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GM: Shoeshine
Players: Caine, Sheva, Kaeli
Synopsis: An introductory adventure for new players, it takes place in the 'Game' plotline. The characters come across a Johnson who is a fish out of water and just flubbed a drop via getting ambushed by ghouls, so he hires the characters to retrieve the item he needs. While the attack on the ghouls is fairly simple and involves some very lucky die rolling to spot a trap and to evade automatic rifle fire, the really interesting part are the minor moral choices, like the decisions about whether or not to save the Johnson and how, and what to do with a downed ghoul.
Date: November 16, 2073
It's a lazy Friday night with nothing to do. No stake outs, no wet work, no cunning thefts, not even any good gang shakedowns. Then comes the call from Shoeshine, a dwarf sammy with a bit of a wacky rep, who does some Johnsoning on the side. He's got another run lined up for people dumb enough to take the mission and survive. To get in on it, you go to the rent-an-office compled down on Sutter street, CAS sector, C zone. Equipment: light, is the word; and be ready to engage immediately. Hard to say how that works, but a job's a job, right?
Caine parks a few blocks away in his Brumby thats modified for his chair. He leaves his body for a little bit, doing a sweep of the area for anything out of the ordinary. If it looks clear, or at least normal, he will make his way to the meet in his hoverchair.
Kaeli climbs out of a cab a block and a half away, then starts to walk the rest of the way. She's got her coat and clothing, her staff folded up and tucked into a pocket, and her pistol tucked into her holster. She's not so concerned with looking for anything out of the ordinary, though she does do a quick visual sweep when she's half a block away from the meeting point.
CAS sector? No problem, for once. A trollish woman arrives in a beat-up Americar, wearing a tank top and jeans under a long coat, nothing terribly out of place for the toughgirl look that's eternally popular in the streets. The lumpy duffel bag slung over her shoulder is only a little bit conspicuous, but perhaps she looks like enough of a gym rat with her slablike musculature that it won't be questioned too much. Dodging traffic, she makes it to the building itself, casing the joint for security briefly, using her appearance of being a little out of place as a cover for looking around, and how she manages to whistle through tusks is anyone's guess.
«Plot» Sheva says, "I'm just checking around for the locks on the doors, if there's any cops sitting around, if the building has a security guard, basic stuff."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "It's a C security district, so on the way there you might spot a cop every half hour. The building itself has a receptionist at the front who probably has a PANICBUTTON, elevators and stairs, and basic security cameras. No visible security dude on active duty."
«Plot After The Fact» We have a discussion of concealed weapons. People check themselves, and Sheva realizes that her shotgun is ludicrously obvious to try to wear under clothes even as a troll (conceal 4). So it must be in her gym bag surrounded by clothes, and becomes a comedic point as the 'runners look around and try to spot the other 'runners. Kaeli, similarly, has a three section staff that's conceal 4 so must be coming home from kung fu class.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Intelligence for "Do I see the troll girl with the bulky gym bag?":
3 3 8 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence for "What does the cripple see?":
1 2 3 3 9 14
«OOC» Sheva is apparently the most obvious thing in creation.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "So yes, to people like you who have been in combat situations, you know to be wary of bulky gym bags like that. Could be nothing, though. Moving on:"
The complex is built along medical office lines and indeed, most of the other doors look to be advertising those services - podiatrists, dental clinics and the like. The door that was instructed for entry, however, reads 'GameStart,' and that's where Shoeshine will be when he opens the door for you all. A dapper, young (barely twenty), thickly built dwarf wearing a suit calls out, "Here they are!" to the back room, and another man says, "I've got sync, I'm ready for them." So Shoeshine will usher you all to what looks like a slightly modified medical office, with five high-grade matrix chair set-ups, like the kind that high end deckers and riggers might use - and rich people, because these have induction rigs. The man that Shoeshine called to is also there - a middle-aged fellow, human, receding hairline, who looks you over and smiles winningly. Shoeshine introduces you all. "Hi! I'm Shoeshine, and this is Piotr Mobydeux.
Mr. Mobydeux takes over with, ""I design matrix games, amongst other things, and as I've explained before, I'm working on an honest-to-goodness realistic 'Shadowrunner' game! Where, just like Karl Kombatmage and others, you take jobs, infiltrate corps, and have heroic battles against the forces of evil! And yes, we're moving into the early beta testing phase now, I'd like to see how it interacts with different kinds of real, honest-to-goodness shadowrunners."
Caine hovers along, a cripple in a fancy chair. He hits the building, taking the handicap entereance and heads in, knocking on the door when he arrives. He looks around as he listens to the pitch, a slight furrowing of his brown when its described to him. His gaze slips into the astral to take note of the room and everyone in it.
«Plot» Caine assenses everyone like a dork.
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5 for "Assensing Shoe":
1 2 3 3 5 5 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5 for "Assensing Piotr":
2 3 4 4 4 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5 for "Assensing Kaeli":
1 2 3 5 5 7 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5 for "Assensing Sheva":
2 3 4 4 5 9 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "So, in terms of Assensing: If you have set up an aura, you can send it to Caine with '+prove aura to caine'. If you have not, then if you do not have Masking, then 1-2 successes means he knows if you are mundane or Awakened, and generally if you have cyberware or not. 3+ successes means he knows the general location of your cyberware, and maybe some emotional state. And that is good for now."
Kaeli watches the troll for a couple moments, then makes her way into the building and up to the office. Once she's inside she blinks and glances around with an arched eyebrow. Then she's blinking at the offered explanation. "I see. Well, I guess I'd be happy to help. When I first saw all this gear I was wondering if I'd got the wrong place." She reaches into a pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes, then with a look at the most likely very sensitive equipment, thinks better of it and tucks them away again. "And I think you might have a somewhat idealized idea of what we do. Not that that's a bad thing. Would probably sell better that way."
The troll lady that seemingly everyone had noticed enters, and nods at the well-dressed gentlemen inside that usher her in. Well, at least it's not an upscale club they're meeting in, or anything. She doesn't seem taken by the bright smiles and fancy setups, though. As she takes a seat, that gym bag makes a noticeable thunk when put on the ground.
