Worse Than the Disease 2 IC

[AdamSpeg]

Lemus accepts the rifle and examines it with an experienced eye, it looks small in his hands. He's impressed by the care that's been given to maintaining it. "I don't embellish my skills, sir." Bracing against the body of the car, he spends a few moments selecting a low hanging pine cone before blowing it clean off the branch. Lemus ejects the round and collects it in a practiced motion, then offers the gun back to Sean. "Do you plan to stick me on pine cone hunting duty?" Lemus says, without any humor.

[Volthawk]

Richard takes a little bit of time to join Sean and Lemus after the pair get back from the Radar Base - if Lemus asks, he'll briefly explain that he's still recovering from a nasty bout of illness, which is also why he isn't coming along on the next mission out. He gets there soon enough to see Lemus display his skill with a rifle, though, and to catch a little of their discussion. Once Lemus is done shooting, he says his piece. "It's not quite as simple as 'making waves', really. The...slavers, raiders, neck tattoo guys, whatever you want to call them...to cut a long story short, there's a history there between them and us, and we only found out about it after we ended in the middle of it. We've had to fight them to survive at first, and then as we learned more about who they are and what they do, we became opposed to them for far more important reasons as well. Things have just...escalated since there, as we've learned more about what's out there, and...well. Put simply, we have the skills and the equipment to make this land safer, to bring...some kind of justice, I suppose you could say...so that's what we're doing, and hiring more manpower just makes that mission easier." He shrugs - he clearly believes in what he's saying, but he still feels a little self-conscious laying it all out like that to someone who isn't Sean. "And from a more selfish perspective, we've generally come out ahead from our encounters out there so we can afford to keep improving our gear and keep everyone well fed and paid, so that's nice. But that's more Sean's department, really."

[AdamSpeg]

Lemus seems to have blanked out a bit by the end of Richard's explanation. "Shooting back is usually the best response.", he offers. Grandiose talk seems to have made him uncomfortable and unsure of how to respond.

[u-b]

"Not quite pinecone hunting..." says Sean while trying to evaluate what he's seen "but that's the closest thing to a brain-sized target at ranges at which we are actually shot at. I chose to leave human brains intact for this evaluation." As for evaluation... well, the man did not embellish his skills, but neither did he showcase them. Putting himself in man's shoes, Sean thinks he would not have cared to take the few steps to the car and would have chosen a smaller pinecone, but, well, a hit is a hit, we'll just have to see how it goes. He speaks of the other things though. "The mission we are now planning will be in tight quarters with less range and less time to shoot. So I guess we can get you a full-auto rifle or..." he seems to think of something "...just wait here a bit."

Then Sean fetches up Tariq and the officer in charge of the strike team.

"This man comes with us and is fairly good shot. I guess we better come up with some sort of plan for the op, or at least with a soadout. Like maybe..." And he continues explaining his first proposal, requesting comments. The proposal is roughly like this:
1. Seven men in good NBC gear with Browming M1918 BARs and underbarrel tac lights advance in front. The NBC gear will adversely affect them, so they likely will have to aim for a second at whatever they are to shoot at, unless very close, which will give some time to the opposition and this makes us want to do something about that part.
2. Two men in poor NBC gear with Colt M16A1s with underbarrel GLs will come next. Sean proposes the GLs to be loaded with flashbangs as that would be perfectly safe even shot straight at our frontline men who will have both ear and eye protection.
3. The two remaining men, in poor NBC gear, will be a guy with a plazma cutter to open all sorts of doors and a guy to disarm the explosives. These will move between front and back depending on our immediate needs.
4. Sean fits into this picture somewhere, presumably behind frontline men, with a gas mask, but no suit. He explains he've had a lot of immunity shots over the course of his life, did not catch the disease the last time and so is willing to risk it to provide a rapid response in case something shows up.
5. Lemus is also to fit somewhere. Sean proposal is if Tariq will loan us his GL, we can then load it with flashbangs and tear gas and have the man dispersing that freely all over when he sees the need. We'll also have to borrow Tariq's gas mask. Sean thinks a disposable NBC suit should fit Lemus, but he's not unpacking it until we are at the spot.

