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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids1" data-source="post: 9795815" data-attributes="member: 7030604">WOLFENSTRAHDSession 5The surviving members of Taskforce M limp back to Vallaki to lick their wounds. The resistance have comandeered the Baron's manse as their new headquarters. Ireena Kolyana and Doc Donnavich are there, having been successfully extracted from Barovia Village. The monsters use the partisan's radio to contact their Vatican handlers. Cardinal Gunn has new intel: German high command has dispatched engineers to work on Operation Phobos. In addition to their primary objective (assassinate Count von Zarovich), Taskforce M must uncover this Nazi plot and prevent it bearing fell fruit. Reinforcements will parachute into Barovia to join the monsters on the ground.Cut to an unmarked plane flying low over the moonlit mountains. On board are Victor Moonstruck (gruff Russian werebear) and Guy Hades II. It turns out the Vatican grew the original Guy Hades in a lab after getting their hands on a demon seed (the less said about that the better), and whenever he dies they just defrost a new one. Due to gremlins in the cloning tech, each new specimen has to roll on the Clone Defect Table. Guy II is 'born' with a stunted intellect, as per the Clueless hindrance.Also present is a squad of battle hardened mercenaries sent to support Taskforce M. They are;Angel: we never learn much about Angel, for reasons that will soon be apparentBlade: inoffensive African soldier of fortune, likes to read in the downtime between gunfightsHarker: eagle-eyed sniperRayne: bitchy merc with a foul mouth and fouler temperThey are accompanied by the dismbodied brain of former German scientist Walter Thiel, bobbing gently in a jar of formaldehyde. Thiel was killed in an Allied bombing run, but his mind was salvaged to provide Taskforce M with his technical experise."Guten tag! My name is Walter Erich Oskar Thiel - which is funny, because I 'feel' nothing. Aha-ha... ha. Just a little gallows humour to break ze ice."Something hits the plane. The pilot announces a bird strike, nothing to worry about. Victor peers through window. Those aren't birds, they're bats. The passengers hear breaking glass from the cockpit, followed by screams. The plane shakes violenty, and falls into a sudden, stomach-lurching dive.A member of the flight crew heaves open the exterior door. Howling wind fills the belly of the plane. The sheer face of a mountain slides past, alarmingly close."Wait until you are clear of the plane before deploying your chute." the crewman says, "Deploy no later than 5,500 feet. Keep your legs up when you land. Ok, see you on the gr-aaaaaaggghhhhhh!!"A pale hand reaches in through the open door, grabs the crewman and tosses him into the spinning propellor blades. Blood splashes the underside of the wing. A tall, handsome man in impeccable evening wear steps into the plane, as calmly as though he were boarding a bus."Good evening. I am Count Strahd von Zarovich. Welcome to Barovia."The plane is plummeting towards the ground and will crash at the end of the third combat round. Anyone still on board at that time will die in the fiery wreckage.Guy II tackles the vampire lord and yeets him out of the plane. Strahd doesn't seem too bothered. Leathery wings burst from his back as he transforms into a monstrous, flying bat-like creature. Victor and the mercs bail out, leaving Guy II alone on the doomed aircraft. Victor has the brain of Walter Thiel strapped to his chest.Nobody wants to be the first to open their parachute with the bat-thing nearby, but the ground is rushing up to meet them, and Angel is the first to lose his nerve. He pulls the rip cord and deploys his chute - presenting the vampire with an irresistible target. Strahd swoops down to disembowel the helpless mercenary. Angel's eviscerated corpse floats gently toward the ground, raining entrails from his riven torso.RIP ANGELReaching 5,500 feet, everyone else starts popping their chutes. Everyone except Guy Hades II, who freefalls toward Strahd and grapples the vampire in mid-air, pinning Strahd's wings against his back! Strahd tries to break free, but cannot escape the grapple. The mountains give way to rolling foothills, and an expansive vineyard stretches out below. Together, they plunge toward the winery building, smashing through the roof (and several floors below) before landing in a huge vat of fermenting grapes. Guy II uses Strahd's body to cushion the worst of the impact. Shaken (and dyed purple by wine), Guy II sees Strahd rise from the debris, recovered almost instantaneously from his catastrophic injuries. The Count launches into the air, and retreats toward the distant ramparts of Castle Ravenloft. While the vampire recovered quickly from the wounds to his body, the damage to his pride will surely fester like a poisonous barb.The new, expanded Taskforce M rendezvous in Vallaki. Vex's roadster is one sweet ride, but impractical for transporting large groups of burly men. Cassius acquires a butcher's van, but cannot drive."A vampire should not find it this hard to find the biting point!" Vex cries, as Cassius stalls the engine for the umpteenth time.The monsters plan to destroy the Hexworks, but first they need to raid a German munitions depot for explosives. We treated the raid as a Quick Encounter. Victor and Guy II assault the main gate to occupy the Nazis, while Vex sneaks in unseen and steals enough TNT to level the facility. Cassius summons a swarm of bats to cover their escape.Taskforce M head straight to the Hexworks. An electric fence encloses a large industrial compound. Tall chimneys spew noxious green smog into the air. Fortunately the monsters bought gasmasks (for those of them that still need to breathe). Security is heightened following the attack on the munitions depot. In addition to the standard compliment of swastikad soldiers, two hulking Ubermechs patrol the perimeter.Vex casts Disguise, and assumes the identity of his Germanic alter-ego; Adam Hansel, Health & Safety Inpector!SOLDIER: "What is ze purpose of your visit?"VEX: "Surprise inspection."SOLDIER: "Your name is not on ze list."VEX: "It wouldn't be a surprise if it was."The guards can't argue with that logic, and let him in. Vex scouts out the facility and discovers the prisoners are being exposed to a bespoke nerve agent that triggers overwhelming terror, and that Operation Phobos is a rocket delivery system for the gas to be deployed acoss Europe! He also identifies the structural weak spots where their stolen TNT will do the most harm.Vex rejoins the team, and Taskforce M initiate their assault! Everyone (except Harker) piles into the butcher's van to ram the main gate. German soldiers open fire on the speeding meat wagon. Bullets shatter the windscreen, but Vex somehow steers the out-of-contol vehicle through the checkpoint, before crashing into the base of the German's radio mast, crippling their communications. No reinforcements for you, Herr Nazi!Everyone exits the burning van. Vex is carrying the explosives. Victor (bear mode) tears through a squad of German soldiers. Harker hangs back to provide overwatch, but does not see the German sniper on the roof of the Hexworks until it is too late. He spots the flash of light reflected from the hostile scope an instant before the bullet punches through his eye socket, splattering brain matter from the exit wound in the back of his skull.RIP HARKERCassius & Blade advance though the loading bay, laying suppressing fire on the soldiers hiding behind the stacks of freight. Blade's weapon jams, leaving him exposed. The Nazis gun him down, body flopping like a landed fish as he is pumped full of lead.RIP BLADEThe two Ubermechs stomp into the fray, but Victor & Guy II are waiting for them. Guy II rips the first automaton in half (a prodigious feat of strength considering their high Toughness). The second Ubermech grabs Victor and throws him into the electric fence (shocking), before Guy II tears off its armour-plated arm and beats his shiny metal ass with it.More soldiers spill out of the Hexworks. Vex hits them with Blast, blowing a big ole' hole in the front of the building. Vex & Rayne head inside to lay the charges.TBC</blockquote>

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