El Coco-Drillo in 'Death Roll'

GM: Mr. Terrific
Players: Kalavati, Maddox, (Croc)
Synopsis: The runners are hired to deliver a special contract deep into the Warrens.
Date: June 23, 2071


The call goes out from the fixers and faces - a milk run mission for someone who doesn't have a problem getting from uptown to downtown, or passing through the border crossing into and out of the Warrens. Go to Colorado Bvld in the CAS, take a right on Bleeker street, two blocks down there'll be a walk-up with little businesses. Room 221, show up and say, "Right said Fred sent me."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "While normally much of this would wisely be glossed over, your response should include something of your precautions or lack thereof, your decisions involved in what you hear. If your character has a usual person they hear such things from, feel free to let us all know in your description."

Maddox gets the call. The call all desperate hand-to-mouthers long for… his contact. Or his face. Or just the voice on the other end of the phone. A job.
Forty minutes later, the ork is on the streets of the CAS district. "Thank you, OP8. You might have a dumbass name, but you and your boys get around the 'plex something fierce. Lemme know next time /you/ need something so I can kick down," he ork says. He frowns up into the warmish thunderstorm, pulling his oiled canvas coat more tightly about himself.

Kalavati had been sitting around her tiny apartment in the CAS, not doing very much outside of her ordinary routine of daily activity when she had recieved the call from her fixer contact that usually provides meeting points for jobs and things for her, Sabrette. She had immediately cancelled her plans of watching the Daily Buzz, pushing herself out of her seat on the couch as she had immediately moved into the `bedroom` of her apartment, immediately making her way toward the closet inside of the little room; her hand roughly pushing it open as she moves herself inside, reaching around various parts of it as she simply gets herself dressed for an ordinary outing in the mildly hot weather, though strangely, she carries a secure jacket with her that seems to be an ordinary hoodie of somesort. Continuing to reach around inside of her closet, she also pulls out a rather small handgun of somesort, concealing it behind herself at her waistline, just beneath her top, as well as an additional magazine.
Having made minor preparations, Kalavati had moved herself to her kitchen, gasping a few other daily `essentials` like her pocket secretary, her cellphone, and her cigarettes, as well as the keys of her car as she simply leaves her apartment, closing the door behind herself as she plainly locks it and makes her way down the stairs of her apartment building, the Mountain Hills. Upon reaching her car, which holds a rather bland electronics toolkit hidden underneath the passenger side, as well as a small flashlight in the glove compartment, she simply gets inside and begins to casually drive to the location of the meet.

Colorado Street is a pretty well-packed thoroughfare, with moderate security. Wait long enough and you'll see a Lone Star cop-car, or a lazy loitering blimpdrone overhead that, while it has the Lone Star logo, also has sold space to other advertisers along the bottom. Blackbird park is off to the west, there's a gym and various businesses, and the busted-out-hulk of what was once the Mile High Mall with a bunch of trucks and construction equipment and the like hard at work within. Parking is not the easiest here, but it is doable once you get two blocks off the strip in the area of Bleeker street, and then it's a walk up to the little office building which is labelled with signs for a chiropractor, a dentist, 'Magical Services - Tarot, Palm Reading, Summoning' and 'Enterprising Productions.' Enterprising Productions is listed as room #221.

Maddox might be a rough-looking fellow, but he's a little older, perhaps a little wiser. Maybe. Superficially he doesn't look out of the ordinary: his coat, obviously armored but not a combat model, of the sort worn by framers and carpenters and rough-work laborers. Fingerless gloves on his hands, which tend to be stuck in his coat pockets when he's in the public eye. A couple mini-grenades in the inner pockets of his coat. No weapons you could see from a distance.

«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 12 for "Lone Star driver spotting Kalavati's hold-out on a drive by, +2 TN":
2 2 10 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 14 for "Lone Star driver spotting Maddox's bulding grenade pockets on a drive-by, +2 TN":
2 2 3 = 0 Successes

Maddox stands outside the mag-lev station on Colorado, keeping his head ducked against the rain, and probably trying to look inconspicuous. His dress and manner don't stand out too badly; he's just a burly middle-aged man riding the transpo.
His gaze, neutral and hooded, is more watchful of the street than his casual demeanor would indicate.

Kalavati pulls up, into the area of Bleaker street; her car simply idling for a moment as she parallel parks just next to the street as she turns her head to the side to look over her equipment and things that she had brought in the car before she finally turns the motor off. She leans herself to the side, grasping the hoodie that she had brought with her in one of her hands before simply pulling it over, lifting it up as she moves her hands to simply throw the fabric over her body as she puts it on. She leans back in her seat, partially zipping up her jacket before she lifts both of her hands infront of herself and flips her hood up, over her head, not really caring about the difficulty of fitting her hair beneath it before she pops her door open and moves herself to the side, slowly stepping out of the vehicle as she pushes her door closed, using her hip and steps forward, beginning to walk along the sidewalk on the way toward the little office building, not really seeming to pay much attention to the surroundings.

Without difficulty, the two can wend their way amongst the blocks and go in and up. The place has an inner courtyard and waiting area littered with ash that didn't make it into the ashtrays, and old faux-wooden benches to sit on while one is waiting for the dentist, as several people are. From the look of them, a lot of people from the Aztec zone come here to him. But there is room 221 and the door is openable to a little waiting area, a couch-bench fitted with pleather, two waiting humans dressed in total synthleather ganger gear, and what looks like a 2071 secretary, which is to say, a spaced out woman with a wire going from her headjack into the computer on her desk.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, " And with that you can both be present in the waiting room. The two waiting humans in the synthleather ganger gear look cleaner than they are supposed to be, but exactly as sullen as they should be."

Maddox spots the women coming from her vehicle. He moves smoothly forward to keep pace with her on the sidewalk; he clears his throat several paces back to alert her of his presence. "You lookin' for two-two-one?" he asks casually. "I believe we have an appointment there together?"
Maddox continues without really waiting for a response. He's kinda gruff that way. "Name's Maddie," he says. "We get up there, you wanna scope out what kinda biz it is? Then we can figure if they'd be more receptive to an input with a tusker watching, or the reverse, or both at once?"

A rather serious, focused expression forms onto Kalavati's face as she simply walks along the sidewalk on her way to the building; her hands having been lifted up and pulled back to rest down inside of the small pockets of her hoodie, though as she is approached by the orkish man, she very quickly turns her head to the side the moment room #221 is mentioned. She practically glares up, toward the man, staring at him strangely without a word for a moment as if she were possibly lost in thought before an actual frown forms onto her face before she asks the man, apparently allowing him to speak even further before she lets out a rather small, "Excuse me… You stalkin' me or somethin'?" and completely stops walking as she takes a step to the side, moving away from the man as she slowly pulls her empty hands from her pockets. "Th'fuck you know what I'm lookin' for? Who're you, really?" she asks the man, possibly seeming to be a bit paranoid about the situation as she doesn't even seem to identify herself.

Maddox shrugs his shoulders under his coat. "Nah," he replies neutrally. "Ain't no stalkin'. I like my ladies a with some muscle on 'em, and a pair of tusks." He turns to glance away from Kalavati, toward the address, but only for a moment. "Mike Goggles told me, to be here, find a woman who looks like you, and go deliver a message." He lowers his voice as he says this, below the thrum of the rain, private-like. "But I don't feel like I would want to be you, with me sneakin' up, without something of an introduction. So I announce."
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Intelligence (to Mr.Terrific):
1 1 2 2 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Security Systems (to Mr.Terrific):
1 2 3 5
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Interestingly, Maddox notes that while the security systems on this building are pretty much average, it does have a satellite uplink which few if any of the other buildings around it have. Dentists and chiropractors don't need satellite uplinks. Whoever is in there is serious about their Matrix bandwidth."

As the man speaks, Kalavati shifts her eyes to look him up and down for a very quick moment before focuing her attention back onto his face, apparently trying to study him a bit before he turns himself to move away from her; her body continuing to hold still as she is pelted by the noisy rain, though it doesn't really seem to bother her all too much, considering the situation. She remains completely silent for a moment as she tilts her head downward slightly as she continues to stare up toward the man before, very slowly, she turns herself to the side again, and slowly begins to move back toward the building in question. "Announcements or not, there's always a chance 'at you're not who y'say you are, yeah…" she quietly says in her godawful accent, "Still suspicious's fuck, y'know?" she says, though she doesn't seem too bothered to stop herself from moving toward the meeting.

Maddox nods his head. "Fair enough. Not sure how you'd want to verify my bona fides," this he mispronounces, like 'bunny-fides', "but I reckon we're fixing to believe it."
He gives a long, hard look at the place. "You notice the uplink?" he asks, jerking his chin up at the place. "Someone's using bandwidth somethin' fierce. 'Enterprising Productions' sounds like a porn place. That might be why. You wanna go in together, or have a lag-behind lurking?"

Staying outside for a moment, Kalavati turns her head to look back toward the man before quickly tilting her head back, looking upward before she notices the uplink as well; a more intense frown forming onto her face before she shifts her eyes from side to side, examining her surroundings before she quickly moves herself forward, toward the door. She lifts her hand upward infront of herself, roughly gripping the handle of the door before she quickly pushes against it, essentially forcing the door open as she steps inside of the building. She turns her head to look back toward the orkish man that seems to be her companion at the moment as she tells the man, "Nah, you go ahead first, yeah." as she quickly lifts both of her hands upward to her hood; her fingers moving to essentially flip the soaked fabric from her head. "I'll go in shortly after you, an' get your back if some dumbshit's goin' down." she says, though there's a possibility that she has an ulterior motive though she likely had just accepted his story.

Maddox nods his head, taking the street suspicion in stride. "Ain't no thing," he says. He steps past the woman and into the building, stepping toward 221.
He arrives at the door, looking casual, before stepping inside.

«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 8 for "TN 0 to spot the obvious, +8 because the secretary is jacked in.":
3 3 3 4 4 = 0 Successes
The secretary takes no notice of the wet entrant (do wet orks smell like wet dog? Nah, that's probably trolls) but the two gangers do. They poke one another. The girl giggles and they start discussing some arcane topic having to do with pocsec apps.

Maddox steps inside, but doesn't bother to pull his hands from his pockets to wipe his face. While his gloves are intentionally not obviously shock gloves, ain't no sense in letting anyone get a glance. "Hello," he says, using his polite-rather-than-orkish company voice. He glances over the gangers, then back to the secretary. "You got a moment?"

The secretary eventually starts 'awake' and looks up. "Sorry, just taking care of a few things." She looks him up and down. "May I help you?" Those caps on the ends of his tusks indicate a likely need to go visit the dentist, so one can see proper directions about to trip off off her tongue.
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Intelligence (to Mr.Terrific): Checking for weapons on gangers
1 2 3 3 5
«Plot» None.

Kalavati holds her position at the entrance of the building; her eyes shifting around to examine her surroundings after the orkish man had made his way up, toward the target room. She waits a rather short moment before pulling her hands back, lowering her thumb and index fingers into one of the tiny pockets of her pants to grip her cellphone as she inches it upward before finally pulling it up and out of her pocket. She flips her phone around and tilts her head downward, beginning to examine the little device as she begins to move her other index finger along the buttons, dialing the number of her fixer, Sabrette, before lifting the little device up to her ear; her free hand dropping down into one of the front pockets of her hoodie as she simply holds it there, likely as a nervous habit.
The phone rings as Kalavati simply steps to the side, pacing very slowly as she moves out of the way of the door and continuously turns her head and shifts her eyes to look around the room, apparently not -too- worried about how suspicious she may possibly look as her fixer contact finally answers the phone. "Yo, what th'fuck's goin' down?" she asks immediately as her contact answers the phone before simply continuing, likely not even allowing him to speak to her, "Some fuckin' bigass tusker runs up on me an' knew, like, what I was up to. Like, what th'shit issat? You hire someone else witho—…" she begins to say in a rather quiet, frustrated manner before coming to an abrupt stop, apparently allowing the man to speak to her, apparently explaining the situation before she lets out a rather small, "Yeah… Yeah, my bad… Jus' homeboy almos' got 'is ass murked, y'know? But… Yeah… Yeah, my bad." Finally, she seems to end the conversation with the man as she tells him, "Well, I'm at th'place.

Maddox nods his head, stepping forward. He smiles, but it looks false; maybe charm isn't this man's strong suit. "Hoi, yeah. I hope so, at least. I'm looking for the proprietor?" He tilts his head to the side. "Don't worry, I ain't no solicitor."

The secretary glances at the gangers and then back up to the ork. "In relation to what?"

Maddox clenches his fists inside his pockets; not visible, but just for himself. "Tell him Right Said Fred sent me," he replies. Me, not us.

Kalavati's hand lifts up to the doorknob of room 221 as she twists it before pushing it open and stepping inside of the room; her eyes locking onto the four infront of her as she moves her hand to close the door behind herself without saying a word at all before very slowly beginning to step forward, not quite losing her focused, serious expression before her attention locks onto the two ganger-like people inside of the building for some reason or another before focusing on anyone else.

The secretary looks confused a moment, then after that pregnant pause that tells you she's looking through her notes on the computer that she's jacked into. "Um.. oh! Oh, of course. Thank you for being on time. Right this way." She unjacks and sets down the plug in the sterilizing holder on her desk and look over to the entering woman. "And you are, ma'am?"

Kalavati quickly shifts her attention toward the secretary as she pulls her hand from her pocket as she begins to loosely hold it down onto her hip; most of her weight balancing onto one of her legs as she pushes her hip out slightly for some reason or another as if she were just more comfortable standing that way. She tilts her head back slightly in the form of a simple `upnod` toward the woman as she says, "Oh, Right said Fred sent me, yeah." she says in a rather casual manner.

Maddox doesn't reply, leaving it to the woman to decide what she would reply. When she assures that their together, he nods to the secretary.

The secretary smiles and beckons as well. Predictably, the two too-clean gangers (one male, one female) stand up and say, "Hey! Right said Fred sent us too!" the secretary sadly shakes her head and says, "Sorry. This is something different. You two wait right there." The secretary brings you down a small, short hallway, past a door with a faint hum behind it, and to what is likely a breakroom - it has a dinky card-table sized table, four chairs, a fridge, and an eats and drinks machine that, like many inside a company, is set to just a tinyt bit above cost. The layout is strongly reminiscent of a small dentist's office. And in a few moments the boss comes in. She's a fortyish ork, about half-dumpy.. hasn't gotten all the way gone to seed yet, but spends a little too much time sitting, with a similar datajack and a folder and chipcase in her hands. She's also dressed the nicest of anyone you've seen hereabouts. "Hello! Pleased to meet you two. I'm Amanda, Amanda Shodah, and I own Enterprising Productions. Do you know what we do here?"

Maddox gives a lingering glance at the scruffier sorts trying to volunteer themselves inside as he steps past them. He moves slowlystately, might be a better wordeyes neutral and panning as he steps inside. "Amanda," he repeats. "Hello. My name's Aaron Black Cow. This is my companion." He glances at her, then back to the ork. "I'm happy to see a tusker in charge rather than at the front desk. Refreshing, isn't it?" he says, dodging the question proffered.

Amanda smiles brightly and says, "I like to think that anyone who works hard and plays smart can get ahead." She sits in one of the chairs as a means of offering the chairs to yourselves as well, and gets her paperwork ready. "Yourself?" she says to Kalavati.

Stepping forward as her hand drops down from her hip, Kalavati begins to follow after the secretary as she turns her head to the side to look back toward the two clean gangers as they call out before shifting her attention back forward to examine her escort as she walks alongside Maddox through the hallway, though she allows the man to pass through the door first before she steps inside of the little office herself. She turns her head from side to side, looking around the little room as she immediatelty moves herself to the side, standing just beside the doorway as she places her hand back onto her hip and stands in the same oddly relaxed manner as before for some reason or another; her eyes immediately locking onto the boss as she arrives, though her expression doesn't seem to change at all. She remains silent, shifting her eyes to the side to glance toward Maddox as he gives something that sounds like a real name before she looks back toward Amanda. "I'm Ka—…" she begins to say, likely out of habit. "Anjali Bhandari."

Amanda says, "Well then. We sell discerning, high-quality erotica, both in mass quantities as well as carefully tailored towards smaller groups. Both trideo and simsense. We pride ourselves on being able to get ahead of the trends before the big boys come in and wring all the quality out of it. And that's why I've asked you here today." Amanda seems to be getting excited as she takes a flattie picture out of her folder of a tall, green-flecked brown-eyed troll in Warrens-style battle gear and conspicuous bulges where large weapons might be concealed on his easy-moving frame. The smartpaper starts the video rolling, and he appears to be boldly striding through a japanese restaurant, taking a moment to look straight at the camera and snarl. "This is your target. In Orktown, they call him 'The Croc', or 'El Cocodrillo.' Isn't it the perfect name? He's everything, all rolled up into one!"

