So the strangest thing happened tonight at gaming: I killed the party.
It was the Sci-Fi campaign that I had been GMing since September. The mission was a punitive raid in which a colonial governor was to be assassinated by any means necessary. The initial plan the guys came up with was to jump into normal space about 15 klicks above the target's compound, fly down rapidly above it, and deploy the ground team by high-density gas drop while the team's ship performed overwatch. The ground team would then search the compound, eliminate the governor and rendeavous for evac. A high-risk shock attack, basically.
The problems started early. Jumping into low-orbit (ie. in atmosphere) is a very challenging task with the system we're using. Jeff was navigating. He missed. And through some very bizarre scatter roles, almost hit the moon. But he dodged the moon. And then jumped again. And missed. Now about 20,000 klicks on the other side of the planet. To avoid detection, Jeff decides to jump through the planet and appear above the target. He missed again. And appeared in the crust of the planet. The team chose to use their collective "Hand of God" at this point, saving them all from inevitable doom. The ship was not so lucky. Arriving in normal space only feet above the ground, the sudden impact of air accelerated from zero to 1200 kph in zero time tore off critical parts of the ship. (Hand of God only does so much...) The team bails out of the ship safely. Through some more odd luck with dice rolls, the remains of the ship crash into the colony's only hospital, leveling most of it.
Fast forward a bit through some slaughters of sentries, touring the first two floors of the central government building in a hummer, getting said hummer stuck on a vending machine, and we arrive at the team sneaking through the fifth floor of the building (home to the Governor's office and quarters). The team is engaged by the "elite" Governor's Guard (all six of 'em). Well, a fire fight ensues and lasts a while. The Guards are giving a bit better than they're taking, so Dave (playing a firebat) decides to end it all with some flamethrower love. One hallway is promptly on fire, one guard is working on dying (fire takes a while), but the rest are fine. Immediately after this, the lead member of the Guards snipes Dave's fuel tank through the smoke (lucky shot!) causing the backpack unit to explode. Dave's Firebat survives this unscathed ("this annoys me" he calmly states.) However, he is carrying 40 grenades(!). Those begin to cook off. Exit Dave (1). Rich, playing a Stitch knockoff (of Lilo & Stitch fame) is promptly inspired by Dave (and his proximity) to burst into flames. Screaming Stitch runs down the flaming staircase looking for a fire extinguisher or washroom. Concentrated assault rifle fire then immediately finishes off Andrew's T'Skrang scout in the other hallway. Exit Andrew (2). Jeff's hot-shot copilot decides discretion is the better part of valor and starts running down a non-burning, non-occupied hallway. Mike's Goon provides a rear-guard, but is also cut down swiftly. Exit Mike (3). Rich finds the women's restroom on the second floor and promptly hops in the toilet to extinguish the flames. Napalm takes some time to extinguish, and while waiting, the fire finally kills him. Exit Rich (4). (Yes, Stitch died in a toilet bowl while on fire.) After some hijinks with smoke inhalation, the remaining Guards, falling onto three roofs and the ground, Jeff safely (sorta) escapes. He wanders towards the hospital, looking for help, or at least a ride to the spaceport. He strips off most of his armor and drops his weapons to look less suspicious (good idea). A fireman promptly tells Jeff that his character is fine since she can walk. So Jeff's impulsive flaw gets him in trouble as his jumps into the firetruck (are the keys in the ignition?), and then guns it out of there. Problem is that Jeff can't really drive, and is horribly, horribly wounded (8 boxes physical, 5 stun). So the firetruck rolls into a ditch and flips. Although wearing a seatbelt, Jeff is killed instantly in the crash. Exit Jeff (5).
At least the fire killed the Colonial Governor.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it, though. So I don't feel too bad. And next week, they all bring new characters and we begin again.
