MelonHead

Running and Gunning - Higan Vs. The Magna Pater

Higan wasn’t in any particular hurry, haste makes waste and whatnot. To his mind the Pater was wounded, perhaps fatally, so the hunt would slowly turn in his favour as time went on. That and the expansive nature of the cave so filled with gruesome remains led him to believe a more careful and considered approach would probably be preferable. He had not forgotten that Slimy had some method of avoiding detection even through electric vision, so to rely on it totally would be foolish. Hence, as the Mech peeked in through the door-way and nothing immediately revealed itself, Higan did not simply barrel in like some gun-toting imbecile. The dust was still thick enough that Night Vision wasn’t yet available, which meant he had a poor view of what awaited him ahead, as his current optical view was designed for identifying living creatures in this circumstance. Therefore, the simple solution was to just wait in the door-way without overly exposing himself until the dust cleared, which would only be a matter of time.

As the dust settled around him he allowed himself a moment. Switching from electric to night vision had its disadvantages but the Computer Systems should pick up the slack for him. If anything suddenly revealed itself to him he would swap back into the most effective vision mode. Finally, deeming it about time, he swapped to Night Vision and the cave in front of him lit up in an eerie green light.

“Well shit, think I’ll turn that back off.” He muttered to himself ironically, as the new camera setting revealed the great mountain of bones before him. It seemed that was all there really was as far as the eye could see, row upon row of skeletons and remains. Slimy must have one hell of an appetite. Carefully he spanned the expansive screen that covered a full 180 degrees in front of him. Nothing of interest, nor of large Slimy shape, took his interest until his eyes caught an odd shape up above. The Mech shifted so the cannon was pointed directly at it, while both arms remained covering the corners so to speak. However, before he wasted his time blasting the thing to bits he realised it was little more than a cleverly placed decoy, evident by the fact that it really wasn’t made up of enough pieces to be overly convincing to the observant eye. It was an interesting ploy by Slimy though, and it suggested something else, he was probably still in the area.

Higan scanned the screen with renewed interest, looking for any sign of the strange shape of the creature. He suspected that whatever method it used to avoid detection from electric vision required it to remain immobile, evidenced by its actions earlier in his pursuit of the beast. However, he couldn’t be certain, nor could he be certain it was even still nearby. There was an option available to him though it was a painful waste of ammunition, but as his efforts had revealed nothing there was really no other option for flushing out the creature. Switching back to electric vision, he primed both weapons so that they were almost parallel with each side of the cave wall. Then, with a shocking sound in the emptiness of the cave, both weapons discharged, the rifle with one explosive blast and the chain-gun with a winding whir that descended into a consistent cascade of bullets. The rifle round was the only immediate danger to Slimy, with its potential to graze his immobile form. However, the chain-gun arm was carrying out a wide arc throughout the cave as it discharged into the dark expanse. Eventually the arm would cross the A.S.P’s body and fully saturate the region where the Pater lay, albeit at the cost of nearly 300 rounds. Should the creature be forced to reveal itself at any point however Higan would be ready to react, as that was the very intent of his expulsion of ammo.

Running and Gunning - Higan Vs. The Magna Pater

Your syntax was messed up then 'The Magna Later (lol) remained immobile as the fire obliterated the entranceway just four yards in front of it.' In that sentence the distance refers to the entranceway, if you wanted to suggest the fire had cut out four yards in front of the Pater something along the lines of 'The Magna Pater remained immobile even as fire billowed out and obliterated the entranceway, falling short of the Pater itself by four yards'.

Anyway, it's not massively important in a casual battle.

Running and Gunning - Higan Vs. The Magna Pater

The dust and rock was taking some time to settle properly as the Mech ejected its spent HEAT round from underneath the tank-rifle on its shoulder. Higan ensured the A.S.P would load its anti-personnel round for the next shot, which would take about half a minute to prepare. There wasn’t much to be done while he waited for the dust to settle properly and the round to load, so he swapped over to electric vision to see if anything was visible through the cloud. Earlier engagements had taught him thermal vision was unsuitable for chasing Slimy, unsurprisingly considering its cold blooded nature, so electric vision was all that was available for perceiving through the smoke and dust.