"What, no morality system that makes you choose between good and evil so that you can play through the game again as the villain?" She says incredulously, apparently familiar with that kind of game.
Mr. Mobydeux says, "Some of the missions will have different means of achieving their ends. And so one will be able to choose how one goes about the mission. But I'm led to believe that 'villains' aren't very active. They just go about their business and if left unmolested, hurt people, steal resources, and generally take over the world. That doesn't make for a 'shadowrun'. Does it?"
Caine chuckles "A villain is just the word the loser calls you. The actual amount of people who do bad things 'just because' is pretty rare. Now, doing bad things to achieve some gain, that's everyone."
Shoeshine leans in and says, "Should I take that as interest?"
Kaeli shakes her head and jerks a thumb at the cripple. "What he says. Villains don't see themselves as such. They think they're doing neccessary things, for the right reasons. I'm in though, if only to see what it all looks like from the outside. It's like… To me, standard security job just involves standing around for a few hours. The rare ones involve beating the crap out of someone, or a gunfight. But those are the ones people think of when you call it a shadowrun."
"We're not really here to talk about how your game works though, are we?" Sheva asks, cutting to the heart of the matter in the simple, straightforward way she has about her. Her boots shift and she crosses her legs, leaning forward a little to show interest with body language. "What kind of drek does this 'testing' entail anyway?"
Shoeshine continues cutting in, although Mobydeux nods at his words and clearly is agreeing with them. "So here's the deal. It's twenty kay per person to run the mission and properly test the scenario. You'll jack in to the game with either a jack or an induction helmet, just like you'd jack into any other Matrix game. Injuries you take inside the game will translate to injuries in the real world, so I'm here to provide instant medical support and that's why we're in a medical building. So just like black IC, you can really be hurt playing the game.
The game 'reads' you as you imagine the equipment you own, and it only lets you begin with starter gear until with every completed mission you earn an 'unlock' that you can use for more advanced stuff. Since none of you have earned any unlocks, we'll start you out on one of the intro missions."
Caine nods. "Fair enough, though I'm curious about how it reads a person." He looks around again, "I suppose I'll take an induction helmet, I have no datajack." He hits a few buttons on his chair, apparently sending some simple commands to the drone brain in it, though no one would know that unless they are familiar with the model chair.
Shoeshine fits an induction helmet to him in his own chair.
Kaeli frowns slightly and sucks on her teeth thoughtfully. "How's it translate ware over? I'm a vatjob. Is it going to lock me out of using any of it? I'm still in, but I'd like to go into it informed. And I'll jack in."
Mobydeux says, "All of your ware stays with you."
Kaeli nods her head and makes her way over to one of the chairs, settling into it and grinning. "Well! Let's get going then! Twenty thou for sitting in a chair and a doc nearby to fix up anything that happens? Too sweet to turn down."
Sheva looks increasingly incredulous. "Pretty rough for a game that Joe Corporate would play." She's wary, but if they won't be leaving this room, how shady could it really be? It did explain why they were asked to bring their gear though. "Fine. Trode me, my only datajack is a cheap-o induction." She extends her gloved hand to indicate where a smartlink pad would go."
Shoeshine rustles up an induction datajack adapter and makes contact and sync. "Ready everyone?"
Caine nods "Ready."
Kaeli grins and says, "Go for it."
Sheva conjures the ghost of some long-dead actor. "Make it so, ensign."
The place is instantly recognizable to some. It's the souk, the marketplace in the Rez. Several gangs keep it as a neutral gathering place, where enterprising folks can set up stalls and sell anything from guns to novacoke to fresh vegetables and the perennial favorite, rat-onna-stick. It appears to be late, some kind of 4-5 am time, where even the night-time crowd of those who can see in the dark have started to die down. For what reason you all are here is unknown, except that in the real world this place is on a center junction and a lot of the 'safer' paths through the Warrens run through here.
That's when the hook comes by. Stumbling in from the southeast, from the Warzone edge, is a strange-looking human - tall, slim, spare, and an albino. The clothes he's wearing, an artistically battered red Secure jacket, jeans, and boots, don't fit him well, nor do they hide the four-fingered clawtip rents on his thigh and belly. He has a smoking Browning in his hand as he stumbles in, pink eyes goggling.
Caine grimaces when he realizes where he is, a place he has seen only on the astral and on video clips. He turns his chair a bit, looking at the approaching man with the gun, then to the pair with him. He speaks quietly, "I do magic, but that's it, so I'm going to ask for your assistance if this comes to a fight."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "As you take stock of yourselves, you have the equipment you would have if you expected to go somewhere dangerous. You are limited to chargen equipment, which means Availability 8, highest rating 6, and no modified weapons. Since you are close to chargen characters, it shouldn't be a big problem. :)"
Kaeli looks around the souk and now that she's officially at work, or at least playing at it, she's taking much more time to analyze her surroundings. When Caine speaks she turns her head slightly to the side to hear him better, eyes watching the figure with the smoking gun stumbling in. "You handle the magics, I'll keep 'em off ya. I'm okay with a gun, good with my staff, and better with my fists." She lifts her chin in the direction of the strange looking human. "Judging from the wounds I would say he's not a target for us, but that he'll have info on our run."
Sheva's head swims a bit as the simulation takes over. Oh right, the Rez. They must have mapped this place out in person. The first thing she does is check what equipment she has available to her. That modded-out Spas-22 might not considered starter gear, so looks like she's been downgraded to stock. "Hey, this guy looks like the quest-giver. Wonder what would happen if we blasted him?" She grins, already trying to break the game like a good little beta-tester.
Upon checking her bag, the shiny nickel shotgun seems to be all in order. Her trollish grin broadens as she checks the breach and loads in any shells that might be missing from it's normally-full magazine tube. "Someone talk to the breeder, already."
Caine shrugs, "Let's move closer." He touches a pad on his chair, and it starts to hover towards the man. Of course, the chair also has fairly advanced sensors, which he is using to scan the area for other possible dangers.