Spoiler

Show

So, alternatives? Opinions?

[AdamSpeg]

Lemus watches Sean leave and return with the 2 other men, and listens quietly the proposed plan. He speaks up a few times, clarifying that he's never used a grenade launcher before but will figure it out. A NBC suit may need to be modified to fit him, he's never had much luck finding gear his size. The proposed organization of the other men sounds well thought out, if this group is so well supplied Lemus has a few requests: A reliable conventional firearm and something flexible to wear underneath the suit for added protection. He also offers to carry any additional or particularly heavy equipment

Lemus has personally never been down into the Gutter beyond a few feet, and asks what they're expecting to find down there.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The officer meets Sean with a nod, he barks orders to his men to prepare.
The soldiers take the orders with professional grace, smoothly equipping themselves with the gear.
The NBC suits are not what they're used to, however. Even with their focus and training, they are obviously a little clumsy in the protective gear. They look weirdly ominous in them, too.

[u-b]

"Expecting men, mines, security systems, disease and some bio lab." Sean think that about covers it, but adds the last relevant bit. "Mutated animals above ground." There might be mutated animals below and other biolab products, but he does not expect them to be present or much of a problem. Having recently spoken of a plasma cutter, Sean hands it over to the driver / mechanic Rangers guy to practice. He can as well practice with the welding equipment, but that he has a better chance to be familiar with. Lemus' request is basically granted. Sean departs to fetch him the gear.

[AdamSpeg]

Lemus is glad to be employed by someone willing to properly equip him, others would have sent him into the Gutter knife in hand and handkerchief around the face. Low risk high reward investment as far as they'd have been concerned. He sets about picking gear out and familiarizing himself with their workings. He will be ready to depart as soon as the word is given.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Lemus manages to avoid butter-finger-ing the new guns he is handed by Sean, to everyone's relief.

(OC: Made your DX roll to avoid disaster via Klutz, Lemus.)

The Ranger makes sure he can handle the torch, he wants to be ready for action.

[u-b]

Tariq instructs Lemus about using the grenade launcher (and hopes both make it back all right). He recommends targeting the ground, because that is much easier (OOC: +4 to hit) and a miss by several yards might still have most of the targets in the area. Consulting with Sean, the recommended loadout for Lemus is all HEDPs while outdoors and alternating flashbang / tear gas / flashbang / tear gas while indoors. We do not have enough tear gas for the whole extended capacity, so in this case the rest should be just flashbangs. This way Lemus can shoot them in pairs for all-around effect.

Tariq spends the rest of the day overseeing construction.

Spoiler

Show

And I think we are done for today.

[Shoot Da Moon]

(OC: Richard, are you resting for the day? Once we've confirmed that, we'll move onto the next day.)

[Shoot Da Moon]

The rest of the day goes by smoothly, the construction work makes decent progress.
The people at the radar base settle in for a peaceful night...

DAY 86

(OC: I believe the construction work is close to completion?)

The next morning is clear. Not too cold.

To everyone's horror and sorrow, however, the people of the radar base discover three merchants who came to this base selling clothing, blankets and other cloth items have committed suicide sometime last night. They left no note. Their fellow merchants mourn...

(OC: Sean and Richard, I believe you two have the Guilt Complex Disadvantage? You may be severely troubled by these deaths...)

