Log: If You're Going To Fire A Missile...

GM: Mr. Terrific Players: Argos, Crowe, Denton Synopsis: The runners take a wetwork job against a Johnson who didn't pay. Their firepower is right but their skills need some work.. and they don't know who they're dealing with. Date: Dec. 24, 2071 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "You are being given an OOC choice. You can choose either a 45k wetwork mission which means it will be very difficult, or you can choose a 25k brutality mission, which will be less difficult. What do you choose?" «Plot» Argos says, "Killing is one thing, doing it in a cruel way that may or may not involve torture is another… I vote for the harder wetwork mission." «Plot» Crowe says, "Don't care. I don't have guns. Stealth build. That's pretty cruel considering I kill people by stabbing them." «Plot» Crowe says, "A lot." «Plot» Denton says, " Wetwork mission sounds good to me." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So I am hearing agreement on the very difficult 45k wetwork mission, then. I require your consent. You have been warned that this is a very dangerous adventure, you intend to kill someone, and you're okay with it." «Plot» Crowe says, "Yep. I consent." «Plot» Argos says, "I consent" «Plot» Denton says, "I consent" The call goes out on the sly. This one isn't broadcast. It goes to select individuals. And you appear to be the select. Meet at the Last Chance Saloon, and yes, that's in the Warzone, thank you very much. If you can't get there, you can't get to the mission. Yes, it is wet work, why do you ask? And it's the best kind of wet work, too. At least that's what they say. So if you're an Injun, you gotta wear a bag over your head - the owner's been paid a number with some zeroes in it to look t'other way. Croweface takes the bus as far as he can, as that's the most efficient way to not get shot or mugged coming down the street. The taxis, the few if any, are probably even worse. A torn jacket and some crappy clothes cover the runner's body, and perhaps better, his freak legs. When in the Warrens, dress like the warrens. Don't carry a penny or anything you don't want stolen. After the jitney-bus arrival at the closest point to the saloon in the Rez, Crowe is deposited. While on foot, Crowe avoids wide open areas and sticks to the shadows while maintain an air of sensibility to avoid packs of ghouls or random gunfire. Crowe is just another random insane bum rolling the Warrens, but if he can not be detected at all, all the better until he arrives at the saloon. Argos lives on the edge of the Rens, so yeah, he can get there. He doesn't much like the idea, so he makes sure he has his Thunderbolt on him with a few spare clips in case something goes wrong… and from what he's heard about the Last Chance Saloon, it could very well end up just like that. He opts for public transportation as well, not wanting to have to worry about his bike since he can't afford to pay a few gangers to watch it for him. Argos can only get to the Rez by jitney-bus, frowning as he forgot all about having to get through the Warzone. Orcs and elves, and neither all that friendly to anyone not one of them. Stealth is not something he's good at, nor does he have much money, or even a familiarity with the place. Maybe he /should/ have taken his bike and just sped through… More jobs need to allow Deckers to just pop in through a screen or something! Argos shrugs and heads back to his apartment… and gets his damned bike. He'll risk it for now. If nothing else, its got enough speed to get the frag away from anything or anyone that might try to geek him. So he starts it up… and just drives his own vehicle to the frakking meet. Whether through innocence or insanity, this time he makes it - in style. The meeting place that Denton has been invited to is not somewhere that he, or any sane person, wishes to be. Just getting there is to be a nightmare in and of itself. Fortunately, Denton lives within the Warrens and has for many years. They are his very own stomping grounds and he has frequented the Last Chance a number of times in the past. Of course, the place is a warzone and getting into it and through it alive is not an easy task. Unless you are invisible. Denton suits up in his very own stealth suit, packs some high powered hand guns, a few grenades and some other goodies and makes his way on foot using his knowledge of the area to choose routes that will likely take him through the few areas that aren't being bombed or shot. The Last Chance Saloon is known for being an anything-goes kind of place. The sign says 'No Injuns Allowed' and has an old wooden indian with a combat axe stuck in the head. It's dolled up Western-style, with the two swinging-doors to step in. It has stuffed and mounted heads of fabulous real and mythical animals on the walls. It is in the middle of the Warzone - the warzone is a decrepit destroyed open air shopping mall that happened to sit at the juncture of like 7 gangs so all the other gangs have to cross it to hurt one another not to mention the ghouls who live in the basement of said shopping mall. And in the middle of it all is the Last Chance Saloon, a place widely known to have the owner who is the toughest sonofabitch in the valley - and to be a place where people go to have a kill at one another all friendly-style. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 12 vs TN 7 for "Another piece of color.": 1 1 1 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 9 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 12 - 1 vs TN 7 for "Another piece of color. kp1": 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 9 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "You may make Int rolls, TN 6, you need 2 successes." «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6: 1 3 5 9 10 11 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6 for "Rolls.": 1 1 3 4 5 9 10 = 2 Successes Inside the Last Chance, they have a new stuffed and mounted unicorn head on the wall. That was probably the bribe to allow within the person you see: A hook-nosed craggy-faced ork in his forties, wearing stereotypical Ork Shaman kind of gear. But he's taken off the headdress and the torc and the beads and shells he usually wears, the ones that would make him out to be Cascade Ork or Cascade Crow. Not today, not here in the Saloon. And without that headdress he doesn't look like much of an indian at all. Maybe that's why he's getting away with it. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 for "And since you two blew through the Improved Invisibility spell, beat Stealth to spot the hidden guy.": 1 2 3 4 5 5 5 8 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Tn 8, perception check." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Intelligence vs TN 8 for "Perc check": 1 1 2 2 3 4 9 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Intelligence vs TN 8: 1 4 4 5 5 9 = 1 Success (The ork hiding in the shadows behind the bar should also be mentioned. He has on heavy Warrens-style layered armor. That means he's personally enhanced enough to wear it. And while he has a gun, he has a monofilament whip rigged up at his waist for quickdraw like a samurai doing iaijutsu. Your eyes swim when you pick him out, and he has that telltale shimmer of having been invisible until you spotted him.) «Plot» Denton says, "I would like to enter the bar fully invisible like myself to first survey it. I'm gonna assume this will need a stealth check and you probably wanna see that voucher? :)" «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Stealth: 2 2 3 3 4 8 «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 8 for "hiding ork": 4 5 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 8 for "Frontwise ork": 3 4 4 4 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 8 for "The ork laying on the roof using enhanced hearing": 2 4 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "I disdain karma, so you may surprise them as needed." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Or however you like." Crowe strolls into the saloon and totally doesn't notice the invisible and armed ork. This day is amazing. There is some completely casual strolling up the bar, with a bit of a swagger. Obviously Crowe has already had a bit to drink. Of this delicious succulent neuro-poison people call /alcohol/. "Bartender. Give me the third strongest thing you've got." Crowe says with all the elegancy of a slightly tipsy man that isn't quite at the point where he can't count credits. A paying customer. There is nothing unusual here. The backup bartender comes out of the back room where he's given you guys the front room for the meet, it being about as secure as anything because of the risk of death in getting close enough to eavesdrop. "Tequila it is," he says, and pours you out some pretty good stuff. Then he returns. The sitting ork at the table checks his watch, waiting. It has been upwards of 5 years since Denton last stepped through the doors of this Saloon, a place he once swore to never return to after nearly meeting his own demise here. He can't help but grin at the sign about the Injuns…some things never change. In any case, he intends to get a good look this time before stepping into anything that might stink. So, remaining clad in his lovely ruthenium suit he works his way as stealthily as possible into the establishment (perhaps entering as some other patron exits?). He makes it inside and as quietly as possible moves to find a safe vantage point out of the way from which he can survey the bar and it's occupants. He has no intention of revealing himself until he gets a good idea of what is going down, and so instead he watches as Crowe moves not so discreetly to the bar to get a drink. That's when he notices the Ork behind the bar, crouched and at the ready. Denton decides to just sit tight for a few moments more to see what happens. The ork at the center says to Crowe, "Waitin' for two more; the decker and a gunner, I think." Some cold nuyen are dropped on the counter in exchange for the tequila. Thems a fighting drink. Crowe is now no longer a concern of the bartender, and the slightly tipsy bum in the rags sways for the the injun in the front room. Never more has he been more aware of the mortal danger he could be stumbling into, for his senses are as sharp as they ever usually are. He sits down across the ork and sends down his tequila, "Heya, chummer." The ork has his own beer, and takes a swig. "Call me Jimmy the Crow. I'm sure the gang will get here eventually." Argos somehow manages to cross the battlefield, and all without getting shot at! He thinks, so much shooting going on, he can't be sure if any of it was aimed at him or not. He's not bleeding though, so he pulls up to the Saloon and secures his bike the best he can… and heads inside, glancing around before heading towards the room that they're supposed to get to. The people here… he doesn't recognize them (though Crowe looks a /little/ familiar to him). Crowe offers a fake smile. It's obviously fake. Maybe he's insulting the injun. In reality, Crowe is just emotionally dead. That mage over there probably can tell that from a mile away, this guy is a runner. He's so full of cyber, there's barely anything left to call a meatbody. Just a walking robot. "Call me Crowe, Jimmy the Crow." "Ah, here's the decker, I'm guessing. Jimmy the Crow here," says the ork at the center table with Crowe. He taps the commlink in his ear and subvocalizes something. "No sign of the third from up top. Probably got killed on the way here. Happens. Well, if the two of you want to bow out, that's just fine. Let me lay it down to you. If you don't want it, I'll wave my magic hands and you'll forget it ever happened. And pleased to meet you, Crowe." It's debatable whether he's pronouncing the silent 'e' on the end, but hey, he tries. "Here goes," he says. - Jimmy says, "I had your fixers say that this was the best kind of wetwork mission, because it's against a Johnson. Mr. Johnson here done hired us for twenty k to do a job, then an additional twenty K if we could do it with a certain extra something. We did the first part, but not the second, and he refuses to pay. Now that don't fly." Jimmy takes out a chip, slots it in a projector, projects a big 'ol holo. It shows a chunky mexican man wearing sunglasses flanked by two other mexican men with heavy pistols also wearing sunglasses, walking through CHROME! into the back room. Needless to say, the target mexican man is dressed exquisitely. Jimmy, clearly being a runner himself of the orkish type (and therefore unable to spot sneaky people) knows the many questions you will have and clearly awaits. "The gunner is already here." Speaks a rough voice from the Shadows after the video plays and Jimmy explains some of the details of the job. This is followed by a disembodied head that appears floating in the middle of the room as Denton removes the mask of his suit, he deactives the suit and the rest of his body comes into view. One arm is extended toward the bar and a finger points at the invisible Ork behind it. "I'm sure he is just your protection…but I would like to warn your friend that any hostility will be met with deadly force. That said…nice to meet you, I am Denton." The man says to Jimmy, and the others. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "Reaction check! From Mister Monofil.": 2 3 3 3 4 5 8 9 = 4 Successes Argos glances up at the hologram, recognizing CHROME!, as he's been there once or twice. "Revenge job… interesting. Any idea where he's lurking at?" Hopefully not that club, he likes to go there from time to time, and its pretty fancy, so might be difficult to hack into. Mister Monofil the Ork is good enough to slap hand smoothly to the handle of his whip but not draw it or otherwise make any harsh moves. Jimmy gives a wry smile and relaxes some - and that wavery surrounding around the guy in the shadows that you all saw through goes away. "Nicely done, sir. And you are right, just protection. Call me Jimmy." To Argos he says, "He hired us at CHROME!. He rented out one of the back meeting rooms with all the electronic baffling for the meet." "Fascinating." Replies Crowe, suddenly more lucidly than before. Denton lowers his hand and ignores the muscle behind the bar, looking instead to Jimmy and speaking. "Mexican man. Mexican buddies. Maybe I am just racist, but any known gang or organized crime affiliations? What, if anything, do you know about him?" Jimmy says, "He called himself 'Mister Johnson.' His aura was dead black. The man on the right - cybered, a lot of nerve work. The man on the left is no man. A spirit in human form. That's what I can tell you true and honest. If you want spec-u-la-tion, that's another thing. I don't want to steer you wrong." Jimmy adds, "I've tried to track their location with spirits, and failed." Argos purses his lips a bit at that. "Do we have a time limit? Sounds like we have to do a ton of homework before we can actually do the job." He could always do a detailed search with that picture, see what he could dig up… no telling how long that might take though. Jimmy says, "Go more than a month and my man on the roof might eat into our revenge budget for his next cyber fix." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "(Gasp! These three orks are a RUNNER TEAM!)" Denton frowns at hearing this, "Cyborgs die easy. Spirits less so. Johnsons die real easy once their protection is gone." His eyes flicker to the bar, then back to Jimmy, and he grins. "Sorry. Anyways…like he says.." Denton nods to Argos. "We'll need to do some legwork, surely. It's never taken me a month to kill a man though, so I surely don't anticipate that. So if you can't tell us anything about the J…what about the job you did? And the certain something extra you did not do?" Jimmy says, "General runner rules say no way on that one. Too much on the rumor mill already. But he didn't pay us, a'course. It was an extraction, and we were supposed to kill someone if he was there. He wasn't. The extraction target got shot but didn't die. Recovering nicely in an autodoc having a lung regrown." Crowe continues to be silent and observing. Like a bloody statue. Argos crosses his arms and glances over at the other two, shrugging a bit. "I can see what I can dig up with the picture in a couple of days or less." He glances back over at the orc, half tempted to see if he could raise the price a bit, but… it's already a pretty good bit of money and he didn't have the option of being that picky right now. "Anything you can think of that might be of use in finding him?" Jimmy says, "You gotta ask me specific things. I don't know your style, I don't know you, I don't know what would help you. I don't want to toss you my guesses. Crowe finally speaks up, "Did he give you anything? Chip? Card?" Jimmy says, "As a matter of fact yes. Chip with our extraction details on it, secured trix account to contact him back for the handoff of the body and so forth." "Wonderful," Crowe says stoically, "May we have that chip to assist in our investigation?" Denton didn't think he would get much, but figured it had to be asked. He frowns and looks down at the floor for a few moments to gather his thoughts. He looks up and at Argos, "I think we'll have a lot of good use for your skills. If we go knocking on doors and asking questions we will surely draw attention to ourselves in trying to track this man down. A decker could perhaps ferret out the necessary details in a more covert fashion." He then turns to look at Jimmy and ask another question. "Can you tell me how you got the job? We know where you met, but did you get an invite or were you referred or something? I mean hell, we are all runners here, badly in need of work. Maybe we could see our friend about a job?" Denton says, grinning. Jimmy frowns at this. If he deletes the stuff on the chip that removes clues from you. If he gives you the chip he gives you details on a run he did. These emotions play across the ork's features, until bloody-minded revenge at being deprived of money wins out. He subvocalizes upstairs and eventually a third ork, the one with the sniper rifle, comes down to hand over the chip. "He contacted us through a fixer we all know, name of Kuryakin." Argos perks a bit as he hears about the secured trix account. "Oh, perfect, I could probably use that to find him quicker, or at least give me a nice lead…" Crowe reaches /slowly/ to take the chip with his hand, which is obviously cybernetic. Hooo boy. He's been hiding that drek. Then he reaches into his ragged ass clothes and pulls out a perfectly rolled up static-sealed plastic baggy. Which he drops the chip into and reseals. Crowe looks over to Argos and nods, "I'll send you the data after I can make sure it's not physically tampered with." Denton's grin grows even wider at hearing this information. "Excellent. That might just be our way in. Perhaps we could surreptitiously let slip in some fashion that our little team is badly in need of work and mayhap it will reach the ears of our Mr. J. This would give us a good way in…though I dislike the idea of killing a Johnson under the pretext of being hired. Bad for the reputation. Still…it might be a way in, or at least a way to do some recon." Jimmy, who clearly is hiring you because he and his team didn't have the resources to do it themselves, looks mildly annoyed that you've come up with a few angles he didn't have. But then, he doesn't have a decker and there's no way he'd be hired 'again' by this guy, so. Jimmy figures it's time to pop the question. "So. You guys in?" Denton gives Jimmy his biggest, brightest smile. "You bet. I just can't stand Johnson's who don't pay." The smile disappears and is replaced with a cold, hard look that speaks of death. A not so subtle hint to Jimmy perhaps? Jimmy would have to be pretty dumb not to pay up considering you snuck in on him and saw through his invisibility spell to spot his physical adept pal. But, like, ork, you know? Let's just hope he's more clever than the others. "Yeah, sure." Says Crowe apathetically. There is not much fanfare to this. People die. "It's one less person that could screw me over later." Argos considers it a bit longer then the other two do, but eventually nods his agreement. "Alright, I'm in." He glances at Crowe as he pockets the chip, just giving the man a nod to show her understood. Jimmy says, "Any more questions? You guys need covering fire to get out?" Denton thinks about this for a few moments before shrugging. "Might be. Depends on where this party happens. I'd rather avoid doing the deed inside of CHROME! as that could create some complications." He pauses for a moment and nods. "You can never have enough covering fire. Besides, I know you and your boys would like to take a shot at 'em. It's okay with me assuming the location calls for it." Jimmy says, "No no, we don't want to be anywhere nearby when it goes down. He KNOWS us. He'd be put on guard. I'm talkin', get through the Warzone back home covering fire." Crowe chuckles a little bit, "I'm good." Denton nods at this and grins, "Right. Very prudent of you. Sure, it's always better to travel in force when moving through the Warzone. Oh, and one more question for you….this spirit that you spoke of. I certainly have no magic, and limited experience with spirits. I have some spiritbuster rounds that might help but otherwise…you got any thoughts at all on what kind of spirit it is or what it is capable of?" Argos shrugs a bit at that. "I might be fine, but I woudln't turn down the overwatch until I got out of the warzone." He glances over the other two. "Where do you guys want to meet back up and when?" Jimmy says, "I did not have that kind of time. It was able to take human form and pull it off, so it was either an ally spirit or a free spirit. Your spiritbuster rounds should do ya." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Remember that spirits now have their force in armor against spiritbuster rounds, but lack 'immunity' and still have to defend themselves. So a force 6 spirit would have ballistic 6 against a spiritbuster round, and have to roll body and so forth." Denton nods at Jimmy and looks at the others, "Well..suppose we ought to get out of this hell hole. We may as well all travel together on the way out. My place is in the Warrens…over in the Sunrise district. I'll be heading there to get some gear and such first, then we should all meet up somewhere to further plan. My place is safe and secure if you want to use it, or wherever if you just want to get the hell out of the Warrens. Suggestions?" He asks, looking at the other two. "I'm going to split up and take my own exit, I will meet at whatever location you tell me." Crowe produces an electronic card that contains his information. It smells like the hobo robes. Argos nods and glances over at Denton. "I live on the edge of the Warrens as well at The Bastille, but my place is a bit of a mess right now. Got my new workshop and went a little nuts with it. Need to stop by there and gather a few of my things as well. Denton turns back and looks at Jimmy, grinning. "Sorry, I guess I do have just one more question. When you met the J at CHROME…did his guards search you or have you remove your weapons?" Jimmy says, "They did not. But the rules at Chrome say fists good, melee better, firearms - nothing larger than a heavy pistol. The front section is an airlock where you gotta check all that stuff." "Alright, thanks for the info. You've given us more than most J's ever do. Don't worry….you'll get your revenge." Denton says, grinning widely. "And I guess we aren't all leaving together so maybe we won't be needing that covering fire after all? I can certainly find my way home safely, same way I got here." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And so, yea verily, the gang split up to go their separate ways; only to meet again at Denton's pad at the appointed time. Maybe some sniper rifle covering fire is shouted. Maybe you go the full ninja. But so it is written and so it is done." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Denton, feel free to describe the pad." «Plot» Denton says, " It's pimpin'." «Plot» Denton says, "Denton's place is essentially a warehouse that has been converted into a fortress. Very secure, cameras and pressure plates and stuff, big open garage area and a storage/conference meeting room where they would be doing their plotting." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So it is written, and done. You get past the security systems with his willing support." «Plot» Denton says, "Oh, and free drinks from his bar. But stay the fuck out of the hot tub." «Plot» Crowe says, "Where will I pee?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "I await questions and actions and descriptive text." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "This is the legwork portion of the show, and all of you will be engaging in various actions, or so I hope. Obviously, Argos has the most direct skills." «Plot» Argos says, "Ok, I'll be doing a detailed search using the picture as a starting point. -1 for Browse R6, -1 for Etiquette (Matrix) at 6. TN is 6" «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 vs TN 6: 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 7 7 9 = 3 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Excellent. Give me one more roll exactly like that one." «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls 1 for " divide by 2 days": 1 «Plot» Argos says, "Wow, lucky, just half a day for the search." «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 for "Rolling for something!": 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 for "Karma is a good thing 1/13": 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 8 9 11 The Johnson is an enigma. Not too tall, reasonably burly in a corn-tortilla-fed way, wears exquisitely made Armante with the fit to conceal his personal weapons just right. His face does not link up to any known SIN that you can find in your initial search. That leads you to his cybered buddy. His cybered buddy is much less of a man of mystery. He is attached to the Aztlan Embassy in the Free Trade Zone. He is listed as 'Security Driver' and has a 'Class C' drivers license, which means he is licensed to jack into an armed, armored vehicle with a rigging unit and fire the weapons and it's all legal for him to do so. With that information, you can focus on the Aztlan Embassy. Doing a photo-search (these take most of the day) you can find Mr. Johnson's picture in the background of a few events, or on the grounds. So it seems pretty clear that this guy is attached to the Aztlan Embassy. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The second roll was for the cybered buddy, who is much easier to get linking information on." «Plot»Denton checks on CHROME's location (CAS, thus Lone Star) and its security situation: «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) has the Knowledge Skill Security Systems with the value '6 (7)'. «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) has the Knowledge Skill Security Procedures with the value '6 (7)'. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Chrome is currently inside the CAS sector. It has a large parking log for cars, bikes, and even a VTOL pad. Large computerised mechanical doors and a pepper-spray system allow only five people at a time into an antechamber, where a sign reads: Pistols, Melee, Cyber Weapons: OK, Check all other weapons in coat check machine." The coat check machine has safety deposit like cabinets with credstick slots, and there are cameras and drone-housing units and perhaps scanners to make sure that you deposit your weapons. (I am neglecting how pretty and marble and chrome it looks.) Then you are inside, and there is no bartender. Every round booth has its own barbot unit. In 'the back' there are two 'back rooms' which are electronically secure - many Johnsons are known to rent the place for secure meets." «Plot» Crowe says, "I'm going to physically meet with James Bellamy, a good decker friend of mine to see if he can ascertain any physical details about the chip or if he can pull any data about the origins of data on the chip to help me link it to a place, a thing, or a person." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Your decker friend will tell you that that is work and generally costs money. Would you like to do that or have Argos do it for you?" «Plot» Crowe says, "How much is he asking?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "500." «Plot» Crowe says, "Done." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 for "To get an idea of how awesome Mr. Bellamy is": 1 3 5 5 5 10 After negotiating a fee of 500y for some basic detective work, James comes by to take the chip. He does all that security stuff, doing his best to make sure it doesn't erase itself, and so on. "Basic store-bought read-only chip, holding a modicum of data. Put together on a secretary-level turtle-style terminal. If you want, I could track the serial number on it to the lot-bin of the manufacturer then trace it back to the purchaser, but who cares. The secure trix account is more interesting. He's using a data haven as a double-forwarder and trusting to their service to do the anonymizing. Unfortunately, they haven data, they don't anonymize forwarding address, so when it gets forwarded, it goes to one of the local Aztechnology RTGs and there passes through their security screenings and into their general network. And 500y is not enough to look further. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Argos!" «Plot» Argos says, "Going to follow up on the connection with the Aztlan Embassy, look a little deeper into this Security Driver since he seems to show up alot with our Mr. J" «Plot» Argos says, "See if I can pull up a name and address on this joker, think a standard search will be more then enough to find that info" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "You have that already. You have his SIN. His name is Roberto Fernandez, and an Aztlan citizen." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "His listed address is in the Aztechnology arcology area. (It's not a huge city-like arcology, it's just their corporate area.)" «Plot» Argos says, "Well, we have a lead with him, he can probably lead us to who we want with enough surveillance… might have to hack into his computer and see what all I can find out… like if I can trace a line right back to the Johnson" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So, given that Roberto lives inside the Aztechnology area, his personal computer might be difficult to get to. What more do you want on Roberto?" «Plot» Denton says, "I'm sorry, did you say exactly what kind of vehicle with guns he drives?" «Plot» Denton says, "Would be nice not to have to kill him inside CHROME, but on the flip side his driver is a some kind of badass rigger with a license to kill." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "We have not gotten there, Denton, but it's an excellent question. You know he is LICENSED to drive anything on four wheels that is less than 'tank' that Aztechnology has in the area."" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Argos, Denton, Crowe? Anyone?" «Plot» Crowe says, "I send the information I have learned to Argos and Denton." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Excellent. All information shared." «Plot» Argos says, "I should be able to look up traffic cams easily enough… would probably take a long search though to sort through all that." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "do you this, Argos?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Is there a specific location that you are checking traffic cams at?" «Plot» Denton would suggest at the embassy and at CHROME to try and match vehicles. «Plot» Denton says, "If we can get an idea of what he is driving we can try and take them all out in one big ambush enroute to CHROME or wherever. It's just as dangerous getting up close inside a place with all that security, plus if we go murdering Johnson's that are trying to hire us, we'll get bad rep and probably not too many job offers."" «Plot» Argos says, "Alright, I'll see what I can do… detailed search just for how much time that's going to take me I think." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "If that is your desire, Argos, perception check tn 6." «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 vs TN 6 for "Searching through pictures and trids to find the vehicle Roberto Fernandez drives and how often they make a trip to CHROME!": 1 1 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 8 10 14 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6: 1 2 2 5 10 11 11 11 = 4 Successes The big problem with watching the cameras at the Aztechnology embassy is that all cars have tinted reflexive windows so mages can't see in and kill you with their line-of-sight assholishness. So you see tinted windows cars come out all the time. But that doesn't help you. It's only when you get to CHROME that you can find what you're looking for, and holy toledo, you find it pretty good. It seems there's a semi-secret traffic cam that watches Chrome's parking lot (I wonder why Lone Star does that?) and by hacking into it you can get closeups of most any car. Some videosearch later, and there is the man himself getting out of a low-ridin' Mitsubishi Nightsky. And man that Nightsky is pretty. Hey, a mexican in a lowrider, who'd have thunk? But the real reason the Nightsky is lowridin' is because it's been up-armored, actually. It's weighted down with bonus armor plates. Now, that doesn't mean it's an awesome death machine, there's only so much you can do with a Nightsky. But it sure is pretty - and you have the plates. «Session Two» «Plot» Checking out the other side. Scoping out the Aztlan Embassy: The Aztlan Embassy to the Free Trade Zone is located on the edge of the Uptown District on Colfax avenue. It happens to be located with a number of other Embassies, none truly huge but all very gleaming and pretty, within the CAS section of the Free Trade Zone. It is conveniently not too far distant from the border to Aztlan; at least conceptually - it's a straight shot on a road from the bordercheck to the Embassy. It's conveniently close to the Financial District, too. The security would be called 'A' in that location, Denver General Hospital is also not too far. Lone Star is the corp in charge of security. Step a couple of blocks in the wrong direction though, and, you'll go into the high end of downtown proper, AA grade security - Knight Errant supplemented by Eagle Security, the UCAS/Sioux nation FTZ downtown. CHROME is located in the CAS sector, so conveniently one can drive from the Embassy to CHROME in the CAS sector without annoying borderchecks - and without having to show your diplomatic papers. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Please feel free to ask questions, elicit details, and so on." «Plot» Crowe says, "Heavy grade cybernetics are illegal but there is not high magical security on the exterior perimeter. Correct?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "In the AA zone, you can expect continually patrolling spirits backed up by mages. In the A zone, you can expect a few spirits on a patrol route and the occasional astral wizard or paranimal-based team." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The Embassy is in the A zone. It may have its own magical defenses." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Those darned Aztlanners." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Would you like to observe the embassy itself?" «Plot» Crowe says, "Yes. I will be going in via my Ruth 12 armor." «Plot» Crowe says, "Probably by rooftop." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Let me get this straight. You are getting on a rooftop, in the A-grade security sector, and observing the Embassy from a distance, perhaps with vision mods or binoculars? Using your Ruth 12 so that you do not twig Lone Star patrols to your Grade A or B cyber? Or you are actually sneaking into the embassy itself via a rooftop?" «Plot» Crowe says, "I'm not entering it. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "In any case, you have answered right., It is night time when Crowe chooses to do some on site recon. A cheap disposable camera composes the primary tool in his arsenal, with a rather expensive ruthenium suit acting as his vehicle to arrive undetected. The night enhances this veil as the kid-stealthed runner strides from rooftop to rooftop to get within eyesight of the Aztlan Embassy. The vector of the path taken routes from the general direction of the hospital. «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Stealth (Sneaking) + Task Pool: 1 for "Open Stealth Test": 2 3 3 4 5 10 11 11 16 «Plot» Crowe says, "Visual Stealth is 28+4 TN for low light." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 28 for "Aggregate roll for all of Lone Star": 2 3 3 5 5 10 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 7 vs TN 28 for "Aggregate roll for all of Aztlan Corporate Security": 1 1 2 3 3 5 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 16 for "Aggregate roll for nonvisual sensors like radar, sonar, ultrasound, ecm such as you would find on the hovering drones": 1 3 4 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 4 vs TN 16 for "Aggregate roll for patrolling spirits": 1 2 3 5 = 0 Successes A silent shadow. Less than a shimmer. Of noise, to call it a whisper would be to emphasize the wind. It is such that the location can be scoped from several areas, taking pictures from a variety of angles. (The 'click' of the button on the camera - gotta do something about that.) The Aztlan Embassy is about the size of a stately house, the kind that would have servants. It's a working place, however, and has a small permacrete enclosed parking structure, and the entire thing is walled (it shares the wall with the next embassy on either side). It itself is patrolled by Aztlan Corporate Security, who move in groups of four (you see two groups outside for this fairly small place). Two hovering rotodrones make a lazy circuit, on computer control obviously. Cameras and security devices point from obvious corner locations in obvious directions. Lone Star makes a regular drive-by, although they are paying attention to all the Embassies just in case a crazy decides to 'protest.' Next to the stately house is a permacrete parking structure with a garage door that rolls up and rolls down - arrows on the two-car-wide thing indicate that you drive in on the left and out on the right. Aztlanners. Hm.. no doors on the outside - that's a code violation. There must be an underground entrance from the house to the garage. So it depends on how far down the thing goes, how many people they can entertain. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Crowe's awesomeness allows him to escape just as easily as he came." «Plot» Questions about how cars work in 2071: «Plot» Denton will let Argos do route checking. "Also, I'm not very familiar with how the grid works exactly for driving. Are stop lights still in use? Argos could manipulate the signals to try and divert other traffic along the route and to stop the target in the ambush zone? «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "There are still stop lights. In civilized areas, there is a transponder grid, sometimes called the 'gridguide' that cars with Autonav and Autodrive can use to go places. So if you have Autodrive on your car, you can just give it an address and go to sleep and you'll wake up there just fine unless a gunfight breaks out." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Of course it also tracks you on your transponder, which is why cars have transponder libraries and spoofers." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Your license plate is connected to your transponder number." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Most normal cars have autonav but not autodrive." «Plot» Denton hmms. "Is the distance between the Embassy and CHROME all that great?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "It's from the edge of downtown to the edge of the warrens, all inside the CAS FTZ. It's not HUGELY far. Three miles city driving." «Plot» Denton goes to scope CHROME itself. It's been a while since he was there. And after all, Chrome was recently moved inside the CAS - it's no longer in the Warrens." There aren't any mages or spirits or drones or frag all knows what else likely to be waiting at CHROME as they were near the Embassy, so this little recon trip should be much easier than what Crowe had to face. Denton heads into the CAS sector from his place in the Warrens, not carrying anything seriously illegal. And certainly nothing that stands out like Kid Stealth legs. He parks outside of CHROME near the street, getting out and just casually walking toward the club while he looks around the area to get a feel for the general layout, exterior security, and wherever it is their target usually parks. The area here is called 'East Ridge' and it's the eastern end of civilization. You can tell it's a marginal area from all the liquor stores, Stuffer Shacks, bail bondsmen offices, payday loan stores, and pawn shops. And there, looming over it all, is the Warrens Wall and the Lone Star Redoubt. Stubby guard towers, sandbag walls, a wide, squat building in the middle where they process the huge line of people coming over the border to work and going home at night. That, right there. That's the worry. CHROME is a few blocks just inside of that, with its own parking lot/helipad/and so forth. It is, after all, a nightclub. «Plot» Denton says, "So CHROME is a few blocks from the Wall/Redoubt?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Yes. If you look at the maps, it has to be surprisingly close." «Plot» Denton snickers. "Well that is lovely. I guess we can forget about doing the deed at CHROME." «Plot» Denton says, "But neither can we do it at the Embassy, that would be even worse. Which doesn't leave us with many options. Somewhere in between the two, or using our wits to try and get the target to a different location." «Session Three» «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "When last we left our heroes, Crowe had scoped out the Aztlanian Embassy, coming and going like a ghost. The outside is well secured, and the inside is secured better still. A permacrete no-door multi-story going-into-the-earth garage is next to the stately house that they use for offices and entertaining. People likely enter it from underground, and vehicles enter and exit when the roll-up two-lane garage door rolls up to admit entrance or exit. It is from this garage that Argos's public video searches have seen the low-riding Mitsubishi Nightsky enter and exit. (Crowe has details on all other security in the area as needed, as he took copious pictures, and those can be scrutinized.) -more-" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Denton had scoped out CHROME and its security. The area is, in general, far more lax. However, only three city blocks over is the Warrens Wall, the checkpoint manned by copious Lone Star officers and drones and the occasional wage mage and so forth. CHROME itself has basic cameras, drones that clean the parking lot, and the like; but what it really has is an airlock that only allows in five people at a time, requires you divest yourself of any gun larger than a pistol, and has a sign saying, "Pistols, Melee, Cyber Weapons OK, check all other weapons in check machine' along with assumed devices and drones in the tight antechamber to enforce this. It is in the clean, large, airy parking lot area (also with helipad) that the target mexican man in his exquisite tres chic suit, has been seen departing the heavily laden Mitsubishi Nightsky - with his smoothfaced man whom you have been told is some kind of spirit, either ally or free; and his 'bad-ass rigger with a license to kill'. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Amongst some of the questions which remained are: How far is it from the Embassy to Chrome? About three-four miles over surface streets, all in the CAS FTZ. Does the driver always take the same route? We won't know that unless Argos cracks the gridguide, gets the Nightsky's transponder, and rifles its location records." «Plot» Denton says, "Well so far my idea Argos is to hit them somewhere between the embassy and CHROME. Set up an ambush and blow up their vehicle with a missile, or at least disable it. Still a lot that can go wrong with that though. Only other option I can think of is to try and get the target to go to a different location than CHROME. Somewhere not next door to a fortress for example." «Plot» Argos says, "Right, so I need to hack into the gridguide and find that transponder… ooo, this'll be interesting." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So, it is Computer(Decking) skill + Hacking Pool, TN 6 for the Orange 6 quick method. You need 3 successes. Every success after that is one question, action, or search for historical data." «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 vs TN 6: 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 5 5 7 8 8 10 11 = 5 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 - 5 vs TN 6 for "KP 2/13": 1 2 2 2 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 - 5 vs TN 6 for "KP 4/13": 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 7 7 11 = 3 Successes «Plot» Argos says, "First task, getting the transponder code. Second task, tracking the transponder's route." Looking up the transponder code in the public database is child's play. What ISN'T child's play is erasing the record that that access makes, authorized or unauthorized, because this guy is attached to the Embassy and strange people looking up his files trips triggers. But all such triggers are like as nothing. Then comes the longer search: scoping out this guy's route. -more- One: The Mitsubishi Nightsky does not always take the same route to CHROME. It appears that the bad-ass rigger with a license to kill does follow basic bodyguarding procedures and vary his routes. That said, there are only so many rational routes across a small distance like this. Someone high up with vision magnification could see all of them, just because the distance is small. Sometimes the guy drives around in circles. Sometimes he stops, pulls over, uses the satellite uplink that you can get in the Nightsky. Two: The Nightsky does not always go to CHROME. It does sometimes go other places, like to other embassies, like to various red-carpet events uptown. It does not appear to have a set schedule, nor is it used on a daily basis. If anything about it DOES have a set schedule, it is going to CHROME. Sometimes once a week, sometimes once every two weeks, sometimes once a month, once he skips a month. Or at least the car does. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Argos, what is your detection factor?" «Plot» Argos says, "Currently…. 6 since I'm not in Masking mode" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 vs TN 6 for "The first two dice of the Orange 6's attack on Argos's detection factor": 5 10 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Ducking, dodging, and other activities in getting this information (and it is a reamload and you can ask for further details 'within' this information without using up questions) have caused 1 box of persona damage." «Plot» Argos says, "Can I use them to manipulate the gridlock to 'shutdown' roadways to get him on a specific route of our choosing?" «Plot» Argos says, "Hmm… I want to roll Mathematics to see if I can find a pattern that I can use to determine when he'll next go to CHROME!" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "'Shutting down' roadways would only affect people Autodriving, who turn their cars over to the grid. You're pretty sure his rigger is in manual control at all times. However, using Mathematics to predict his times could strongly reduce the element of random chance in guessing his next move. Let's call it TN 8." «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Mathematics + 3 vs TN 8 for "+3 for Math SPU": 1 1 1 5 5 11 17 = 2 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So, now, whenever you guys set up a waiting game and wait for something to happen, you have 2 successes against the 'base time' for it to happen. So if the dice come up 'five days' I divide that by 2 successes and it would be 2.5 days." Looking at the mathematical chart of his times of access leads one to believe that the target has certain patterns in his random numbers, like all biological creatures tend to. However, that alone doesn't predict his route. Other forces must also be affecting when he makes his visits to CHROME. «Plot» Denton says, "Like when his overlords need something blown up." «Plot» Denton says, "The distance is only 3-4 miles and as you say, only so many routes. There must be some part of the route that he has to take every time no matter what in order to get there, some stretch of roadway or bypass or something that leads to it. At least I would think." «Plot» Denton says, "You think you could try and search for specific parts of the route that he would have to take, Argos? He may take different ways of getting there or going in circles and such but there can be only so many roads leading to CHROME." «Plot» Denton says, "Some intersection that he has to hit at some point in the trip no matter what in order to get there for example." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 4 vs TN 8 for "Is there a really good chokepoint of one-way streets, annoying bridges, overpasses or underpasses that one simply can't get past and has to go on? If there were, the rigger would take steps to avoid it from time to time.": 1 1 5 8 = 1 Success There is, and the rigger does. There, right there, is a roundabout that you have to go three-quarters around to get on this funky overpass thing to get out of the 'A' security area into the 'B' security area. It has a strangely artistic walkway, too. If you don't take it, you have to go a long-ass way around. The rigger takes the chokepoint 85% of the time. «Plot» Denton says, "Eighty-five percent is probably as good as it gets. So let's hit them inside B security area as they enter." «Plot» Denton says, "Also, I have a few ideas to help reduce the police presence." «Plot» Denton says, "Argos, how do you feel about tripping a bank alarm or something else across the police district that would draw the cops away from our area?" «Plot» Argos says, "I can probably set off an alarm, yeah. Set off a ton of panic buttons once to keep them occupied, so a bank alarm might just do it as well. Preferably on the other side of the B security zone." «Plot» Argos says, "And I'd like to look more into literally closing the roads down if possible, yes." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "You run into that 'only in some things is the Matrix real life' problem. Actually closing off roads requires real people to do some things to stop real cars from really driving on those roads. You CAN redirect all autodriven cars away and you CAN set up things that direct normal drivers away from a road. This has a number of effects, which you can figure." «Plot» Denton says, "At the very least you can use that to divert other traffic away from the target so that we don't accidentally blow up a bystander." «GM Note» Gasp! Shadowrunners taking care for bystanders! «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Now, traffic control 'at time of attack' is certainly good - you can play games with red lights and green lights to slow people away from him, let him through, and so forth." «Plot» Denton says, "At least we have the chokepoint. And it's not like he is going to know that traffic behind him is being diverted so why not wait until just before he hits the ambush zone and then start diverting all traffic from the roads surrounding it except what is in front of him?" «Plot» Argos says, "Ok, now that I should be able to pull off." «Plot» Denton nods. "Might miss a few cars but it's better than none." «Plot» Argos says, "Task number 3… fragging with the traffic lights to slow/divert traffic away from target vehicle." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Task 3 will take place on the night of the attack. We will assume that Argos has, ahead of time, achieved super secret user mode and laid in a set of clever programs that he will call upon at just the right time to do this action. Because this is abstraction." «Plot» Denton says, "Would you be able to look back through the data to determine if the target ever has any escorts?" «Plot» Argos says, "Task four, checking to see if there are any escort vehicles with target." «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Intelligence for "Perception!": 1 2 3 4 5 5 5 7 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "To the best of your ability, taking the available data points and spreading a wide circle and taking transponder readings in that radius, you can determine no pattern. So, to the best of your knowledge, when he goes to CHROME he has no escort vehicles. (When he goes to the Fairmont, other embassy vehicles sometimes come with.)" «Plot» Denton says, "Before he uses it, can we do a physical recon of the chokepoint?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "It's quite easy to do a physical in person recon of the chokepoint. On the A security side, there are business buildings. On the B security side, there are niceish houses, with the occasional gas station or pleasant-looking strip mall to service them. The roundabout straddles the A-B line, which leads to the concrete overpass device that deposits you on a two-lane inner city street in the B zone." «Plot» Denton says, "The main thing Denton would be looking for is any security devices. Especially cameras, even if it is just a gas station camera pointing at the likely kill spot. We want there to be as little evidence of us firing missiles as possible. :P" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 4 for "The expertise of the security systems people in that area.": 3 4 8 11 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Give me a security systems roll, tn 11 (Stealth if you don't have a specific security systems skill) to find the blind spot." «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Security Systems vs TN 11: 1 3 3 4 4 4 4 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Security Systems vs TN 11 for "KP1": 1 1 1 1 1 4 10 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Security Systems vs TN 11 for "KP3": 1 3 3 4 5 7 10 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Security Systems vs TN 11 for "KP6": 2 3 3 4 5 5 11 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "It takes some doing, but you find a killspot on the outside edge of three cameras. Hit it just right, and none of them will see a damn thing. Only one problem…." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 vs TN 6 for "Is there a manhole cover RIGHT THERE?": 3 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The nearest manhole cover is a ways away from that spot. So the part of the plan that involves explosives under a manhole cover can't happen there." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So you have a chokepoint, and a location in that chokepoint where the target won't be seen." «Plot After The Fact» The character discuss their plans for a while, including their lack of an escape plan past, "We run into the suburbs on foot! I hop Old Man Wither's picket fence!" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So, to amuse me and to spark discussion, feel free to state the plan, as you see it, in your own words." «Plot» Denton says, "Okay plan so far unless Crowe or Argos have objections: We know the target goes to CHROME consistently so we either wait for him to go there next (which I think is best) or we try and force it by setting up a meet through the fixer contact we learned about. We will setup an ambush zone at the chokepoint consisting of at least Denton with the missile launcher and Crowe ready to move in up close in case the car is only disabled, and to just verify the kill. Denton will move in to support. Argos…not sure if he will be safely at home or if he will be close by to support? We will also be trying to divert innocent bystanders and trigger alarms across town to draw police away from us. Once the deed is done…I guess we still have to determine the escape." «High points of the discussion» Various ploys involving who fires the missile and who hands it to the other person to fire are amusingly cut off when they discover that the Ballista missile launching backpack system takes ten combat rounds to put on or take off, minimum. And no one has the Launch Weapons skill, so they will be pretty much flipping up the visor and tapping on the point and click interface with the helpful commands that read, "Now point at the enemy and hold for lock on. That means green!'" «More High Points» On the plus side, they DO have spiritbuster ammo for the ally spirit, and they distribute it with appropriate weapons so everyone can shoot the spirit as need be. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 vs TN 6 for "Is the magic spot that has no camera view EXACTLY at a stoplight?": 3 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "You can stop the vehicle close to the magic spot by controlling traffic lights, but not exactly at it." «Humor» Denton says, "Okay, based on the recon is there any cover Denton can use to fire the missile from without being too exposed? From within the magic area that has no cameras pointing at it, but within range of the intersection that the target will be stopped at?" «Humor» Mr.Terrific says, "Dude, your range with that missile launcher is 1.5 kilometers." «Humor» Denton says, "Oh snap" «Humor» Mr.Terrific says, "That is a broad question." «Plot» Denton says, "Hell, are any of the houses right next to the ambush zone for rent?" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 vs TN 6 for "How close is the nearest house for sale?": 1 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "There are no houses for sale on the main strip with good visibility to the Ambush Point." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 vs TN 6 for "Is there anyone on vacation who forgot to take in their junk mail like an idiot?": 1 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "It's almost like in a land of crime, people take certain precautions." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 vs TN 6 for "Is there anyone with good visibility to the ambush point to regularly, reliably, not be home at the likely mathematical times of passage?": 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The answer is no, but closer. There's a guy with some kind of strange schedule; working some days, not other days, sometimes taking other people's shifts." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "He could walk in on you at any moment, but chances are pretty good he wouldn't be there." «Plot» Denton nods. "Well he sounds like a shifty motherfucker so we'll knock him out if need be." «Plot» Crowe says, "I'll be on the roof either way." «Plot» Denton says, "Well hell. Why not a van that I pop out of? Anyone got a van? Or maybe we could rent one or steal one or something" «Plot» Crowe says, "I call my smuggler contact. :|" «Plot» Crowe says, "I need a vehicle, rent it, no paper trail, preferably a painter's van or something of that ilk." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) has the Contact Jack Tea with the following information: ----—> Contact for Crowe (#11868) <----—- Contact Name: Jack Tea Level: 1 Type: smuggler GM Note: Jack Tea was one of the few contacts that James introduced to Daniel. Daniel doesn't always get along with Jack as he's kind of an in your face asshole about everything. He does, however, offer great runs for respectable pay. That's probably his only redeeming quality. It's a short time before Crowe rings up Jack Tea over some half working payphone. Creds are slotted and the line begins to ring, though it likely goes directly to voice mail not long after that. "Jack, it's Crowe. I need a favor. A vehicle. I don't want any drek from you this time about it, I've got the nuyen. I know you're there, call me back within ten minutes." And so Crowe hangs up the phone and proceeds to wait for the return call. Jack calls back. He knows the sound of money. "What kind of vehicle? What danger level?" See? No drek there. ABJ, all business Jack. "Oh, you know. It's standard fare for me, Jack. I need a painter's vehicle type. Some kind of van. No paper trail. You got something like that for me, Jack?" replies Crowe into the phone's receiver. Jack says, "Your basic van, no traces, no trails, one kay. Thirty-kay on deposit if it doesn't come back. Standard, clean, GMC Bulldog." «OOC» Denton says, "We best not fuck up Jack's ride. :P" "Yeah. That sounds good, mate. Hold on one second." And it is that, a literal instant in which Crowe messages Denton a relay of this kind of deal. Interested? Y/N. Denton replies immediately with a "Yes. Make the deal." "Done. I'll wire you the money tonight. Load it up on our usual trade spot and I'll pick it up." says Crowe to Jack. So it is written and so it is done. Jack takes the thirty-one thousand nuyen, and has the GMC Bulldog on command. It's a little beat up in terms of paint scratches, a slightly odd chemical smell, slightly flexible suspension, like any car that's six years old. You figure Jack is betting it won't come back and is going to take the 30k which is tidy profit considering depreciation. But he says it's clean. Now, it doesn't have anything like a smuggler's chemsealed hiding area, you didn't ask for that. «Restatement of Plan» «Plot» Crowe says, "I will sit on the roof and watch with a disconcerting stare until strife time. Then it's no longer time to dog the cruel bitchminstreal known as Fate. Kill all survivors with my sweet ass killing blades and run like a little bitch." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Crowe, imagine a 4 lane road, two lanes going each direction. Imagine suburban houses lining it, occasional intersections. How far away from the Magic Point do you want to be hiding?" «Plot» Crowe says, " The average lane by SHA standards is 12 feet. We can then assume the spacers between the two double lanes is 4 feet. (12*4)+4 = 52 feet or 16 meters roughly. Assuming the magic point is the inner most lane, I want to be on the opposite side of the highway perched on top of a two story house. So we're looking at 4+(12*3)+16 feet for the length of the hypothetical lawn, if this is suburbia. That is 56 feet or 17 metres. I like threes. We're going to assume I'm 20-30 metres from the magic point." «Plot» Crowe says, "Wherever's appropriate in that range." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "That is perfect. You are basically on the closest house." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+20 meters": 3 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Yea verily, your hiding place will be 23 meters from target zone when we get to that point." «Plot» Denton says, "Denton will be in the back of the van all suited up and ready to go with the missile launcher. Crowe can act as a spotter on the rooftop and Argos will also be spotting in his own way and letting us know when the target is arriving. As for where the van is parked…" «Plot» Argos says, "Argos will be jacked in at a safe distance (probably home unless they dragged him there) to play overwatch and wreck havoc on any surveillance that might come up, as well as mess with traffic lights to slow other vehicles away from target, as well as hopefully delay law enforcement." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And now we come to Denton. Where would you like your desired location to be in reference to the magic spot?" «Plot» After much wangling, Denton decides on 50 meters. «Plot» Now we being taking actual actions that actually entail conflict and can get someone arrested. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So here is task one in the plan. Denton, how do you get your bad self, your highly-illegal missile launcher, your highly illegal missiles (how many do you have?) and your highly illegal heavy security armor over the border from the Warrens into the CAS Free Trade Zone and then up to the general B-level security area?" «Plot» Denton sighs. "I was waiting for that question." One more payphone call. Two guys. Squished together. Phone booth. This is amazing. The stuff of legends. Crowe looks over to Denton and shrugs, "Alright, I don't think he's going to go for it this time. We'll see." The dialing occurs. Jack answers. "I had a suspicion, when you didn't say anything about danger, that I was gonna get another call. You aren't breathing heavy, so I'm betting the van isn't destroyed yet." Crowe shifts a bit uncomfortably, "The van is fine. We even bought some air whizzers to freshen it up. Ever consider plush carpeting? Yeah, I've got another favor for you." Jack says, "I'm listening. You're the one who said no drek." Crowe motions to the receiver and hands it to Denton. Crowe always gets so defensive around Jack. Denton is enjoying being crammed into the booth with Crowe about as much as the other man does. "Hey chum, this is Crowe's business partner. We appreciate the van and would like one more thing from you, for the right cred of course. We need to get from point A to point B without certain assholes knowing about it or the, uh…equipment, that we are bringing. I hear you're the best in the business. Can you help a fellow out?" Jack says, "I should have known someone would be leading my pal astray. Are we taking 'sniffing' equipment, 'ranging' equipment, or 'millitary surplus'.. you know, that crate of old Meals Ready-To-Eat and stuff?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "If you don't know what I just said, you can roll Etiquette at tn 4." Denton can't help but grin and shake his head as the wheeling and dealing begins, "You got it, the military surplus kind. Old MRE's and such…nasty stuff, to be fair." Jack says, "You know, the food inspectors have been coming down really hard on 'old military' surplus MREs. They don't like it when it's out of date and slips by them. And they have their eyes out. So let's say two kay, and ten kay for the 'fine' if we have to pay one." Denton seems pleasantly surprised at hearing this, and gives Crowe a nod of approval. "I'd say you have a deal. Crowe told me what a pleasure it was doing business with you. Now, does this price include a return trip or is that going to be extra?" Jack says, "Oh, I thought it was going to be eaten on site. If you want the leftovers brought back, same cost." Denton snickers. "Alright, you got a deal then chum. We may not need that return trip if we don't have any…leftovers. Either way, you'll get your cred." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "It will cost 2k to bring over the military and heavy security gear and 2k to bring it back. Jack will require 20 on hand for bribes, 10k each direction. Now, crossing the border into CAS:" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 4 vs TN 8 for "The TN to spot the explosives in the smugglers' chemsealed hidden compartment is TN 8. One success means we go to the bribe. Two successes or more means we are talking confiscation - whoever caught it either can't be bribed or there are too many cameras or people there.": 1 7 10 11 = 2 Successes «Plot» Denton says, "Good lord" «Plot» Crowe says, "I'd like to KP that roll." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Sadly, the odds were against it - what are the chances for two eights on 4 dice?" Jack calls a different phone of Crowe's and leaves a hurried message. "Sorry, man. You know Jose, who helps me carry the MRE crates? He's in jail, I gotta go bail him out. You know how to call me." «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) has the Contact Melissa with the following information: ----—> Contact for Denton (#3047) <----—- Contact Name: Melissa Level: 2 Type: lonestar «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "I am happy she is level 2 because if she was level one I would have laughed. Pose it, do you have etiquette?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "I think this is a base etiquette tn 10 and the bribe will be high." This one time Denton did a really stupid thing that involved his penis and a female police officer. It was a bad idea for obvious reasons but it did get him a contact within Lonestar. But not one without a certain price. They are occasionally friends with benefits but most often Denton is having to shell out cash to her for information in addition to keeping her happy in the sheets. Life is tough for a Shadowrunner. Denton digs out his contact info for Melissa, calling her up on a secure line. "Hey babe, it's Denton. How are you? I'd love to see you again sometime soon…oh, and I need a little favor…" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 for "Rumor mill perception for Melissa, who is not that dumb.": 3 3 5 5 8 14 Melissa says, "Oh, it's you. I should have set my clock by it - they find heavy weaponry and you give me a call. Do you know the only reason they haven't whisked that thing uptown is that they don't know whether it's a movie prop or not?" She leaves off the part where she recognized the heavy security armor by the way it has to be 'personally fit.' Denton sighs and doesn't bother trying to deny it, "Look, I am in a bind. A guy messed up…it's hard to find good help these days. I know it will take some doing to get those obvious movie props lost but I'll make it worth your while." Melissa says, "I'm going to have to pay a lot to the not-stupid people, and more to the decker to erase the footage they took of it, not to mention all the pictures. Twenty-five k, get it in the account fast.. and we'll discuss other benefits later. Like the Paramount." (She's referring to the fancy-dress ultra-luxe restaurant at the top of the tower in the financial district.) Denton can't help but wince as his cut of the job has already been whisked away, but still…the gear alone is worth far more. He sighs. "Alright, you got it. 25k. I'll get it to you as soon as possible…but I need that gear, and I need it on the CAS side of the border." So it is written, so it is done. It will just happen to be 'delivered' in crates with yellow police tape on it, and tags reading 'non-working replica.' Denton has to sign for it with a fake name. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And so, you have your gross explosive weaponry, your armor, and your van. :)" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "In order to get bookkeeping out of the way, as we approach Zero Hour, I have 4 dice left of possible persona damage to Argos's deck that I was spreading out over his decking actions with the gridguide:" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 4 vs TN 6 for "The remaining persona damage": 1 1 3 14 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Two boxes of persona damage total." «Session 4» All was in readiness. The plan was set. Various mishaps occurred in getting dangerous materials over the border, but they were smoothed over with care as well as desperation. Now it only remained to put it together. The Plan: Argos would monitor the gridguide to inform the group when the target left. Subtly, he would guide other traffic away, catching it in stoplights and other such matters to isolate the car as it approached Zero Point. Less variables, fewer innocents harmed, call it whichever way you like. Crowe would lay in wait, hidden, upon a 2 story rooftop. He would be 23 meters from Zero Point, on the opposite side of the street so he may hop down, then speed across hopefully-cleared road to engage whatever remains in the flaming wreckage, as needed. And finally, Denton. Laying in wait in the panel van that's already paid for. With the backpack-mounted Ballista (that takes at least thirty seconds to take on and off) loaded with the Anti-Vehicle missiles. He will be fifty meters in front of the Zero Point. With the plan being that as the vehicle comes off the chokepoint overpass and into the 'B' security zone, he will kick open the rear door of the van, firing the missile so that it strikes the vehicle just as it reaches Zero Point. Zero Point being a location that they have scouted, that is specifically devoid of random video coverage. «Plot» Denton says, "Argos, will he still be able to trip an alarm or something across town to draw Lone Star away?" «Plot» Denton nods. "Just want to be sure we can at least monitor LS to know ETA on their arrival or if they are following us. If they do get on our tail or if the van is blown up or something I intend to ditch and go for the sewers. You gonna join or split Crowe? «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "This is a B security area. Houses. In Denver. Sewers are an assumption." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "1-2 tiny drains that can't be crawled through, 3-4 32-inch storm drain culverts that people can go through but not wearing giant missile backpacks, 5-6 real movie-style sewers that people walk through draining from the more citified area nearby that needs them.": 11 «Plot» Denton snickers. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Why yes, there are indeed large and convenient sewers quite close to Zero Point." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So, Argos, are you 1. triggering alarms or 2. just watching on public cameras and stuff for cops?" «Plot» Argos says, "Think I'll trigger the alarm, shouldn't affect the target any and hopefully lessen any response from coppers." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "For Argos to trigger an alarm is much easier. All he has to do is find someone who isn't well-secured. So he's looking at a Blue 4 as a likely enough target - a small bank branch that doesn't have loads of money, just safety deposit boxes and some cash in the tills. So for him with his mild damage, it's Blue 5 - but wait!" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "We haven't found out how long you guys wait yet!" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "half this number of days is how long it will be before the target takes his fateful drive. Why? This mexican guy is a Mr. Johnson, and if you've been watching the news, there's a good deal of shadow activity taking place right now:": 4 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "That would be 2 days. BUT, Argos earlier used his mathematical skills and something involving 'fractals' to predict when it would likely be. So it's one day of stakeout." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "From Crowe: I need a stealth roll to get on someone's roof and stay up there for 18 hours unseen AND a pose about it. From Denton: a stealth or other appropriate roll to explain how you loiter in front of someone's house for about 18 hours passing the time, AND a pose about it. Details of whether or not you are wearing the Ballista at all times would be nice. Argos! When they are done you can pose about chilling out at home. :)" «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Stealth (Sneaking) + Task Pool: 1 for "I'm sneaky.": 1 2 3 3 3 4 5 7 9 «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 4 vs TN 21 for "This will cover Crowe's sneaking from the van to the rooftop - his ruth gives +12.": 1 2 2 11 = 0 Successes For a spell, Crowe observes his target home, long enough to insure that the occupants are either asleep or not at home. Depending on the time. At which point, the nigh-cyberzombie scales the modest two-story 'burb home to stake out on the roof for the next 18 boring, excruciating hours on unpadded shingles. The experience would most certainly grate on Crowe's nerves more if he had legs capable of falling asleep. Instead he has mechanical legs, and thus it is just boring. The highlight of the experience is at 12:00 hours and Crowe eats half a military ration bar. Good times. Obviously they don't want to sit out front of some houses all day long waiting for their target to arrive. Nosy neighbors can be the death of you. So, Denton spends the day in the area driving around and occasionally stopping at a Qwik-E-Mart or Stuffer Shack. He drives directly past the target area only once, taking a quick look around before avoiding it until Argos signals them. They don't go far though and always stay within at least 3 to 5 minutes of the target area. As soon as they get the call Denton will move to his designated spot and wait quietly in the back of the van. Denton puts on the missile launcher as he waits those final few minutes in the back of the van. Argos is in his own hiding place… at home. He's jacked in and working rather quickly over things in the matrix. Solving formulas, predicting patterns, hacking things… Though it really looks like he's just dazed, but well… they body might not be doing much, but the mind certainly is. Breep breep breep! The alarm goes off - the Nightsky is on the move. 9:30 PM, right on time, right in the darkness. Estimated time to impact 7-10 minutes And.. yes, there it is, turning in the right direction to go to CHROME, travelling on estimated path #4, heading towards the choke point. Everything is go. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Argos, quick hacking test, Blue 4, +1 tn for deck damage, tn 5." «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 vs TN 5 for "Quick resolution test": 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 - 1 vs TN 5 for "Quick resolution test kp 5/13": 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 = 3 Successes «Plot» Argos says, "There, that oughta do it" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "You have 2 successes over and above, that will give you 2 extra minutes to whatever police response I determine. Would you like to go for more?" «Auto-Judge[]» Argos (#11351) rolls Computers + Hacking Pool: 7 + Task Pool: 1 - 4 vs TN 5 for "Quick resolution test kp 7/13 Why yes, I would like more time.": 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 9 16 = 3 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Now at +5 minutes to whatever police response is rolled." Argos figures out that the time is nigh… and scouts the area. Finding a suitably low protected bank (fools), he hacks in and has their alarms go haywire, probably spooking the staff and patrons. Then he's flying back to the grid to keep an eye on the traffic and keep that backed up to keep people away from the target vehicle. Commlink-AT&T> Argos says, "Right, alarm has been set off, that should buy us a little time. Use it wisely, omae." And finally the time has come. Everyone is alerted. Everyone knows exactly what's going to happen. And there's the Nightsky, with its beautiful paint job, concourse level; low-ridin' so sweet, coming up and over and down amongst the houses. Do they know? How could they? What are they going to do? Denton is watching from inside a panel van through reflective tinted windows (just like the Mexican has on his car) so he can't possibly be seen. But what about Argos on the rooftop? Magical eyes can see right through that ruth. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 13 for "The Mexican's Ally Spirit: 3 intelligence, spotting with Astral Vision. Base TN from Crowe's stealth is 9, +2 for looking through tinted windows, +2 for distance.": 3 3 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 vs TN 15 for "The Mexican's perception: base TN 9, +2 tinted windows, +2 distance, +2 for sustaining a spell. But he's smart.": 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And distracted." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 21 for "And the bad-ass rigger.": 1 3 5 5 11 = 0 Successes Their vehicle moves, inscrutably. Have they seen anything? They aren't swerving.. approaching Zero Point… «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So, Denton, kicking open the door, targeting, firing?" «Plot» Denton nods. "Indeed, half a second before it hits the target point Denton will bust open the doors and take aim and fire. Shall I pose?" Crowe remains invisible. Is not on fire. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Not quite yet. This is where it gets complicated, so we're going to go through it nice and slow:" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Here is the 'problem' if problem it be. Opening a door is a Simple Action. Firing a missile is a Complex Action. So you can't do them both in the same 'pass'. What this means is that when it comes time to do the Reaction Test for Surprise, it is going to be you vs TN 4, and them vs TN 4. (If you had someone else open the door for you, or a mechanized thing, then it would be you vs TN 2 and them vs TN 4.) So what's really happening is that you kick open the door, and they might respond if they are fast enough and unsurprised enough." «Plot» Denton nods. "I was afraid of that. But it makes sense, so yeah." As the time nears and Denton perches silently in the back of the van, he reflects upon what is about to occur. It is not often that one finds themself encased in a suit of heavy ballistic armor with a missile launching system strapped to your back and a number of firearms and grenades on you to boot. It was well over 3 years ago that Denton purchased the missile launcher and he has been aching to try it out. The target closes in…Denton takes a deep breath, exhales…and it is go time. From outside of the van one would suddenly see the back door slam open and from within a very bulky, menacing looking figure with a huge gun mounted on it's shoulder. Denton pauses to aim and let the launcher computer acquire it's target, and then… «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Reaction vs TN 4: 1 2 2 3 4 5 5 13 = 4 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls 4 vs TN 4 for "KP4": 2 3 3 5 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 7 vs TN 6 for "The Mexican is sustaining a spell for +2 and it screws his ability to react.": 1 1 2 3 5 5 9 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 4 vs TN 4 for "The Ally spirit has a low reaction because it's based on Force": 2 3 5 7 = 2 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "Most critically, the bad-ass rigger must not be surprised in order to be able to use his Control Pool to dodge the missile.": 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 = 2 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 - 2 vs TN 4 for "kp 1": 1 2 3 4 5 5 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 - 5 vs TN 4 for "kp 3": 1 1 4 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The Mexican and his Ally Spirit are surprised. They will lose their first action in the round. The bad-ass rigger with a license to kill is not surprised, and may both act as normal as well as use in Control Pool to dodge missiles as he desires. (However, he did spend more of his crucial karma resources than he so desired.) Inits!" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "+7 The Mexican": 3 5 «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Initiative with a result of 11. «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Initiative with a result of 22. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+13 The Ally Spirit": 8 «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "+8 The Rigger": 1 13 «Plot» Argos will watch over cameras with eager eyes. «Plot» Crowe says, "I will wait." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Crowe! Crowe is delaying." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Ally spirit! This is the action that the Ally Spirit loses due to being surprised." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Rigger! (He has a higher reaction than the Mexican)." He doesn't say, "Holy frijole' inside there, but his first two words are an emphatic curse as he fully takes in the large man. Unbidden his vision magnification zeroes in and identifies the weapon, begins calculating defensive maneuvers. His action? He opens a channel to home base, "Under attack, missile incoming," he says loudly enough to fully alert his companions in the back seat. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Mexican! This is the action the Mexican loses due to being surprised." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Denton!" «Plot» Denton says, "Having taken aim and letting the missile launcher do it's computer work, Denton will fire the missile at the target." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Firing missiles is fun, but not easy. Fortunately, Denton has a missile with considerable smarts, because he's not good at firing missiles. First, we roll the scatter, which is 2d6 meters (adding the dice together for a quantity). The scatter cannot be karma rerolled, and the dice DO explode on sixes. Obviously, you want the scatter to roll low. Furthermore, the Ballista 2 AV missile has 6 Intelligence. That means that it will subtract 6 meters from the scatter. So if we roll less than 6 on the scatter, you're pretty golden." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "Scatter": 2 11 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "But all is not yet lost! While the base scatter is 13 meters minus Intelligence of the missile is 7 meters, now we actually roll dice for the missile's lock on. The 'signature' of the Nightsky sets the basic TN and the signature is 2 - basically, the car is not designed to evade lock-on missiles. The TN takes a +2 because this is an enclosed urban environment with a lot of pollution and clutter and strangely shaped objects like houses. So we roll 6 dice of Intelligence against TN 4 and every success reduces the scatter by 1 meter." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 4 for "The missile's smarts, which aren't karma-able because it's not the character.": 1 2 5 5 5 7 = 4 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "We are now down to 3 meters away. And here is where Denton comes in. He needs to roll his Launch Weapons which he doesn't have, so he is defaulting to Intelligence at +4 (and can't spend Combat Pool). That's TN 8. If he can get the scatter down to 0 it's a direct hit. Let me warn you, though: The Rigger has Control Pool to spend and that is like Dodge Pool. For every 4 he rolls 'dodging' he will remove a success." «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Intelligence vs TN 8: 1 2 5 5 5 10 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls 5 vs TN 8 for "KP6": 1 3 3 5 11 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls 4 vs TN 8 for "KP8": 2 3 3 4 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls 4 vs TN 8 for "KP11": 3 3 4 4 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls 4 vs TN 8 for "KP15": 1 3 3 7 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls 4 vs TN 8 for "KP20": 2 4 4 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Now, the missile is going to land 1 meter away from the vehicle. An anti-vehicle Ballista 2 missile is -7 power per meter; so if the Rigger did nothing, his vehicle would take 7d anti-vehicular from the fringe of the explosion." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 4 for "The rigger dodges with Control Pool": 2 3 3 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 4 for "The rigger dodges with Control Pool, really, kp4": 2 2 2 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 4 for "The rigger dodges with Control Pool, really, kp6, hilariously, this is the rigger's last karma.": 2 2 4 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And with that, he will manage to swerve the car just enough - but one last thing! Missiles hit on Initiative Count 1 of the last pass of the combat round. They fire, and they loiter in the air, gaining speed, zooming off to hit. (SR3 p120). (It doesn't matter if they are 50 meters away or 1500 meters away.) So the explosion hasn't happened yet, although one can see, perhaps, that the aim is off and the car is swerving." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Given that the missile has gone 'foomph' out of the launcher, ignited, and is starting to zoom across 50 meters, would you like to pose?" A steady BEEEEEP in Denton's ear signals the lock on the vehicle. Inside the helmet, Denton is grinning evilly. Outside the van one can suddenly see the dark interior light up like a sun followed a moment later by the missile emerging and taking flight toward the target vehicle. "Epic.." Denton breathes, waiting and hoping. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Crowe! Is delaying." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Ally Spirit!" The ally spirit, when he hears the driver say, "Incoming missile!" says, "Que?" But when he hears the 'foomph' and sees the missile streaking towards them, he is startled into action. Craning his head to see through the tinted front windshield, he casts a deadly stunbolt towards the missileer. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Your willpower is 4, Denton?" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 3 vs TN 7 for "Base TN 4, +2 tn for firing through a tinted window (visibility penalty) +1 background count, final tn 7. Sorcery skill is 5, Spell Pool is 3. F6 Deadly Stunbolt.": 1 1 4 4 5 5 11 11 = 2 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 2 for "The ally spirit against drain.": 2 3 4 = 3 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The Ally Spirit takes Serious Stun. It was a Deadly spell!" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So, Denton, you need 2 successes at Force 6 with your willpower and you totally negate the spell. If you don't, you take Deadly Stun Damage." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So it's Willpower against TN 6, the force of the spell." «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Willpower vs TN 6: 1 1 2 23 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls 3 vs TN 6 for "KP21": 1 3 8 = 1 Success The spirit heard the desperation in the driver's voice. He knows it's time to give his all to defend his master. And he is more than willing to exhaust himself firing… and he does. Yet, the man stands! What resources of will must he possess? Surely his master will save the day? As the missile streaks toward the target Denton is suddenly hit by a bolt of magic from the spirit in the target vehicle. He grunts and braces himself, wincing inside the suit but shrugging it off and immediately focusing on the missile and whether or not it will hit, waiting to fire another if need be. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The rigger in the second pass! He has no weapons on the vehicle, only communications. He calls for help some more, and prepares to dodge the second possible missile." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The Mexican: The Mexican will also cast a Deadly Stunbolt at Denton. He's a better wizard than his ally spirit - but he's also somewhat distracted." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The penalties: +1 background count, +2 tinted window, +2 sustaining a spell. So the TN of his spell is base 4 for willpower, +5 is 9. He will Center against penalties. He is a Grade 3 Initiate, so the TN for centering is 9-3=6." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 6 for "Centering against penalties, need 2 successes to reduce penalties": 1 2 3 4 9 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 - 1 vs TN 6 for "Mexican kp 1": 2 4 4 13 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "He has reduced the TN to Stunbolt Denton from 9 to 8. He will cast a F6 Deadly Stunbolt." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 vs TN 8 for "F6 Stunbolt, Sorcery 5, 5 dice from Spell Pool": 2 2 4 4 5 5 5 7 9 10 = 2 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 - 2 vs TN 8 for " kp 2": 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "2 successes, Stunbolt, over to you, Denton. You again need two successes at TN 6 or take Deadly stun." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "Against 2d Stun, +2 for sustaining a spell": 1 2 2 3 4 4 8 9 = 4 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The mexican takes M stun drain." «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Willpower vs TN 6: 1 2 4 5 = 0 Successes «OOC» Denton says, "Jesus" «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Willpower vs TN 6 for "KP22": 2 2 2 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Denton says, "Well..got 23. So I don't believe I can go again." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "At this point you are taking D stun. Do you have a Trauma Damper?" «Plot» We go over the various things that might help Denton, like drugs, autoinjectors, and so on. He has a Anchoring Healing focus but that's only for physical damage. The Mexican, as he's being called, brings forth and eerie calm. This human chattel is beneath him. His austere visage tenses, and his hand, formed into a claw invisible to those outside, grasps the air. Denton appears to feel it, not in his heart, but in his head. He slumps down senseless within the vehicle. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And speaking of, that is everyone in Pass 2. Crowe, would you like to use your delayed action on Pass 2?" «Plot» Crowe says, "I'm leaving my perch to travel adjacent to the road to maintain 23 metre distance." From the rooftop doth the Crowe step, and should he say 'Nevermore'. A graceful landing doth he make, with steps so smooth that nothing is left in his wake. Little more than a silhouette contrasting under-whelming suburbia, thy destination is reached in negligible time. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And the Third Pass, again, Crowe, the only person who goes, besides the explosion." «Plot» Crowe says, "Can I go after the explosion? >:/" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "by my reading, which says that all missiles hit on segment 1 of the last pass of the round in which they are fired, you can go at the same time, but you cannot go after. Of course, you will likely win init next round." «Plot» Crowe says, " Okay, okay. I use my simple/free action to extend cyber blade in my arm. End init." BOOOM! The streaking of the missile is like an afterimage on the eyes after its lazy floating in the air and little stabilizer rockets firing. The explosion.. is surprisingly small and focused, actually. It's all forwards in a narrowing then expanding cone.. and it plows into the concrete three meters away from the vehicle. It's only splashed by the fringes of the explosion and save for the paint job, seems unharmed. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Inits!" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "+8 Rigger": 1 2 «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Initiative with a result of 24. «Auto-Judge[]» Denton (#3047) rolls Initiative with a result of 13. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "+7 -2 Moderate Stun Mexican": 3 4 «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+13 -3 Serious stun Ally Spirit": 5 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Crowe! Now that the explosion has gone off, is sprinting to leap through the car's window." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Athletics + Task Pool: 1 vs TN 4 for "Running!": 3 4 5 5 11 = 4 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Crowe's basic quickness is 8. His Athletics successes adds 4 to that. So he base 12 times 4 for running full out. That's 48 meters. He has 3 passes this round so the first pass covers 1/3 of that, that is 16 meters. In the second pass he will crash, at least, against the window." With the quickness of someone with some funky dog legs, Crowe runs with full intentions to smack his body against an armored vehicle's window. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The Ally spirit! Looking around for targets, notices a guy with funky dog legs sprinting from the side towards the vehicle. Where was that guy? Unfortunately, he used up a majority of his mojo against the guy with the missile. He casts a Light F6 Stunbolt against this one… to soften him up for the Master." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 7 for "Base TN to see something fairly obvious in a combat situation, +3 tn for being serious stunned, in order to resolve the questions as to whether or not the spirit rationally sees Crowe.": 4 4 10 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) has the Attribute Willpower with the value '4'. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 3 vs TN 10 for "Base TN is Crowe's willpower, 4. +2 tinted window, +1 background count, +3 Serious stun, F6 Light Stunbolt.": 1 1 1 1 2 4 4 9 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 2 for "Against L drain": 2 3 4 = 3 Successes The ally spirit attempts to muster line of sight and force and magic against Crowe.. but is unable to make a link. Either Crowe's will (and his deadly focus) is too great, or he's just too hurt. The viewers at home vote for Crowe's deadly focus. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The Mexican! He will do the same as his spirit, conserving his magic." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 8 for "Centering against penalties. TN 4, +2 moderate stun, +2 tinted windows, +1 background, +2 sustaining a a spell, -3 Grade 3 initiate. Need 2 successes.": 1 3 3 5 10 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 - 1 vs TN 8 for "kp3": 2 3 4 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "No benefit from centering. Now the spell." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 vs TN 11 for "Sorcery 5, Spell pool 5, tn 4, +2 tinted windows, +2 moderate stun, +1 background count, +2 sustaining a spell. F6 Light Stunbolt.": 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 7 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 vs TN 11 for "kp 4": 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 10 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "Against 2L drain, +2 sustaining": 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 8 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 - 1 vs TN 4 for "Against 2L drain, +2 sustaining kp5": 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 = 2 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "He takes no drain, but uses valuable resources in so doing." Fully informed of the rushing approach by his mental link with his ally spirit, the Mexican within turns his gaze to the new attacker. He, too, conserves.. and perhaps it is that conservation which causes him the most problem. He also can't fasten the mental link, and solidify the spell against the freaky dog thing. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Rigger! Amusingly enough, the Rigger slows the vehicle to the maximum amount possible. He does this both to aid in his maneuverability, as well as making it easier to dodge more missiles, and to cause less damage if in fact he crashes. The Mexican's unheard orders, in the car, might mean something. This makes it strangely easier for the sprinting Crowe to make his attack." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass! Crowe! Annnd, here we go. I have the critical question for you. What is the power of your attack when you crash against the window?" «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) has the Attribute Strength with the value '5'. «Plot» Crowe says, "6L" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "So. The base vehicle armor for the Mitsubishi Nightsky is 2. This one is up-armored to 3. To use hand to hand attacks against barriers, like brick walls, or doors, or other things with barrier rating like vehicle armor, is 1/2. So you needed at least a 6 Power of the attack, which you have one way or the other - either with climbing claws or with handblades. You will bust a half-meter hole in the armor, which fits nicely with crashing through the front windshield, or you can do the side or rear if you like. That is your second pass action and you may pose it." «Plot» Crowe says, "Can I roll int for default to magic to know if a spirit will go away if the master dies?" «Plot» Crowe says, "I have a mnemonic enhancer, so it's a +3TN, and I get a +1 dice to the knowskill. :/ That I don't have." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Intelligence + 1 vs TN 7 for "Magic Background Knowskill (Default Intelligence)": 1 3 3 4 5 5 8 14 = 2 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Weak spirits often fade when their master dies. Stronger spirits have been well known to go wild and kill everyone they can in the vicinity." «Plot» Crowe says, "Oh good." «Plot» Crowe says, "Everything's great then." With the distance rapidly closing, Crow decides on a target: the rear side window of the vehicle. Maneuver enacted, Crowe leaps with all the agility one might have with weird dog-leg-things. With that stylistic move, the cyber-meleeist crashes through the window of the Nightsky with all the style of a flatvid star. All that's missing is kick ass sunglasses, unfortunately, Crowe is all out of sunglasses. It's a good thing the NIghtsky is a limo, because it's a little crowded back there. As it turns out, Crowe will be in the Mexican's lap, as he happened to be on that side, and right next to the Ally Spirit, in the back seat. The rigger is in the front seat, jacked in. I believe this is the very definition of 'Close Combat.' «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass, Ally spirit!" Ut oh. He touched the Master! And he's RIGHT HERE! What will I do? Well, not going through tinted window this time…. Time to lay it all on the line. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 8 for "Sorcery 5 - guess what? He used up his spell pool! Base TN is 4 for Crowe's willpower, +3 serious stun, +1 background count, F6 Moderate Stunbolt. Also, no more tinted windows.": 2 4 4 5 10 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 - 1 vs TN 8 for "kp 1 for the spirit": 1 1 2 4 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "That is one success, over to you Crowe. You need at least 1 success, TN 6, on a willpower roll, to take nothing." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Willpower vs TN 6 for "Come on.": 1 2 5 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Willpower vs TN 6 for "Come on. KP/1": 1 1 2 7 = 1 Success The spirit made the link - how could he not? The guy's right here? But again, that focus, that intensity of will, is keeping him safe. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Mexican." He's perturbed at this. His face that you've pored over in surveillance footage, that superior look, that unflappable, I'm in control gaze - it is cracked. You can read 'How did they find me?' on his face and 'How many of them are there?' as well as at least a little 'Fortunately, I have resources I have not yet tapped' going on. But you can tell that This Was Not Supposed To Happen. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 vs TN 6 for "Centering - base tn 4, +2 moderate stun, +2 sustaining a spell, +1 background, -3 Grade 3 initiate": 1 3 4 5 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "He does not reduce the difficulty with Centering." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 vs TN 9 for "Sorcery 5, and yes he has 5 more spell pool, against base tn 4, +2 moderate stun, +2 sustaining a spell, +1 background is TN 9": 1 1 2 4 4 4 5 5 5 11 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 - 1 vs TN 9 for "Mexican KP 6 (Sorry, that's F6 Moderate stunbolt like the spirit)": 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 8 11 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 - 2 vs TN 9 for "Mexican KP 8 (Sorry, that's F6 Moderate stunbolt like the spirit)": 1 1 1 4 4 5 5 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "Against 2M stun drain +2 sustaining": 1 3 3 5 9 9 9 11 = 5 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Mexican takes no drain." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Stand on 2 successes, F6 moderate stunbolt. You need 2 successes on a willpower tn 6 to take nothing, 1 success you take moderate, 0 successes you take serious stun." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Willpower vs TN 6 for "Come on, dice.": 1 1 2 3 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Willpower vs TN 6 for "Come on, dice. KP 2/7": 1 1 2 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Willpower vs TN 6 for "Come on, dice. KP 4/6": 3 4 5 9 = 1 Success «Plot» Crowe says, "Stand. I have a Trauma Damper." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Crowe takes M stun, removing 1 from Trauma damper, he is at 2 boxes of stun." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Rigger! The rigger jacks out of the car because he cannot shoot you in the back of the head while he is jacked in. That is a complex action." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 4 for "Keep control of car while slowing steadily": 2 2 2 5 5 5 = 3 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Third pass! Crowe, Crowe, and only Crowe. Who is at +1 TN due to light stun wound mods." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Cyber-Implant Combat - Impact + Combat Pool: 7 vs TN 5 for "I believe this is it?": 1 3 4 4 5 5 5 8 9 9 10 = 7 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls 2 vs TN 5 for "Two more dice for that roll. It didn't roll the specialization.": 2 3 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls 6 vs TN 5 for "KP 5/6 for this attack.": 2 2 2 5 8 10 = 3 Successes «Plot» Crowe says, " That's 10 successes." «Plot» Crowe says, "Base damage for this attack is STR+3L (or 8L)" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 vs TN 8 for "Defending with Kung Fu 5 and combat pool 5, +2 sustaining, +2 moderate stun": 1 2 2 3 4 4 5 9 10 11 = 3 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 - 3 vs TN 6 for "KP 9": 1 1 1 2 5 5 15 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "I see 4 successes against 10, you have 6 excess successes, that's 8D. He has 4 Impact Armor, rolling his body…" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "8d minus 4 impact armor is 4d": 1 2 2 3 5 7 7 10 = 4 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "He takes Moderate Physical, and spends no KP." Having a bounty land in your lap is usually a pleasant surprise, while landing in your bounty's lap usually is not! It takes a critical moment for Crowe to realize his surroundings in the comfort of such a limo. In that moment, the nigh-cyberzombie sees that look of panic, a broken spirit for just that crucial moment, and that just makes the whole situation worth it. As the feeling of numbness and pain washes over Crowe's body, all he can do is raise his blade and jab it into the Mexican. More stabs to happen. «Plot» Inits! «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Initiative with a result of 23. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "+7-4 Mexican": 2 4 «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+13-3 Ally": 9 «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "+8 Rigger": 7 10 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "I have Crowe 23, Rigger 20 (yes, he has Rigger rating 1, wired reflexes 1), Ally 16, Mexican 9." The mexican says, "This is your last chance. You can still be forgiven." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Crowe." «Plot» Crowe says, "I'm going to stab a Mexican." Crowe says "I will pass. Thanks." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Cyber-Implant Combat (Hand Blades) + Combat Pool: 7 vs TN 5 for "Stabby": 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 7 8 10 10 16 = 7 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Cyber-Implant Combat (Hand Blades) + Combat Pool: 7 - 7 vs TN 5 for "Stabby KP 6/6": 2 2 3 3 3 4 11 = 1 Success «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 vs TN 8 for "Kung fu 5 combat pool 5, his pools refresh, base tn 4, +2 moderate stun, +2 moderate physical": 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 5 8 17 = 2 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 - 2 vs TN 8 for "kp 10, final kp.": 1 1 2 2 3 4 5 10 = 1 Success «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "I see 8 successes -3=5 successes, staging up to 8s? Because you start at Light." «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "8s physical -4 impact is 4S physical": 1 1 3 5 5 5 8 8 = 5 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The Mexican takes Light and is at 4 boxes physical." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Rigger! The rigger at 20 is going to draw his SMG, turn around in his seat, and give you a three-shot burst in the back. «Plot» We discuss ruthenium, visibility penalties, melee combat penalties, driving the vehicle as it slows to a stop, and cover. Those things that apply eventually give a penalty. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 vs TN 6 for "Base TN 4, close range. -2 Smartlink-2. +4 for going around a carseat into ruthenium wackiness and bloody stabbing. One burst, fully compensated, 7m base, 3 shots is 10m, ExEx is 12m.": 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And the shots go wild!" Maybe he's busy with making sure the car doesn't drive over the median. But he stitches explosive bullets into the carseat next to his Master and well, he might be in real trouble later on tonight. Hell, he's in real trouble now. (If his Master lives and is wise, he'll be happy enough with the whold 'dodged the missile for you, Master' thing.) «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 6 vs TN 5 for "driving, fortunately Argos cleared away all other cars.": 1 1 5 5 10 11 = 4 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "At least he's a good driver." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Ally spirit!" It's the last chance for the Ally Spirit. And here goes. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 3 vs TN 8 for "F6 Serious Stunbolt. It will likely knock him out. But he went out for Master. base tn 4, +3 serious stun, +1 background count.": 1 1 2 2 3 5 5 5 = 0 Successes «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 3 vs TN 2 for "against 2S stun": 1 4 5 = 2 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The ally spirit takes Moderate Stun and is at 9 boxes." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Mexican!" The Mexican says, "All right. You win. Well played." His voice is gravelly, perhaps with blood. The look in his face is clearly one of defeat, but not.. exactly someone who's afraid of getting killed. It's worse than that. It's like what Tallyrand said, "It was worse than a crime. It was a blunder." You are making him blunder. He paws the door to the Nightsky and tumbles out from under you into the openness of the road.. and your eyes swim for a moment. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Simple action, open door. Movement action, tumble out from under you a meter or so. He skids some on the road but the rigger has been slowing the car down for several actions and the Nightsky has fearsomely good abilities in that regard. As a free action, he drops the spell he was sustaining AND the action of dropping the spell he was sustaining triggers an Anchored spell, just like that healing spell anchoring focus that Denton has." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The anchored spell is Improved Invisibility, and it goes off:" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 5 + 5 vs TN 5 for "F6 Anchored Improved Invisibility": 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 11 = 2 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "He has 2 successes on an F6 Improved Invisibility. This means that no electronic devices can see him, no cameras can take pictures (even if he wasn't in a no-camera zone). Crowe, you're looking right at him, you get an Int roll TN 6, you need 2 successes to penetrate it and see what he really looks like." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Intelligence vs TN 6 for "Good luck, me.": 1 1 2 5 5 10 10 = 2 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Well done, sir." Through the shimmering of his eyes, Crowe penetrates the spell. What he and he alone sees is this: the release of the sustained Shapechange spell has allowed the Mexican to change forms back into a dragon. Young, firey, larged, armored scales, brightly-colored; a Yucatan jungle dragon if you will; with feathers on his head instead of spikes and scales in all colors of the rainbow. The wounds he has taken stay and are visible to Crowe. Anyone else on the street - thankfully there is really no one due to Argos - would only see the way his weight moves the rubble of the concrete caused by the errant explosion some meters back. «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Second pass. Crowe." «Player Reactions» «Plot» Argos says, "Hooooo shit" «Plot» Denton says, "Holy what the what?" «Plot» Crowe crackles knuckles. «Plot» Crowe says, "Sorry, guys. Pay is pay." «Plot» Crowe says, "Can I get some IC information via a knowskill defaulting roll?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Take your time. It is, indeed, all you. Go for it." «Auto-Judge[]» Crowe (#11868) rolls Intelligence vs TN 7 for "Defaulting, Yucatan Jungle Dragon rumors.": 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "According to your knowledge on dragons, the standard 'trideo' dragon stands 3 meters tall at the shoulder and is 15 meters long in head and body. This dragon is 2.5 meters at the shoulder, and perhaps 11-12 meters long in head and body." «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "And he has feathers. Perhaps some mix in with feathered serpents?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "They're both Dragon-type in Pokemon." Through that very shimmering, the circumstances of the situation change. Killing dragons is another matter entirely. Ignoring the driver, Crowe steps out of the slowed limo casually. The blood from the mexican still covers the blade on Crowe's arm and the ruthenium coating is flickering, perhaps due to blood on a sensor. For all moments, it would look entirely as though Crowe would much like to go back to stabbing the dragon to death, and with that flickering ruthenium, the cybered man looks all the more intimidating. There is too little left in his body, that even an astrally perceptive one such as this dragon would be able to perceive of the few threads that barely tie Crowe's soul to this mortal shell. He could kill without remorse over the event. It is intimidating. And here he stands at this precipice. Instead of lunging for the kill, Crowe offers, "Make me an offer. I can help." The Yucatan jungle dragon says, "You say, "Make 'me' an offer." Are you a free agent in this? Am I negotiating with you, and not with someone behind you?" Crowe responds coolly, "That depends. I author my own destiny." The dragon says, "Are you recording at the moment?" "No," says Crowe. Obviously, while no machine can see him, he can be heard because you're hearing him. "Though it seems obvious, I must ask," says the dragon. "Were you hired for this for pay, or is this a personal, political, or other matter?" Crowe notes, "There is a time limit associated with this dialogue, I'm not very patient." Perhaps an acute remark, "Nuyen." Back in the vehicle, the rigger holsters his SMG and plugs back in. "Do you want money, or opportunity?," the dragon says. It's amazing how expressive seemingly non-motile lips are; the cant of his head, his four-legged posture, half cat, half lizard, half-dog… or are those behaviours he's intentionally using to communicate? In any case, he seems well aware of how long it will be until police get here and how long he imagines he has to talk. Crowe steps forward, "Opportunity is money." It seems the dog-legged humanoid is semi circling around the dragon. If not out of curiosity, then just because it's slightly disconcerting. Or Crowe is just anxious to get the drek out of here. "I have you at a disadvantage. I know one side of a story of your unacceptable etiquette. Information was withheld from me. I don't really care whose fault it is. That annoys me. I think there's potential here because of these extenuating circumstances, but you know quite well that I can find you again if you cross me. If you want to talk about opportunity, I'll give you the opportunity to do so. But it had better be worth my while. In exchange, I have information for you. For the right price. I'm negotiable." «Player Reactions» «OOC» Crowe struts around. Being the boss. «OOC» Argos sits at home, going WTF is going on? «OOC» Crowe says, "Later: "OH EM GEE, I SAW A DRAGON"" «OOC» Crowe says, "Denton: "What drugs were in that limo?"" The dragon turns with you, never letting you see more than a magnificent side view. And of course they're pretty much in that dead zone for cameras so not only can Argos see nothing, he can't see anything. "You have a bruiser, a close combat specialist, and I assume a planner. I can see now that you anticipated my movements and given me the opportunity to learn better. I have missions to give and I pay well for them. You know what country and corporation to which I am attached. I will cover your expenses for your attack as payment for the lesson. In return, you destroy any evidence you have of me so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands - pictures and so forth. And since you have clearly proven yourselves, I will contact you for jobs." He seems to elide the 'fact' if fact it be, that he was lacking in etiquette or that he ever didn't pay anyone. Commlink-AT&T> Argos says, "Guys? Guys, everything got quiet, is everything alright? Hello?" «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 8 for "+2 Enhanced hearing": 1 2 3 4 4 4 5 22 The dragon says, "Ah, there's your planner now," tilting his head towards the mildest vibration in Denton's unconscious skull where he can hear Argos's dall. Asynchronously, Crowe deactivates his Ruthenium as a sign of good faith while also taking a step forward to be just that bit more intimidating, though it may perhaps not be intentional, and just a side effect of him being a cybered monstrosity. "What reassurance will you give me that you won't back down on paying us, either?" «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "The dragon has now looked at Crowe and Denton's auras and can find them with Watcher spirits, though admittedly at penalties for only meeting them for a short time." "My covering your expenses should be proof of my bona fides," says the dragon. "Not to mention my covering up the use of such weaponry within city limits." "Mmm. That wasn't my idea. I'm not going to bicker about it. We'll be in contact. I'm sure you can find my information. Crowe. Do you need medical assistance?" replies Crowe calmy. He imagines there is like 2-3 minutes left until Lonestar response. Liiiiikely. «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 2 for "Minutes until Lone Star response, +5 because of Argos.": 1 3 «Auto-Judge[]» Mr.Terrific (#7242) rolls 1 for "+3 Until the Aztlan Diplomatic Cleaners get here": 3 «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Argos will be able to inform you when the cops are getting close. Right now they are responding to 'loud noise' and 'possible fireball' while they are at a bank elsewhere." The dragon says, "Thanks, but no need. I will be well shortly. Are we complete?" Crowe responds, "Yes. What a pleasurable dragon. Sincerest apologies about the window." With that, Crowe turns on his heel. Or paw-claw-foot-thing, and strolls off towards his van while reactivating ruthenium. The dragon is also possessed of a paw-claw-foot-thing, and he turns on it… to get his ass under cover so things like radar that isn't blocked by an Invisibility spell don't tag him. He doesn't dare fly away, after all. The Aztlan Diplomatic Cleaners will soon be here with several large cargo trucks that have diplomatic plates - the dragon will hide in one and the other will conveniently explode and cover/mix up the residue from the Ballista missile that otherwise would get Denton's contact in hella trouble - (she let through a weapon like that used on the street?!?). Shame that the Nightsky was escorting the trucks to provide the use of their Satellite Uplink to them and got damaged on the side, isn't it? The paint job will be a terrible bother. (And the little kid down the road who tells his mom he saw a dragon in the road after he heard a loud bang? No one believes little kids.) «Plot» Mr.Terrific says, "Needless to say, you can casually drive away, return the untouched van for cleaning, let Denton wake up in 15 minutes or so. The curious actions of the Aztlan Diplomatic corps will be noted, but there is little that can be done of them. And soon enough, a dragon may contact you with a 'special request…'"