There didn’t seem to be anything directly through the recently widened entry point that could be considered alive. At least, nothing that lit up the electric sensor. That left Higan with the question of whether the monster had passed through the great cavern he perceived ahead and moved on, or if it had found a way to avoid detection again. There was also a simpler solution, it may be that the solid rock that still stood on either side of the destroyed entry-way could be concealing the lurking form of the Magna Pater. In many ways that would be the worst case scenario, it would be difficult to react in time if it were waiting just beside the door.

The more Higan thought about it, the more likely it seemed that Slimy was waiting for him on the other side. However, would it be to the left of the doorway, the right, or directly above? With its injuries that had thus far seemed to render it grounded, striking from above seemed unlikely. Unless it could stick to the solid rock walls, though the shaking eruption of the HEAT round would probably have destabilised it if that were the case. That left the right or left. Fortunately for Higan, his A.S.P could perceive up to 180 degrees, so on entering the room he would have peripheral vision of both sides of his Mech until he moved properly inside and a blind spot formed. Not only that, but he was equipped with two weapons, secondary and tertiary armaments, one on each of the Mech’s arms. In that way, he had the capacity to cover his corners while the cannon on the shoulder covered the front. So, he could cover three angles of attack on entering the room, should Slimy be awaiting him.

Tentatively, which would seem somewhat ridiculous from an outsider’s perspective, the Mech strode forward. The heavy clunking sound of the anti-personnel round loading echoed through the chamber as the fearsome form of the A.S.P stepped through the dust and rock strewn doorway, just about entering the cavern as both its arms were flung wide, outstretched in each direction. Higan’s senses went into overdrive as he prepared to unleash hell should anything pop up on his sensors.

“Come on then Slimy, let’s dance!”

Running and Gunning - Higan Vs. The Magna Pater

Anyway I've got my next post ready, but it's a bit weird that the blast didn't affect the Pater if it was sitting that close to it.

Running and Gunning - Higan Vs. The Magna Pater

Is the Pater really four yards away from the entrance of the cave? I'm not sure it would have been unscathed by the HEAT round in that scenario, as it was launched just inside. I'm not sure how big the blast radius of a HEAT round is, but I'd assume it was probably up to thirty to forty feet.

Honestly pretty hard to find information on the exact blast radius, obviously HEAT rounds aren't particularly efficient for wide-range anti-personnel work but at that proximity I'd expect the Pater would be pretty badly burned and even penetrated by fragments, particularly from the rock.

Arena Chat Thread

@MelonHead I'm still here lol

@DJAtomika

That's the terrifying thing, if me, you Vordak and IN left the Arena would be entirely full of completely new people, most of which joined this month. Now that, would be odd.

Running and Gunning - Higan Vs. The Magna Pater

The hydraulic sound of the A.S.P literally tearing rock and earth asunder filled the forest. It was an odd sight, the rifle propped up against a large rock as the metallic walker was reduced to menial labour in order to excavate enough earth to force entry into the cave system. Great scoopfuls of rock and dirt were thrown behind the machine as it worked tirelessly. In just a matter of minutes it had widened the entry point considerably, making a mess of the wilderness while it was at it. With a certain smug satisfaction Higan rubbed the Mech’s palms together to brush off the dirt, and oddly manlike it re-acquired its heavy rifle in its right hand.

“Alright, into the depths then.” He shook his head with a mock frown. “This is not one of my smarter ideas.”

It was tough going, of course. The Mech was not huge, standing at just over twelve feet it was roughly double the height of a man, but its weapons were an added hindrance. For some distance the tunnel was just too low to allow the Mech to walk properly, so it shuffled in a humiliating fashion on its butt, fortunately able to point its weaponry down into the darkness. However, though it looked incredibly stupid, it was a machine, and so even with truly horrible form it made good ground. With each passing shuffle the tunnel widened and deepened and night vision cameras betrayed the secrets of the darkness to Higan as he and his machine descended into the lair of the Magna Pater.