[u-b]

Sean does not quite believe in mass suicides, so as soon as he learns of the event, he does the following, in order:
1. Tell Vermont Rangers and Wafle House men to inform everyone that no one should leave today without an explicit permission by either Richard and Sean. Those wishing to obtain permission are to seek either of us ASAP.
2. Take [D]oc, [R]ichard and Lemus to the site and invite the rest of the [M]erchants to be available nearby. Then start asking questions.
3. [MR] What is the place of the deaths?
4. [D] What are the times of the deaths?
5. [D] What are the manners and causes of the deaths?
6. [D] Do the deceased seem to have been normal healhy humans?
7. [DR] Are there any signs of struggle anywhere on the bodies or the site?
8. [D] Is anything else (tests, autopsy or what not) necessary to be sure of the above or anything more to say?
9. [M] Who else was present anywhere nearby?
10. [M] How were the deceased related among themselves and with the rest of the merchants.
11. [M] The details of the last day's worth of interactions with the deceased, including the time, place and manner of the last contact with the deceased.
12. [M] What property did the deceased have and what would be its fate?
13. [R] Anything interesting to be found on site?

Sean intends to do whatever is in his power to get to the bottom of this.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The militia and Rangers close up ranks and tighten security according to Sean's instructions.

Sean and his friends look over the scene.
The doctor says he thinks they died at approximately 10 PM last night, right where they were found.
They all died of a drug overdose, but they also cut their wrists as they took the overdose.
The dead people did not have any mutations.
No signs of a struggle.
The doctor is not sure what else he could do, aside from a full autopsy, which he is not that good at.
The nearest person near the dead is another merchant, a man trying to sell bullets who was sleeping in a tent near their sleeping site.
The surviving merchants did not seem to know the diseased well. They think they were all friends for over a year. They joined up with the survivors 2 months ago.
The surviving merchants did not interact with them much yesterday. It was mostly just eating meals together, swapping items for sale as trading, talking about where to go next.
The dead people still have a small stock of cloth, clothing and blankets plus their camping supplies, tools, bullets, simple weapons, water and food. They have not decided what to do about that yet.
Lemus does not find anything out of the ordinary in the diseased peoples' belongings. None of the merchants had a diary or a recording device.

[Volthawk]

Richard takes the news about the merchants badly. Suicide, here...they were here to make this place better, and so far the growth around the radar base had been a perfect example of that, so hearing about someone here still finding it hard enough for that...it bothers him. When he hears Sean's insistence that there's something else going on...well, he's not quite sure Sean has it right, but trusting Sean's gut has gone well for them before, so Richard goes along with the investigation.

While Lemus and the doc look at the bodies, Richard focuses on the wider room. If there was foul play here, then someone must have come in here - presumably, if this was murder, the killer came in and slit their wrists while they were too high to resist. Vocalising his thoughts while he searches for any signs (he's a little doubtful, given this was hardly a sterile environment to start with, even before the merchants who found the bodies presumably came in and then the exiles, but he had to show due dillegence - some things from his old life remained, he supposed), he asks the doc whether it was possible that someone gave them more of the drugs they were taking while they were under the influence, to push it into an OD. On the topic of the wrist slitting, he asks whether either of them have seen the blade that is was done with nearby to the bodies.

[AdamSpeg]

Lemus wonders about calling these people "merchants" in the first place. It seems they barely had goods to sell, and what they did have were simple blankets and provisions. If they did kill themselves, seems to him like they might have done so because of their poor future survival prospects. He finishes sorting through the belongings, and lets Doc and Richard continue their investigations. Lemus listens to Sean ordering the various base personnel around, and offers, "What do you want to do with the bodies?"

[Shoot Da Moon]

Richard does indeed find knives in their hands. It seemed that the blade across their wrists was the backup plan in case the drugs did not kill them quick enough. In one case, the poor person did indeed resort to the blade, but the other dead perished from the drugs.

This looks like a pretty solid case for suicide to Richard. There are no unaccounted for entries into the scene before anyone showed up this morning. The bodies have not been disturbed, no signs of a struggle. The knife wound is clearly self-inflicted. If someone else murdered them, that person would have to sneak past the guards around the merchants' tents, and would probably leave behind footprints. He can find no footprints and the guards report no suspicious activity last night.