Kaeli nods and pulls her staff out of her pockets as she starts toward the albino, doing her best to look as unthreatening as someone approaching with a weapon in hand can. "Well, if this game is well done then I would assume what happens to him is the same thing that happens when you blast anyone else." Then she's lifting a hand and calling out with a smile, "Hey there! You okay? Looks like you could use some help!"
The injured albino human appears to detect your speaking of him, and uses that as his 'in' to conversation. He politely holds the gun pointed away from you, while also having that google-eyed expression of hope on his face; that faint hope that he might actually find someone willing to help him. "Hey.. yo, my pal Johnny just got grabbed by some ghouls in the warzone and dragged into the sewers! We were making a drop but he didn't get to me in time… help me out an I'll make it worth your while!" Something about the man isn't right; his speech is too articulate and when he tries to talk 'street' it doesn't come out quite right. But he bobs his head enthusiastically at Kaeli's mention of help.
Caine arches a brow, and then nods. "Of course, we would be more than happy to help you out." He looks around for a moment, then lowers his head, whispering to himself. He begins to summon…watchers!
«Plot» Caine says, "Summoning 6 F2 Watchers. TN 4. Will roll to Shoe."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Conjuring vs TN 4 (to Shoeshine) for "No drain due to TD, summoning watcher 1":
4 5 5 7 8 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Conjuring vs TN 4 (to Shoeshine) for "No drain due to TD, summoning watcher 2":
1 1 2 5 9 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Conjuring vs TN 4 (to Shoeshine) for "No drain due to TD, summoning watcher 3":
1 5 5 5 10 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Conjuring vs TN 4 (to Shoeshine) for "No drain due to TD, summoning watcher 4":
2 4 4 9 11 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Conjuring vs TN 4 (to Shoeshine) for "No drain due to TD, summoning watcher 5":
2 2 2 3 4 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Conjuring vs TN 4 (to Shoeshine) for "No drain due to TD, summoning watcher 6":
1 4 4 8 11 = 4 Successes
Caine continues to whisper, "Come here little one, thats right, good boy…" He murmurs things for a moment before looking up. "Alright, I have some magical defenses up, they will slow down ghouls, just a little."
Kaeli arches an eyebrow at the human's speech and says, "Wow. That's… I wonder if they can hear what we say while we're in here." Then she tilts her head back and yells at the sky, "He'd have said chummer, not pal!" She shakes her head and returns her attention to the man. "We'll do what we can, I suppose. Especially since you're going to make it worth our while." She takes in his wounds then gives a small shake of her head. "Should find someone to patch you up after we head out to take care of things. First though, where's the location where your… Pal was dragged into the sewers, exactly? And you said you were making a drop. Did you complete the drop itself, or is that something else we'd have to take care of? For an additional fee."
The albino man says, "Johnny had what I needed - get his body before they eat it! It'll be on his person." Then he leans against a wall and relaxes, and like, that is it. He sinks down until his butt is on the pavement, and looks up at the lot of you blearily. (If he can see Caine's swirling watchers, he gives no note of it.)
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "If anyone has Biotech, let me know."
«Plot» Sheva says, "I have biotech."
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Biotech vs TN 4:
1 8 = 1 Success
«Plot to Sheva» He's going into shock.
Kaeli nods her had and says, "I'll take your word on that." She glances down at the albino and shakes her head slightly. "We going to come up with a plan of some sort, or just go down there, beat on ghouls until we find the body, and grab it? Which… I guess is a plan of some sort. Just not a very elegant one."
Sheva rolls her eyes and slings her gun over her shoulder by the strap. "He's going into shock. Poor little digital fragface can't handle a little boo-boo like this." She kneels and checks out his wounds, then turns back to the other two that she knows are not imaginary. "You guys want me to work on him, make sure he survives this?
Caine frowns, and slips his gaze into the digital astral to look at the guy and judge his condition. "Let me examine him a moment."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6 for "Stupid Warrens BGcount makes this nearly impossible.":
1 2 2 2 2 15 = 1 Success
Kaeli frowns and says, "I suppose we should treat this like we would a normal run. In which case we have two options from my view. Fix him up enough that he'll be alive to pay us when we've done the job, or geek him now and loot his corpse."
The albino human (now that she's close she can see his particularly uncalloused hands - this game is very lifelike) feebly tries to wave Sheva off and point down towards the Warzone, presumably to the location where Johnny was last seen fighting ghouls.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Now, realistically, you know he could pass out and die if left unattended and uncared for, as per his symptoms."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "His astral form even indicates that."
Caine frowns, "Maybe what he needs is his inhaler, or some medical thing in the game. It's a fetch quest right? Let's just go get the thing, we are being paid to test, not to win. At least no one said we had to win."
Sheva pulls a battered but functional medkit from her ubiquitous gym bag. "I still wonder what would have happened if we would have blown his dumb white head off before he gave us the run…" The Expert system springs to life, a trideo of a bespectacled young man in a labcoat walking Sheva through the process of treating wounds and shock. "Come to think of it, his drekhead friend might get chewed to death in the time I'm spending working on him…" She rolls her eyes even harder at Caine at that. "That's metagame thinking. Bad sportsmanship, chummer." She turns back to the albino, tearing a bit of sterile gauze off with the tip of her tusk. "How about you two go get started, I won't take five minutes." She looks back one last time with a big, shit-eating grin. "I'll catch up. Promise."
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Biotech (First Aid):
1 2 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls 3 for "Medkit rating complimentary roll":
1 2 4
Kaeli arches a brow at Caine, then looks down at the wounds the albino has. "I don't think an inhaler would help with claw marks like that. But I'm not a doc. I dunno if they're what's wrong with him, or if it's something else. It's up to you, Miss Horns." She turns and stretches starting to walk toward the warzone. "I'm going to go on ahead. See if I can find these ghouls."
Caine shakes his head. "No, wait, I'll search if you guard my body. I'll do this astrally, just be sure to keep me safe." He looks around, for someplace with good cover.
«Plot» Caine says, "Is there a place I can park my chair where it's hard to hit me with gunfire?"