Eventually the ceiling was high enough that the Mech could walk in a slightly hunched slightly half crouched fashion. Once again, were it a man the conditions would be intolerable, but anything possible for a machine could be completed without complaint. Higan himself almost winced though in mock sympathy for his metallic ally’s joints. The going was still tough though, it was dark, there were terrible things in the cave and the path ahead wasn’t particularly clear. Higan had made the executive decision to track the creature using its blood, the only substance he expected wouldn’t be too common down in its cave system, unless it was routinely attacked by angry townsfolk. It was a good decision by all accounts, for until the Pater had reached its main cavern to feed it had been wounded and bled all the way.

Time passed slowly for the Mech as it traversed the caverns, and Higan couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to be able to find his way out again afterwards. As long as he was inside his Mech there wasn’t much to fear, he didn’t have to smell the caves, nor Slimy, after all. The Mech was not hugely behind Slimy by the time its echoing footsteps brought it to another narrow entry-way it couldn’t possibly fit through, perhaps an hour at most. However, Higan had no reason to suspect he had reached the end of his hunt, not immediately at any rate.

“Solid rock, even the A.S.P is gunna have trouble getting through that.” Higan had a tendency to vocalise everything aloud, it helped stave off loneliness and insanity on long scouting missions. Though now he was thinking about it, maybe it was just a sign he’d gone a little crazy a long time ago. He laughed at the thought.

The solution was simple, the door wasn’t big enough, so he’d make it bigger. There was a slight clunk as the Mech, able to stand up pretty much straight in the adjacent chamber to that which he was attempting to enter, settled into a braced stance. It wasn’t necessary to brace to fire but if time wasn’t of the essence taking precautions was always wise. Then, startling in the relative silence of the cave, there was a great burst of air. Swiftly following it came a great roaring and cracking as the HEAT round impacted just inside the Pater’s chamber a little off to the right, and half the rock around the door way disintegrated into nothingness. Dust flew up into the air and fragments ricochet off the Mech’s hull and into the cave beyond. Higan whistled appreciatively.

Black Mountain Tournament: Sigurd vs Gigue

Well, I'm not convinced by your source material, no. It's literally completely different to the situation unfolding. I'm going to do more research into the exact sort of damage an axe throw of this kind would do, but as I mentioned, in a charging situation they were known to completely destroy shields. The same sort of thing is expected from spear thrusts and javelin hits, if that makes it any easier to imagine.

Sources I've found suggest the point and edge of a Francisca, which is roughly what Sigurd's axe is based off (the Vikings robbed the design off the Franks) could pierce chainmail when thrown. At the very least, they were renowned for shattering shields, so I think you may be underestimating the force with which the axe would collide with Gigue, particularly as his own momentum would be set against him.

Here's probably the most detailed source I've found on throwing axes, which says they can pierce chain mail.

http://www.medievalwarfare.info/weapons.htm#franciscas Considering the situation I'd expect your own character's armour to provide comparable (if not less) resistance than chain, so wounding is probable.

Black Mountain Tournament: Sigurd vs Gigue

No, iron plate was used as my estimation of what sort of armour the axe could bypass, or rather, Sigurds estimation. I left in plenty of info on what it could do, break bones, perforate armour, and easily destroy flesh. Not necessarily all these things at once, but a direct hit from an axe in these circumstances would be pretty bad, and comparable to the exact scenario in which they were used historically where they were known to absolutely fuck up the front line of a charging enemy, including smashing straight through hide and wood shields.

Black Mountain Tournament: Sigurd vs Gigue

Throwing knives are weapons only used in a pinch and not particularly effective, throwing axes are in no way comparable. It's only small in the sense that it is not suitable as a war-axe, it is specifically designed for throwing. Your character is also literally launching himself forward and jumping into the air, adding his own momentum to the momentum of the axe. I don't know how strong your character's armour is, but that would be sufficient to cave in iron plate, which is all I said. I don't know why people assume I'm making OOC comments in IC all the time, how the fuck is Sigurd supposed to know how tough his armour is? He can only work on prior experience.

Now, I can't say for certain how good a throwing axe would be, but what I do know is that ones exactly like Sigurds were used by actual dark-age armies, particularly the Franks, which puts them significantly above throwing knives in terms of combat effectiveness. They were known to shatter shields when thrown.