And why would a murderer go such lengths for three kills and leave all the valuables behind? The motive, other than simple sadism, could only be revenge or some other similarly personal drive. But he does not know the story of the merchants, so he can't say with any confidence that someone killed them for that (he may have to dig deeper with people who knew them, which the other merchants did not). He's more certain that they died by their own hands.

[u-b]

This was increasingly looking like an overreaction to Sean's proposed drug regulation and Sean was feeling increasingly unwell. He asks the doc if he can confirm they were habitual drug users and checks if they seem to have had enough funds to get by if expelled. He asks the merchants if (and when) these people have interacted with the merchants selling drugs and whether (and when) the merchants selling drugs have left the base.

[Shoot Da Moon]

This was increasingly looking like an overreaction to Sean's proposed drug regulation and Sean was feeling increasingly unwell. He asks the doc if he can confirm they were habitual drug users and checks if they seem to have had enough funds to get by if expelled. He asks the merchants if (and when) these people have interacted with the merchants selling drugs and whether (and when) the merchants selling drugs have left the base.

The doctor claims they show no signs of being long term drug addicts.
The dead merchants did not have much funds and supplies left. Maybe a week's worth, if they went half-rations.
The merchants claim the drug hawkers had little contact with the suicides.
The drug pushers have cleared out from the base just yesterday, a little after noon. They apparently had a hot tip for well-heeled buyer.

[u-b]

This did not make a huge amount of sense. They've just bought half their wealth worth of drugs so they have stuff to kill themselves with? Sean asks Richard to interview some or most people that these three have contacted over the last several days (maybe starting with merchants as these are most prone to leave, but buyers and the rest of people here at the base are sure to be included too) for signs of harsh financial contitions, chronic depression, suicidal tendencies, major recent events or some such that the deceased might have been showing. Meanwhile, Sean semi-lifts travel ban meaning that if you leave today half an hour chat with Richard is mandatory, but that's about it.

Sean does not like it even one bit, but proposes that, with exception of Richard, we are done here and should get ready to leave.

The allocation of the cemetery is left to Tariq and the actual burial and what not is left to their fellow merchants, unless they decline.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The other merchants take care of the burial. Two of them have shovels. They can bury the dead outside the base grounds.

The people who had the most contact with them were buyers (mostly base staff who wanted new clothes or bedding) and the merchants specializing in bullets (who traded with them).

One bullet merchants interviewed claims the suicides were running out of funds, doubted that they could get enough supplies to make a trip across the state for better markets, and were increasingly depressed at the prospect of starving or getting slaughtered on the road.

Another bullet merchants claimed the suicides had recently lost a friend to gangsters "collecting on a debt" about two weeks ago.

[u-b]

While Richard is occupied talking to people, Sean takes most Vermont Rangers, Lemus, Bart, three militia men, the dogs and the drone all riding two cars and six bikes and makes a trip to the facility that has been of his interest. He is not expecting a safe trip, but is willing to take the risks. Even if the team is safe most of the way, Sean plans to stop some half a mile from the site and make the rest of the jorney at slower speed, with Sean scouting some distance ahead and some of the rest of the men near the cars ready to open fire if things start to happen.

[AdamSpeg]

If the group makes it to their destination safety, Lemus attempts to organize the men into a defensive posture while moving the last half mile/setting up nearby the facility. Strategic placement of the vehicles for cover from open shooting lanes, lookouts keeping eyes to the sides/behind of the convoy, etc.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean's convoy over to the place goes smoothly enough.

(OC: -20% travel time, mark off the fuel used. Do you need me to remind you of the distance?)

When they arrive, Sean scouts out ahead, staying low.

Lemus has problems getting the men under his command to form up properly. Some are distracted by personal arguments. He does, however, keep his eyes peeled for threats and help Sean spot columns of black smoke rising far to the south.

Sean, alongside him, makes out more points of interest (apparently something new introduced to the area by someone) closer to the targeted destination; two cars has been abandoned in the parking lot attached to the building lot, a pack of 20-or-so mutated wolves are resting about 60 yards from the building, a large teepee has been set up atop the building's roof (no smoke or light is coming from it, it may be empty), a line of heads set on 2 meter long wooden spikes near the building as to warn off trespassers, and lots of white chalk lines (symbols?) drawn on the cement just outside the building.