Maddox raises a grey-flecked eyebrow. "Target?" he says simply. "I didn't know that adult production companies had 'targets,' other than their sales numbers?"

Amanda smiles bashfully, looking up at Aaron Black Cow. "Sorry. That's sales terminology. El Cocodrillo," and the way she says it with the perfect inflection on the word 'drill' and the breathy excitement she brings to it indicates her own level of arousal at the concept… or merely her prior acting background, "is the 'target' of the 'get'. You're trying to get him to sign with us."

Kalavati simply stares down toward the moving photograph for a moment as she rests both of her hands together inside of her lap; her body leaning forward very slightly for a short moment to watch the video, apparently trying to study the target for whatever the mission is. "Uhhuh…" she lets out rather quietly, possibly speaking to herself as if she were confirming the information in her head. "What if 'e doesn't want t'sign an' shit?" she asks the woman, apparently not trying to question her motives as she tilts her head back to look toward her again, "I mean… I kind of know, but I'd rather hear it in your own words, yeah."

Maddox looks about to say something, opens his mouth, but pauses, closing it again as his companion speaks. Obviously he was framing a similar question.
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Street Rumors (to Mr.Terrific):
2 3 3 4 7
Maddox pages: To ponder if I've ever heard anything about a guy who calls himself The Croc.

Amanda checks some of her notes, which were likely given to her by someone a little more experienced in dealing with shadowrunners. "So, what's been suggested to me is that I offer you 2500y to get the contract to him, and 2500y if he reads it.. just take a pocsec video of him looking at the text, or show him slotting the chip I give you. If he signs and comes in, then I pay a 10,000y bonus. That's individual, by the way, all payouts are supposed to be individual," she says, looking down at her notes. Apparently she was told that 'runners ain't too good at sharing out money.

Maddox nods his head as the details are given. "There anything in that contract there that he might, er, strenuously object to? Maybe not care for the messenger so much? Fa.. homosexual trid? Kink?" he asks, choosing his words more carefully than usual.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Street Rumors on The Croc: The Croc is a walking angel of death. The Croc is a guaranteed bona fide cannibal, as in, not just biting people and chewing but into it for reals. The Croc is seen as a hero in Orktown, for takin' it to the Tir Llewn elven knife-ears and shrugging off all their best hits, magic and firearms and mortars, to rise again and again. The Croc is a radioactive mutant. The Croc sometimes appears to die, but always returns stronger than before."

Amanda says, "That's all negotiable with the man himself. The contracts are for a certain number of scenes. We can work around whatever he himself is into."

«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Negotiation vs TN 5 for "I need mo' allowance~! D<":
1 2 5 9 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) has the Attribute Intelligence with the value '6'.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Negotiation - 2 vs TN 5 for "«KP: 1/:D»":
1 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 7 vs TN 6 for "Amanda is quite skilled indeed but less sharp as a person.":
4 5 5 5 7 8 19 = 3 Successes

Kalavati lifts her hands up from her lap and moves them over, crossing her wet forearms over her torso as she lifts one of her feet up from the floor and moves it over, crossing her legs over eachother underneath the table as she naturally locks them together at the knee; one of her feet immediately beginning to wave rapidly for some reason or another as if she were becoming impatient or something. "I 'unno~…" she lets out rather quietly, "Orktown's a li'l dangerous, yeah~~" she says to the woman rather quietly as she tilts her head downward slightly as she stares toward the woman; her foot stopping it's bounce for a very quick moment before she tells the woman, "Especially f'someone like me, if y'follow what I'm on about. Might actually need a li'l bit more money t'sort of… Y'know, convince me t'go in there an' get close to a motherfucker like that, y'know?"

Amanda answers back all of Kalavati's various commentaries about money with, "Really, he can't be as unreasonable as they say, or he would never get work as a 'runner, right? I do acknowledge the danger of going in, but really, people walk into and out of the Warrens every day. You do have someone with at least the appearance of a native guide?" She indicates Aaron. "Do either of you have any personal history with The Croc that would make things worse for you?" She doesn't reduce her price, but the attempt to ask for more feels pretty weak compared to the force of her personality.

Maddox lets the woman press for more, and when it goes nowhere, pursues a different tack. "Croc, I heard word of a trog like that. And the word ain't good. If we're talking 'bout the same chummer, he's the one you want to bust up your competition, eat 'em alive as it were. May be a big swingin' dick, but I ain't so sure he's gonna want to put his face in a trideo."
He pauses a moment. "And that's good cred just to put a contract in front of someone. Is that bonus if he comes in to your studio willingly? Or just if we can, ehm, get him in here?"

Amanda says, "Oh, please, no violence. Don't harm a hair on his head! Whether or not he chooses to sign. You can try to persuade him, certainly.. I'd love it if you made the sale for me. That's why you get a bonus! Think of the first part like a delivery mission, and the second part like a sale."
(Amanda may have a different idea of 'big swingin' dick' in this context.)

Maddox can't help but smile behind his tusks.

Kalavati shifts her eyes downward, looking toward the table for a moment before shifting her eyes to the side, looking away from the woman for some reason or another as if she had actually just embarassed herself by trying to negotiate with the woman. "Ehh…" she lets out very quietly to herself before looking back up toward the woman. She nods her head slightly toward her, as if she were signifying that she's willing to perform the job at the price that had already been stated. "Well… Sounds easy enough, then." she tells the woman, "We 'ave a deadline for all 'is? An' you know where 'is current… I guess, residence or anything is? Or do we 'ave t'do some detective work an' shit, too?"

Amanda passes over a text copy of the contract as well as a chip version. "Aside from that he's famous and lives in the Warrens, no, I don't know where he lives. That's another reason I'm hiring you. And your deadline… if shadowrunners have a downturn in popularity, then no one would be interested. But Karl Kombatmage has been running for a hell of a long time now so I wouldn't be worried. If some other 'corp makes the 'get' on El Cocodrillo before you, then time's up. And of course, if someone kills him… but people have thought he was dead before."

Maddox takes the chip and the text, before giving Kalavati an 'any other questions?' look.

Kalavati nods slightly toward the woman, not quite noticing her ‘partner` yet as she slowly uncrosses her arms and legs, dropping her foot back down onto the floor as she plants both of her hands down onto the sides of her chair and slowly pushes herself to scoot back, away from the table. She turns her head slightly to the side, glancing toward the man before she looks back toward Amanda. "This shoul’ be quick, then." she tells the woman before slowly pushing herself to stand from her seat; both of her hands lifting up and pulling back to slide into the little pockets of her hoodie, "We'll contact you back in 'bout a day or two, yeah. Maybe three if we get a li'l bit of bad luck or somethin'."

Amanda says, "You can call me here, our information's on the 'trix." and she is happy enough to show you out. A corner of the eye glance from the hallways can show you their simsense stage down the hall, just a white room with equipment and a blank area where simsense actors likely are getting their surroundings beamed into their heads. That means the room with the humming noise likely comes from computer fans. And when you leave, the clean gangers get their turn.. likely to try out for parts, if they have what it takes.

Maddox nods his head and rises. "We'll see if we can't get him for you. And hopefully a copy of his first sim won't be thrown in as a bonus," he says. His lame joke made, he follows out.

As they walk back into the rain, the ork looks to the woman. "I do alright in Orktown, shockingly enough. And I've heard of the guy, but nothing more than that he's a hardcase. Only thing we got going for us is that what output /wouldn't/ want to be pursued by a porncorp?"

Walking back into the rain, Kalavati flips her hood back up over her head the moment the two leave the building; her head turned to the side as she simply stares at the man, walking alongside him. She turns her body, apparently preparing to make her way toward her car without looking away from the man. She shrugs her shoulders slightly toward the man before she tells him, "I hear it's real hard work, an' is crazy fuckin' demanding, y'know? An' t'some of th'more prudish motherfuckers out there, it's real… I 'unno, ‘degrading` or whatever th’fuck they like t'say about it." she explains, likely making up her information. "So then what's th'plan?" she asks, "You got anything in mind at all 'bout how t'go about this? Or… First, you want t'talk in m'car or somethin'?" possibly finally starting to be bothered by the rain outside of the building.

Maddox nods simply, and shuts up as they step to the car. Luckily, he having been spared having to admit that he doesn't have one.
Maddox sits inside. "Well, it's Orktown. I get around okay in there, and Croc doesn't seem to be exactly inconspicuous. What I'm wondering is you… it ain't too likely you'd actually have a hard timeand if you're here for the same jobs I am, I'm sure you can take care of yourself but goodbut we'd stand out a bit."
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Street Rumors (to Mr.Terrific) for "Location and hangouts of The Croc? Known associates?":
1 1 2 3 7
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Known hangouts of The Croc: The Souk (marketplace) of The Rez. The Boneyards. Several bars and various pit-fighting establishments."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Known associates: He's a shadowrunner, so it is assumed that various fixers could eventually get a message to him."

Kalavati feeds into the silence of the walk as she moves herself away from the building, continuing to walk with the man as she approaches her car without another word, though she finally pulls her hands from her pockets, removing her keys as she pushes a button, unlocking her doors as she moves around the front of it to reach the driver's-side door. Her car isn't anything special, as it appears to be a rather old, mildly worn-out Nissan Silvia from the '50s. She pops her door open and rather quickly lowers herself down to drop into her seat; the door slamming behind herself as she turns her upper body a bit to the side to nearly face the man; her hands reaching out a bit as she bends one of her elbows, resting it against the back of her seat, just near the headrest as she moves the other, holding her keys, down to rest at the bottom of the steering wheel for some reason or another as she brings her leg up into her seat. "An' I'm not all too into standin' out an' shit, y'know?" she explains.

Maddox settles his frame into the seat carefully. He's short for an ork, but bulky. "I don't see no need for no conflict," he says. "But I ain't never been accused of being the Quick-e-Courier service, so I'm thinking somebody up above us might be knowin' something we don't," he says, pulling his gloved hands from his coat. "Either way. I know I've seen him at the Souk, Boneyards, a couple of the smack-'em-up parlors. He don't seem to be known for his subtlety."
Well, and neither does Maddie, for that matter: he's pulled a softpack of Yeheyuan 48's from a pocket, moving to light up. Without asking first.

Kalavati turns herself a bit to sit straight in her car; her back pressing into the chair as she moves her hands over, slotting her key into the ignition as she turns it to activate the motor of her vehicle. Inside of her car, immedately beginning to play seems to be in the middle of a song that seems to be rather generic, slow, bass-driven ‘gangster rap` from the early ’60s, playing quite loudly, though it, luckily, is quiet enough to hold a conversation. "Well, findin' 'im shouldn' be a problem at all, yeah." she tells the man, not seeming to be bothered in the slightest by the fact that he had begun to smoke in her car as she simply begins to pull out of the parking lot, beginning to head down the road, heading south, and to the east. "Before we go an' all 'at good shit, I have t'stop by someone's house an'… Well, collect somethin'. Sort of." she explains, apparently having a bit of side-business to take care of or something similar, "You don't mind waitin' in th'car while I handle all 'at, right?

Maddox shrugs his shoulders. "Don't care," he replies. "I'm just thinking. He's a runner, yeah, some upjumped joeboy. Which means he takes jobs. Which means he takes jobs from someone." He pulls in a drag off his cheap smoke, exhaling through his tusks as he talks, cracking the window. "We come at him like we want something, he'll wanna do it the hard way. We come at him like we're offering work, he's probably receptive."

"That's probably th'best bet…" Kalavati quietly tells the man, though, hearing the window crack, she quickly turns her head to the side, possibly mistaking it for something else as she seems to be a bit startled before she calmly shifts her attention back forward, beginning to look toward the road again as he simply drives, though the destination actually isn't all too far, having been situated at the building of the Mountain Hills, still in the CAS sector. Slowly, she pulls into the parking lot, apparently driving carefully as she slowly moves herself toward a vacant parking space near the back of the lot, likely as not to draw too much attention to her car as she turns her head to the side, looking toward the man as she deactivates the motor, though leaving the keys inside the ignition as to keep the music playing in the car from her rattle-y, old, stock speakers. She relaxes a bit in her seat for some reason or another, not quite leaving the car like she had said d as she turns her head to look at hin.

Maddox shakes his head. "I'm tapped out," he replies. "I could use some nova, but I traded out to some dopefiend for a pair of brass knucks and a bottle of slivovitz." Whether any of that's true, who's to say? "Ain't got no 'link, no gun. Maddie's muscle," he continues, slipping into the self-important third person. "Pit fighter outta Sioux." He holds up his hands, showing off the fingerless gloves. "Shockers behind the muscle. Ain't seen much of anyone who can stand after a couple taps. Done some knife-work trids, but I tried to get my mug pixellated out. Think of me as a stereotype Indian: sneaky as shit, scalpin', that kinda thing."

Kalavat's eyes lock onto the man's gloves for a moment as she asks, "Wait, you were able t'sneak those past th'border?" not really giving any information about herself, though looking at her probably may not actually reveal whatever it is that she does, unless one were to look hard or something. "What else'd you manage t'sneak by? 'Cause I want t'know before I decide t'drive through th'check, y'feel me?" she tells the man, "Don't feel like gettin' splacked by th'Star or havin' m'car towed over some dumbshit, yeah."

Maddox raises a gray-flecked eyebrow, and smiles. "I've some friends," he says simply as he reaches into his coat, removing a couple of items the size of jawbreakers. One's olive drab with a yellow stripehigh explosiveanother matte gray with red. Smoke.

Kalavati narrows her eyes quite a bit as she stares toward the minigrenades before she actually manages to realize what they actually are; her eyes shifting upward to lock onto the man's face again as she stares blankly toward him. "Th'fuck…?" she lets out rather quietly, "You managed t'sneak those, too?" she asks the man; her upper body turning slightly to the side as she lifts one of her hands up to the door, possibly getting ready to leave and handle whatever it was that she had stopped by the apartment building to do. "Oi, real quick, what's your secret? How'd you manage it, 'cause it gets hard as -fuck- t'jus' sneak a li'l bag of nova sometimes, y'know?"

Maddox shakes his head. "If I had a secret, I'd tell you. It's my boy who does it for me. I just go along for the ride, and kick down favors when I can."

"How's he sneak you through?" Kalavati asks the man rather quickly, "You think he coul' sneak me too?" she asks, delaying the opening of her car door as she seems to be completely intrigued by how the man had crossed the border without using the check. "Think he'll do it all's a roun' trip?" she asks, likely planning to use the man's contact to sneak into and out of the Warrens, rather than actually risk her car and her `free` life.

Maddox shakes his head. "Hate to say no to someone so… charming," he replies. "OP8's out at a blockparty, and he and his boys are either stoned off their asses, balls deep in cokeho, or both. Motherfucker'd probably drop his bike on his own leg."

Kalavati nods her head very slightly toward the man for a quick moment before she moves her hand to pop the door open without another word. "Well…" she says rather quietly, "You got a SIN t'fall back on? 'Cause all I 'ave in mind's jus' waltzin' through th'border check like nothin's wrong, yeah. And…" she lets out rather quietly before she moves her free hand over, holding it out toward the man, "Give me th'grenades, yeah. Just -incase- somethin' goes wrong, an'… We don't need all 'at noise, anyway. I'll give 'em back once we part ways, a'right?"

Maddox pauses for a moment, eyeing the woman. "Sure," he says. He hands over the things, looking in his palm like those damn meditation balls that are supposed to calm you. "Brought 'em before I knew we were getting paid to talk some troll into getting his dick sucked."
Maddox considers as he rides along, a bit oversized for his seat. "Y'know," he says. "If this guy's a no-hoperand he's a trog, he can't be too smartyou think you could talk him into paying /us/ for this contract? For this chip what says he gets laid a bunch for free?"

