Shaman Smuggling

GM: Walker
Players: Judge, Nolan Void, Swaggy, Walker
Synopsis: Walker puts together a team to evac a group of shamans from the rapidly destabilising Ute sector.
Date: 19th April 2080

The back of the Crazy Horse Bar and Grill's main room is dark and quiet, making it an ideal place for a meet. The special grill plate is a pleasant bonus though.

However you have made your way here, you know who to look for: a tall elf with long blond hair and piercing green eyes. Some of you have met him before, some have not, but you all have a name to go with the face: Walker.

«Plot» Walker says, "Oh and before I forget, while this is not a killer plot by any means, sometimes unpleasant things happen to characters in plots because dice are evil. With that in mind, I ask for consent. Naturally, Walker consents to the consequences of being along for the ride."
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Consent given."
«Plot» Judge says, "Yarp."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " I give consent."

Showing up for the meet, Judge looks like Judge. A big troll without obvious dermal deposits or horns, looking more like nine feet of muscular human than troll by some people's measure. Walking over to take a seat across from Walker, he doesn't say anything, just sits down wherever is comfortable. "I like the way this place smells," he remarks.

Nolan Void travelled by foot and mass transit tonight. Crossing borders currently, especially from the Ute has been a risky proposition, but gotta make them coins. All he knows is he is supposed to look for a Elf, he sees one. That's handy. He's got a backpack on, slim, tight to his riding leathers, a bit of weight to it, looks like he is travelling pretty light though. When he approaches the Elf, hopefully the right one, he asks, "Walker?" if he gets a nod he responds with "N.V." sounds like envy, but he adds a little pause in the middle.

Mr. Swaggy arrives(?) and goes to the end of the long bar where the only blond(e) elf is. Every other runner in town has green eyes which would help a little less than being of about seven feet and blonde in this Native watering hole. He laughs a little to himself on the way and voices joyously, "A mutual acquaintance mentioned a gathering. We can begin now that I am here."

Walker grins at Judge's comment and sniffs the air thoughtfully. "I gotta admit, I do enjoy the wood smoke… and the barbecue," he muses. There is an empty plate sitting at the end of the table with the final remnants of the elf's grill platter: clearly Walker did not plan on a working lunch.

When their second member appears, Walker nods politely. "Guilty," he says with a grin, "Grab a seat, we're just waiting on one more."

Then Swaggy appears and the elf claps his hands. "That we can!" He waves a hand for the others to sit. "If you want food feel free, I already ate. I can recommend the 25 special. Just get the orders in before we starting talking work, so ka?"

Nolan Void has a seat, nods, he is a fairly quiet individual. Even when he puts in an order for a pulled pork sammich and a tank of cola he does so in a way that the wait staff has to say, "Excuse me?" as they couldn't hear him. Once he has ordered he tucks in for the real feast, work. He needs some.

Judge doesn't order anything. Instead, he just introduces himself, "Judge," he says in his usual standard-order troll deep tones. He doesn't start the meeting or ask any questions until Walker has given them space to do so.

Mr. Swaggy claims a seat and gets comfortable with an extra cushion claimed from the next best empty chair. He looks at the others more closely. He says to one of the "squaws", "Vodka, five shots in one glass, straight. Merci." The bald man introduces himself, too, "Hello, I am Mr. Swaggy." Walker waits while the others make them selves comfortable before reaching into a satchel beside him on the seat. An audible click can be heard, followed by the hum of a white noise generator. The blond elf seems to relax into his seat a little more.

"So," he begins, "I have a friend. This friend has some other friends who, through circumstances beyond their control, have wound up stranded in the Ute sector."

He glances briefly at the rest of the group. "I don't know how avidly you all follow the news, but the situation out there is…" he sighs as he picks his next words carefully, "about eighteen different kinds of fucked up. Naturally, my friend does not wish this group of individuals to come to harm, so the have entrusted me with ensuring their safe recovery."

For a moment he pauses, letting the others digest this. "There is, unfortunately, a catch," he explains, "While I have an approximate location and good descriptions of the group, my friend lacks the means to contact them at this time, so we may have to convince them to come with us." He directs a meaningful smile at Judge and adds, "Diplomatically.".

"Once we have them we need to get them out and into the neighbouring Sioux sector, where I will convey them to a safehouse." The pitch apparently complete, he glances around the table. "Questions?"

