Cautiously, you exit the building where Aramis is hiding. He should be safe there, but you realize you need to work your way around the village to reach the dairy where the milk truck is stored. The garrison seems to be more alert and a few extra lights have been turned on. Dark clouds and even heavier rain are decreasing visibility, so if you stick to the shadows, it should be easier to remain undetected.

As you are considering your good fortune, you spot another group of sombre villagers being led into the chateau, and the familiar pulse of a cold wind strikes your bones.

As they feel the wind [OOC: Will + Resilience Test Difficulty 1]

Jean-Jacques Lupien

From his position in the lead, Jean-Jacques held up a hand to the commandos to hold. Through the binoculars, he watched the women and children being herded into the chateau and he nearly broke it in half as his strong hands squeezed upon it in rage. He knew they had to hurry. If he had the means, he'd see to it every Black Sun Nazi had seen their last sunrise.

He clutched his jacket closer as that damned ill wind took up again.

Jean-Jacques Lupien Will + Resilience, Target 10
Vryx rolled d20,d20 and got 4, 19
One success

[OOC: With 1 success you only take 2 Stress from the latest ill wind. Of course mitigated by Courage.]

Isabella Will + Resilience Test Difficulty 1
Lionhawke rolled d20,d20 and got 18, 14

Target would have been 9? Failures both.

[Isabella]

They had left Aramis behind and Isabella had pulled into the middle of the crowd behind the big Canadian. But even he couldn't keep that damned wind from whipping through her. It chilled her. Filled her with despair. It was all she could do was to rip her coat off and run away. Back into the safety of the farmhouse. She froze instead. Isabella could just barely feel her medallion and her sister's presence -- where once they had used it to heal the other twin of her injuries. That was at least back when they were on the same side.

"Oh Elsa.....which one of us is the fool now...." She muttered in Austrian.

And then she took a deep breath. Refocusing. Feeling. Recognizing the world and the Multiverse. She could smell the cold air with the lingering smoke from the burned out farms. She could hear the sounds of whimpering children on the wind. She could feel the malevolent presence of something otherworldly. She spat.

"Let's take back our world." Isabella coldly said.


[OOC: Okay that's my update based upon your explanations.]

[OOC: Merry Chistmas folks, just don't you to forget this one is here. ]

Jean-Jacques Lupien

Jean-Jacques pressed on, telling himself the best way to help the villagers was to get to that secret tunnel and stop the Black Sun from doing whatever they'd have planned. It still did not feel right to walk away from innocents getting taken to imprisonment, torture, death, or... worse.



((OOC I was seeing if Ken were back. I marked Jean-Jacques' stress damage.))

Swann

Swann continued to follow behind Jean-Jacques, his own teeth gritting at having to leave the civilians in such a predicament but the mission had to come first.

War was hell...

[Isabella}

She looked between the leads on this mission. It was obvious that there was a psychic drain that they were all fighting off.

"Gentlemen. Are we still good?" Isabella pushed herself and her new best friends.

The others in the squad nod their agreement to Isabella's question. They are feeling whatever is rolling through the storm, but they haven't succumbed yet. However, a couple look worse for the wear.

Following their confederate's instructions, they glance under the truck in the barn. There is a wooden panel over what is likely some sort of a hole under it. They can push the truck out of the way, start the truck up, try to leave it in place, and shimmy... what do they do?

{Isabella}

Once they got to the truck and the concealed wooden panel, there is a bit of hesitation on their options. "If we move the truck, it is likely to be noticed on a patrol." She glanced around to see if there was a tire jack to lift the truck for better access - and then the last person could slide in.

Jean-Jacques Lupien

Jean-Jacques hummed an approving note through his beard, as he eyed the board beneath the truck. He had been skeptical that he'd be able to fit beneath the truck's carriage and was figuring he or Private Gregg would have to get it started and out of the way.

"De lady, she make a good point," he nodded at her. "But maybe they don't notice if it's out and in real quick? Gregg could slide under last? He's a few flapjacks short of a stack in the gut." He tapped his own voluminous abdomen.

Private Dan Gregg

He nods. "I can. Maybe we can rig it so we can pull a rope and roll it back into place?" To that end, he looks around to see if the barn has a block and tackle to assist in this task. After a couple of minutes of rummaging, he locates one and holds it up triumphantly.

{Isabella}

The private's suggestion made more sense - and could also be rigged to lowering back down while offering another escape route without revealing too much immediately. Isabella made the suggestion.

