Inn Too Deep - Part 2

General Summary

Last Time...

Kade's Crusaders decided to help the mysterious D.D. (assumed to be the Duke of Drones) recover an equally mysterious dieseltech computer programming gasket. They arrived in Vestra and discovered the Vestra Inn taken over by an unknown faction, with a squad of Grand Army of Voxelia soldiers trying unsuccessfully to lay siege. The party made contact with the soldiers and asked them to hold their fire. Meanwhile, other party members entered the building and started eliminating the unknown faction. With the first floor clear and D.D.'s contact nowhere to be found, the party finds themselves briefly alone to gather their wits - until, that is, the sound of bootsteps are heard on the floor above...

Session 2 began with almost every member of Kade's Crusaders gathering on the first floor of the Vestra Inn when quiet footsteps were heard on the floor above. Realizing that she isn't doing much good watching over the (holding for now) Voxelian soldiers on the hill across the street, Kade called Noir out of her hiding place over the radio. Still suspicious of the Voxelians, Noir nevertheless followed orders and made the long, circuitous trek down from her hiding place, through cover to the backyard of the inn.

Ready Actions

Lupara approached the doorway leading to the second floor while Deimos doled out first aid to Kade and Longhand. Lupara reached to open the door, but her acute senses detected the sound of someone moving up the stairs on the other side; realizing that it could be a trap, she waited for Deimos (who's HC-1 "Meantwig" Hazardous Condition Auto-Armor has a longer reach) to open it from a safe distance. Lupara and Longhand stacked up around the corner from the door while Deimos opened it. Sure enough, a pair of incendiary grenades came tumbling out and detonated, failing to do damage the staunch armor of Deimos' suit. The stairway beyond looked otherwise clear. Kade told the party that the top floor looked clear when he was on the roof earlier, saving the party the effort of searching there for more hostiles.
Lupara and Longhand moved forward, searching for any more 'surprises' along the way, and stacked up again at the door leading into the second floor. Kade remained further back, but planned to follow Lupara and Longhand at a distance; he started using his Influence skill to provide morale boosts for the group. Deimos and Noir both decided to scale the back walls of the inn to try the breaking-and-entering maneuver from earlier; Deimos took the upper southeast window, planning to smash the wall in so he can fit, while Noir took the upper northeast window. Both found themselves looking into empty bedrooms, waiting for the signal to enter.
Lupara quietly entered, followed a little ways back by Longhand, and found the second story study and adjacent game room empty. Lupara then crossed the room to the corner just before the second floor hallway, Once in position, the signal was given, and Noir was the first to make an entrance. She smashed the second story window and entered the room; Deimos was not far behind, ripping the window out of its frame with his demolition tool and clamboring in.

Quiet Hours are Over!

Noir heard a panicked commotion outside the door, so the Ovinex booted the door in the hopes of getting the drop on whoever was on the other side - and found herself face-to-face with the three 125 Hands and their crew-served(item:e0d73cdd-d85a-4240-aab0-b30668edacf6) @[20mm grease gun who were lying in ambush at this end of the second floor hallway.
Reacting quickly, Noir tossed a smoke grenade into the insurgents' midst and took cover behind the doorway just in time for them to turn the massive machine gun on her and open fire. The gunners scattered to escape the acrid smoke, with one rushing Noir with a monkey wrench, another moving out of the smoke and against the back wall of the inn to engage her with grease gun fire, and the third backing into the room on the other side of the hallway - and directly into the reach of Deimos' sledgehammer. Noir, for her part, retorted with a flurry of throwing knives, injuring both gunners she could see without dropping either of them outright. Lupara and Longhand then took turns firing at the gunner attacking Noir in melee, with a shell from Longhand's grenade launcher finishing the target off. Now lacking a target, as the other gunner was concealed behind both the smoke cloud and the cover afforded by the gun emplacement at the far end of the hall, Lupara took the opportunity to cross the hallway and take cover in the adjacent bedroom. Noir then downed the remaining gunner in the hall with two carefully-thrown knives, leaving only one gunner alive.

A Vigorous Palm Reading

Meanwhile, the gunner who had stumbled into Deimos had gone into a full panic, unloading his grease gun into Deimos' staunch auto-armor to little effect. Deimos returned fire at close range, heavily injuring the gunner without killing him. Clearly outgunned and now alone, the man surrendered. While Lupara was scouting the rest of the floor in search of survivors - or, more likely, another ambush - Deimos pinned his new captive against the wall with his Dieseltech-enhanced strength and started prying information from the man. The gunner revealed that he worked for the 125 Hands; I, as the Game Master, informed the party (via their various General Knowledge, Stealth, and Control rolls) about who the 125 Hands were and their various insurgent activities over the years. The man further revealed that the Hands had come to the Inn looking for a supposed 'intelligence packet' which was purported to contain information which could be used against the Voxelian state.
When Lupara indicated that there were no civilians on the second floor, the party collectively came to the conclusion that whatever answers remained to be found in the Inn likely lay in the basement. Deimos knocked out the captured gunner and the party set off towards the utility room - the only room they hadn't taken time to explore previously, and likely where the stairwell leading down into the basement lay as well...

Related Reports

Inn Too Deep - Part 1

Notes

125 Hands

Achievement Progress

• Velvet Gloves - Retrieve the cylinder without being detected.
• Honorary Sister - Complete the mission though total non-violence and without losing any guests or staff members.
• Jester's Job - Complete the mission by working alongside the Grand Army of Voxelia and letting them take the cylinder.
• Crumbling Pillars - Complete the mission by working alongside the 125 Hands and letting them take the cylinder.
• Midnight - Complete the mission with no survivors.
• Botched Bounty - Fail to conceal the cylinder's presence from witnesses until it can be retrieved from Club 105.
• Hero of the Vestrai - In Scenario II, enter the Upper Basement undetected and safely extract the staff and guests from the Inn.
• Duke's Due - Complete the mission by recovering the cylinder and stashing it at Club 105, per instructions.