"I wouldn' risk it." Kalavati tells the man as her fingers spread wide as she takes the minigrenades from the man, holding them in her palm for a moment before she quickly pulls them back, leaning herself over to the side as she shoves them down into the little pocket of her hoodie and quickly reaches forward, pulling off a few spare keys that had been attached, likely to various different places and containers and things. "Wait here, yeah." she tells the man as she moves herself over and steps out of her car, holding the door wide open. "Take my car an' I'll find you, a'right?" she tells the man, seeming to trust him atleast a little bit before she essentially slams her car door and moves herself away from the vehicle, making her way across the parking lot to head toward the entrance of the rather cheap apartment building.
Upon reaching the building, she roughly opens the door, not really caring about the fact that she had become drenched in the stormy weather, and steps inside, immediately heading up toward her apartment that she had played off as ‘someone`’s to her comrade. She unlocks her door and steps inside of her apartment, slamming the door behind herself immediately as she simply rolls the grenades underneath her couch-bed-thing, and moves herself over, into the ‘bedroom` of the apartment, making her way back toward the closet again as she reaches inside, digging around for more equipment before she simply lifts another handgun from it; it’s appearance seeming to be quite cheap, and the weapon itself actually seems to be a bit dusty as if she doesn't really take care of it, though she reaches down and tucks it into the front of her pants for some reason or another, strangely bringing another, much less illegal weapon for some reason or another as if she were going to give it to her comrade.
Kalavati emerges from the apartment building carrying the rather plain briefcase down at her side as she approaches her car again, moving forward as there seems to be a slight bulge in her clothing where she had concealed the handgun, though moving around to the driver's side of the car, she pops the door open very quickly and immediately drops herself to sit down into it; her upper body rotating as she lifts the case up and simply tosses it into the back seat before straightening herself out again to close her door behind herself. She moves one of her hands forward, back onto her key as she turns the ignition, activating the motor again as she pulls her other hand back without a word, grasping the handgun that she had concealed as she rather quickly pulls it back from infront of herself and flips it around, holding it out toward the man for him to take it as if she were offering the Beretta 101T to him; her hand moving to set the car in gear as she prepares to simply head toward the nearby bordercheck.

«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "On a roll of exactly 10, your car is the one pulled over.":
11
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Hi-larious."

Maddox raises an eyebrow, taking the weapon in his meaty hand. "What's this for? I thought we was trying to bust the border with less illegal shit, not more?"

The drive up to the bordercheck is slower than usual. Are they doing something special? Is it a heavy-enforcement day? All the car windows you can see are tinted because of the damn wizards and the only ones that aren't are the ones that have the variable-mirror tinting that's the new feature. Yes, that looks to be the case, it's one of their heavy-enforcement days. They get the car five ahead of yours, then three ahead of yours. Then one ahead of yours. Then the car right after yours. Then the car three lengths behind. You can hear one of the Lone Star grunts call out, "Random number generator my ass!" as you drive right along in and through.

"Intimidation tool, yeah." Kalavati tells the man as she retracts her hand, moving it forward, onto the steering wheel as she pulls out of the parking lot and makes her way to the bordercheck. "It's not big an' scary an' shit, but… It makes less noise than a fuckin' -grenade-, an' if you actually have t'use it, there's less risk of you hurtin' me or our guy, y'know?" she explains, "That, an' I jus' don't want t'get fuckin' pulled over an' have them find a goddamn grenade in my fuckin' car, y'know? I mean, what th'shit issat?" she says, getting a bit louder as she takes a rather frustrated tone. Getting in line, she turns her head to the side, staring toward the man as she waits for the traffic to move as she tells the man, "Frown an' look like you're hatin' life. It's more convincing than lookin' all friendly an' shit, yeah."

Maddox tries to play it cool, but he's obviously relieved at getting through. Perhaps running the legitimate checkpoints isn't quite his thing. "Well, it's nine-thirty. I'm reckoning if we're gonna find him, we're gonna find him just starting to get drunk somewhere. I'm thinking maybe the Big House."

«Winning OOC Joke for Croc's first Tridporn Feature» Maddox says, "That's their newest release: Death Roll, featuring The CrocaDrilla."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Amanda would likely give you a bonus for giving her that title. :)"

"Th'Big House…" Kalavati lets out very quietly, possibly thinking out loud to herself as she finally passes into the Warrens, simply driving forward quite slowly as she shifts her eyes around to scan the situation. "That's all th'way in Orktown, right?" she asks the man, apparently unaware of the place's existance, likely not spending too much of her time in the Warrens, or possibly just not aware of tusker//trog hangouts, considering her human nature.

Maddox nods his head. "Yeah," he says, rubbing a calloused thumb over his inlaid tusk. "Big trogger place. Big, literally. You'll see what I mean."

Driving to The Big House is a reasonable adventure. Sometimes kids block the street and try to sell you little packets of chicklets. Sometimes squeegee girls come by and try to squirt stuff on your windshield and make you pay for them to scrape it off. A couple of gangs have set up 5y checkpoints which they enforce in a desultory fashion, waving you through since your car ain't rich enough for the full treatment. When you actually get to Orktown, there's a buffer zone, patrolled by the occasional duo of Horsemen bikers on their Harleys making a big-throated noise. When you get to their checkpoint, instead of just calling for five nuyen they say, "Roll your winda down!"

"Ehh~…" Kalavati lets out toward the man as she narrows her eyes quite a bit and keeps her attention focused on the road, driving carefully as not to run over anyone that may be of atleast relative importance to whatever gang belongs to whatever area she's driving through each passing moment; an intense frown forming onto her face as the disgusting fluids are shot onto her windshield, though she doesn't really seem to care all too much as she simply speeds up and turns on her windshield wipers, which seem to do nothing but spread the substance around, though she's still able to actually see the road and her surroundings, for the most part, not counting her natural blind spots. Reaching the checkpoint of the Horsemen, she stares toward the man that had called for her to roll down her window, holding her serious, focused expression on her face as she seems to wait a short moment before finally complying with his demand, slowly rolling her window down very slightly without a word.

«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Intimidation (Physical) (to Mr.Terrific):
1 4 5
Maddox leans back in his seat, cool and relaxed, half-lidded eyes slowly turning toward the man making the demand. A slow raise of an eyebrow.
«Plot» Maddox figures out with his Intimidation roll that Kalavati failed the test. She rolled her window down, not the ork's window down. Which is why she got this reponse.

He gives a wide and tusky grin. "Oh, hey chica. It's a hundred to pass. But you look so nice, you come out here and give us a dance, we let you pass for free." The people you'd be giving a show for are, like, him, his three friends, any snipers on the rooftops, and anyone walking by.

Maddox raises an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure," he says quietly inside the car, "they don't want to see me shake my braid. And I'm good, but I ain't good enough to take all of them… including the ones we don't see."

Kalavati turns her upper body to the side, facing toward the man out her window as she simply faces him; a very large smile forming onto her face as she shifts her eyes to look the ganger in question up and down for a quick moment before she licks her lips slightly for some reason or another, possibly trying to send more ‘flirty` body language toward him as she leaves one of her hands on the steering wheel of her car; the other pulling back as she rests her elbow against the bottom of her rolled-down window. "Damn, boy~" she lets out with a slight laugh, "How long’s th'dance have t'be?" she asks, as if she were possibly considering the action, not really seeming to pay too much attention to her comrade, likely not wanting to resort to combat, especially not in the current situation.

Maddox puzzles his eyebrows together, then adds, "Just toss 'em some of that dope you ran up to your place to get." Non-judgmental tone.

One ork says, "Till we're happy!" The next says, "If you can get it up, you'll be happy." The troll says, "Give us a minute." he must be the smart one. All of them ignore what they overhear about you guys carrying drugs, for some reason.

Kalavati turns her head to the side, looking back, toward her companion for some reason or another as she glances in his general direction as he speaks to her; her eyes narrowing quite a bit as if she were trying to signify something to him before she looks at the men outside of her window again; her eyes focusing onto one of the orkish men for a moment as she licks her lips again. "Oh, you'll make me real happy an' shit if y'start standin' at attention, yeah~?" she asks the man rather softly as she shifts her eyes down toward his crotch. "Yo, you let us pass f'free, an' I'll do somethin' real special for you on th'way back, yeah~…" she offers, though she very likely doesn't have the intention of actually `paying them back`.

The guy in the background croons, "She made me… promises promises!" and that makes the guy up front get all serious and shit. "The money or the dance," he says. He tries to put his hands somewhere.. on his hips he has a big 'ol gun but he's not threatening to draw or anything, he's still havin' fun, so he has to put it on his hip around the Predator III holster.

Maddox doesn't have his seatbelt on, and has surreptitiously checked to make sure his door is unlocked. He makes a study of playing it cool, but his narrowed eyes are alive with concern. "You can believe dat! She good for a breeda. How 'bout this. We got places to be. You take note of dis car, and her name. She named Double-D-Lightful. For obvious reasons. We got places to be, though. Let us through, I'll give you all half-time rates on her after we done with this in-call."

The Horseman shrugs his shoulders. "Jesus fucking Bob Joseph Dave Goddamn Christ. What is WITH you people? You can't pay, is that it? I ask to have some fun, to lighten the day, it's fucking boring standing out here, I gotta job to do, and you have to jerk me around? Are you sick? Are you driving to a hospital for brain-dead stupid people? Is that your sob story? Just give me the fuckin' money so I don't have to shoot up your car."
(His homies behind him are cracking up at this point. Whether or not they could shoot you is debatable.)

Kalavati's eyes shift down onto the man's weapon; her smile fading slightly as she softens her expression quite a bit as she notices the placement of the man's hand as her offer had been essentially denied by the man. She nods her head very slowly as her passenger speaks; her hand seeming to tighten a bit on the top of her steering wheel for some reason or another as she continues to face the men, though as the Horseman makes his outburst, she quickly turns her head to the side, looking over toward Maddox as she asks, "Yo, you got fifty on you?" in a rather quick, quiet manner. "Figure we can go half after all 'is, yeah." she says to her comrade as she plainly leans herself back over to straighten herself back out as she drops her hand down to her waist, beginning to dig inside of one of the tiny pockets of her pants for a moment, likely getting a bit of money prepared. "Like, I got some for a bribe at th'crossing, but you 'ave t'pay me back, a'right?"

Maddox nods ever-so-slightly to his companion. "Time is money. These shitheels is costin' us," he says very quietly.

«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls 1 for "Amount of bills that had been stuck up in the Plum's pocket.":
5
"Man, fuckin' money's money, yeah." Kalavati tells the man, pulling out a bit of money from her pocket; her head tilting downward as she holds it in her lap, staring down at it as she had accidentally pulled out two, horribly folded, crumpled hundred nuyen bills. She lowers her hand from her steering wheel rather quickly, dropping down to grasp the additional bill before she plainly tosses it onto the floor, apparently trying to speedily hand the man the money instead of draw attention to the fact that she has more as she quickly lifts her hand upward and extends her arm rather far from the car, holding it out to the man as she shifts her eyes to look him up and down again for a quick moment, possibly making an attempt to continue seeming as odd as she had before his outburst.

The Big House is pretty much at the center of Orktown. It's not far from The Stables, the bar where the Horsemen hang out and service their bikes. The place is poor and scavengy, but cleanish.. it's clear that people here are trying. The Big House itself is obviously a converted warehouse, and the front door is a repurposed loading dock. That's what you get when you got 11 foot tall people walking in and out. The walls inside are set up with decorations of old-style prisons, and everything built to last, all corrugated steel upsized. The most handsome decoration is the one of a troll-sized orange prison jumpsuit strangling a human-sized Knight Errant uniform. The music's going inside the bar, and if you both go in, a requisite number of grins, catcalls, and thumb-ups come your way. On a Sunday night, the crowd is pretty sparse, and it's not too rough to walk on in. El Cocodrillo is not immediately evident.
The ork who gave the outburst makes a wired-reflexes grab for the money, taking it away and stalking back while he's partially laughed at. Hey, he did extort you successfully, but it also became a comedy routine.

Maddox steps inside confidently, shorter than most of the patrons, but broader, too. Like one of those tough guy dwarves in a rough breeder bar. He pauses inside, making a cursory look through the place for someone who looks like the given photo.

Other Big House details: Only one restroom, with a sign on it reading 'Large'. A big door reading 'Warden', apparently the owner's office. The bar is made of crushed car-cubes.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Standard ork/troll ratio - about 8 orks for every troll or so."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "But no El Cocodrillo."
Those thumbs-up and whistles are obviously for the ork-made-good with his chica-human-date.

Maddox pauses for a moment to make sure the woman doesn't have too many problems in the unfamiliar environment. Then another moment to make sure any of those problems are serious, rather than merely humorous. He steps up to the crushed-steel bar. "Hoi, barkeep," he shouts. "Gimme a draft." As he calls out, he offers payment… but the payment seems to be a pair of twenties in folded scrip, slide across but kept under his fingers for the moment. But visible.

The 'tender, a similarily broad but taller ork with a shaved head, draws the beer and performs an adequate palming of the funds to go with a broad smile. (And actually, the drinks selection here is pretty superior for the Warrens.) "And what brings you and your fine companion here to visit?" he says, over the music.

Maddox pauses, as if he weren't actually going to drink the beer. But he does, at least taking a long pull off it. "I love a man-sized bar… bigger drinks," he says to no one in particular. He releases the money smoothly. "Me, I'm lookin' for a guy. Troll goes by Croc. I owe him something," he says, loud enough to be heard by the bartender but not loudly enough to make it anyone else's business.

Kalavati had pulled up to the Big House, having gotten out of the car along with the man, though she had picked up her dropped bill and shoved it down into her pocket like it had been before as she had stepped away from her old car, locking it immediately as she steps away. She stands very close to the orkish man that she had entered with; her tough expression naturally softening quite a bit as she doesn't seem to want to appear ‘threatening` or anything in any way at all as she simply follows his lead, looking around the building to witness just how massive everything inside is. Reaching the bar, she steps up to it and turns herself around, facing her back to the bar as she simply remains silent and begins to lean up against it, possibly having it seem like an actual wall or something considering it’s size; her head bobbing to the music, though it likely isn't really her style or anything, apparently trying to feign being oblivious to the business going on just near her.

Charlie cocks his head. "You know, it's the damndest thing. Jimmy the Crow came by here a half an hour ago, said the same exact damn thing. Said, 'I owe him something.' He ain't been here, but if you're lookin' for him tonight, I can tell ya where he'd be! They're having fights down at Domino's - if he ain't fightin, he'll be bettin'. And if he ain't bettin, you ain't gonna find him."

Maddox smiles a little bit. Not the friendly kind. The predatory kind you give in the Warrens. (It works better when you have tusks.) "Thanks, chum," he says, letting his unfinished beer sit. "C'mon," he says to the woman. "I know where he is."

Charlie gives a wide-eyed look, although he's probably more scared for you if you're looking for Croc and looking like that. He gives you a wave and has no problem with your drinkin' on the big old plastic mug of beer.

Kalavati continues to nod her head to the music; her eyes shifting up, and to the side as she looks away from everything for a moment, possibly to reduce the amount of sensory input that she's recieving to listen to Charlie a bit better before, finally, she moves her elbows back, pushing herself off of the wall behind herself as she moves herself forward, before she's directed by her comrade. She steps forward without a word, moving herself toward the exit of the massive building as she moves with the man; her head turning from left to right to look around the room for a moment before she quickly lifts both of her hands up, infront of herself, and pushes them forward, simply opening the massive door as she immediately begins to make her way back to her car; her hand fishing down inside of her pocket as she unlocks the doors without even touching it as she moves around to lower herself down into the driver's seat like before, activating the motor immediately before she roughly slams her door behind her.

Maddox speaks as soon as they get out to the parking lot. "Domino's, the guy says. Our swingin' dick hardcase is fixin' to be fightin' or bettin'. Either way, we're good. Seems like he's not exactly unknown hereabouts." He sits in the passenger seat, and sighs. Not a seasoned detective.

"Domino's?" Kalavati asks the man as she immediately begins to drive rather quickly out of the parking lot, speeding quite a bit as she merges back onto the road, driving in a completely random direction other than the way they had came as she asks, "Y'mean th'really fat, Smoke guy somewhere down in South Central 'at sells 'ese weird-ass mushrooms?" seeming to have the man mixed up, "Why th'fuck would 'e be there? I hear 'at shit makes your dick -real- small an' it's 'bout as addictive as fuckin' beetles, y'know?"
"Or no…" she adds, "Fightin'? Th'colisseum or whatever in uhhh… Mission Hills?" she asks, apparently familiar with the area.

Domino's Coliseum is in Mission Hills, and that's Sinner territory. Those Sinner guys are all business, they have serious hidden snipers, they have Severe Tire Damage strips, they got it all. But they don't ask more than the customary respectful 5y tip to pass through to the Coliseum, a busted out brick building on top that has an Octagon-style fighting ring in the basement. A guy takes a cursory entrance fee for getting to watch the fights, but the real action is the betting, and the ring girls prancing about now and again. Some people are watching it for the tactics, really getting into the fight, but be serious. Most are in it for the blood, and there's plenty of it, as spurs and razors and sometimes weapons are allowed.

Maddox shakes his head. "Yeah, that's the one," he says. "I don't think we're gonna do too good with some dick-shrinker shit. Miss Amanda wants a trog for one big reason, I'm thinking."

«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 12 vs TN 6 for "Jimmy the Crow's Invisibility Spell":
1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 12 vs TN 6 for "Jimmy the Crow's Invisibility Spell KP1":
1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 5 9 9 14 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 4 for "will against moderate drain":
1 2 3 4 5 8 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 4 for "Centering, need 2 more successes to take no drain":
2 4 5 5 17 = 4 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy The Crow will take no drain from his imp invis spell."