[AdamSpeg]

Lemus is primarily concerned with pack of mutated animals nearby. Does it seem like they've been nesting in the building, or just happen to be passing by? How far away from the convoy is the pack, and how feasible is it to start firing to clear their numbers and scare them off?

[u-b]

Sean is not afraid of mutated wolves too much, but is somewhat concerned about snipers and columns of smoke. He ignores the later for now and looks for a position where...
1. Most of the group can practically reach without alerting the wolves of the people in the gas station.
2. The troops will have their choice of shooting at the wolves and maybe the gas station from partial cover and going to full cover if some unseen attackers surface.
3. As far from both the wolves and the gas station as possible while meeting both points above.

If there is no such position, Sean chooses the next bast thing. In any case, he leads the men there in a route that does not expose them much.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Lemus is primarily concerned with pack of mutated animals nearby. Does it seem like they've been nesting in the building, or just happen to be passing by? How far away from the convoy is the pack, and how feasible is it to start firing to clear their numbers and scare them off?

Lemus thinks the pack is roving around in the open, not nesting anywhere. The pack is quite far from the convoy, easily over 80 to 100 yards. Firing at them would certainly scare them off, even if no gun hit any of them.

Sean is not afraid of mutated wolves too much, but is somewhat concerned about snipers and columns of smoke. He ignores the later for now and looks for a position where...
1. Most of the group can practically reach without alerting the wolves of the people in the gas station.
2. The troops will have their choice of shooting at the wolves and maybe the gas station from partial cover and going to full cover if some unseen attackers surface.
3. As far from both the wolves and the gas station as possible while meeting both points above.

If there is no such position, Sean chooses the next bast thing. In any case, he leads the men there in a route that does not expose them much.

Sean figures there's a few elevated positions, mostly ruined buildings, which could help his people get eyes on the station and the pack - but that's where he'd put the boobytraps if he were protecting this area from intruders.
The troops think shooting at the wolves is a waste of time and bullets. And they think the station is not going to be protected by just guards inside. There's going to be patrols and snipers hiding out in the buildings around the station. A position as far from both the pack and the station is the top of a wrecked four-story building, 200 yards away from the station.

[u-b]

Sean does not quite like the idea of getting the men climb some wrecked building. Can he say how far he can be on the ground level while still able to line a shot? And what sorts of things limit that?

[AdamSpeg]

Using the ground level of the 4-story building as a bunker sounds like a good idea, full cover/concealment from any roving guards while still giving sight over everything. He'd be willing to brave the upper floors and rooftop to have a better shot at the station's roof, where snipers are most likely to be watching from.

(OOC: What is the range penalty for shooting that far?)

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean does not quite like the idea of getting the men climb some wrecked building. Can he say how far he can be on the ground level while still able to line a shot? And what sorts of things limit that?

The view from the ground floor is a straight 80 yards to a target, but it can be easily blocked by buildings or natural flora. The pack can easily slip away into undergrowth or a building, easy cover and concealment.

Using the ground level of the 4-story building as a bunker sounds like a good idea, full cover/concealment from any roving guards while still giving sight over everything. He'd be willing to brave the upper floors and rooftop to have a better shot at the station's roof, where snipers are most likely to be watching from.

(OOC: What is the range penalty for shooting that far?)

Lemus' attempt to climb to the top is ill-thought out. He brings down a wall on the ground floor and barely gets away unscathed, and climbing up a ladder to the next floor results in him collapsing a load-bearing wall onto him...

(OC: DARN CONNECTION/FORUM ATE MY POST AARGH, structural integrity modifier is now -4. Tally is 3 from mishaps. Lemus takes 5 crushing damage before DR, can roll to avoid getting trapped but probably won't make it.)