The first and most obvious thing to do is make sure he's not bleeding, then keep him warm, then elevate his feet so his head doesn't lack blood. Cleaning out the wounds and patching them takes about a half-minute, then all you have to do is arrange his jacket so he's sitting on that and not on the concrete which will leech the heat from his body. Then prop his feet up on a box, and now he looks like a bedraggled albino hobo. So it really doesn't take much time and Sheva can easily catch up with any walking.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Right here seems just fine for parking your chair. Once you get into the Warzone, things get dangerous. As for Kaeli scouting ahead, you can give me a perception check on Int."
Kaeli waves over her shoulder and continues walking. "Miss Horns can watch you while you do that! I don't think you're in any real danger there!" Then she's continuing on to scout ahead.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Intelligence:
3 4 5 11
Caine grimaces, parking against a wall next to the guy. "I'll go with her, I'm a bit more powerful outside this body." He then takes a moment to summon a city spirit, namely to protect his body here.
«Plot» Caine says, "Summoning F3 City spirit to guard my body."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Conjuring vs TN 5 for "Summoning with BGcount":
1 2 2 10 11 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Caine says, "No drain, trauma damper."
«Plot» Caine says, "Commanding City spirit to guard my physical body, and the troll. Then I'll project to follow Kaeli with my watchers."
Why, there it is - Kaeli can spot it from like a block away. Signs of a struggle being spatters of blood, a dead ghoul chunked up against a wall with several bullet wounds to the chest and a big one to the head; and drag marks towards an opened sewer grating. Not exactly hiding it, these ghouls. Then again, they do call it the Warzone for a reason.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "And by this time Sheva is done with the first aid. So we have a treated albino Johnson who is not going to die of shock, Caine and his chair, unconscious, and a city spirit with them ordered to guard. The rat-onna-stick guy doesn't come over and poke them with a stick. And you can all form up with Kaeli, astrally and so forth."
Sheva watches as the resident finger-wiggler conjures a spirit. She seems rather nonplussed by the supernatural show, staring at the elemental in the 'eyes' for a minute, before giving it a high-five. Then, she's off in the loping, energy-saving jog that makes her boots clomp impressively on broken asphalt. "Let's go fuck something up," She exhorts to Kaeli, folding the skeleton stock of her Spas out for extra stability.
Caine manifests, that means he is a ghostly form of himself, but wearing long black hooded robes. "Alright, I can fight like this. Let's hope no one kills my body in the meantime." His watchers circle around him, and he gives them orders. "Two per person, help them fight off anything dual natured attacking them."
Kaeli stares at the area, stopping with enough distance between her and it that, she hopes, she'll be able to react to any surprises coming at her from that sewer entrance. When the troll clomps up behind her she grins and says, "Lets. Preferably multiple somethings. Suddenly and violently!" Then she's starting toward the sewer grating, idly twirling one of the sections of her staff as she goes.
Do sewers in the real world actually come in sizes like this? I mean, it's huge, like a movie, even the troll is walking fine. Now, the smell, that's another thing. Amazingly realistic, that smell; a little filth, a little death, a good bit of water because the wet weather in the fall keeps the water moving, and the sharp tang of fresh blood. Ah, there, that's a little more realistic - smaller side passages, and 32 inch storm drain pipes feeding into this large central hallway and into the smaller side passages, down which the blood trail leads.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "And perception checks."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence for "Astral form":
2 3 3 3 4 4
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 for "the stealth of the prepared ghouls":
2 5 5 5 8
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Intelligence for "Perception test":
3 3 4 4
«OOC» Sheva says, "we suck."
«OOC» Shoeshine says, "Kaeli can save us all!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 3 3
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence for "Trying again, KP:1":
1 1 3 4 4 4
«OOC» Caine says, "Ohh dear lord."
«OOC» Sheva says, "Well you tried. You had the best chance of us."
Sheva appreciates the attention to detail, pushing her goggles down over her eyes for the added night-vision and clicking the flashlight active on her shotgun. She holds the weapon far out of the water, just in case someone has thought to model weapon-fouling to this game.
Maybe it's something about how you were all distracted at the possible unreality of this fanciful sewer system (it's actually a model of reality, although not much of it is this large), or the feel of the gunk on your boots, or the remarkable smell, or the lavishly recreated wipe of blood trail that you're following. And while night vision helps, and so does astral vision, the damn ghouls are on top of you before you notice. Only after they are in amongst you do you realize - at least one or two were on the ceiling, concealed by edges and corners, and more were in the passageways and storm drains with flanges prepared for them to lever themselves out of. And the blood trail is specifically designed to drag anyone following through this ambush point.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Now, there is a reaction roll here, actually. But they were waiting for you to trigger, and you did not see them, so the reaction is their reaction on a TN 2 and your reaction on a TN 6. it is possible for you to beat them, actually, and a serious speed kills sammy might be able to with karma rerolls. I will do it just for the form of the thing:"
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 vs TN 2 for "because they have low reaction":
1 2 3 3 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Reaction vs TN 6:
1 1 3 3 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Reaction vs TN 6:
1 3 3 4 4 5 5 11 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6 for "Astral reactions":
1 1 1 1 3 5 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Inits! You will all lose your first action."
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Initiative with a result of 16.
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls 1 for "+26 init….astral fast! Wheeeeee!":
11
«Plot» Caine has 32 init.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Initiative with a result of 10.
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 1 for "+4 for the ghouls.":
5
«Plot» Caine 32, Sheva 16, Kaeli 10, Ghouls 9."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Here in the first pass, it is: Caine - this is the action he loses. Sheva - this is the action she loses. Kaeli - this is the action she loses. Ghouls."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Three of the ghouls target three of the watchers:"
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 4 for "Against watcher 4, who can only defend with combat pool soaking":
1 1 1 2 3 3 4 9 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 - 2 vs TN 4 for "Against watcher 4, who can only defend with combat pool soaking kp1":
2 2 3 3 4 7 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "6m with 4 successes to watcher 4 makes 6d."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls 2 vs TN 6 for "Watcher soak?":
1 2 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Caine says, "Dead."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 4 for "Against watcher 5":
1 2 2 3 4 4 8 10 = 4 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Stand, 6d"
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls 2 vs TN 6 for "Wha?":
1 7 = 1 Success
«Plot» Caine says, "Still dead"
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 4 for "Against watcher 6":
1 2 2 3 3 4 8 8 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 - 3 vs TN 4 for "Against watcher 6 kp1 and only":
1 2 3 5 5 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Stand on 6d to watcher 6."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls 2 vs TN 6 for "Yea, no":
5 10 = 1 Success
«Plot» Three watchers down. The remaining 3 go against PCs, who each have 1 watcher with them, so they get Friends in Melee. They also get to defend with hand to hand (or Sorcery) skills, though they don't counterattack for damage and can't add combat pool to the defense roll.