And you look around.. a good number of trolls are in the audience, a few are fighting or waiting to fight although you would have to sneak into the dressing rooms to be totally sure… and you see no Croc, immediately.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "However, make an intelligence roll. You need to roll three sixes to penetrate Jimmy the Crow's Invisibility spell and spot him."
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Intelligence (to Mr.Terrific):
1 2 4 8 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6 for "InvisTABLE.":
2 3 5 9 10 11 = 3 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Street Rumors (to Mr.Terrific) for "For who Jimmy the Crow is, after hearing the name from Charlie":
1 2 4 4 11

While The Croc is nowhere in evidence, Kalavati does notice something odd. A man over in the corner, 'hiding' partially behind a support pillar next to the wall. Not a good place to watch the fight, not even a good place to watch the crowd, but a decent place to watch the exits and entrance from, and a good place to stand if you are, in fact, invisible. Because Kalavati does get the feeling of forcing her eyes to see him, the wavery around-the-edges sensation and the feeling that she could miss him if she looked away and relaxed. Its definitely magic in action. And it's pretty easy to figure that he's Jimmy The Crow, too, because he's a fortyish ork wearing a feathery headdress that's mostly black with yellow thread, and he's up-armored in a jacket and lined coat and has some fetishy type wooden things in his hand. And he has a big crooked nose that would make him an anti-Semitic stereotype if he wasn't already a Cascade Ork Crow Shaman stereotype.

Kalavati's eyes lock onto the hidden man as she holds them focused for a moment, seeming completely distracted by his presence for a short moment before she quickly lifts one of her hands up and moves it over, tapping the back of her hand against her partner's arm before she simply grabs it in a blatant attempt to get his attention; her free hand lifting up to point toward the general direction of the `invisible` guy that only she seems to struggle to see.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Stealth for "STEALTH!":
1 2 4 5 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 13 for "Jimmy the Crow is holding a spell and so he needs tn 13 to see the surrepticious motion.":
1 1 3 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Go about your business, Jimmy sees nothing."

Maddox blinks at the tap and grasp. He turns to look down the length of her arm. "What?" he says.

Kalavati shakes her hand slightly as she continues to point at the man before she simply shakes her head, seeming to have become frustrated as she holds her grip on her partner's coat, tugging quite roughly against him as she holds her eyes completely locked onto the invisible man in the distance before she begins to step forward without a word, possibly not caring to speak over the noise as she begins to move through the crowd to approach the strange feathery man.

Maddox looks confused. In that 'what the fuck is this dopehead kid doing?' sort of way. However, for this evening at least, she's his partner in crime. He follows closely, watching her rather than what she's looking at… because he can't see shit.

Though distracted, Jimmy the Crow does peer over at you eventually. When you're like 10-15 feet away it becomes obvious that you see him and you're coming over to him and the person you're leading does not. He makes a 'shoo, shoo,' gesture with his hands. Likely because the more he talks the more likely more people look at him and stuff.

Kalavati stops in her tracks, holding completely still for a moment as she continues to stare at the man, though in what is likely an undecided panic, she turns her body to face forward, pointing in a random direction that she's not looking at as she tugs downward against her partner's sleeve again before simply releasing him; her head turning to face forward, though she doesn't shift her eyes in the slightest attempt to look away from him, apparently trying to remain focused on his presence as not to lose sight of him in any way.

Maddox just looks at her, letting her tug him around. "What the fuck are you doing?" he asks in a low tone. Not trying to make her look foolish to all the other folks who can't see Jimmy, but certainly confused.

Jimmy the Crow softly says, "All right, you see me, g'wan, beat it. Nothing to see here. Move along. Beware of Dog. This Area being cleared for urban renewal." Now Maddox knows where the voice is, but he still can't see him. Fortunately the fightin' covers up most of the noise.

Maddox pauses, processing. Chasing a voice. Invisible mage! Not a troll voice. Not Croc! "Hoi, fuck this trouble-maker. Ain't no sense in putting an invisible cock in a trid. Let's not get sidetracked in mischief."

«Plot» Kalavati says, "Inquiry: Since the Plum was close to the bartender at the Big House while he was talking to Maddox, was she able to overhear the conversation at all. Would she know the presumed name of this guy? Would she atleast know something about crows or bird men?! D:"
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "She knows everything in the conversation. It's easy enough to figure that this is Jimmy The Crow."

Kalavati quickly rauses her hand up to her shoulder, likely signalling something for her partner or something similar, as if she were trying to get him to be quiet or something as she slowly begins to inch further to the side in an odd manner, apparently trying not to bring too much attention to the man before she asks, "Crow-man~~~ Th'fuck you doin' here?" in a rather silent manner as she attempts to communicate with him; the direction she's facing possibly making it seem as if she's schizophrenic. "I heard you're lookin' f'some chummer named like, Th'Alligator or somethin'. Or like, th'Frog or somethin'… Or… No, it was Crocodile or somethin', yeah? Croc, I think they say?" she asks the man, prying into his business as she turns her head a bit more to the side, facing him slightly to make sure he doesn't do too much suspicious through her questioning.

Jimmy the Crow keeps a wary eye and keeps up his hands, too, with them fetishes in them just in case he done needs to woof off a spell. "Yeah, I'm lookin' for the Croc. Heard he might be here tonight. Me and him have a little business. You got a problem with that?"

Maddox plays along: he crosses his arms across his chest, doing the strong silent Indian thing next to Kalavati, perhaps to dissuade anyone from approaching their little triune chat.

"Well, can I borrow 'im f'like… Twenty four minutes if y'find him?" Kalavati asks the man as she turns her head to look forward a bit further, possibly having expected the man to become violent after what she had said before, though she seems to ease up slightly as she lifts one of her hands up, digging around in one of the tiny pockets of her hoodie for a very quick moment. "I promise not t'get in your way or nothin' afterwords, y'know?"

Maddox is obviously listening, but doesn't move or acknowledge hearing anything.

Jimmy the Crow lifts up a little fetish that looks like a stabbing thorn into someone's head which only Kalavati can see. "Sure. That's fine. Sounds like a plan." He's watching pretty damn carefully. "Now I suggest you get outta my sight."

Maddox turns his head to look at Kalavati, still not seeing who she's talking but concerned when she stops.

"Guy, I'm fuckin' tellin' you, yeah…" Kalavati tells the man. "Twenty minutes, a'right? Like, you 'eard me, right? 'Cause I mean, you're lookin' a li'l distracted there." she pointlessly tells the man before she moves her hand over to the side to pat her partner's arm again before quietly leaning to the side slightly, telling him, "Oi, leave an' find our guy, an' convince him real fast with… Y'know, th'thing." she tells Maddox before focusing her attention back onto Jimmy the Crow; her head completely turning to face him as if she weren't too worried about causing too much of a problem with his situation at the moment. "There might be somethin' good in it f'you if you manage t'not fuck me over, though."

Jimmy the Crow gives a bob of the head and the black and yellow feathered headdress, and walks away from the pillar. "I heard you. Twenty minutes." He backs away some more.

Maddox nods slowly. He seems to have a continuing conflict this evening… listening to the weird things this woman does and says, especially when they always seem to be right on the money. He moves away, angling through the Coliseum, balancing between covering ground quickly and not disrupting the flow of traffic to bring attention to himself.

Jimmy The Crow pointedly steps behind that pillar he had been half-hiding behind, so you cannot see him and he cannot see you, at least for a few moments.

Maddox has just stepped away to do a quick circuit of the place, looking for someone by Croc's description and asking a bit. "Yo, seen Croc?" he'll say casually, or "The Croc bettin' tonight?" or a friendly, "Where's that ugly mo'fucker Croc at?"
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Etiquette (Street) (to Mr.Terrific):
2 2 11

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So there you stand, ten feet from the pillar, while he 'hides' behind it. There is no sign of spellcasting or any other foul deeds. Meanwhile, the native american puts his interpersonal skills to good work."

Kalavati holds her position as, slowly, she lifts both of her hands up and moves them over, crossing her forearms over her torso as she leaves her eyes shifted to the side to stare toward the Pillar that the ‘invisible man` had been hiding behind, possibly scared of losing him completely after he had moved himself out of her view as she doesn’t say another word, as not to bother him or anything, or frustrate him into closing off their agreement.

When Maddox so casually mentions The Croc, certain people make Macauley Kulkin 'o' faces, as if to say his name would be to summon him. Other people smile and grin and give thumbs-up. Some element of shouting is required to be heard over the noise of the place and the thuds of meaty flesh. "Not here yet!" some people say. "He's not on the list!" other people say, as if there is a list of people who are going to fight and they keep to it strictly, which doesn't seem truthful. Finally a small group of people say, "He's not fighting here tonight! He's fighting at the Sitting Bear!" One gets the idea that these are the people who came here to bet and or fight specifically because Croc is fighting somewhere else.
About 2/3 through this rumor-mongering, Jimmy The Crow pokes out his beak-nose, sees that Kalavati is glowering at his pillar, and pulls his head back in.

Maddox pauses as he hears some of the comments. They stop him in his tracks. "Sitting bear, huh?" he says, using Cityspeak. "You sure, chum? I got a vested interest in makin' sure he's gonna be fighting. You sure on 'at, Sitting Bear?"

They confirm this by saying, "That's why we're here!" One guy continues by saying, "You know what to do when you get there, right?"

Maddox raises an eyebrow, playing it too cool, giving the guy a 'bitch, please' look. He gives a healthy, noncomittal pause. "Enlighten me."

He gives you the curly-fingers, I'm extracting a fiver from you gesture which cannot be denied before he says, "You don't go IN the Sitting Bear. You go around, walk across the field, climb over the chainlink fence, and go under the bridge, out of the rain. That's where it is."

While her partner is out searching around, Kalavati's eyes don't shift away at all from the pillar where the strange man is hiding behind; her arms slowly uncrossing as she simply lowers them downward, dropping one to slip her index and thumb fingers into a pocket, squeezing at her ordinary white pack of Noblesse cigarettes as she plainly lifts it up, infront of herself. She moves her thumb, flipping the top of the pack open, revealing that she only has four ciagarettes remaining inside as she reaches her other hand into it, pulling out a cheap, yellow disposable lighter, tucking it into her palm as she pulls out one of the few remaining cigarettes, lifting it up to her mouth as she slips the filter between her lips before pulling her hand back to light the tip of the cigarette; her other hand lowering down to shove the packet down into a different pocket belonging to her hoodie. She drops the lighter down, placing it into an unoccupied pocket as her other hand lifts up, grasping her cigarette between her fingers.

Maddox nods his bestusked head, dipping a gloved hand in his pocket and then out to give the guy one of those stylised 'bro' handshakes that so lend themselves to palming money to someone. That done, he says, "Hoi, I'm old and my Indian ears ain't too good. Run it by me one more, make sure I can get there right."

Eventually, Jimmy The Crow get tired of his little bastardy shaman waiting game. Whatever he was thinking of doing or not doing, he's not gonna start with someone ten feet away. It's like pulling a gun on someone, you don't do it right next to them 'cos they can slap it out of your dumb hand. So he half gets outta behind the pillar and lounges insouciantly invisibly against the wall.

"Go to the Sitting Bear. Around. Across the field. Look for the damn highway. Climb over the chain link fence. Go under the bridge." and he is more than happy to match the handshake, and buy a refreshing adult beverage with the money he has cadged.

Maddox nods his head. "Thanks bro," he says. He turns his attention to finding Kalavati again, moving up on her with the flow of the crowd.

Kalavati blows the smoke past her lips as she continues to stare toward the invisible man; her eyes not really moving to blink as if she were possibly trying to hold a staring contest or something similar with him, though her eyes begin to narrow slightly as if she were struggling to keep herself from looking away from him, possibly as if she were frightened to lose the visual connection with him, sabotaging her ability to see him in the first place. She drops her hand down to her side, moving her free hand over to cross over her body as she begins to simply rub her hand against her forearm for some reason or another.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And yea verily, the two link up."

"Hey," the ork says to the woman, trying not to joggle her attention or avert her gaze. "You still starin' at fake people? We gotta go."

"Where ya headed?" says the invisible orkish voice. One of those Cascade Orks, no doubt, and while you can hear him just fine, there's just nothing there.

Hearing the partially unfamiliar voice of her comrade call out to her, Kalavati very quickly turns her head to look toward the orkish man; both of her hands lifting up slightly in an apprehensive manner for some reason or another as if she had actually thought he was one of the invisible guy's comrades. She takes a small step to the side, and rotates her body slightly as if she were going to turn herself around completely before she looks back toward Jimmy the Crow. "Oh, uhhh…" she lets out toward the man before turning her head to look back up toward her comrade; her eyes narrowing quite a bit as if she were expecting him to say something; her facial expression possibly making it seem as if she were angry at him, or possibly trying to convince him to do something, though what it is, exactly, isn't certain.

Maddox isn't exactly a subtle guy. "Yo, I can hear this chum, but I can't see him for shit. Can you? We're leavin', and I got some.. sneaking.. suspicion that this womens' room masturbator's gonna follow us if you can't keep an eye on our tail." See, it's really easy to talk about someone as if they aren't standing a couple meters in front of you when you can't actually see them.

Jimmy The Invisible Crow would hum innocently, but he's busy waiting for you to reveal valuable information.

Kalavati's mouth opens slightly as the man speaks; her eyes widening slightly from his words as if she were caught completely off guard by what her partner had just said. After a very short moment, she begins to frown quite a bit as her eyes narrow even further as if she were squinting to look at him before she says, "Shit, jus' tell th'man where th'fuck we're goin'. 'Is time's just 'bout as valuable's ours, yeah." as she holds her odd expression focused on the man; her body turning completely to face him as she steps closer and lifts both of her hands up, placing them onto her comrade's jacket, making sure to hold her lit cigarette outward as not to damage his clothes.

Maddox looks at the woman oddly, as if trying to guess motive, and failing. "Fuck it, then, he can follow us, if he can keep up. He wants to know, he can put some palm grease on that same fuckstick I did."
He turns to go, as if expecting the woman to follow.

For those who can see him, Jimmy is listening up a storm. But he ain't talking. In fact, he takes a quiet step to the left just in case you both are gonna deck him even though he's all invisible.

"Goddammit…" Kalavati frustratedly lets out rather quietly toward her partner as both of her hands lower down; her head turning to the side as he begins to leave as she essentially watches him. She doesn't say another word; her head turning to look away, glancing back toward Jimmy to stare at him for a moment for some reason or another (If she's able to see him.) before she begins to walk, straightening herself back out as she follows after the orkish man that she had been riding around with; her hand lifting up and pulling back to slip her cigarette between her lips again as she simply takes a rather quick drag of it, pulling it away from her face rather quickly as she simply blows the smoke away, infront of herself before pulling it back again to rest between her lips.

Jimmy the Crow lets the two of you get a ways. But, seeing as it's obvious that you know something he doesn't and you know where to go to get to The Croc, he does amble on after you.

Maddox emerges outside, having conveyed the directions to Kalavati in low tones, as quiet as he can bear and still be heard. Obviously trying to twit the annoying shaman. (ICly, I'm sure I could figure out how to get there. OOCly, let me know.)
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So you like, whispered it to her while the guy was 10 feet away?"
«Plot» Kalavati says, "I'm sure he meant while walking away."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Amuse me with a Stealth check, Maddox"
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Stealth (to Mr.Terrific):
1 2 3 5 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 9 for "To overhear the info, +2 for holding a spell, +2 because it's crowdy and loud and you're walking away - all he has to do is hear 'Sitting Bear' because he already knows about the fight club there":
1 3 5 17 20 = 2 Successes

So he ambles along, letting the two of you get some good distance, remaining all inscrutable like Native Americans (and especially ork native americans) do.

Kalavati simply walks with Maddox, nodding her head slightly as she listens to the words spoken by her partner, not really looking back or anything as to make sure she's able to hear him as she matches his walking speed. She lowers both of her hands down infront of herself for a very quick moment to the zipper of her hoodie, fiddling with it slightly as she raises it a bit before lowering it back down to where she had it originally adjusted, likely as a nervous habit before she lifts her hands up to pull her hood up over her head again as they leave the area, likely to prepare for rain. She moves her hand back onto her cigarette, clasping her index and middle fingers against it again as she takes another drag of the thin little object before she turns her head to look over her shoulder, glancing back toward Jimmy as he follows them.

Jimmy waits for you to get to the door, then stops. Like he's waiting for you to cross the threshhold. To depart the place. Giving you your time, giving you your space.

Maddox moves along quickly, occasionally glancing over his shoulder, obviously trying to spot the wiz while looking like the iciest motherfucker around. He heads toward the Sitting Bear… whether that requires the car, a walk, whatever.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "It's more than a walk. You need to get to Heather Gardens, then across the border, then on the Maglev, which will get you to the Sioux FTZ, and the exit is reasonably close."

