Shadow of the Beanstalk: Combat

Vinnie quickly glanced into the alley:

Dark: Check

Far away from backup: Check

Probably a trap: Check

Vinnie sighed before stepping into the alley. He knew it was a trap, but this informant did have information he needed, even if he was only offering it up to lure him down to this extra-terrible section of New Los Angeles at the behest of unknown masters…

There was another benefit, he would know shortly who was really gunning for him as of late.

In the distance, he could see a lone working light where the alley opened up into what might have have been a loading dock at some point in the past. As he walked toward the light, he saw a figure standing under the light, probably his CI (Confidential Informant). Look around a bit more, he saw two other figures trying to hide in the shadows, a benefit of having cybernetic eyes.

Looking around the Alley Vinnie would roll a perception check against one Difficulty dice and one Setback dice. His cybernetic implants give him a +1 on Perception, and drop one Setback dice that is in play due to darkness, smoke or the like.  He will roll two Ability dice versus one Difficulty dice and gets one Success and two Advantage. He is going to take that two Advantage and get a Boost.

As Vinnie gets closer, he sees that his CI is propped against a pole, with a bullet through his skull. Before the two other figures even begin to move, Vinnie turns, clears leather and fires at the one leaning against a wall in the darkness while diving towards cover.

The round pierces the mercenary’s plasteel carapace armor on both sides, the merc’s assault rifle drops from his lifeless hands to the concrete, slightly ahead of the rest of his body.

Using his Boost from the prior check, Vinnie ends up with a 4 on his initiative which easily trumps the other two actors.

The darkness adds a setback dice, but his cybernetic eyes negate that penalty. He has a skill of 1 in Ranged(Light), and he is using a Hand Cannon. He will use one maneuver to Aim, and an action to shoot.

For his shot, will be rolling one Ability, one Proficiency , one Difficulty(for range) , one Setback dice (for his Hand Cannon’ Inaccurate trait)and one Boost dice (for the Aim maneuver).

He gets one Triumph, one Success and one Threat. He is also burning two strain to get an extra maneuver to get into cover after the shot and loses another strain due to the complication rolled, presumably the kick of the gun was a bit much.

The damage of the hand cannon is 7 + 2 for the successes is 9 points of damage. He also used the Triumph to cause a critical hit, since the merc was a minion, he is out of the fight permanently.

The remaining merc fires his assault rifle on full auto… It is clear to Vinnie that he has pissed off someone big. Fortunately for Vinnie, the merc still seems a bit blinded from the muzzle flash, and he just succeeds in spraying everything in the alley but Vinnie.

The merc will roll three Ability, two Difficulty (one for range, one for autofire), two Setback die (for the darkness and Vinnie’s ‘cover’). Vinnie’s player also spends a Story point to upgrade one Difficulty die to a Challenge die, narrating that the merc is still partially blinded by the muzzle flash of Vinnie’s weapon.

Today is Vinnie’s lucky day as the merc comes up with two Threat, which is going to manifest itself as strain. Given this is a minion, it comes off his wound threshold.

Vinnie aims at the merc  from cover, and fires several rounds, catching the merc square in the chest, sending his now lifeless body  crashing into a pile of ancient garbage.

Vinnie spends a maneuver to Aim, and then fires, rolling the same set of dice he did previously and gets one Success and two Advantage. This comes out to 8 points of damage, minus the 5 points of soak which combined with the stress damage he took earlier, will take the merc out.

The two remaining points of Advantage the GM uses to inform Vinnie that he gets a good look at another mercenary up on the rooftop that is making hand gestures to parties as yet unseen.

It is time for Vinnie to run.