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 5 for "Against Caine: the tn is 5 because this ghoul is fighting Caine and 1 watcher as per friends in melee":
1 1 3 3 4 10 11 11 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 - 3 vs TN 5 for "Against Caine: the tn is 5 because this ghoul is fighting Caine and 1 watcher as per friends in melee kp 1":
3 3 3 4 4 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Excellent. 3 successes, over to you"
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery vs TN 3 for "FIMM makes my TN 3.":
1 1 2 2 4 5 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery - 2 vs TN 3 for "FIMM makes my TN 3. KP:2":
5 5 8 9 = 4 Successes
«Plot» Caine says, "Standing on 6. (Should be unhurt)."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 5 for "Against Kaeli":
1 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 - 4 vs TN 5 for "Against Kaeli kp 1":
1 2 3 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Ninjitsu - 1 vs TN 3 for "Defending against ghouls with helpers.":
2 3 3 3 5 11 = 5 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "You also skillfully avoid surprise damage."
«Plot After The Fact» We have a discussion of the best uses of troll reach and Sheva decides to raise the enemy TN. Sheva will be using the buttstock of her SPAS-22 with the Clubs skill in defense.
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 6 for "tn 4, +1 friends in melee, +1 troll reach":
1 2 2 4 5 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 6 for "tn 4, +1 friends in melee, +1 troll reach kp1":
1 1 2 2 3 5 5 13 = 1 Success
«OOC» Sheva says, "fucking WORTH IT."
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Clubs vs TN 3:
1 4 4 5 5 = 4 Successes
«OOC» Shoeshine says, "Wisely decided. :)"
Whatever that Mr. Mobydeux fellow may have thought of you, this is the time that you show what a shadowrunner is made of. Surprised, surrounded, fragging swarmed, this is when a normal person would curl up and die, clawed to death by a thousand cuts. Not this crew. The first line of watchers provides just enough warning in moments of dead for the summoning of magical energies, the lowering of weight and wily body angulation, and just plain battering back onrushing hordes to give you all that precious moment of breathing room.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Second pass. Caine. I will mention that there are now 6 ghouls all in amongst you, and there are 3 PCs and 3 watchers. No one has any friends in melee bonuses any more."
«Plot» Caine says, "Using Sorcery to fight, doing a Multi-strike."
«Plot» Caine says, "First target, TN 4. Second Target, TN 6"
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 4 for "First Target. KP 2/5 used.":
1 2 3 4 5 9 10 10 11 = 6 Successes
«Plot» Caine says, "STanding"
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + Combat Pool: 2 vs TN 4 for "defending":
1 2 3 4 5 17 = 3 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "6s to me:"
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 6:
1 2 2 3 4 4 8 = 1 Success
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "he takes serious. Next."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 3 vs TN 6 for "more!":
2 3 8 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Combat Pool: 6 vs TN 6 for "Base TN 4, +2 Second Target. KP: 2/5, CP: 9/9 used.":
1 1 1 1 1 2 3 4 4 5 8 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Combat Pool: 6 vs TN 6 for "Base TN 4, +2 Second Target. CP: 9/9 used. KP:3/5":
1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 10 16 16 = 3 Successes
«Plot» Caine stands on 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + Combat Pool: 2 vs TN 4 for "he is wily with the dice":
1 2 2 3 3 8 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 6:
1 2 2 4 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "And he is dead. Pose it up!"
Caine is not bound by the laws of physics, so his glowing astral form looks like all crouching tiger hidden dragon. He flips into the air and slams an astral hand glowing with sorcerous energy against one ghoul's head, sending it staggering to the side. Then he completes his spin and a foot, also glowing with charged energy passes through the next ghoul's head, the physical body crumpling to the ground.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Sheva, you are next. You are in hand to hand. If you wish to shoot, you are point blank, and you take +2 tn for being in HTH."
«Plot» Sheva says, "I intend to shoot the nearest anyway. I have a bunch of vision mods that probably shouldn't matter in this close range, and smartlink. I'm firing Burstfire ExEx."
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Shotguns + Combat Pool: 1 vs TN 4 for "+2 TN for being in melee, -2 for Smartlink":
1 2 3 4 5 5 = 3 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "That is 15S+3 successes I think, being a SPAS-22 with exex. Against a poor ghoul."
«OOC» Sheva says, "There is no kill like overkill."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 15 for "ghouls not wear armor bad!":
3 3 4 5 5 8 9 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "He will be chunky salsa; now on your second burst, this has to be a stock SPAS-22 in the game. So you have only 1 point of recoil comp and this will be the 6 shots, which means +5 uncompensated recoil. If your STR is 6, +4, if 12 then +2."
«Plot After The Fact» Shotguns in burst fire take double recoil, this is listed under 'Recoil' but not listed under 'Shotguns.' So this is actually +10 recoil on the stock weapon, not +5. So we get it a little wrong. It's okay because all it means is that there would have been another ghoul at the end to crush - once the number of ghouls are so drastically cut the characters are no longer in great danger.