Departing from the building, Kalavati pulls her cigarette from her mouth and flicks it away, simultaneously blowing the smoke past her lips as she steps out, into the rain. She moves herself over, heading toward her car as she tells her partner, "You could've fuckin' lied to 'im or somethin'. That'd've been fuckin' nice, yeah." in a frustrated manner; her hand dropping down to the driver's side door as she simply pops it open, holding it rather wide for a very short moment before she quickly lowers herself down into the seat, roughly slamming the door behind herself as she moves both of her hands forward, placing one onto the steering wheel as she uses the other to start the motor, not really caring if Maddox is in the car or not, though she likely isn't going to leave him if he isn't.

Maddox is in the car, his movements quick and smooth. He moves well for a guy his size and age. Obviously he's trying to be efficient, trying to ditch the weirdo. "You told me to tell you," he snaps back, with that sort of non-hateful bickering you might use with your significant other. "I can't even see the dickwad. He's fixin' to follow us anyway."

It looks like Jimmy the Crow has given the two of you some time to make it to your car, and for him to be sure you weren't laying in wait right outside the door for him. So he can get out the door, move a good ten, twenty feet to the side, and lean up against the wall and look chill. For, like, the one person who can see him, in her car, with the tinted windows that will protect her from spells. Or will it?

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Now I must ask, do you drive away?"

«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls 1 for "EvenOdd. Can't decide. YesNo.":
5
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Not quite yet. Starin' at buddy."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "He stares back. Your parked car is an unspecified distance from the entrance. There's two guys at the entrance making sure bad things do not enter."

Kalavati lowers her hand down to the shift-knob, switching the car into ‘drive` (She’s lame enough to have an automatic! :D) as she continues to hold the car still with the brake as she doesn't really move or say a word or anything as she continues to simply stare toward the man. "We're goin' to th'Sitting Bear though, right?" she asks, apparently trying to verify the information from her partner as she doesn't shift her attention away from the man before she adds, "-Fuck- this guy's creepy… Can you see 'im now or what?" she asks, apparently not all too sure about how that particular magic works.

If anything can be determined about Jimmy the Crow, it's that he's carefully watching your automobile. Like he's… evaluating it.

Kalavati continues to leave the car to idle, remaining silent for some reason or another before she noisily exhales through her nose, as if she were possibly nervous before she tells the man, "Yo, take th'wheel if I start drivin' like I'm retarded or somethin'…" in a quiet manner before her other hand lifts up onto the steering wheel infront of herself, gripping it rather tight as if she were still possibly nervous about the situation as a rather intense frown forms onto her face; her hands slowly moving to turn the wheel to the side as she begins to pull away from her odd parking position, merging with the road as she continues to stare at the creepy guy.

«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 10 for "Trying to guess the armor value of the car, +4 for defaulting to a skill, +2 for holding a spell.":
3 3 4 10 11 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So you are now driving away?"
«Kalavati» Yes.

Maddox raises an eyebrow. "Like you're retarded?" he repeats. "You high? You smoke up when I was lookin' for the guy? The fuck?" he asks.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "A city block is, depending, about 150 meters. He will let you get 100 meters away in any direction, because he can still see you pretty easily. Then he will drop his Invisibility spell and cast Force 3, Deadly damage, Wreck Vehicle on your car as you drive away. What is the 'Body' and the 'Armor' of your vehicle?"

«Plot» Kalavati says, "Checking, just a moment. Though it is a `Nissan Silvia`, it uses the sheet for the ordinary Honda 3220."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Body is 3."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Armor is 0."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "His difficulty to destroy your vehicle around you is 8, because it's a technological item, +3 body, plus half armor which is nothing, +2 for background count, for a final total of TN 13. The good thing is that's tough. The bad thing is that your car has no soul and gets no resistance roll if he succeeds unless there's a wizard giving it Spell Defense which there isn't."

«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 12 vs TN 13 for "Sorcery 6, spell pool 6, force 3 Deadly Wreck Vehicle":
1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 9 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 12 vs TN 13 for "Sorcery 6, spell pool 6, force 3 Deadly Wreck Vehicle KP 2":
1 1 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 9 19 = 1 Success
«OOC» Mr.Terrific says, "I have seen this go a few ways. The car does have a Body of 3, and it's just taken Deadly damage. Some say that you can roll a Body roll to reduce that damage. In terms of being as nice as humanly possible, I'll do that, and we can also do stuff like Reaction tests, because we should, in the incredibly unlikely even that you can somehow stop him, while driving, and happening to spot him twiddling his fingers in the rear view mirror from 100m away."
«OOC» Now we do the reaction tests - if he had failed to get off the spell he wouldn't have had to but now we are getting into combat and it's meaningful. There's not much chance that you can both go before him, spot him in the rear view of your sealed car, and do something to him before he wrecks your vehicle, but doing it right gives you that chance.

«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 2 for "I'm pulling the ambush, so I get to roll against 2.":
1 1 2 4 8 10 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Reaction vs TN 4 for "I'm the driver, and lookin' through m'rear view.":
1 1 1 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 10 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Initiative with a result of 11.
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Reaction vs TN 4:
1 1 2 3 4 5 11 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+5 for Jimmy the Crow":
7

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy the Crow goes on 11."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati at 25, Jimmy at 11, Maddox in reaction at 11 though he cannot attack Jimmy in the first pass even if he had the ability. Kalavati sees Jimmy waggling his fingers in the rear-view and can act."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "I choose to accelerate, in an attempt to speed away, turning onto another street if the opportunity is presented, as to get away from the guy."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Excellent! Alas, Jimmy chose a location where it would be 50 meters before you could take a turn and get out of view. So you may pose that. If you are good with the rigging and drive rules, you can look that up, or you can just say it and we will handwave because you've just been driving a hundred meters, you haven't had the time to get up any kind of speed to cause damage."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy on 11. Jimmy casts the spell that started this. To resolve: Kalavati needs to roll 3 dice for the car against TN 3 to stage down the damage from Deadly. Then Kalavati needs to make a Driving check against TN 5, called a 'crash check' to avoid crashing (which happens any time a vehicle takes serious, which it has to). And Jimmy has to take drain."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 3 for "Jimmy is staging down S drain":
1 1 2 4 5 8 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 3 for "centering, need 2 successes to add 1":
1 3 5 7 8 = 4 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy takes Light Stun drain."
Jimmy has that look of satisfaction as he raises his hands. Wait for it, wait for it.. establish the link, say the word.. hey, she's spotted me and is gunning it, and.. bang! The mostly fiberglass car erupts into flaying shreds all around the inhabitants, whom he knows will be completely unharmed. At least until they tumble to a stop during the flaying process.

«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls 3 (Car's Body) vs TN 3 for "Hopefully don't take a D! D:":
1 2 4 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Car vs TN 5 for "!!! ; ;":
2 4 4 8 = 1 Success
Kalavati turns her head slightly as she continues to stare toward the man as she drives before shifting her attention forward again, looking toward the road and in Jimmy's general direction through her rear-view-mirrors, though she begins to squint quite a bit after a moment, apparently realizing that he had been doing something suspicious, causing her to step very hard onto the accelerator; her attention shifting forward completely to watch the road as she begins her attempt to speed off. She turns her head very quickly, glancing toward her partner for a quick moment for some reason or another, though her eyes widen considerably as the fiberglass body of the car begins to rattle before becoming crushed, essentially beginning to disentigrate; her foot quickly moving over to the brake as she practically stomps her foot down onto it, apparently in an attempt to come to a stop as she naturally begins to lean forward quite a bit; her face nearly touching the steering wheel as if she were afraid of becoming a spell target.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox, it is your turn on 11, and the car will be brought to a safe, if skidding stop, at that time, though it will be wreckage. Kalavati, the second driving roll isn't needed, take the karma back."

As the car splinters apart around him, the ork looks… well, not quite shocked that something crazy is happening, but definitely surprised that said crazy thing took the form of the vehicle disintegrating at speed. He ducks down, armored arms coming up around his torso and head protectively, until he feels the remains of the undercarriage grind to a screech of a halt. He fumbles at the door to open it just long enough to realize there is no door.
And he tumbles out.
Immediately he scrambles to his feet, coming up out of his low stance like a lineman, eyes flickering back and forth, instantaneous decisions being made. Straight at him? Cover? With a pivot of his foot, he obviously opts for cover. He covers something near thirty feet, thrusting a paw out to hook the wall and swing himself around, out of sight of the shaman. "Fuckin' retarded! Yeah! I would grab the wheel if you start driving retarded!" he shouts, half-amused, half smart-ass. "Oh, look, I did grab it! It's in my fuckin' hand!"

Mostly stopping the wrecked heap of her car, Kalavati quickly rotates her body in her seat; her feet managing to touch the concrete beneath her as if she were sitting outside of the vehicle before she moves herself forward, immediately jumping up, out from her seated position as she turns her head to the side, looking back toward her partner that had managed to bolt away before her; her body naturally twisting around as she moves herself to face him, beginning to sidestep around her mangled vehicle before reaching the remains of the twisted trunk, causing her to immediately dash forward, following after him; her body bending forward quite far as she rapidly pumps her arms as she moves, not really caring about the fact that her hood had flopped back from over her head, allowing herself to be battered by the rain as she meets back up with the man. She breathes quite heavily for some reason or another as she lifts one of her hands up to the wall beside her; her free hand pulling back to reach for her weapon.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox goes befor Jimmy the Crow on the second pass, with his higher reaction. he just couldn't before because he was surprised by an invisible guy casting spells behind him 100 meters away."
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Athletics (to Mr.Terrific):
1 1 2 2 5
Maddox doesn't waste much time in his good cover, other than that required to hurl imprecations at his partner. In fact, he abandons it for worse cover… but worse cover that's closer to the shaman, now visible. "Shoot!" he shouts, presumably to Kalavati. "Get his head down!"
The ork manthe one without the dumbass headdressis doing a broken-field sprint, covering some more ground before sliding in behind a wrecked Americar.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "it is now Jimmy on 11, second pass. He will summon a city spirit, or try to. Force 3, +2 background count, +1 light stun."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 6 for "Force 3 city spirit.":
2 2 4 5 8 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 5 for "Going against 5m stun drain":
1 2 2 3 4 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 5 for "Centering to look for 2 more successes":
2 3 4 7 11 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy the Crow raises a force 3 city spirit, and takes his second box of light stun drain."
Jimmy makes a rising motion with his hand, and up underneath it comes a glowing beady-eyed little man with a pocsec in his hand.. a bookie, looks like.

«Plot» Kalavati says, "Following after Maddox. Also, if possible, I'd like to quickdraw/draw my gun, and possibly say something quick to homeboy."
Kalavati very quickly pulls her weapon up, from her holster, beginning to hold it down infront of herself as she lowers her other hand down from the wall near her, lowering it down infront of herself as she essentially begins to dash forward again, following after her partner at a similar pace before she crouches down, nearly crashing into the man as she also slides to a complete stop behind the wrecked Americar as well. "I gave you a goddamn gun!" she angrily yells at her partner as she moves both of her hands forward, planting them onto the side of the car as if she were getting ready to jump over it or dash to another spot of cover as well to continue approaching the shaman.
Kalavati takes another moment behind the cover before she lifts her hands upward, gripping the edge of the wrecked car before she pushes down, and to the side rather hard, moving herself over, around it as she immediately dashes forward, approaching even further as if she were aware that she likely wouldn't be able to land a shot from the percieved distance, possibly even taking the calibur of her handgun into consideration before she moves herself forward; her body turning to the side as she crouches down again, immediately, pressing her shoulder very hard into the door of someone's beaten up, old Jackrabbit-M as she slams herself into it, actually managing to create a rather large dent with her body as she takes another small rest from her approach.

«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Initiative with a result of 19.
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Initiative with a result of 15.
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+4 for Jimmy because of wound penalties":
5
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+13 for materialized city spirit in the real world":
5
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati 19, Spirit 18, Maddox 15, Jimmy 9. Kalavati will go, and then go again. (This round, each of her passes are 15 meters of running.)"
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati is now at 75 meters after movement, Maddox at 91 meters. City spirit:"
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The city spirit has not received any orders."
"Whatcha want, boss? I got odds on the sixth." says the city spirit.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox's turn."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox has 2 actions and a quickness of 7, x3 is 21 meters, divided over two actions is 10 and 11 meters. So he is at 80 meters after the end of his action on this pass."
Maddox leaps up, booted feet hiss-crunching on the cracked ferrocrete. "Fuckin'…" breathe, sprint, ".. pussy gun.. hurt him more.." He continues, crunching his way forward, fast. Real fast—the old guy has some game in him yet. "… if I threw it at 'im!" he shouts, slamming to rest against the concrete base of an old street lamp.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy the Crow."
Jimmy casually says to the bookie, "Confuse them both." He lazily saunters to take cover partially behind a metal lamppost, and draws out his Ruger Super Warhawk.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass. Kalavati, at 75 meters from Jimmy."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Approaching, still! :D"
«Plot» Kalavati uses cover as well, of course.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "At the end of Kalavti's second pass she will be 60 meters away."
Kalavati quickly rotates her body, bending her right arm quite a bit as she plants her elbow onto the trunk as she pushes herself to stand again and essentially dashes over, moving along the side of the car as she frantically dashes forward again, seeming to become tired, or possibly intensly nervous through the adrenaline as if she were possibly frightened of the man's spirit as her eyes seem to lock onto it, not even really noticing the man draw his weapon. She seems to be fond of hiding behind cars as she leans herself back as she crouches down again, practically sliding to a stop as she drops down behind an ordinary white panel van of somesort that seems to be very well-rusted, and incredibly dirty as if it hasn't been touched at all in years. Unrelated, maybe there's a deadbody hidden away inside of it.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass, spirit."
"Whatever you say, boss." He points at Kalavati, even just the fringe of her hair that he sees on the move. She can feel her eyes water, her movements become uncoordinated, and all things begin to suck just that much more.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati is now Confused, and is taking a +3 to all target numbers for everything except soaking damage."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "This is the first service of the spirit."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass, Maddox, at 80 meters. (and scheduled to run 10.)"
Primer gray. That's the target right now. Maddox doesn't bother focusing on the shaman, nor his spirit, trying to maximize speed while minimizing risk of tripping and smashing himself up. His arms and legs pump, his bulky form a beeline for the primer gray sportscar ahead and to his right, his course tacking like a sailboat to go from cover to cover, trying to make it to something he can grab (chokesmashslam) before something too untoward happens to him. 'Fuckin' fake-ass Indian wiz,' he mutters under his breath as he goes.
He hits his cover, seemingly inching toward his target. "Want a grenade?" he shouts, probably at Kali.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy does not have an action on the second pass. So we have Kalavati at 60 meters, Maddox at 70 meters. New round, inits."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+13 spirit":
1
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Initiative with a result of 11.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Initiative with a result of 22.
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+4 Jimmy":
1
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati at 22, Spirit at 14, Maddox at 11, Jimmy at 5. Kalavati, with 3 actions, is running 10 per action."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Welp! Time to approach even more. I've gotta believe~! >:D"
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati is at 50 at the end of her action. Spirit."
Kalavati holds her position for a moment as she stumbles forward slightly from her crouched position as the spirit's spell seems to effect her; her body dropping down completely onto her knees quite roughly as she doesn't seem to care about the minor damage that can be inflicted onto herself from the position as she drops both of her hands down infront of herself, planting them onto the sidewalk. To dash forward, further closing the distance, she begins to try to push herself to stand up again, though she seems to stumble again in doing so; her free, left hand sloppily lifting up and moving onto the front of the van as her fingers push hard against one of the vehicle's headlights. She dashes forward again, moving mostly in a straight line as she makes her way to the next car, though she practically allows herself to fall as she rotates her body to the side, allowing her arm to take the brunt of the force as not to completely injure herself before the fight itself as she rests down near the next vehicle.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Spirit: Confusion on Maddox."
The spirit points at Maddox, and he too feels the whirling in his head, the craziness all around, the many distractions of the world. "All done, boss," says the spirit. "I hang around for 24 hours… if it takes that long."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox's action, first pass."
Maddox is up and moving again. His gait wobbles, footing unsteady. Luckily, he's not trying any fine movements… just gross motor skills, and he doesn't seem to suffer any difficulties in smashing and bashing his way forward, careening like a pinball as he barrels in his chosen direction. Which is still at the goof of a shaman giving tribesmen everywhere a bad name.
"Ain't got one!" he continues, answering in own question, shaking his head like a drunk trying to clear a case of the spins.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And Maddox is at 59 at the end of his action.."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, " And, Jimmy the Crow. Jimmy will actually cast manabolt on Kalavati. She's obviously the one that will get to him fastest."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Raising the expendable manabolt focus that he was threatening her with before."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 + 6 + 4 vs TN 13 for "Base TN 6, +4 cover, +2 background count, +1 light stun, Force 6 Moderate Manabolt. Let's see how it goes.":
1 1 1 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 10 11 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 + 6 + 4 vs TN 13 for "Base TN 6, +4 cover, +2 background count, +1 light stun, Force 6 Moderate Manabolt. KP 3":
1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 11 = 0 Successes
Jimmy raises up his little fetish, crushing it as he chants. He's not putting his all into this. And you know what? It shows. Whether it's because the woman is ducking, dodging, or falling, hedoesn't seem able to make the link. Jack-all happens. Except to him.
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 5 for "Base tn 3, +1 background, +1 light stun, resiting moderate drain":
1 3 3 3 5 9 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 5 for "Centering, need 4 successes":
2 3 4 4 4 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy takes another Light stun, and is at Moderate stun.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass. Kalavati, starting at 50 meters, going to 40 meters."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Approaching further!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Athletics vs TN 7 for "One metre! Go go go!! >:D":
1 1 2 3 5 7 = 1 Success
Kalavati seems to be completely unaware of what Jimmy had just tried to perform as she sloppily rolls herself toward her stomach before she seems to struggle a bit to push both of her hands against the concrete beneath her, jolting herself into standing up again as she immediately stumbles forward into dashing quite a bit toward another car in a predictable fashion, though she seems to slow down quite a bit before crouching down behind the generic, dirty sedan's passenger door; her body leaning forward from her crouched position as she plants both of her hands onto the ground again, not really seeming to care about the fact that her imported weapon scrapes a bit against the ground, though she doesn't seem to give herself as long a break as before as she struggles to lift herself up again, stumbling like before as she makes her way toward the next car; her attention locking onto Jimmy as she dashes forward, wobbling slightly as she moves and struggles to focus her eyes onto him.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Spirit does nothing but maintain. Taking him out of the order."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass, Maddox, moving from 59 meters to 49 meters."
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Athletics vs TN 7:
2 3 3 3 4 = 0 Successes
Ever been charged by a drunk on a honey run? This is sorta like that. If the target happened to be some ork dude in a crazy-ass get-up, his imaginary friend, and they were at the other end of a football field. Maddox doesn't seem to have any defense against the spirit's power except just trying to barrel through it, hoping not to fall down before he gets to where he's going. On the bright side, his smart-ass comments to his partner seem to have ceased.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy has no action on the second pass."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati, third pass, 40 meters to 29 meters. Shooting or anything from here? YOu are running, and shooting as you run is.. +4"
«Plot» Kalavati just runs.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "New round."
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Initiative with a result of 25.
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Initiative with a result of 15.
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+3 jimmy":
4
It should be mentioned that the two guards at the door have gone inside and are taking up positions.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati 25, Maddox 15, Jimmy 7"
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Running! :D"
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati - 29 meters to 19 meters."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox is at 49 meters, is that right? And would be moving to 38?"

