IN A CITY where an armed conflict happened weeks ago, most of life is gone, evacuated. As it happens, in the city there often lies unlikely treasure. In the dead of night, two factions are here to pick up shiny pieces of loot and make off with it.

Rules:
- Items have predefined value, all noted in a separate image. Whoever leaves the map with the most loot, wins.
- Any unit can pick up and store items.
- Item size is mostly arbitrary; you can put every item in your backpack unless you feel like it would be cool to show big items being carried. (keep a separate image where you track your loot)
- Units drop the items they’re holding on death.
- The key item brings in a large sum of points, it would be wise to steal it.

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A mischief of 5 rats arrives on the east side of the city block: the Miner with the light is leading the group, though they may want to blow the candle out if they don’t want to be seen scavenging; the Large Rat is carrying the cheese launcher, a weapon that fires hot melting cheese balls, creating bridges or trapping enemies after solidifying; a crew of 2 rats are carrying the 4-barreled shotgun. The Thief carries the shotgun begrudgingly, he’d rather go here alone. The rats can never know what they will come up against, so they are supported by the veteran scavenger, the Cannon Rat. He will use his experience and senses to be the de facto leader.
The rats are ready to pick up anything shiny, but will they be smart enough and take people’s possessions?

Arriving from the other side come three armour clad brutes each carrying high tech weaponry, these thuggish treasure hunters are mercenaries, Gam ones to be specific, known for three things, their advanced weapons, their intense avarice and a near bestial level of stupidity. This party is a small one, only three Gam make it's number, the aggressive CQC specialist Herm, armed with a fast firing thermic carbine, a terrible weapon banned in 13 outlaw systems, as well as an eradicator gauntlet and a pair of jump thrusters. The sharper more focused Mursk armed with a thermic rifle with a helmet fitted with a targeting module. And lastly is the raiding party's boss Dullik also armed with a thermic carbine and with a control antennae fitted to his helmet, allowing him to remotely control the antigrav crate he has trailing behind him. They've got firepower and armour tougher than old boots, but will they be able to simply steamroll their way through?

As the rats were going through a garage, the Thief Rat couldn't help but try to look for something to reach his little hands inside of. The Thief notices a tools drawer and drops the weapon to run up to it.


A part of the group advances, but the Large Rat watches curiously. The Shotgunner can’t move because the weight of the quad-barreled shotgun is too much for one rat to carry. The Thief makes lots of noise digging around in the tools drawer, before unveiling a screwdriver.




After exiting the garage, the rats are going to have to be careful, because they’d be out in the open during a quiet night.

The Giddy Herm from his vantage point came to the intellectual conclusion that the large building in front of him must contain a larger stash of loot than the small garage so he fired up the ion thrusters and prepared for his advanced breaching technique. This however did cause and infernal din.

"Boss..." began Mursk

"I know that idiot's flyin' about ya twonk!" Snapped Dullik in response

"Not that...I'm gettin' life signatures lots of em too!"

"What? Snarper told us there weren't none of the big groups out this far! Why that lying slime I'll wear his guts as a scarf! Mursk, load this here cabinet into the storage, I'm going to kill something."

"Righto Boss."

The Thief, excited with his first found item, goes back to pick up the shotgun and proceed forward.


The group inches forward. The Miner dims his candle and instructs the Veteran Scavenger to move carefully and take position by the destroyed bus and watch the coast, should anything come in the way of the rat squad.


The rest of the group slowly continues on through the garage and past the smouldering chopper as a small wind blows between the buildings.

A crash rang out as Herm collided with the wall, breaking through it, near maniacal laughter erupted into the comms as he broke through. His two compatriots sighed in response. Mursk laid down their gun and hefted up the cabinet before dumping it into the storage unit, thanks to big thinkin' super-science it'd swallow up the cabinet and still have room for more. Dullik spotted the building a dashed over to it just as Herm smashed into it like a possibly sentient meteor. Noticing the severe lack of doors Dullik made his own by blasting the wall with a shot from his thermic carbine.