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Shotguns + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 10 for " tn 4, -2 smartlink, +2 melee, +2 second target, +5 recoil, -1 strength is TN 10 (but really TN 15)":
2 2 3 4 4 4 4 9 13 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 15 for "I've hit two fifteens before!":
1 3 4 4 5 7 10 = 0 Successes
Sheva shows Ghouls why they shouldn't run up on someone this size with a shotgun. One approaches for another attack and Sheva calmly sticks the barrel in his mouth. The triple thudthudthud of 12gauge fire leaves the ghoul without anything above the jaw in over-exaggerated gore effects. Another tries his luck and the troll adjusts her aim, stitching two puckered bullet wounds into his chest and the third of the burst blowing out the side of his face. A mist of disturbingly well-rendered gore slowly floats to the water below. "Don't frag with this, zombies."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "third pass. Caine. Friends in Melee is now two to one your favor."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery vs TN 3 for "Astral punch!":
1 1 2 2 11 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery - 2 vs TN 3 for "Astral punch! KP:4":
3 3 5 7 = 4 Successes
«Plot» Caine says, "STanding on 6"
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + Combat Pool: 2 vs TN 5:
1 2 2 3 4 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 6 for "against 6d":
1 1 2 2 3 5 10 = 1 Success
Caine doesn't have to worry about being hit by the shotgun, he is just an astral form. He spins around, throwing a fist full of energy into the chest of another ghoul and watching it explode on the astral, the creature staggering back and falling to the ground.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "and fourth pass, Caine again Now Friends in Melee is three to one."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery vs TN 2 for "Attacking, -2 for FIMM":
1 3 3 3 4 4 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + Combat Pool: 2 vs TN 9 for "it's the seriously wounded one":
1 3 4 4 5 9 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 6:
2 2 3 4 8 9 17 = 3 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "And when I get lucky, it dies too. :*("
Caine is a spirit, a form, an astral blur, again he pours his own energies into his limbs and tears those same energies from another ghoul. It's almost too fast to see, this one staggers back from him, then falls.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Because that is the end of the round. New Inits, and all combat pools refresh, including theirs. However, let us be kind and simply do Kaeli on the last ghoul, whom she outnumbers 6 to one, but there is a max of 4 on friends in melee, so let's go 4 to one, for Kaeli tn 2, and bad guy TN 8."
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Whips + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 2 for "Lets try doing it right this time, Kaeli…":
1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 5 17 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 + Combat Pool: 6 vs TN 10 for "full defense!":
2 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 8 9 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "so that is 10m stun damage from the staff, the first 4 successes stage up to 10d, the next 2 stage up to 11d."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 11:
2 2 3 5 5 5 7 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "He is unconscious and you may pose the cleanup and finish."
Kaeli watches, as much as she can in the frenzy of combat, as Caine and Sheva take out most every ghoul attacking. When all's said and done, however, there's a single ghoul left standing. And so without any preamble or showy moves, Kaeli gives her staff a spin, then snaps one arm out, causing the end to swing striking the ghoul in the temple. Kaeli snaps her arm back, catching the end of the flexible staff and glancing around. "So. We have one left alive. Do we try waking it to see if it is one of the ones that remained sane? Or just geek it now and keep going? Only we don't know what sort of maze these sewers are."
His injured body breathes feebly and might possess information… but the blood trail also beckons. Of course, the blood trail led you right into this trap.
Caine looks around, then shakes his head. "It's a game, likely they wouldn't want to put in a sentinent ghoul, seeing as that's like beating up an autistic kid or something. The guy said they had taken something from his buddies. I can't see objects well from the astral. Let's find the item we came for."
"Ever had a concussion? There's no 'waking up' out of that." Sheva points out, leaving ghoul-blood spatters over her goggles. "I say we keep going, but pay better attention this time." She reaches into a pocket and begins pushing shells into the breech of her SPAS, refilling the magazine where the bright green cases, exploding slugs had been spent. She takes point, paying closer attention to things now. The ghouls had emerged from particular fluted pipes and such, so she's keeping an especially close eye on ones that look the same, in case a programmer has gotten lazy and copy/pasted the 'ambush pipes' from the previous section.
Kaeli shrugs her shoulders and crouches down by the ghoul. Her fingers sprout curved metallic claws, which the elf then proceeds to use to grip the ghoul's throat, then tugs, silvered claws tearing the flesh. She stares at her now blood soaked hands then stands, claws retracting again. "All right then!" Kaeli exclaims with a smile. "Let's keep going. They're probably going to be watching for us, what with the shotgun blasts."
Caine nods "Alright, moving ahead then, find the human body, get the item, get back to the dying man." He moves ahead with the others, and his remaining watchers in tow.
The blood trail continues, now leading down one of the narrower passageways. It's not cramped enough to penalize a troll, though it is enough to make shoulders hunch. In the distance, light-sensitive eyes can see some; an indication of habitation in the darkness, perhaps around one or two corners. It's no wonder that about that time…
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 for "This is a demolitions-based stealth, actually":
1 2 2 2 3
«OOC» Shoeshine laughs at himself.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "TN 3 perception, tn 7 for Caine."
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 7:
2 2 3 4 5 11 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Intelligence vs TN 3 for "Perception.":
3 3 3 5 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Intelligence vs TN 3:
1 2 2 4 = 1 Success
In this case, it's not more ghouls leaping out of storm drains and dropping from the ceiling. But the paranoia is well placed. It's a patch of detritus that is too artfully built up, concealing something that's small, round, metallic, and with a little charging handle. It's an old-school grenade, and that leads one to see the clear fishing line stringing across to the other side, just above the occasional water. Even Caine, who would have a hard time seeing something like this from the astral, gets it because it has an emotional charge, and it glows - it's a recently lain trap and it holds that aura. (This game IS realistic.)
Caine is visible, and holds out a hand, pointing. "Grenade, and it's recent. Still some intent lingering on it. Someone is ahead of us, perhaps an intelligent ghoul."
Kaeli crouches down to peer at the grenade and wire and says, "Yeah. Look. They used fishing line as a tripwire. How quaint! I vote we take the grenade and use it against them."
"Heh. Do they even make grenades that look like this anymore?" Sheva asks, stretching out her long legs to step over the tripwire. "No touchy-touchy. We don't know how sensitive that thing is, and I don't like our chances of disarming it." Everyone seems to have noticed it judging by the eyes drawn to it, letting Kaeli do with it what she will.
On closer look, it does appear to be contact-based - it explodes after it is released and when it hits the next surface. So if you stepped on or across the wire, the tug jerks it into the corridor, it falls a few inches, and blammp at foot level. It's pretty old, true, but still quite the wounder. Especially here in an enclosed hallways for the chunky salsa effect.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Pose your step-overs, you all, then roll Stealth."