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy will be aiming and shooting."
Jimmy takes careful aim, bracing on the lamppost, drawing a bead. Fricking cover, fracking parkour shitass bastardess. But hey. Could be worse. Could be raining.
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 10 vs TN 10 for "base tn 5, +4 cover, +2 m stun, -1 aim action":
1 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 8 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 10 vs TN 10 for "base tn 5, +4 cover, +2 m stun, -1 aim action KP 4 (also, pistols 5, combat pool 5)":
1 1 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
Jimmy is not the most impressive shot, not like this. He's no sammy. This not the game he wants to play. But he knows he has his spirit action going. It can't be that bad, can it?

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass. Kalavati, at 19 meters, ending action at 9 meters."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Runnin' an' shootin'!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 12 for "Smartlink! Shooting while running, and a bunch of other modifiers that I don't have time to explain. :O «CP: 5/11»":
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 5 5 9 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox, second pass, 38 meters to 28 meters. If you had a heavy pistol you might shoot, or something, but."
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Athletics vs TN 7:
1 1 2 3 3 = 0 Successes
Maddox is up, and down, and up. Well, his up is sometimes sideways, and his down is sometimes plummeting. He bangs a knee against the bumper of a van; this sends his skeering off a few steps, and as he tries to turn toward cover again, he smacks into a fender.. his momentum carrying him up, and over, and scratching across the hood, and in a heap on the other side. If that was his chosen cover, it didn't work out so well. Maybe he really was planning to get behind that (now empty, and brown, and damp) concrete planter that he's hunkering toward.
At least the run and the spirit seem to have diminished his desire for smart-ass commentary.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Third pass, only Kalavati. However, she can stop running here at 9 meters, or she can continue at a walk into the shortest of ranges with no cover. walking from 9 meters to 5 meters is +1 tn, or just shooting on the third pass from 9 meters would negate the +4 running penalty. Still +3 confusion, +2 lamppost when it's that third action."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Shooting from here, at nine metres, with my cover and all. I like this car. It's very good to me."
Kalavati had roughly pushed herself to stand up from her cover as she dashed forward again toward the next huge solid block that she had been able to hide behind presents itself. Hearing the man's gunfire in her general direction, she had leaned herself forward quite a bit, not quite sure if he had intended to hit her at all with his shot as she runs; her hand practically swinging over to hold her arm out, across her body as she quickly moves; her finger pulling back to pull the trigger of her weapon in the man's direction,
not really aiming as professionally as she should as she fires off a quick, running shot that doesn't seem to hit him at all, straying way off course past the base of the light post that he had decided to hide behind before she immediately crouches herself down and slides quite a bit behind, yet, another generic sedan that actually seems to be quite badly wrecked; her free hand lifting up to practically slam her forearm into the side of the vehicle as she continues to move forward, toward the front end of it.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 8 for "First shot with adverse affects, +2 cover, +3 confusion. Smartlinked, though. «CP: 8/11» «Bullets: 8/10»":
1 1 2 3 4 4 8 9 9 11 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 - 4 vs TN 8 for "First shot. «KP: 2/:D» «CP: 8/11» «Bullets: 8/10»":
1 1 2 2 3 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 - 5 vs TN 8 for "First shot. «KP: 4/:D» «CP: 8/11» «Bullets: 8/10»":
1 2 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Kalavati says, "6L With five successes! :D"
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 7 + 1 vs TN 2 for "Jimmy has 8 Ballistic, 7 body, and is using his last 1 combat pool to soak. TN is 2. Needs 7 successes to take nothing, 5 to remove the 5 successes and then 2 more to stage the L down to nothing.":
2 2 3 3 4 4 5 10 = 8 Successes
Jimmy the Crow flinches, raising his duster-clad arm to shield his face from the first shot.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy takes nothing, second shot go."
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 8 for "Second shot with adverse effects, as well as a smartlink, still. 2 Recoil comp in the form of strength, as well as a personalized grip. «CP: 11/11» «Bullets: 7/10»":
1 1 1 2 3 4 4 5 10 15 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 - 2 vs TN 8 for "Second shot. «KP:5/:D» «CP: 11/11» «Bullets: 7/10»":
2 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 - 2 vs TN 8 for "Second shot. «KP:7/:D» «CP: 11/11» «Bullets: 7/10»":
1 1 1 3 4 4 4 17 = 1 Success
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Standing at 6L with three successes."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 7 vs TN 2 for "Jimmy is out of combat pool. He needs 5 successes to fully soak.":
1 1 4 4 5 5 5 = 5 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy takes nothing."
Moving to the front of the car, Kalavati joins her hands together on the grip of her little handgun and thrusts it upward, rotating her body to completely face the car as she rests both of her forearms down onto the hood of the vehicle; one of her knees dropping down beneath her as it grinds rather hard against the concrete beneath her as she begins to stare her blurry eyes down the cheap-looking iron sights of her Chinese Walther PB-120 ripoff. She slides her index finger over, against the trigger of her weapon before she pulls it, causing the weapon to jump slightly as the frame jolts back before defaulting itself very quickly, allowing her to pull the trigger again in a very rapid succession in the man's general direcion behind the light post.

Jimmy looks to be wearing the very minimum of what you would need to even think of going Croc-hunting, which is pretty much everything he can carry and still move. Which is why raising his arm to cover his head saves him, at least for the moment against the small and cheap-looking weapon.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Inits!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Initiative with a result of 13.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Initiative with a result of 20.
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+3 Jimmy, taking his Moderate stun into account":
4
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The spirit is also there, just holding up the Confusion effect."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati 20, 9 meters away. Maddox 13, 28 meters away. Jimmy the Crow 7, point zero."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati, with the double dutch."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "All pools refresh."

«Plot» Kalavati says, "Aiming! For a split second! Then shootin' buddy!! :D"
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 7 for "Shootin' buddy once! :D Smartlink. Used simple action to aim. «CP: 3/11» «Bullets: 6/10»":
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 5 9 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 - 2 vs TN 7 for "Shootin' buddy. «KP: 8/:D» «CP: 3/11» «Bullets: 6/10»":
1 3 3 3 4 5 5 8 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 - 3 vs TN 7 for "Shootin' buddy. «KP: 10/:D» «CP: 3/11» «Bullets: 6/10»":
2 2 2 3 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 - 3 vs TN 7 for "Shootin' buddy. «KP: 13/:)» «CP: 3/11» «Bullets: 6/10»":
1 2 3 3 3 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 - 3 vs TN 7 for "Shootin' buddy. «KP: 17/:)» «CP: 3/11» «Bullets: 6/10»":
1 2 3 3 4 5 13 = 1 Success
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Standing on four…"
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 7 + 2 vs TN 2 for "Needs 6 successes to fully soak, using 2 combat pool of six.":
1 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 10 = 8 Successes
Kalavati steads her finger for a very quick moment; her eyes squinting to stare down the sights, though her blurred vision doesn't seem to be enough to help her aim as she slips her finger back, pulling the trigger for a fourth time during this current conflict, aiming for an exposed section of his torso as the slide jolts back again, launching another empty casing to the side as her weapon jumps from the recoil, though she continues to hold her aim on the man's figure as if she were going to continue with this course of action, likely just to delay for time until her partner arrives or something similar.
For someone watching from the outside, time can seem awfully quick in a fight: you blink your eyes, someone's slinking away and someone else has had a life ruined. If you're in it, though (or behind a keyboard), it can feel like forever.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The spirit dawdles in here somewhere, and Maddox at 13."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox, 28 meters to 17 meters."
That's what it feels like to Maddox. Disoriented, a stumble to his step, his body exerts its maximum to try and get to grappling with his target.
(First Rule of Gunfighting: Bring a gun.)
The ork continues his duck and dodge sprint, moving from cover to cover, ducking behind a Jackrabbit. Trying to get there.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy the Crow: Casting a new Imp Invisibility spell. Base TN 4, +2 background count, +2 from Moderate Stun, using a Force 4 expendable Imp Invisibility fetish. Casting at force 6."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 + 6 + 4 vs TN 8 for "Gotta rack up them successes":
1 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 8 9 10 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 + 6 + 4 - 3 vs TN 8 for "Gotta rack up them successes KP 5":
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 9 = 1 Success
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Standing on 4. One moment."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 7 for "base drain 4m, 5 for background, 7 because he's at moderate":
1 1 3 5 5 7 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 - 1 vs TN 7 for "base drain 4m, 5 for background, 7 because he's at moderate KP 6":
1 1 2 2 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 7 for "Centering, needs 2 successes":
2 2 3 3 3 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy takes Moderate drain and is now at Serious stun, 6 boxes."
Jimmy, with his arm up, just does not really have target area on him that is penetrable with a tiny pistol. But he's a runner. He's not dumb. He knows that people close up with guns fire with pinpoint accuracy and standing up there is no good while he gets needled. He calls out to the sky, makes a gesture like he's throwing a smoke bomb to the ground, and his image ripples and fades.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Now, to penetrate the invisibility, you need 4x tn 6 on an Intelligence test."
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Intelligence (to Mr.Terrific):
1 2 3 7 23
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls 3 (to Mr.Terrific): KP1
1 3 14
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6:
2 2 4 4 7 9 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Intelligence - 2 vs TN 6 for "«KP: 18/:|»":
2 2 3 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Intelligence - 2 vs TN 6 for "«KP: 20/:|»":
3 4 7 8 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And there you have it, oh mistress of invisibility spottage. :)"

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass. Kalavati."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "If you run up to him, short range tn 4, running +4, confused +3."
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols vs TN 11 for "First shot! Leapt over the hood of a car while dude started actin' funny. Walking and shooting. Still all blurryeyed and wobbly. «CP: 3/11» «Bullets: 5/10»":
1 1 2 2 2 2 11 = 1 Success
«Plot» Kalavati says, "6L first shot! :D"
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 7 vs TN 2 for "Need 3 successes":
1 1 2 3 4 4 11 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Pistols vs TN 11 for "Second shot! Same conditions. Still running and shooting. «CP: 3/11» «Bullets: 4/10»":
1 3 4 5 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Missed second shot!!"
Noticing the man beginning to chant and take blatantly magical actions, Kalavati's arms roughly push down against the hood of the car as she very quickly lifts herself to stand up; her body jerking to the side as she essentially begins to run around the front of it, approaching the man even further as she pulls her left hand from the grip of her weapon, holding it in only one hand as she runs toward the enemy's cover. She pulls the trigger again as she runs, squeezing off another shot, causing the weapon to wildly jump in her hand as she approaches, likely just as to scare him or something as she continues to approach, squeezing the trigger for a second time just as she gets very close to him, missing the shot completely as she seems more focused on not slipping on the concrete, rather than injuring him with her worthless firearm and begins to move around toward the man's cover while he had been distracted, and possibly disoriented, apparently unaware of what he had just done, exactly.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox, second pass!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Athletics (to Mr.Terrific):
1 3 4 4 8
Getting closer seems to have lifted Maddox's, ahem, spirits. He ignores the bookie spirit, shoving himself up out of his crouch again, pausing the splittiest of seconds to steady himself on the hood of the Jackrabbit. He lunges forward, hitting his stride, raises his head in good running posture…
"… cunt! Motherfucker! Where the fuck did shitstain half-breed go?!" he roars, still moving toward the last-knowns, but obviously displeased.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And nobody has a third pass action. New inits.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Initiative with a result of 22.
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+2 (serious stun on Jimmy)":
3
«Auto-Judge[]» Maddox (#12229) rolls Initiative with a result of 16.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Kalavati 22, Maddox 16, Jimmy 5, and the spirit doing nothing. Kalavati."

«Plot» Kalavati says, "Ending it quickly with a kick attack. What are my current modifiers, and does he have close combat or anything similar?"
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "You are at +3 for confusion. He does not have close combat."
«Plot» Kalavati says, "With my reach advantage, I wish to raise Jimmy's TN for any retaliation."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Jimmy's tn is 4, +3 for serious stun, +1 from reach, to 8."
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Muay Thai + Combat Pool: 8 + 2 (Kick Attack Bonus) vs TN 7 for "CRANK THE POWER UP! :|":
1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 9 9 10 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Muay Thai + Combat Pool: 8 + 2 (Kick Attack Bonus) - 3 vs TN 7 for "«KP: 21/:|»":
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 7 8 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Muay Thai + Combat Pool: 8 + 2 (Kick Attack Bonus) - 5 vs TN 7 for "«KP: 23/:(»":
2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 9 10 13 14 = 4 Successes
«Plot» Kalavati says, "Standing at 9 successes. Damage has staged from 13M to 15D."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Not that it will alter matters, but he will be engaging in a Full Defense."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 6 vs TN 8 for "Ork Brawling 5, 6 combat pool":
1 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 7 9 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 6 - 1 vs TN 8 for "Ork Brawling 5, 6 combat pool KP 7":
1 1 1 2 3 4 5 5 5 11 = 1 Success
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So you start at 13m and have 7 successes in the opposed test and go up to 14d stun, it looks like."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 7 vs TN 9 for "He has 5 impact and no combat pool (and S stun)":
2 3 3 3 4 7 14 = 1 Success
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And he is out. Overflow damage says that he ends up with S physical as well as being unconscious. Pose as you would."
«Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "You don't want me to get under a total of 3":
2 5
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The spirit doesn't go free."
Reaching the man's cover, Kalavati very quickly lifts both of her hands up, infront of herself as if she hadn't figured that she was even holding a firearm as she moves one of her arms over, slamming her armored elbow into the edge of the lightpost to cause her body to pivot around toward the back of it, to face the man; her head tilting downward immediately as she approaches from the front of the man as her body seems to pause for only a very short moment for some reason or another as if the effects of the confusion were wearing hard against her mental state,
and it's coordination with her body, though it doesn't seem to hamper her all too much for the current situation as her legs very quickly shift for some reason or another; her hands lowering slightly infront of herself as she loosens them quite a bit before she rotates her upper body quite a bit, slinging her body around as she lifts her foot, swinging her leg outward as she seems to aim to slam her shin toward the man's side, not seeming to care if his arm is in the way or not, though her aim seems to be a bit off as she seems to direct her kick lower than intended, possibly as if she were trying to break his hip or something similar.

