Bleakbane Plays BATTLETECH, Part Thirty

Bleakbane Plays BATTLETECH, Part Thirty:

So, as it's gonna be a short one tonight, I'mma going to defer the decision (because I can't be arsed to faff about at the moment) and I'll just get on with the missions where the paladins are. (I'm leaning towards installing Edmon's mod - if nothing else, it makes me much less beholden to RNG. And also means that the entire Arano region is basically not just worthless.)

Lynessa sighed and bought the three +ER medium lasers.

(As if to prove my point last night 3/4 of these missions are vrs pirate...)

First up, then, escorting a witness the Capellans wanted dead through the badlands, a 2.5 skull assignment.

Luximai took the Overlord, Llana stayed with the Fair Marauder, Anja got the Bull Shark and Shelat, recovered and still in high spirits grabbed the Shortbow.

The enemy blocking force consisted of two Commandos and a Wolverine plus a Hatchetman hiding at the convoy launch point; the lance engaged them in a lake.

Anja dispatched the Wolverine easily.

Llana brought the furthest Commando down with a couple of salvos - a precision shot from the Shortbow took out the Hatchetman with an ammo explosion and the near Commando was within Overlord punch-reach.

There wasn't an obvious place for the convoy to go, so Luximai just started them off. It turned out to be just a random spot of land (oh, wait, there was a drop-point, it was just hard to see until you got to it), not on-road, but the lance could keep pace while mostly staying in the lake. One of the APCs apparently decided to take the scenic route for no reason...

As the APCs reached the pick-up point, the enemy lance (Javelin, Commando, Hunchback, Trebuchet) dropped in, in clear view.

The two light mechs died before they could even move, and the Thumper battered the other pair; after the APCs evacucated, a single salvo a piece from Llana and Shelat destroyed the other two as well.

A Hatchetman, Wolverine, Trebuchet and Hunchback completed... Well, that pretty much paid for the ER lasers...

Next up, dealing with a pirate sneaking into the region and his guards.

Both lances of which were practically next to each other, and right on top of the paladins. Okay, then.

The lance was not in a good position to attack, but as they sprinted up, they initially revealed a Trebuchet, a Demolisher and Archer and a 45 and a 65-tonner just out of sight.

Llana failed to headshot the Trebuchet with her first couple of shots; Shelat moved to attack the Demolisher and revealed the mechs to be a Hatchetman and a JagerMech. The SRMs wiped the Demolisher out.

Anja managed to take the Archer's left torso off, though she'd been aiming for the head...

Llana and Shelat shot at the Hatchetman, weakening enough Anja dropped down to the Bull Shark's LB-X ACs only to destroy it. Luximai punched the Trebuchet, but didn't destroy it.

And enemy Cataphract also lumbered into view. Llana missed her forth headshot. Shelat redirected her fire to the Archer and destroyed it. The Trebuchet walked behind Luximai, but rather than shooting the Overlord in the back, instead sensor locked Shelat. Luximai only took its other torso off, however.

There was a 60-tonner at max range, using a limited number of LRMs now approaching and the primary target was obviously in something that had LRMs too.

Anja found only using the LB-Xs had cooled her off completely (useful discovery...) and though she couldn't take an aimed shot, blew half of the JagerMech off.

On the fifth try, Llana succeeded in a headshot.

The Shrtobow's SRM finished off the JagerMech. The Trebuchet ran up and leg at the Bull Shark - but it couldn't survive a third punch from the Overlord (and it'd been lucky to survive two, honestly).

That cleared all the enemies in sight; moving forwards, Anja showed the 60-tonner to be a Quickdraw. Apparently at a loss, it stood stock still while the girls took turns to shoot its head off.

Just the target left. It appeared in a Zeus. The hapless fool didn't have time to do more than walk up and then took four salvos at the head from Llana and Anja and a desultory burst of LRMs from Luximai.

Quickdraw and a Zeus completed...

Luximai maxed her guts; Llana raised hers to 8, and Anja maxed out her gunnery.

Jungle 3-skull battle against the pirates next.

Llana traded the Fair Marauder for the Awesome and Shelat the Shortbow for the Annihilator.

The lance ran straight into a Quickdraw. A single salvo from the Awesome (not even generating any heat!) and a LRM burst from the Overlord knocked it over. Shelat destroyed it as it lay prone.

Anja spotted a second Quickdraw and shot at it. The other enemy contacts were a 75-tonner and a 60-tonner; probably a Rifleman 4D, judging from the PPC and laser fire.

The second Quickdraw went down to a welter of fire, leaving Anja free to headcap the Rifleman.

The last mech, a Black Knight, couldn't stand up to the fire of four mechs and went down, head a smoking ruin.

Yet another Quickdraw for sale...

Last mission: a 3.5 skull assassination mission in the lowlands against the pirates; that worked okay for the last mission, so Lynessa figured it'd be fine for the next one.

Appeared only a single enemy lance protecting the target this time...

A lone, damaged Dragon was he first mech the lance spotted. As that went down, its lancemates arrived - two Archers (one of each type) and an Orion.

Llana headshotted the 2R Archer. Anja headshotted the Orion. Shelat headshotted the other Archer.

Luximai crept forwards and locked on the target.

...

I'm sorry, what? 733P Highlander...? Wasn't... Wasn't that the STAR LEAGUE version?!

No, no it wasn't. Damn...! I always get the 733P and the 732b confused!

The lance carefully waited until it was a bit closer, then headcapped it anyway.

Three parts Highlander, but no other notable salvage.

Luximai maxed out her piloting and completed her training. Llana raised her piloting to 8.

Well, that had gotten the paladins in good enough to ally with the Canopians!

And they were even at the faction store! How convenient! Maybe they would get to spend something after all!

...

If they wanted to spend all of their money on a complete Bull Shark, or buy a load of +++medium or larger lasers of some gyros.

And, on that staggering disappointment, we will end for today.