Caine nods "Ok, well, let's expect more ghouls, and maybe a smart one. So, can you just wait ahead so I can go back and get more watchers?"
Kaeli continues to stare at the grenade, drumming her fingers against her leg. Then she sighs and straightens up. "It would have been so fun too. Ah well." She steps over the wire then and glances at Caine. "I dunno… That guy looked pretty bad. Miss Horns, how good do you think your healing was? Long enough that we can wait for him getting more watchers?"
Caine shrugs. "Let's just move ahead, and hope there isn't a horde."
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Stealth for "!":
1 4 8 10
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Stealth:
1 1 3 3 4 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Stealth for "Um, heh, from the astrally glowing dude.":
4
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 for "Really, I want to beat 9 or 10, it's a much easier justification":
2 2 3 3 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 for " kp1 to be less lame":
1 2 4 5 9
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "There we go. Now I can claim not to be surprised. :)"
Sheva was a little annoyed by the nickname at first, but now she's starting to like it. "Whitey up there was a pussy. He'll be fine." She shrugs, callous, but then she does know he was just a computer construct and not an actual person.
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 for "enemy stealth":
1 2 4 5 5
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "and you all can perceive at tn 5 and tell me your marching order."
«Auto-Judge[]» Sheva (#8527) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5 for "Eyeballs, go":
4 5 5 7 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5:
1 1 2 15 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Intelligence vs TN 5:
1 2 2 4 5 5 = 2 Successes
Yes, ghouls breathe. Ghouls also make noise when they drag bodies. And when they stop to eat some off the body because a ghoul is always hungry, gnawing at their insides, it never stops, they are like sieves that cannot be filled, hungry hungry hungry, and now there are more of you! But you are clearly dangerous, having defeated his crew of influenced ghouls and kept on the trail. So he sets up under cover at the corner, down a somewhat long hallway - long at least for a sewer but not long for his AK-97. And gets ready for your to walk around. Although he uses his clawed fingers to grab a snack from time to time, and that may be his undoing.
«Plot After The Fact» At this point Sheva has to go, and gives over proxy rights. She ends up forcing the bad guy to expend his tactical resources.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "So what we have now is a situation where everyone knows where everyone is and how and why. The bad guy, the smart ghoul, is 20 meters down a corridor, at a corner, braced, laying in wait with an AK and the target body that you have to rescue. You guys have gotten to the corner and just barely glimpsed around it, without giving him a target. So you know that he knows, and he knows that you know, and we all are very knowledgeable people. (Although he paid a karma to know.)"
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Okay! Inits!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 2 for "+6 ghoul":
4 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 2 for "+7 sheva":
2 3
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Initiative with a result of 11.
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Initiative with a modifier of +22 with a result of 27.
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls 1 for "+22":
1
«Plot» Caine says, "Watchers on 23"
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Caine 27, watchers 23, ghoul 16, Sheva 12, kaeli 11"
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Caine!"
Caine raises a hand, pointing at the ghoul. "Minons, attack!"
«Plot After The Fact» We look up the running speed of the Force 2 watcher minions (you can't use superfast astral movement for tactical motion in combat) and discover that they go 4x their quickness/intelligence, which is 2. Which means they go 8 meters in a full round. Won't be there for 9 seconds. We laugh about Caine summoning substandard watchers, but force 2 is all he can do right now.
The weak, slow, lame spirits head across. The ghoul is too smart to shoot them. But he sees what's coming, that's for sure.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Ghoul's turn! He draws an impact grenade and throws it down to try and hit the wall of your corridor. Good thing you guys are at a corner because you have places to jump and hide and stuff."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 1 for "1d6 scatter":
7
«OOC» Shoeshine says, "Good for you again."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 4 vs TN 5 for "Throwing roll, saving my cp":
1 2 5 8 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "2 meters per success, so that is 3 meters away from you all. '1' is the optimum scatter direction for you, means it impacted around the corner from you and no shrapnel comes your way."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 1 for "direction of scatter":
1
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Harrumph! It would be hard to imagine that coming out better for you."
The grenade impacts the wall; the corner of which you haven't gotten to poke your heads around. This is the curse of speed - if the ghoul had been slower, you'd have come out to shoot him and gotten picked off! But as it is, he's made a massive cloud of ear-ringing shrapnel and filled the hallways with smoke. Yes, smoke. It's like he's playing into your plans.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Sheva! Sheva will hold her action and ready to shoot him if he pops out. What this means is that if Kaeli runs down the hall and the ghoul shoots, Sheva will countershoot over the top of her.."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "And Kaeli."
Kaeli winces at the sound of the grenade going off, then peeks around the corner. At seeing the normal smoke of the grenade filling the enclosed hallway of the sewer she makes up her mind and starts to dash toward the ghoul.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) has the Attribute Quickness with the value '7 (11)'.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Athletics vs TN 4:
1 2 2 3 3 4 4 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "So with that roll, your quickness for the turn is 13. You run 13x3 meters in the turn, and this turn has 3 passes, so this pass you run 13 meters. Covered only by the smoke from his devastating fire."
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Second pass! Caine!"
«Plot» Caine says, "Rush the guy. I move 24 total. Apparently I'm slower than the sammy, even astral. Yeesh."
Caine flashes forward, not that fast, but hey, he is trying not to make that weird astral quantum leap.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "On 16, the ghoul exposes himself slightly to shoot. Sheva unleashes a burst from cover at the corner with her readied action. Unfortunately, she too is messed up by smoke, but she's a troll with thermo vision, and strangely enough, thermo vision goes through light smoke. Even heavy smoke if natural, which this is."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 7 for "tn 5 for medium range, -2 smartlink +4 cover":
1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 7 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 6 vs TN 5 for "ghoul goes for full dodge, tn 5 against burst fire":
2 2 3 4 4 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 6 vs TN 5 for "ghoul goes for full dodge, tn 5 against burst fire kp2":
4 4 4 4 5 15 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 6 - 2 vs TN 5 for "ghoul goes for full dodge, tn 5 against burst fire kp4":
3 3 5 9 = 2 Successes
Sheva attempts a near impossible snap-shot, so there's really no complaining about it. But the ghoul does have to scarper back and release his commanding grip on Johnny's dead body there, not to mention fumbling with his rifle.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "And now the ghoul can actually shoot! Although he is low on the combat pool. He has to spend his first simple action re-readying his weapon, because he took a hand off it to draw and throw a grenade, and he doesn't have the tactical strap that keeps it readied when he does that."