Is it a liver kick, like they talk about in the fight trids? Is it just so damn hard that he bashes up against the lamppost and his head turns purple? Does he have broken ribs? One thing is for sure. He's visible to all now, and out like a light. The glowing bookie spirit looks down at him sadly. He turns to you two and says, "Word of advice. Jimmy the Crow has friends." And with that, he fades from view, as does that annoying confusion effect that clouds your minds.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Maddox, if you wish to remain in combat, you have the nextest fastest combat action."
And just as quickly as that, as quick as a lineman-looking ork can make a hundred meters, it's done. In the last few steps before the man can reach the Indian, he kicks out his legs to decelerate, so as not to slam into anything else. He shakes his head, the confusion clearing as rapidly as it came. "If only a hangover went so fast," he says. "Good'un on ya."
Breathing just a little heavy, the ork gives a hard look down at the corpse. "Well, at least he won't be followin' us for a while." He leans down, doing the Warrens-rush on the guy, pockets and bags inside-outed, stripping for speed.

Well, there's that Ruger Super Warhawk there, with the ExEx ammo, and a coupla speedloads for it. He's got an ork-size lined coat, an ork-sized secure jacket, there's his feathery headdress with the.. yeah, it's gold thread. That'll bring a good two bits on the open market. And then, in his pocket, there's several more of those little fetish things - the stuff that he was bringing out and crushing when he cast them spells on you all.

The two guards at the door to Domino's Coliseum poke their heads out to watch.

Maddox takes the revolver, holding it muzzle-down and giving a wait-a-minute hand to the guards. He hits the thumb catch on the cylinder, shaking out the rounds. "Want this?" he says as an afterthought, looking about to toss the rounds into the night. He pauses.

The guards, if you are talking to them, shrug. "Ya gonna kill him right there?"

Maddox shakes his head. "Nah. No need for that shit." He looks to Kalavati to contradict him.

One of the guards wizens up and says, "Or are ya lookin' to compensate us for hauling him in and propping him up against a wall?"

Kalavati's body continues to turn, moving inward as she begins to follow through with her kick after her shin had connected with the meaty portions of his body just beneath his ribs, not seeming to have been stopped at all by the armor that he had been wearing as she essentially had kicked him to the side, knocking him unconscious almost immediately as he lies against the concrete at the base of the light post. Both of her hands naturally push outward quite a bit as she slides her leg against him as she simply bounces quite a bit on one of her legs for a moment in her disoriented manner before the confusion is finally lifted,
causing her to get enough common sense as to step forward and drop her leg immediately after her attack; her hands lifting back up to the sides of her face as she holds her intense frown on her face as if she were possibly debating striking the man while he's down, though she holds herself back, apparently figuring that she's still on the job and needs to pretend to be professional a bit longer. Her head quickly turns to the side, looking back toward her partner as he arrives;
her own breathing quite heavy from the heavy bit of exercise and the adrenaline as she doesn't say a word, though her body seems to shudder slightly as she hears the spirit speak, though she doesn't quite acknowledge it as she stares down toward her partner, watching as he begins to rifle through the man's equipment. She lowers her hands down to her sides and straightens herself out; her head shaking slightly toward the man as she tells him, "Nah, I'm good…" declining his offer of ammunition before she shifts her attention back up, toward the guards as they speak, apparently allowing her partner to do all the talking as she remains silent.

Maddox flings his hands off to the side, tossing the ammunition into the night. Presumably in case the man wakes up. "Here, if you'd be so kind," he says to the guards, offering the revolver. Then he takes the fetishes with an appraising look. "Let's get out of here," he says to Kalavati. "We still have a job to do."

The guards are only too happy to haul the man in. As is the way of such things, when he awakens they'll tell him that you all are long gone.

"Hey…" Kalavati quietly tells the man as she turns herself around rather quickly; her attention remaining locked onto him as she essentially holds her position for a moment before she begins to walk rather slowly, back toward the wreckage of her car. "What… Well…" she says, seeming to be at a loss for words as she moves, "Th'fuck are we goin' t'do about transportation? We don't have time for me t'secure somethin' passable, an' I'm scared t'cross th'border in a completely flat-out stolen car, y'know?"

Maddox pauses. As if just realizing that the car blew up. Shredded. "Fuck," he says simply.
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Hey. There's the gun you put in the glove compartment. Completely unharmed."

Kalavati casually walks back toward her car as she shifts her eyes from side to side, apparently examining her surroundings, likely for a car that is somewhat worth stealing or something similar, though as her partnet speaks, she tells the man, "Oi, we have a fuckin' lead." as if she were possibly angry with him, though she likely is more angry about the entire situation as she moves; no attempt having been made to conceal her weapon again as she moves back toward her car.

Maddox stands, shaking his head, following the woman to her car? newly-minted wreckage? He reaches into it, rustling for where he had left the pistol given him before he bailed out. "I got you a present," he says deadpan, picking up the thing.

The two can easily saunter back to the shredded vehicle. Some huckleberrys (pre-ganger youth) are watching some cars here. None look amazingly valuable, but some look like adequate transportation. At a hundred yards from the guards to the place who were bought off with the Ruger, they likely won't bother. Then, there's always the maglev. But that means crossing back into the Free Trade Zone.

Maddox shrugs his shoulders. "Fuck it, let's take the MagLev," he says. "Ain't got nothin' on me except these gloves and I'll bet this pistol'd look better on your SIN'd ass."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Traditionally, a border crossing on foot entails a Magnetic Anomaly Detector that is set pretty weak so as not to pick up everyone's loose change. Wired Reflexes goes through if you turn it off with a Reflex Trigger."

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The detector will, thus, make a roll against the concealability of your pistol just like anything else, and the reason a hold-out is high concealability is because it's a lot of plastic and ceramic and small."

As if the car wasn't completely destroyed, Kalavati moves herself around to the driver's side opening as if she were going to drop down to sit back into the horribly torn, destroyed and warped seat, though she quickly drops herself down onto her knees into it as it rests practically against the asphalt. She drops her free hand down toward the center console, moving her other hand back to lift up her hoodie slightly as she shoves her weapon back down into the holster, not quite reloading it at this point before she leans herself over, reaching into the back seat to pick up the disguise kit that she had brought from her home, pulling it up, and forward before reaching underneath the passenger seat, jerking the other, smaller electronics kit up, onto the seat. She pulls herself back from the car, carrying only the one kit down at her side as she straightens herself out again, simply ordering the man, "Pick that up." likely mentioning the disguise kit that she had brought, not quite taking the gun she had loaned to the ork.

Maddox nods, resettling his coat more comfortably upon him in the drizzly night. He takes the items, tucking them carefully away as best he can. "Let's hop the train and get on it. Amanda's little job is irking me already. Plus, I dunno when that poser's gonna wake up."

And so it's a longish walk to the Maglev, although occasionally a jeepney operator will offer to take you a few blocks. And then there's the standard Heather Gardens crossover that so many people know so well. Wall, sniper towers, loitering drones, theoretical magical backup, and the walk-through point where you show your SIN and walk through the MAD scanner. Oh wait, show your SIN.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "If you like, you can split up, use your contact to get across, and re-link up on t'other side. Seeing as it's the second time today, it'll likely cost you like, 50-100y."

Maddox shakes his head as they approach the higher-security area. "I ain't gonna make it past no SIN-reader. The metal detector, maybe, but I don't reckon I can even get that far. Lemme call my boys… maybe they won't be too fucked up by now, might could help us out."
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "It will be a compadre of the top man who's 'on duty' for such moneymaking opportunities."

Kalavati doesn't really seem to care at all about concealing her electronics kit as she simply holds it down at her side in her left hand as she pushes herself away from the car and simply begin to walk in the general direction of the Maglev terminal, grumbling quite a bit about various things that she seems to dislike, most of which actually happens to be about her lack of transportation, and contemplating how she's going to get a new form of transportation, possibly to the point to where she's actually contemplating getting herself a bike, rather than a car to save on fuel costs. She grumbles, even as she's taken on the few jeepneys that had been used until she's finally at her destination with the man.
Approaching the higher-security area of the Maglev terminal with the man, Kalavati turns her head to the side, staring toward him as she doesn't bother lifting her hands or anything as she remains silent before she simply tells the man. "Well… Meet up at th'front of th'range then, yeah." she says to the man as she lifts her free hand up, resting it onto her hip as she rather plainly asks the man, "Since you're doin' all 'at, though, like… Can you hold my, uhhh… Y'know." she says, likely hinting at her weapon as she doesn't quite tell the manwhat she means, likely paranoid about being heard by security.

Maddox takes the weapon. "I'll meet you there. We can move quick, probably faster than the MagLev." He turns, as if to give her a hug, awkwardly; if she does, he smoothly takes the small pistol, tucking it away in ork-size pockets, and turning away from security. He walks back into the night, speaking in rapid-fire Cityspeak into his phone.

And with that, they both make it across, though they might end up on different Maglevs. From there, it's the Sioux FTZ Maglev stop that's nearest to North Colorado boulevard, really only a few blocks. There's the Sitting Bear shooting range, and you can go over, under, around and through to get to the magical location of your dreams.

Maddox meets back up, palming her the pistol casually. "Finally," he says. "Watch this ugly fucker gone home to his coffin and we still can't offer him the job of his dreams."

The chain-link fence is nothing to people of your skills. The place is lit by flickering firelight in ubiquitious cans, and old crates are used for sitting and laying and standing on. There's some shadowy corners that people use for cutting deals, and there's a good thirty- forty people here, fighting for glory.

The chain-link fence is nothing to people of your skills. The place is lit by flickering firelight in ubiquitious cans, and old crates are used for sitting and laying and standing on. There's some shadowy corners that people use for cutting deals, and there's a good thirty- forty people here, fighting for glory.

Maddox is standing off in the shadows with a smaller woman, human. He chats with her in quiet tones, letting the bustle of the betting crowd shade them with anonymity. "We find this guy, you think he's more likely to say yes if'n the offer comes from you?" he asks. "I ain't got… assets you do."

Kalavati lifts her hand as she meets back up with the man, moving it outward before swinging it inward again to quickly clasp her hand against her weapon before she quickly pulls it back and drops her kit on the ground just beside herself, apparently not scared that anything inside could possibly break from the action as she lifts her hands up infront of herself, holding the weapon infront of her face before she slides her thumb over to eject the magazine. She uses her other hand to grasp the released object, holding it down, infront of herself as she stares at it for a quick moment, likely making sure her four remaining bullets are still present before she pulls it back and simply pockets the magazine. She continues to hold her empty weapon up, infront of herself as she pulls her hand back behind herself at her waistline to slowly pull the remaining magazine back from her holster as she lifts it up and simply slides the fresh magazine into her weapon before she holsters it again.
Crouching down slightly, she moves her hand to simply pick the kit back up as he simply moves forward again, essentially following her partner to stand off in the shadows alongside him. She clears her throat slightly for some reason or another before she shrugs her shoulders very slightly, asking the man, "What if he's as crazy 'as 'e looks, though? Maybe you shoul' come an' act like you're m'bodyguard or somethin', yeah." she says as she lifts her free hand up and moves it over, patting the side of her thumb against the man's stomach for some reason or another as if she were asking for the chip and the paper that the man had taken from Amanda.

Maddox nods his head, saying nothing behind his tusks. He reaches into the inner breast pocket of his sodden armored coat; out, dry, comes the stapled and folded paperwork, the sliver of the chip. He hands them to the woman. "Works for me. I never did go to charm school," he replies, suddenly looking tired. Too old for this kind of errand.

The Troll before may once have been handsome, or might have grown into that way: but now there's no chance. His hispanic features are covered in scars, giving him practically a second skin of coppery-toned, calloused flesh: age lines are starting to appear around his mouth and the corners of his eyes, whispering stories of a long life hard-lived. Tiny, heavy-browed dark eyes glare out at the world, their whites tinted strangely green: his lips are seperated almost into different pieces, his tusks chipped and bloodstained and tipped with bloodstained steel. His black hair, flecked with white, is worn long and in dreadlocks that drag down his back, and his horns curl out from them, as chipped and burnt as the rest of him as they slide downwards, framing the side of his head in vicious curves.
The Big trog is dressed for a showman's fight. He wears a massive midnight greatcoat of incredibly fine fiber, its usual hood removed: and while the coat is worn down to his knees, it's usually worn open to frame the massive torso underneath. Form fitting armor and a thin vest strewn with metal plates barely fit across the troll's massive barrel-chest, studded with countless scars from blades, bullets, and burns. He wears thick brown leather pants and massive, steel-shanked boots- while around his waist is a belt made of leather thongs and a network of finger bones, dozens of them covering all humanoid sizes. Around each of his forearms is a sheath of crocodile hide, blood-spatered but still polished to a grim shine. For the fight, his dreads are pulled into a tattered ponytail, and a massive necklace of fangs and fingerbones is worn dangling beneath his scarred throat- which looks like its been cut more than once.

Kalavati grasps the paperwork before swiftly moving her fingers around it, continuing to hold it out toward him as she simply folds it in half an additional time for some reason or another before she tells the man, "Try t'stand a li'l bit of distance t'take a picture or somethin' with your pocsec or whatever in secret while I try t'get him t'sign it, okay?" she says as she finally pulls her hand back to shove the paperwork into one of the tiny front pockets of her hoodie. She turns her head slightly for a quick moment, as if she were trying to indicate something for the man as she simultaneously tells him, "A'right, find our guy, then report t'me, then we'll get right on t'doin' it, a'right? Try t'make sure he's really here, okay?"

Maddox nods his head. "Give him some patter about why I need the picture. The truth'll do. I don't want to be snappin' pics of folks here without letting 'em know exactly why. Good way to get busted up around the head."
He turns and ducks further into the crowd, looking for… The Croc.

The lights are on, and the crowd around the under-highway fight ring is raucous and rowdy. There's a big, black ork with gleaming cyberarms on the stage, looking to his left, looking to his right, spinning buzz-saws on either wrist.
The crowd falls suddenly silent. Where is his opponent? Where is the legendary lizard? The Terror of tenochtitlan? Where is the Croc? the ork looks around, screaming obscenities, calling for his opponent to appear. The crowd starts to jeer and shout… but where is he?
A shadow passes over the ring, and there's a massive THUMP as something huge drops from above.
There he is.

Kalavati holds her position, keeping her kit down by her side as she continues to hold her hand in her pocket; her weight shifting dominantly onto one of her legs as she pushes her hip outward and remains in the shady area, possibly looking as if she were a prostitute or an idle drug dealer or something, considering her current location in one of the more shady spaces of the area. She turns her head slightly, examining her surroundings for a moment until her attention focuses onto the ring, though her body seems to jump very slightly as Croc makes his arrival. She opens her eyes rather wide for some reason or another as if she were in shock by his appearance, though quickly, she lifts her hand from her pocket and moves it over, unzipping her hoodie completely before she rotates her shoulders, quickly shrugging the fabric off of them as she allows it to rest over her elbows, possibly to show more skin and the single tanktop that she had been wearing underneath her jacket.

Maddox hasn't gotten very far at all when the huge showman makes his even-bigger entrance. "Fuck me," he says. "We got a superstar." He turns back to Kalavati but doesn't say anything, squaring up next to her to see what this guy is gonna do next.

The battle is over before it begins. The Ork screams something in Or'zet and lunges with a buzzsaw arm. The Croc catches the arm, letting the saw buzz into his arm, but delivers a savage yet shallow cut across the ork's face. He staggers backwards.
The croc laughs, gesturing, a little blood dripping from his arm… but not much. The ork comes at him again, this time feinting low. Croc backpedals, but still gets a buzzing arm to the face. There's a spray of blood. The crowd gasps! Is this the end for the croc?
Not hardly. There's a sickening crunch, and the ork screams. A gleaming cyberarm, saw still spinning with a wild buzz, is tossed into the crowd. Croc steps forward, blood gushing from his face. The ork falls back. Too slow. The croc cuts, another shallow slash, this time up across the chest. Then he spins, cutting across the leg, then across the other leg, then across the face. The Ork never has a chance to recover…. slash after slash cutting into him, bleeding him, weakening him… never enough to kill.
Just enough to cut him to ribbons.
«Auto-Judge[]» Croc (#8805) has the Knowledge Skill Specialization Psychology (Sadism) with the value '6 (7)'.
«Auto-Judge[]» Croc (#8805) has the Knowledge Skill Specialization Biology (Anatomy) with the value '4 (5)'.

