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Strike Bombs

Improvised explosives • Built by Bru, detonated in Session 63

Overview​

The Strike Bombs are the charges the party built and planted for the Twilight Company's coordinated strike on the Eldoran capital. There were four: two at the Spaceport Factory, one in the concert hall of the Eldoran Barracks, and one in the Research Tower. All four were set off together by remote in Session 63. As of Session 63 the bombs are spent. The DM described screams from three sites around the city, and the research tower tilting over and collapsing onto the city wall.

Planning​

  • Materials (Session 54). Finnegan planned to enter the capital as a mercenary carrying rare elements for explosives, and recruited Bru to help assemble them. At this point five sites were in mind.
  • Victor's notes (Session 58). Toothy passed on design notes from Victor, scrawled in the margins of a page torn from a religious text. Waiting in the party's room were pressure-cooker pots, fuse wire, fireworks, dynamite and gunpowder. George named the three targets: the factory, the university research facility and the barracks. The party made Bru its explosives expert.
  • All at once (Session 59). Silas argued that hitting the targets one at a time would tighten security at the others, so all three would go off together. Bru's "synchronized remote detonation" beat Victor's timers without much argument.
  • Design (Session 60). Once the party saw that the factory furnace was a contained power plant, Silas proposed a two-stage bomb: crack the containment from outside, then set off a smaller charge at the core. Bru was not sure the containment could be blown reliably. He picked a PZO electric crystal oscillator as a reliable timer (he times in seconds only, unlike Victor).
  • The tower (Session 61). Inside the research towers, Bru judged that charges at the elevator shafts would bring a tower down. Silas lifted two employee key cards to get the party in.

The Bombs​

  • The suitcases (Session 62). Bru worked through the night. In the morning, two bombs the size of carry-on suitcases, with pull handles and wheels, sat beside Leliana's pillow with a note: "gentle, do not disturb heavily. Live baby." Written instructions said each bomb had to be armed on site before it could be triggered remotely. The second suitcase was kept for the research tower.
  • The barracks. Disguised as a sergeant, Leliana carried one suitcase into the barracks and flew over the rear wall. Backstage in the concert hall she opened it (Sleight of Hand 17) and pressed "arm". A five-second countdown started. She let it run to zero, trusting that it counted down to arming and not to detonation, then covered the case with theatre drapes. She told George to find an excuse to clear out.
  • The factory (Session 63). The DM granted that Bru had built two uneven bombs for the factory: a large casing bomb to breach the containment and a smaller one to send the core critical. The furnace casing blocks radio signals, so the inside bomb could not be triggered remotely. Bru put it at the top of the chamber, wired to seismic sensors so that the blast of the casing bomb would set it off. Olivia climbed the outside of the furnace and mounted the casing bomb on top. Bru then stole the Miniature Sun from the chamber, and the record does not say what the inside bomb did afterwards.
  • The tower (Session 63). Riding a crowded elevator up the research tower, Silas walked up the shaft and planted the tower bomb on the elevator car. The recap calls it a "delayed charge". At the table the plan was for every bomb to go off at once by remote.

Detonation​

The party got clear of the research tower after Olivia pulled the fire alarm, and set the bombs off as they headed for Finnegan at the docks. The DM called it a "Dark Knight moment": screams from three sites around the city, then sirens. The research tower tilted and collapsed onto the city wall, long enough to span several blocks. Casualties have not been described.

Session History​

  • Session 54 — Finnegan reveals he will carry rare elements into the capital to build explosives, and recruits Bru to assemble them.
  • Session 58 — George names the three targets, Toothy hands over Victor's margin-note designs and a stock of raw explosives, and Bru is made the operation's explosives expert.
  • Session 59 — The party decides all three targets must go off at once, and picks Bru's synchronized remote detonation over Victor's timers.
  • Session 60 — Silas proposes a two-stage bomb to breach the furnace, and Bru picks a PZO electric crystal oscillator for the timer.
  • Session 61 — Bru finds that charges at the research tower's elevator shafts could bring it down, and Silas lifts the key cards to get in.
  • Session 62 — Bru delivers two suitcase bombs to Leliana, who carries one into the barracks concert hall and arms it backstage.
  • Session 63 — Olivia and Bru plant the factory bombs, Silas plants the tower bomb on the elevator car, and the party sets them all off by remote. The research tower collapses onto the city wall.