The rats hear the sound of a wall collapsing. It would be natural for these buildings to start to crumble, but the rats are hoping to manage to collect something first. They came to this part of the contested city when it seemed like the fighting stopped so that they could scavenge some materials for their camp not far from the city. Their small train station camp has started to run dry on resources, and it seems like they need to collect anything they can put to good use or turn into materials.


When the interior of the building could be made out, the rats spotted a glowing contraption inside... It’s bound to contain many useful parts


The rats keep moving. The Veteran Scavenger lifts his weapon should he need to splatter something inside the building all over one of the walls, and the miner rat crouches down into the destroyed bus.

Once the cabinet was swallowed up by the the container Mursk began dutifully following after his boss, finding the head brute clambering into the burned hole in the wall
"Boss...what are you doin'?" Mursk questioned

"What does it look like you tool? I'm breaching!" Dullik responded his voice distorted by the vox filters and his own rage

"I can see that but..." Mursk stopped himself he knew better than to argue with the boss, and while the sealed helmets stopped them from properly taking in the smells he'd wager good scrap that Dullik was emitting 'zerk pheromones "Can you see anything good?"

Dullik hesitated for a moment before whooping over the comms. "Boys I found a box a sweet drinks, we's gonna be dining like the royals tonight!"

Celebratory cheering erupted between the trio of mercenaries

"Boss boss boss! I found a hard disk thingy!"

"Good work Herm, I'll call over the box."

The Miner motions the Large Rat to follow him into the sewers and begins clearing out the bus debris to open up the manhole. The Large Rat is disappointed that he doesn’t get to toy around with the glowing contraption.




The large rat has trouble fitting in the hole! Inhaling, it tries to fit inside the hole and spill out downwards.







The Cannon rat clears the empty building, carefully stepping over the ventilation shaft debris. The shotgun crew are running to get close to the weird glowing machine as soon as they can, but they end up tripping on the remains of the ventilation shaft.


After falling in the dirt and dropping the shotgun, the rats take a moment to process what just happened. The Cannon Rat looks at them judgementally and turns his back on them to watch the entrance to the building on the other side.

Dullik steadies himself as he clambers in, the Bepis™ machine lying just in front of him, so close he can almost taste the cheap soda. Above Herm thunders over to the hard drive on the desk, seizing it in his large armoured sausage-like fingers. Below Mursk assumes a careful stance, slowly advancing wary of any lurking threats, it's a pain of his prosthetic leg but he'd rather not gain another, in his efforts to stay low and sneaky he fails to notice the container slowly gliding behind him like the ghost of a dumpster.

The Miner Rat and the Large Rat make their way down to the sewers in search of something they can collect. All they see now is rusty pipes and the sewage water. The Large Rat hangs the cheese launcher on its side to free up its hands and assumes a crawling position.

Above the sewers, the Shotgun crew comes to their senses after the fall and proceeds to swipe the glowing machine. The Thief Rat practices his grappling hook throws and brings the machine down.





The Rat that fires the shotgun manages to catch the machine. It feels much heavier than expected.

The crate bumps into Mursk startling them as it silently ambushes them.


Dullik gently places their carbine down and hefts up the vending machine as they sling it horizontally causing the contents to rattle. Herm waddles over to the staircase as Mursk sprints off to find their own loot to claim.

The rats examine the find. The glowing machine has a sticker on it that says “Osh’s computer”. They put it in the bag, squishing it slightly to make it fit. As the rats were putting a computer monitor inside the bag, the Veteran Rat commanded them to follow him upstairs.



Down in the sewers, the two rats are exploring the big empty wet collector. The Miner lights the lamp so that they can make out the walls and the floor in the dark veins of the city.


Once the rats have put two objects in the bag and got their shotgun, they set off to follow the leader in search of shiny.

Dullik having tossed the Bepis machine into the storage unit began the mind numbing task of waiting for it to be completely swallowed by the thing, long but always worthwhile. Whilst waiting Herm came down to join him tossing the drive on top of the vending machine.

"Breach the wall for me would ya?" Ordered Dullik to which Herm giddily complied

Mursk charged into the opposite building catching sight of a shadow entering the stairs. At that point cognitive thought was silenced as cerebral augments took hold. The rifleman fired off a blast from their thermic rifle, just missing due to the shifting speedy nature of their quarry.