"I'll let you boys set it up, but it would be good to keep the rope there if we need to come back this way." She nodded and stood out of the way to focus on their options when they got to the compound. There weren't many.

Jean-Jacques Lupien

Jean-Jacques took comfort in the kind of simple work of basic mechanical devices and hauling heavy objects and let Gregg, who was a regular wizard with engines, direct the action. If there was a through line of his career, it was this very thing: timber, crates of bootlegged whiskey, or circus tents, Jean-Jacques was happies when exerting himself physically to move large things with his hands.

Assuming the Captain agrees, he sets up a couple of blocks so that when the truck rolls back, it will stop where it wants it to. Then he rigs the block and tackle, first to a main beam of the barn. Next, he squiggles under the truck and ties it to the axle. He notably doesn't put a knot in the rope, so if they wish to, once they have put the truck back, they can pull the rope through and leave no sign they had done much of anything.

It takes about an hour to rig everything, and they are ready to roll the truck out of the way and see what lies beneath.

Assuming they do so, they roll the truck forward while it is in neutral, revealing a wooden framework cover that is over some kind of a shaft. On one side of the shaft leading downward into darkness are metal rungs that offer a working ladder.

Jean-Jacques Lupien

"You are a real smart guy with a set of tools, mon ami Américain," Jean-Jacques complimented Gregg's ingenuity. He gave the slender man a big bear pat on the back.

Then he took it upon himself to lift the wooden hatch and lay it gently open. Suggesting that maybe the others go first so he could help roll the truck back, he asked Walker if he could assist with carrying Crook down the ladder.

The truck rolls easily enough, with a couple of the squad lending their backs. It avoids starting the old truck since they have no idea how loud it might be. Though there doesn't seem to be anyone else around, and the thunder occasionally booming overhead would cover most things.

Just as they get the truck out of the way and the shaft revealed, Sven, who has been on sentry duty, comes scurrying back into the depths of the barn. "Quick, get the truck back in place and hide. There are Black Sun troopers searching the farm. They are close and will be here in a minute." Though his words are hurried, the man is calm. He is a seasoned soldier, and combat is expected.

Private Gregg slips the rope through the block and tackle and helps put the cover back on the shaft.

All they have to do is roll the truck back and hide. Assuming they work together, they move the truck back into position.

[OOC: Roll Agility + Stealth as an opposed check against the Black Sun troopers Insight + Observation, which I will roll. This will determine how well you hide. If you choose not to hide and choose to attack, please describe your setup/ambush so that we can figure out cover, etc...]

With a wave of his hand, their captain instructed the squad to hide and take cover behind hay bales.

The squad members complied with alacrity.


Sven Hide in Barn Target 9, 1 success, 1 complication
Pandemonium rolled 1d20,1d20 and got 20, 3
Gregg Hide in Barn Target 10, 1 success
Pandemonium rolled 1d20,1d20 and got 11, 5
Captain Hide in Barn Target 8 1 success
Pandemonium rolled 1d20,1d20 and got 13, 14
Captain Hide in Barn 2 momentum
Pandemonium rolled 1d20,1d20 and got 6, 13
Walker Hide in Barn target 11, 1 success
Pandemonium rolled 1d20,1d20 and got 2, 17
Crook the Dog Hide in Barn Target 11, 2 successes
Pandemonium rolled 1d20,1d20 and got 10, 3

((OOC Pande, I'm not sure I understand the rolls you presented. Why did the Captain spend two momentum? To get higher than the 14? And also there is Walker and Crook (the Australian version of Turner and Hooch).))

[OOC: The attribute and skill make up the target number. In this case, Agility and Stealth. Roll 2d20, and it is a roll under system. 20 automatically has a complication, as you see above, and 1 is two successes. In the case of Captain Swann, he had no successes, so he pulled two more dice, spending Momentum. You can pull up to 3 dice on any given roll. In this case, the pool is 6-2=4 Momentum left to use. All the Momentum spend does is grant you another die, it doesn't offer a reroll, nor removal of any of the dice you did roll. So it could add another complication, for example.

So far, each of the NPCs have 1 success.
You don't know the opposing roll yet, nor if I will spend Threat to add dice to the Black Sun's pool rolls. I am saving that roll for after all the PCs have rolled.

This will be a number of successes compared to the opposed number of successes for a determination of success or failure.

I will edit my post I fegot about Walker and Crook the dawg ... Good call that added 3 more successes to the Hide pool.

