Silent Storm — Mission 13, Part 1: Plot Is Happening

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Well, now we know where Koch’s rocket ship was made.

ss_portrait_viperTh’ engines, at least. Let’s get in there an’ shut ’em down.

While this new information is very interesting, we shouldn’t let it distract us from the matter at hand. The Germans are not running the show here, and it’s time to stop dragging our feet and investigate who is. This “Thor’s Hammer.”

ss_portrait_bogeyYou mean… go to Russia?

Yes. I understand you have a number of leads directing you to facilities in the Urals, and that you have known about these facilities since before I was a member of this team. But you haven’t set foot in Russia. Why?

Well, it’s cold up there. And, uh, they aren’t overly fond of me back home…

I’m not even going to ask why.

ss_portrait_dougWhere are we off to, then, Lieutenant?

I believe our first stop should be here:

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Koch’s own notes point to this location as the headquarters of Thor’s Hammer. What do you think, Captain?

What, do you expect us to just knock on the door of our greatest nemesis?

You’re the wannabe action hero, boss. Sounds like that’d be right up yer alley.

ss_portrait_sookAs much as I hate to agree with the captain, we do need a plan.

Leave that part to me.

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Speaking of front doors.

We’ve made it to the Ural Mountains, and to Thor’s Hammer’s front yard. This is it. Looks pretty unassuming, actually.

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…Except for the patrols all along the approach, and the soldiers lugging rocket launchers. And the mounted machine guns. And the snipers in the watchtowers. And also the rocky embankments on both sides of the road that funnel us into a convenient little killzone.

But other than that stuff, it looks super inviting!

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We begin at the bottom of one of those rough slopes, in the easternmost corner of the map. We make our way west as quickly as we can, keeping to the shadows of the trees. The view there is a bit better and lets us get a good look at the killzone we’ll have to make it through somehow.

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And the resistance we’ll face.

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There are at least four of these Fallout-ass soldiers guarding the road, complete with automatic rifles of some unknown make.

You’ve already seen the guard tower at the west side of the road, but off to the east side is another interesting feature:

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It’s a small building, separate from the main facility, but out of which any number of reinforcements might emerge as soon as the shooting starts.

Lt. Austin, keep an eye on that building. They can’t be allowed to flank us.

You got it.

From here, we set up at the base of the hill, just where the road enters the map, with Sook scouting ahead a bit in stealth mode.

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We’re just out of the line of sight of the mounted guns, but we need to even the odds a bit more. Lt. Ricketts, please remove the watchtower.

On it.

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While he’s busy sneaking, the patrols are still making their rounds. The one we saw earlier comes to a halt at the edge of the cliff overlooking our position.

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They haven’t seen us yet, but they’re about to.

Eliminate those guards the moment Doug brings down the tower!

But they shoot first.

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And those rifles hit hard. Viper takes a couple shots and immediately drops to about 50% health. Luckily, the baddies don’t last long enough to get more than a couple bursts off.

On the other side of the map, Doug aims…

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And fires.

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One guard tower (and guard) down.

Fall back to the road and let them come to us!

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All the boys regroup again at the base of the hill. It’s hard to tell in the screenshot, but we are indeed out of sight of the mounted guns here, nestled in the little crease where the slope of the hill ends and the flat ground begins. The guns can shoot at us, but they hit nothing but the ground.

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The enemy soldiers come to meet us, and for now the big guns are out of the picture.

Uh. Wait, what?

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That’s… not standard issue.

Another one of these guys pops into view, and then they take their first shot.

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It’s a miss. By a mile.

But the next round, the soldier who fired stops to reload — and that seems like not a great sign, if I know anything about videogame logic. If this is the type of weapon you reload after a single shot, it’s probably also the type of weapon that kills in a single shot.

Focus fire on the soldiers with the beam weapons!

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Oh. Well, that wasn’t so bad.

They keep sending soldiers at us, but the killzone is ours now. We’re shooting fish in a barrel.

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Pretty soon, we’ve started advancing. Sook spots for us over the rise and our snipers drop the opposition. They’re down to just a bunch of pistol-wielding “engineers” who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn at this distance.

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They’re beat! Let’s finish ’em!

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Wait! Stick to the plan. We don’t know what we’re up against!

Why don’t you chill out with your plans, Lieutenant? Look — they’re finished.

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Yeah, what are we afraid of? It’s not like they’ve got a tank in there.

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W… what is that?

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I think that’s your tank, Lieutenant…

On to the next episode!
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