In a low vox amplified voice comparable to steel bars cascading down rock they spoke a single word : "Contact."

The rats are being shot at! This takes the shotgun crew completely by surprise, the best they can do in this situation is scurry away. A floor above, the Veteran Rat can hear the sizzle of the thermic rifle and understands that they are not alone here now. When the three rats meet in the stairwell, they make a plan to occupy the upper levels of the building and/or look for a possible exit. The Veteran Rat leads the group upstairs.


On the fourth floor, they notice a collapsed wall. The Thief Rat decides to jump over on to the neighboring building and get the Shotgun Rat across too.



The Thief makes a daring jump as the Veteran Rat aims for the door with the cannon.



Down in the sewers, the two rats who have splintered off of the squad come across a strange object stuck in the floor. It looks to be heavy - just the right thing for the large rat to take along and possibly operate.

Herm leaps into action spotting a small yet sturdy looking chunk of building to latch onto as he jets upwards, landing with a hefty thunk he twists his head and lets loose a spray from his carbine, Herm didn't take any care in aiming so he missed the rat instead burning through the cord with his exothermic weapon.

Dullik finally content once the container seals it's lid retrieves his gun and thunders up the stairs to meet up with his comrades in arms.

In the opposite building Mursk begins ascending the structure each step unsettling the ruined floorboards and decaying plaster. The Targeting sensor was picking up two lifeforms in the third floor, they would be his quarry.

I'm back



The Thief rat hadn’t noticed Herm until he started firing, but its quick reflexes allowed it to spring away from being burnt to a crisp, and it helped that Herm’s aim was just a little off.





The Thief Rat is now split from its group and doesn’t have a whole lot in the way of defending itself, so running away and hopefully striking later is the best option.



In the building, the Shotgun Rat realizes it’s shit out of luck trying to fire the quad-barreled shotgun on its own and decides to take the high ground where it can plan its next move.



The Cannon rat scoffs at the shotgun crew’s panic and assumes a steadier position behind the pool table, its cannon trained on the two possible entrances to the floor. As it watches the door and the hole in the wall, it sees the Shotgun Rat drop the shotgun and instead pick up a shiny goblet.






The rats in the sewers don’t hear the commotion outside. The Large Rat decides it wants to keep the dangerous unexploded missile for himself, though a proper use for it is yet to surface. The Miner Rat decides that making a new way to access the streets would later prove useful in the exploration and sets about carving a stairway out of the wet sewer walls

Not content to let his Quarry escape Herm fires up the thruster pack to ascend after them like an angry armour-clad, gun-toting firework. Dullik (somewhat out of breath continues up the stairs simply following the sound of Herm's jets.

In the opposite building the slower advance of Mursk was heralded by the soft sounds of pneumatic systems and servos in his power armour before each step was punctuated by a heavy thud.

The Veteran Scavenger sees a bright shape whiz by and its reflexes kick in. The force of the cannon pushes the rat away from the pool table, gunpowder smoke filling the room. Above him, the Shotgunner looks for a way to improve the situation that got out of hand, for everyone or for himself.

The Thief Rat scrambles away and manages to find an opening in the roof of the building. Hanging from the rusted metal armature, it looks for a place to drop down to.

In the sewers, the Miner Rat slowly builds up the staircase as the Large Rat watches

The cannonball thumped into Herm's bulky leg, the armour soaked up most of the force, saving the mercenary from having their limb torn off a bio report however did display that the left tibia and fibula had been snapped in two. The force did send Herm flying into a bit of wood however causing them to prematurely fire his gun, instead of blasting straight through the filthy sneak thief, the plasma beam instead seared through the tail giving off the stench of searing rat flesh.

Dullik reached the third floor of the building and plodded through making mental notes of the laptop and the liquor cabinet, what interested him the most however, was the large locked door, whatever it was hiding must have been worth a pretty amount.

Mursk had cleared the second floor of he building he was in, he detected the sound of a primitive firearm discharging, most likely aimed at Herm (hopefully hitting him) Mursk thought to himself. He quickly began planning a method of attack that would provide minimum risk.