Note there is cover in the barn, which could add up to 2 armor when if a firefight breaks out. ]

((OOC oh duh I forgot it was a roll under system LOL. I wanted to remind you that Jean-Jacques has the Smuggler's superpower of Bolt Hole which, spending a Fortune point automatically hides him and 10 allies

Bolt Hole - You can vanish without a trace. To those pursuing you, it seems like magic—but you know what it really is: evasion skills and good planning. You can spend a Fortune point to declare that there is a nearby hiding space for yourself and up to 10 allies. Anyone pursuing you must pass a difficulty 3 Insight + Observation test to find your bolt hole and if they fail, you and your allies will remain undetected for at least a further thirty minutes.

This seems like a great time to use it. It seems like instead of rolling against someone's lowest roll which looks like it is a 6 right now, would basically give everyone a 3? Could something like that be used in conjunction with the rolls since the rolls were already made for the NPCs with complications, momentum spends, gains, etc? Or would it completely replace it? And would Bolt Hole entail taking them all out of the garage?))

[OOC: OH good reminder! And a perfect use of that ability.

So, as it stands, there are 8 Black Sun troopers, which will each roll 2d20, assuming 1 success a piece, that is 8 successes. The PCs currently have 6 successes, so they likely will get 8, though the dice could go either way. In this case, the Black Sun troopers are Active, with the PCs being Reactive (merely a description.) The test threshold is 1, so 1 success is needed. No one has failed...yet. Assuming both sides succeed, we will compare totals, which is why I mentioned it above. The dice could push it either way.

Bolt Hole elegantly sidesteps this situation. It allows for the PCs to hide, likely down inside the Shaft and below since we have something convenient in the fiction. If you wish a different spot, then we can see what we can create, it is a barn, so there are options both inside and outside. We no longer have an opposed test, and the PCs would just succeed based upon Jean's ability at the cost of the Fortune point.]

{Isabella}

"Let me slip down the shaft before you close it." Isabella spoke up. "It's as good as hiding and a defensible position if needed." She started to head that direction as they began to slip the truck back into place.

[OOC: I can rewrite if this is not an option.]

[OOC: It is an option and likely will be the place they all hide if Jean uses his ability above. I will end up rewriting my portion, but that is just fine. You can hold off on the rolls for now, pending Jean's decision.]

Jean-Jacques Lupien

"Non, mon capitaine," said Jean-Jacques. "Hay bale, she no good. What if they got dogs too? Is a hash. We roll back the truck and go under now."

Jean-Jacques was not a decorated soldier. Nor was he a specialist in the mechanical or magical arts. He had barely a fifth grade education. But there was one thing he could do, learned in a decade of experience a lifetime ago: Hide a large quantity of people, contraband, vehicles, and signs of passage quickly and quietly. His animal cunning had already thought out and prepared for this possibility. They used to call it a scramble, or a hash, where everybody threw in fast and made something good out of a mess.

With gestures and whispers, he directed the truck rolled back in by four of them while two of them wiped the tires free of mud and then wiped any bootprints in the garage. As each squad member's task was complete, he pointed them down the shaft, taking the muddy rags with them. Gregg would be the last as he could slide the most easily under the truck after the brake was engaged over the lid.

As a last task for himself, he tipped over a can of black motor oil near the garage entrance to form a pool behind him. Anyone entering the garage would surely step in it and track all over. These Black Sun Nazis, they smart guys, eh? he thought. They going to think if the only footprints be theirs then no need to tear the place apart. Get it done fast and go back to their schnapps and schnitzels.

Then he gave Gregg a thumbs-up as he slid down the shaft, hoping the man would join him shortly in the dark tunnel.

"No lights yet," he whispered a caution below.

((OOC I spent the Fortune point for Bolt Hole. Even though it's not technically having found and planned a new one that just happens to be nearby, I improvised the flavor into his preparations to make the garage seem less-recently occupied.))

The elaborate preparations set in place the squad secreted beneath the truck. The Broken Decoy (truck) back in place and the rope slipped out of the block and tackle. Jean slides the cover back into place after Private Gregg climbs down beside him.

A few tense minutes as they listen to the Germans searching the barn above. Those that speak German can surmise that the Black Sun troopers have concluded that the barn is empty from the signs that Jean set up. His ruse worked perfectly.

At the bottom of the shaft there is a natural cellar with a narrow passage leading roughly in a westerly direction. Anyone with any knowledge of tunnels knows that this is a natural formation and likely has been here a long time. The shaft on the other hand had been carved by human hands. After a few paces they come to a trio of passages.