Maddox shakes his head, watching the figh.. ordeal. "And this," he says to his companion, "is the guy they want in their trids? And Amanda looked like such a nice lady."

Kalavati's eyes narrow quite a bit as she watches the fight; her body holding completely still as she continues to push her hip out a bit from her awkward style of dress, not really saying a word for a moment as her partner speaks to her before she shrugs her bare shoulders very slightly toward the man and tilts her head downward slightly. "Fuck…" she lets out rather quietly toward her partner as she doesn't seem to look away from the target at all, "Well, I can almos' guarantee you this's goin' t'fail, yeah." she says, seeming to be quite distressed as she seems to be quite angry with the situation before she turns her head to the side, possibly as if she were scared of the man as she tells her partner, "Want me t'jus' dress you up like th'guy an' doctor a picture a li'l t'make you look like him?" she asks with a small laugh as her body begins to shake as if she were catching quite a bit of adrenaline already, likely having been joking with her suggestion.

Croc backs the ork to the edge, bleeding, broken- but just before the ork falls, Croc reaches out and grabs him by the throat, lifting him into the air. Feebly, the ork tries to saw his arm, but Croc turns his limb just -so-, and keeps himself… 'safe.' Croc hoists him once, then again, like a monster hoisting a trophy. The crowd cheers, and cheers again… and then, with a Commanche cry of success, the croc rips out the ork's throat with his teeth and throws him down into the crowd.

"Shee-it," he says. "That guy's uglier'n a barrel of smashed assholes. It'd never work." The middle-aged ork laughs. "I've worked in places like this, and met guys who like to put on a 'show.' They always end up getting the worst, eventually." He gestures to ringside, as it were, where the fighter would exit. "Shall we? A guy can say no to a lot of things, but a certified credstick for getting his dick sucked? I'd have to see that to believe it."

Croc does, actually, spit the throat out instead of eating it.

The downed ork receives jeers and finger-pointing, laughs and screams and money changing hands. But the roar of the crowd is all for El Cocodrillo. (The sad ork's corner-men get to him and work their magic. Will he live? It's a toss-up. But he knew the risks. He tried to fly high, and got his wings burned.)

"Man, I worked in places like this too, but…" Kalavati tells the man as she quickly turns her head to look back toward the ring, watching the Croc as she hears the crowd noisily react to the show that he had been putting on. "Was never…. Guess I 'ad a good manager, yeah." she says, surprisingly giving her partner a bit of her own history in a bit of a careless manner as she takes a rather small series of steps forward, following the man's gesture. "We shoul' probably wait a li'l bit an' try t'get it to 'im while he's resting, yeah." she says to her partner as she turns her head to the side, apparently trying to look back toward him, though she doesn't seem to be able to look away from the target.

Croc's face is bleeding, badly, but he doesn't seem to care. He returns to his corner, dabbit at it with a bit of rag, and will then make his way through the crowd to a bookie.
Oddly enough, there never seems to be a press of people around the Croc…

Maddox follows, doing his work to look icy-cool and intimidating. It works in a lot of places, and he is a big ork, if a tad on the short side. But The Croc seems un-upstageable, and Maddox contents himself with keeping groping hands away from his companion.

Kalavati's attention doesn't seem to shift away from the Croc as she squeezes herself through the crowd to approach him, not really paying all too much attention to her partner as she slugs forward, thouh as she notices Croc make contact with the bookie, she slows herself down, eventually stopping as she moves herself to the side to get a better view of the situation as she pulls her hand back to rest against her hip as she seems ready to wait the situation out and approach him when he's alone or resting or hibernating or whatever his kind does. (His kind, being psychopaths.)

Croc finishes with his bookie, and for a moment, he's standing alone, blood still dripping from him. This close, the troll is, in fact, uglier than a box of smashed assholes. His face is covered in as many wrinkles as scars, and the corneas of his beady little eyes have grown a sickly green.

Maddox follows the woman up, a step off to her side. Arms crossed, damp from the incessant drizzle, betusked face neutral. He gives a long look over the champion, merely regarding him, obviously to let the woman speak.

«Auto-Judge[]» Kalavati (#10582) rolls Accent Replication for "Random knowskill. Faking Venezuelan accent.":
1 3 10
As the bookie leaves the target, Kalavati takes a moment to inhale very deeply through her nose before audibly exhaling through her mouth, apparently trying to take a moment to work herself into the proper mindset as, naturally, an incredibly large, possibly fake grin forms onto her face as she begins to step forward, approaching toward the massive, hideous man; her electronics kit remaining held down at her side as she moves herself to approach the man. Her hips exaggeratedly sway as she walks quite slowly, as if she were trying to make herself more attractive for the man even though she hadn't really had all too much time to truly freshen up for this portion of the job, though on the bright side, she hadn't really decided to wear anything, at all, underneath her tanktop; the current configuration of her clothing seeming to have been made into consideration of showing off her ‘assets` as she approaches. "’Ey~~~ Crocodillo~" she says, apparently doing a rather convincing job, so far, of faking a random Venezuelan accent.

Croc turns towards the woman as she approaches, studying her approach quietly through this sickly, beady little eyes. He folds his blood-spattered arms over his broad chest, the wounds from the buzz saw clearly visibile… as are the layers of armor in his coat, and even bits of synthetic armor woven into his flesh, barely split by the former ork's attacks. He says nothing, yet: just stands expectantly.

Kalavati holds her wide grin on her face, managing to steadily keep up her act as she stops herself from walking, keeping a bit of distance between her and the man. She moves both of her hands forward, infront of her thighs as she passes the toolkit over, switching hands for some reason or another as if she were possibly nervous about the placement of her hands as she simply pushes her hip out again, holding her idle position as she shifts her eyes to look him up and down for a quick moment, though from the appearance of her eyes, it's obvious that she's likely disgusted by his appearance. "You hurt that guy up real good, no?" she says in the odd, convincing fake accent, possibly as if she were trying to get a response of some kind out of him.

Maddox follows behind the woman and to the left, ostensibly to keep unwanted attention from harassing her. His arms are folded under his rain-sodden coat, gloved hands clenched. His body language reads 'leave me alone,' but his gaze is steady, even.

Croc frowns. "Si," he says. "I did." Blood drips from his face, down into his sickly green eyes, but he doesn't blink, doesn't tear up. "He made a mistake." Another pause, and he looks the woman up and down. "Joo want something?" His eyes track to Maddox for a moment, then back to Kalavati, waiting.
«Auto-Judge[]» Croc (#8805) rolls Intelligence for "concealed weapons?":
2 2 3 3 4 4 9
«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "No concealed weapons."

Kalavati moves both of her hands over, infront of herself again as she tosses her electronics kit from her hand, to the other one as she straightens herself out like she had been standing earlier before transferring her weight onto her other leg, pushing her hip out in the other direction. She lifts her newly-freed hand upward and pulls it back, slipping it down into the little pocket of her hoodie rather slowly, as not to draw any aggression from the man as she grips the paper that she had taken from her partner between two of her fingers as she carefully pulls it out, not really caring about how horribly folded it is. "Jes…" she tells the man rather softly as she nods her head toward him; her incredibly wide grin remaining on her face. "I was wanting you." she tells the man, holding on to the strangely, hopefully convincing fake accent as she speaks, "For our video production company. How'd joo like to get sucked up for money?"

Croc blinks at the woman. He looks at Maddox, then back at Kalavati. "I don't do boys," he says.

Maddox shakes his head slowly. "Not me, chum. Inputs. We're merely representatives."

Croc looks back. "How much money es in eet?" He asks, arms still folded. His eyes are narrow, but he hasn't made any aggressive moves yet.

Kalavati's fake grin quickly begins to fade as she narrows her eyes quite a bit, staring up toward the bloodied man as if she were dumbfounded by his comment before she quickly shakes her head. "No, no, no, no, no~~~" she very quickly says as she continues to shake her head before she reluctantly lifts the folded paper infront of herself, slowly moving her fingers to unfold the paper until it's simply kept folded in half. She takes a rather small step forward and reluctantly begin to hold the paper out for the man, "We are talking pretty chicas, yeah. Even prettier than me." she explains in a conceited manner with a very small laugh before she tells the man, "All the details should be printed on this little paper here."

Croc reaches out to the paper to take it. "Pretty chicas?" He asks. "Is dis a trick?"

Maddox shakes his head slowly. "No scam, chum," he says, perhaps looking to add a man's perspective. "Lady at the production company, Amanda Sodha, she seen you fighting. Likes how you look. Thinks the whole tough-guy thing is real big in porn trideo right now." He chuckles behind his tusks. "But she's too chickenshit to come out here and find you. Us, we ain't. Besides, what guy wouldn't want to get paid to fuck slots? We just gotta offer you the contract, document that we presented it for your consideration, and it's up to you whether or not you want to get credsticks for gettin' your dick sucked."

Kalavati continues to shake her head toward the man as she lowers her hand down, slipping it into one of her tiny, front hoodie pockets. "Look a' joo, yeah." she says to the man rather quietly, "You're definately not the kind of person I would like to play a trick on." she explains, likely hinting that she actually feels that the man's appearance is rather scary, "'Specially not at a time like right now, after you jus' hurt a guy up real good, y'know?" She tilts her head downward slightly, looking toward the paper for a moment before she tells the man, "For us to finish our little job, though, would you allow us to capture a film of you signing our paper? Or atleast looking it over if it is not the thing for joo."

Croc pages: what's the paper say? :)
You paged Croc with 'The contract is with 'Enterprising Productions', a simsense and tridporn company. The basic contract is for three 'scenes', either sim or trid. If you yourself don't have a sim rig, they'll use an induction rig and clean it up in post, although your counterparts(s) in the scene will have sim-rigs to record the full experience of getting worked over by El Cocodrillo. Suggested titles are 'El CocoDrillo,' 'Death Roll,' and 'The Double Dutch.' It takes a while to get to the whole monetary aspect and it's not painfully clear about it, referring to 'industry standards' and 'money on the back end'. Apparently you are guaranteed a certain amount of money and you get a cut of the gross as the top-name actor.'.

Croc grunts, and looks over the paper. "No cash up front," he says. "Need cash." He pauses. "Joo two. Joo are being paid for dis, jes? Five thousand, joo pay me now. I take pictures. You take pictures. I do dis… job…" He flashes a chip-toothed smile. "And we be amigos. Joo want to be mi amigos, si?"

"I got no cash, though!" Kalavati exclaims as she quickly pulls her hand from her pocket, holding her empty hand out, and to the side as she holds her palm turned upward, "We not getting paid -enough- f'this, man~ 'Specially no five thousan'!" she says, seeming to be distressed by the situation as she takes a rather small step backward; her hand seeming to lift a bit higher for some reason or another. "Joo settle on fifty, maybe?"

Croc's eyes narrow a little more. Now they're little pinpricks! "Tell joo what," he says. "Joo call joor 'jay. Tell dem I want a signing bonus, or no deal. Joo don't have to pay me joorself, but I am no fool. Am not going to sign up for something, have dem exploit me, and den not get paid. I am AWARE of de white man's tricks. His lies- dey do not fool me!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Croc (#8805) has the Knowledge Skill White Man's Lies with the value '4 (5)'.

Maddox nods his head slowly. "Check out the contract, read it yourself. We ain't got no motivation to lie to you. We.. I ain't in the porn biz," he says, shooting a hopefully-disguised glance at Kalavati. "Think on it for a minute, lemme call our principal."
Maddox pulls out his phone, turning away from some measure of privacy, punching in a couple digits and waiting on the line.

It takes a good four to five rings before Amanda picks up. "Hello?" She sounds about like you'd expect from someone who got woken up about an hour into their sleep schedule, considering that it's 1-2 am (after your long walk/jeepney/maglev ride and border crossing). "Who is this?" You must have call blocking on or something. Who'd have thought that a 'runner's pocsec has call-blocking?

Croc grunts. "Ain't saying joo are lying to me," he adds, holding the contract in one big hand. He points at it. "It's dem I don't trust. Dere's no money up front, dere es no death roll."

Maddox speaks quickly and quietly into his phone. If you listen closely, you might hear his diction improve, accent fade. "Amanda. I apologize for waking you. I have the Cocodrillo right here. We have presented him with the contract. Authorize us a five-kay advance atop the scheduled rate, and you have yourself a new actor." He narrows his eyes, obviously unhappy to be doing this here.

Amanda (it's an ork's voice over the pocsec as anyone with advanced hearing can hear) pretty quickly gets it together. "The guaranteed two-kay advance after taxes from the profit-sharing isn't enough?" Apparently there is some money up front in that contract, or so Amanda thinks, and she wrote it. But that's money El Cocodrillo gets later, not right effin' now.

Kalavati's hand quickly drops down to her side as she swings it back slightly and shrugs both of her shoulders slightly for a quick moment as she moves both of her hands infront of herself for a third time, switching the hand that she carries her electronics toolkit in again for some reason or another as if holding it had become uncomfortable or something similar. She opens her mouth, inhaling through it as she begins to speak, though she very quickly stops herself and turns her head to the side, looking back toward Maddox for a quick moment as he speaks, apparently allowing him to do the talking at this point as she simply shifts her attention to look back toward Croc again; her free hand lifting up to rest onto her hip before she asks, "Joo serious?" as if she were caught off guard by that particular revelation. "Why joo find that suspicious? Tha's how business -works-. They don't pay nothin' up front so you can't be gettin' lazy or nothin' while joo on the clock!" she says, apparently pretending to know about business matters.

Maddox sighs softly, away from the receiver, so as not to be heard. "I know you hired us because you are unfamiliar with the environment in which some of your stars operate," he continues, speaking quickly. "You want bad boys for your trids, you are not going to be dealing with people who are interested in tax liability or profit-sharing. It's cash on the barrelhead. I am standing in front of the barrel right now. When your star says advance, he means scrip money in his hand, right now. I can provide that, if you can guarantee I will receive it back upon delivery."

Amanda says, "Offer three k, fronted from his contract. Let me know what he says."
And here Amanda thought she was being generous. (And likely she was.)

Croc eyes the woman, and his hand starts to crumple up the paper. "Joo tink I don't know how to read a fuckin contract, breeder? Joo tink dat just because I'm a troll an' from belize, not some fast-talkin', high-rolling FUCKING amazonian, dat I don't know de tricks? Look at de small letters MY ASS."

Maddox speaks tersely into the phone. "One moment." He places his mitt over the phone, stepping toward the pitfighter. "Yo. I'm authorized to advance you three kay cash money right now, taken outta your pay upon completion of your fuckin'. Your scenes. Is that acceptable? You get cash now, pussy soon, and more cash later."

Kalavati takes another step back and lifts her hands very slightly infront of herself as her grin completely fades from her face, forming into a small frown as if she were becoming nervous about the situation; her eyes locking down onto the piece of paper as he begins to crumple it up. She opens her mouth rather wide as if she were possibly going to call out or yell at the man, though she immediately holds herself back from the impulse as she practically grumbles out the words, "I'm sorry. Joo kno I don' mean nothing like that." toward the man; her head turning to the side as her partner calls out over the conversation, though she doesn't look toward him as she allows him to speak about the situation instead, apparently figuring he has a higher standing, due to not being a human.

Croc growls at her again, about to take a step forward… but then Maddox cuts in with his offer. He points. "Three thousand up front. Not a micro less. And I get a new hat, si? NEW HAT OR NO DEAL!"

Maddox nods his head. "Deal," he says to the troll. "We have a deal," he says into the phone quickly, before disconnecting the line. "Looks like we're amigos," he continues. He keeps his phone in his hand, raising it as though to take a photo, his other gloved hand reaching into a pocket and pulling a roll of scrip.

Croc will wipe some blood off his face and scribble his name on the paper, handing it over while posing for a picture.

Maddox nods, taking the photo with a minimum of fanfare… and no obnoxious clicky noise. Maybe he's turned off that feature for upskirting elves. Who knows. "Get this man a hat," he says.

«Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And so, at a cost of a mere 3000y - and a currently unspecified hat, our heroes (or at least our protagonists) have not only delivered the message, got a picture of the signing, but scored the 'get'. They have Made the Sale."

"I go get joo a hat, jes!" Kalavati tells the man as her grin re-forms onto her face, though she actually seems to be nervous, likely due to the outlandish-ness of the demand as she takes another step backward, moving away from the man. "What size joo wear?" she eagerly asks the man as she turns her body slightly to the side, apparently willing to run to the nearest store that sells troll-size clothing, "Joo want yellow? Magenta? Cyan? Black? What color?"

Croc gestures. "Black. And if it's a fuckin sombrero, I will eat joor face!"

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