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 8 for "tn 4 close range with assault rifle, -2 smartlink, +4 light smoke, +2 target running":
1 1 2 2 3 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 8 for "tn 4 close range with assault rifle, -2 smartlink, +4 light smoke, +2 target running kp5 last kp":
2 3 4 5 5 5 9 10 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "That is 8m base, a 3-round burst makes it 11S+2 successes. To fully dodge, you need three successes just with dodge pool, at TN 5 because it is a three-round burst. Similar to what he just did to Sheva."
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Combat Pool: 8 vs TN 5 for "Full dodge attempt.":
1 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Combat Pool: 8 - 2 vs TN 5 for "Full dodge attempt reroll KP:1.":
2 2 3 4 4 5 = 1 Success
The ghoul's rounds slice through the air, his recon by fire failing. Must be he's startled by not having hearing protection too - that or the spinng run through the smoke is confusing him.
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "And Kaeli, end of the second pass. You move the next 13 meters, which means your total is 26, which means you are actually around his corner and in back of him or where-ever you might want to be."
«Auto-Judge[]» Kaeli (#11391) rolls Ninjitsu + Combat Pool: 1 vs TN 4 for "I am NINJA":
1 2 2 3 4 4 4 11 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 for "He used up all his combat pool dodging Sheva and shooting":
1 3 4 5 10
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 5 for "8m stun minus 3 for secure jacket":
2 3 3 4 5 5 9 = 3 Successes
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "he takes Light Stun! But you have damaged him and started the wound penalties spiral!
«Plot» Shoeshine says, "Caine! Third pass, you move in!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Caine (#7926) rolls Sorcery + Combat Pool: 6 vs TN 3 for "FIMM bonus, magic death punch!":
1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 5 vs TN 6 for "tn 4, +1 friends in melee, +1 Kaeli injured me, wound penalty, makes this gross":
1 2 2 3 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Shoeshine (#844) rolls 7 vs TN 6 for "against Deadly, no astral armor means tn 6":
1 2 2 4 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
Caine flys after Kaeli and the AK-wielding ghoul. He raises a hand, mana gathering around it as he shoves the fist into the ghouls face and discharges it Dragonball-Z style. The explosion reverberates through the ghoul's aura, and he falls.
Sheva follows up a moment later, to help with the securing of the body. It takes but a moment to get to his cache of grenades, and his nice-looking, gas-vented AK. And, of course, there's the body of poor Johnny, a razorboy of some sort, with gougy handfuls of flesh ripped out of him and shoved into maw, revealing the skillwires running along his limbs, and some of the other telltale neural enhancements. Nothing you would call special or important on his clothes, so.. oh. There it is. It's in his chipjack, and it's gluebonded there, like cops will do to you. Even from here, that chip looks nonstandard. Could be anything, but whatever it is, that must be what the albino wanted.
Caine looks around. "Dude's dead, take his head. We need to get back before the other guy dies, especially for that unlock crap the designer talked about. Let's go."
Kaeli tilts her head as she considers the dead ghoul before saying, "Think they need to scale the difficulty up." Then she's turning to the mutilated body of Johnny. She kneels down and studies him, then pokes at the chipjack. "Looks to be stuck in there pretty good. Let's just take the whole body back. Would outside the game, so as to try and salvage skillwires and whatever other ware he had." And with that the elf moves to try lifting the body, justing her various modifications to help her with that.
Caine nods. "Alright, let's get out of here. I can't stay like this forever." He hovers down the path, heading back. "Don't forget to step over the grenade."
Kaeli coughs and winces. "Right. Would have forgot 'bout that. Thanks."
It's easy enough with the two of you in physical bodies to bring the whole body back. And to step over the grenade. By the time you get back to the albino, a beat up black panel van is just arriving, and two dudes with shotguns come out to watch over him and over Caine's body (and spirit). They even brought Pentabucks coffee. Just goes to show what happens if you leave a Johnson lying in a ditch with his pocsec.
Is he faking the sincerity, or is he really sincere? Or is he just a computer program? It sure looks real when he says, "Thanks. I owe you. I'll make sure you get paid.. and like I always say, a chance for more pay is the best way I can show my appreciation. That and a few special gifts."
When you get into the panel van and close it, that appears to be the loading screen, because that's when you wake up with Shoeshine and Mr. Mobydeux. They are happy enough to pay you for real. "Do you want to know how you did?"
Caine rubs his head a moment as he pulls off the trodes. "How we did? What's that mean, we got a score?"
Kaeli stands up and arches her body in a stretch. "We got through your little game without any of us taking a scratch. Besides those watchers, but they don't count." She grins and says, "Few issues though. You really need to get someone to teach whoever is writing dialog to speak street."
Mr. Mobydeux says, "In this one, at least," drily. His eyes have a bit of a twinkle in them. "You were perfectly safe, but the little lady here got a 65 percent chance of picking up Krieger-strain HMHVV, the ghoul virus, from her little stunt ripping out the throat of the downed fellow. Never touch them, and always wear a face mask." To Sheva he says, "Your exposure was rated about 20 percent from aspiration of the shotgun impact blood flecks."
In answer to Kaeli he says, "Ah, you caught that. That's actually intentional. The Johnson is supposed to be a fish out of water in the Warrens, that's a clue. He's actually more comfortable in higher-end situations, and he leads you into those situations in the game."
Caine chuckles. "The Kreiger was something I considered, but then again, we are beta testers right? So catching the virus would be good, let you know how the code works."
Shoeshine , for his part, is just happy he didn't have to first aid anyone up this time! He makes sure every one gets paid and packed off.
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