The Cannon Rat reloads its weapon and, hearing the building rattle because of the exoskeleton's weight, senses that there's more threats coming. It tells the Shotgunner to prepare to ambush whoever is going to come through the door and then jump for the shotgun when the opportunity rises.


The Cannon Rat gives the Shotgunner a heavy cast iron cannonball so the Shotgunner can take a chance to seriously daze an enemy




The Shotgunner hides inside the shaking vents hinging on just a few screws now.



In the opposite building, the Thief Rat's tail gets burnt off, leaving only a little knot hanging from its rear. It tries to hide in the corner, as it has no real defense against what looks like a big angry tin can.

In the sewers, the Rats have almost reached the surface. The Large Rat has fashioned the cheese launcher to its back and it's still caressing the missile.

As Herm dragged himself up, his mind raced, he felt satisfied at hearing the thing thump to the ground, pain due to his shattered leg but most of all, thoughts of anger flooded his mind, he missed those shots, his prey had evaded him. Soon very soon as he scraped himself across the room, indeed his prey would receive a death that would make the agony of radiation poisoning seem trite.

Dullik, attempting to blot out the commotion upstairs trudged towards the large armoured door. The lock was archaic, by the standards of the Pey'ar he worked with. Deciding not to waste charge he simply drove an alloy clad foot into the lock, snapping it with a most satisfying sound.

Mursk drove himself up the stairs, even with neuromods keeping him focused he was still nearing a state of sadistic giddiness at the prospect of engaging the hostiles, they were small and their weapons seemed archaic. As he he turned the stairwell's corner he finally got a good look at what he was chasing and it's horribly antiquated gear. From the helmet came a tinny distorted growling laugh.

Then he heard the proximity warnings and had only a moment to act. He chose to swear.

As Mursk enters the room, the Shotgunner jumps down on him and raises the cannonball high up, preparing to SLAM it down on his metal head.


Hitting Mursk on the front of his helmet, it makes a big metal noise and stumbles him, giving the Shotgunner time to jump down off of him and get the quad-barrelled shotgun.



As the Shotgunner is moving away, The Cannon Rat positions Mursk in his sights



The iron cannonball hits Mursk in the chest, letting another sharp thud echo through the city block, sending sparks flying around, and finally pushing Mursk off his balance.






With nowhere else to run to, the Thief Rat decides not to go down without a fight and decides to throw a computer terminal at Herm


Outside, The Miner Rat and The Large Rat emerge from the sewers.

Herm watched as the rodent tossed the monitor towards him, unsure how to react. When the monitor hit the ground a few feet in front of him he was struck by a most profound revelation: the rat wasn't very strong. A long gravely scrambling laugh erupted from beneath the expressionless helmet. The monitor itself silently exclaimed in pain.

After laughing his fill Herm at the silliness, he pulled the trigger and with a disgustingly meaty squelching the lower power beam burst through the rat's head, detonating it rather than disintegrating it.

Mursk caught off guard by the sudden ambush toppled out of the building giving a string of choice curses from a variety of languages, Gam, Pey'ar, Khur even some that sounded suspiciously close to the scrambled sounds made by Bulwark's robots, it would have been quite poetic had it not come from the mouth of a very angry tin can hurtling towards the ground.

Dullik caught sight of Mursk's rapid descent as he pushed through the door, he was about to call out before he heard the laughter and the firing of a thermic carbine.

This prompted a sigh from the tired mercenary, he'd been hoping for just a touch more professionalism from his comrades.

As Herm fries the Thief Rat's head a million degrees in a milisecond, the boiling blood makes its little brain explode outward, painting the nearest walls pink. The rat slowly drops dead without a squeak.

The Cannon Rat, having fired off a shot, decides to relocate along with the Shotgunner. Without reloading the cannon, it helps the Shotgunner stand up and they descend a floor, seeking better cover.

Outside, the Large Rat and the Miner Rat finally emerge from the sewers. They take their time to get their bearings and orient themselves. They notice the color of the building and remember seeing it from the other side, so they move towards it. On the ground, they see the faintest shadow growing larger.