it gets interrupted), and they can resolve the tension later on.
Eamon also desperately needs to get to sleep. He’s been awake for 22 hours at this point…
If Eamon keeps getting lucky like this, he is probably gonna end up asking Vinit hot to convert ha! It was fun seeing how combat worked in this, even if the social and investigative stuff is more interesting. Glad you're not tracking ammunition or anything. Can't wait for more!