«Plot» Walker says, "At this point I suggest swapping to OOC chatter, unless folks have a burning desire to respond to that IC in which case, go ahead."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " Nolan lives in the Ute and kinda does the smuggling thing, but not with people so much. He would wonder how many people and what kind of time frame the extraction has to get accomplished."
«Plot» Walker says, "There are five of them. Time frame is ASAP but a day or so of prep would not be unreasonable if necessary."
«OOC» Swaggy says, "High sec zone or less so? Do they have their own ride? What got them stranded? Do they need medical assistance? How much room do we have for bribes and for outside hands? Do we have to shoot our way in?"
«Plot» Walker says, "The entirety of Ute is more or less a free-for-all at this stage, but security services are still operating in localised areas. People want out and may get violent if they see a way to make that happen. They do not have transport that Walker knows of. An important detail that will come out in response to the question of how they got stranded is that they are currently somewhere in the Flatirons, because they are a group of shamans. Medical assistance is an unknown quantity at this stage, although given the situation there planning for it would be prudent. Pay is high due to the current motd re:smuggling, the take-home is in the region of 60K a head (subject to staff approval, natch), so there is room for greasing of wheels, though I will point out that speed and discretion are both important factors to bear in mind. We do not /have/ to shoot our way in (in fact trying to do that across the borders right now would be asking for trouble), but in the Ute sector itself that approach might have its benefits."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " If we could get them into Zocolo we could hide them out, Nolan has his home there, and then sneak them across one by one doing it over the course of several hours? If we would need to do them all at one time that is a lot of biomass all at once. In my head Nolan sneaks out through a combination of underground drains, abandoned apartment buildings, jumping over fences, crawling under them, stuff like that he is suited for. Some of that your basic pedestrian could do, other aspects there would be some substantial problems to over come. One trip would be preferable I would think though. The one and done thing. Another point is that we all have to get back into the Ute to collect them."

«OOC» Judge says, "Anyone have a large enough vehicle for 10?"
«OOC» Nolan Void says, "Has a bike"
«OOC» Swaggy says, "I can get Swaggy's hands on everything."
«OOC» Judge says, "I'm not thinking of crossing the border with it, but bringing it in shouldn't be impossible and out by yourself shouldn't be impossible— but inside the zone, we'd do well to have the ability to move everyone from point A -> to the border areas at point B. Instead of hoofing four Runners and Six random guys of unknown age and health condition."
«OOC» Walker points up, "Five randoms, but good points, yes."
«OOC» Judge says, "From there, we need someone to do a smuggler skill check and find us the best spot to exfil them. A high enough roll should produce a smuggler tunnel in my experience."
«OOC» Nolan Void says, "Yup, good point."
«OOC» Judge says, "Once out, it's milk run territory."
«OOC» Walker says, "Something to bear in mind with acquisitions: you might have time for a fixer to get some basic gear, but a truck might be harder. I will point out that stealing one in Ute right now would barely raise an eyebrow if done in the rougher areas."
«OOC» Judge nods at Walker. I'd say sourcing the vehicle in zone is plan b.
«OOC» Nolan Void says, "I'm not that good, but I can compliment a smuggling roll. If we are relying on my skill … well I can give it a good go."
«OOC» Judge says, "Since having it break down at the wrong point would be troublesome."
«OOC» Judge says, "As to security? I'd say we should roll this all relatively heavy. I'm not saying you should wear Shoeshine power-armor and carry a heavy canon, but looking armored shouldn't make anyone blink too much, it's a dangerzone."
«OOC» Judge ponders. Yeah, other than that, I've got little to add. We can't spontaneously scout it out. Someone might be able to turn up more intel on areas to avoid, perhaps? I don't have the contacts for it.
«OOC» Swaggy says, "There are no cops in any poor and industrial zones not owned by major corps. It takes a while for any actual soldiers show up. This gives leeway to some more direct approaches than are typical. Anyway. This will be out in actual badlands? Swaggy knows smugglers and others. We can maybe punch a driver and take a chicken truck to the border. Something like that."
«Plot» Walker says, "Assuming you acquired transport to cross the border, you can always bring a change of gear along with. If anyone has knowskills they want to throw around or contacts they want to use, please do. A smuggler could get you info/basic transport with some reasonable rolls."
«OOC» Judge having made some suggestions, fades back into the background.
«OOC» Swaggy says, "What are we looking for? Basic decker work, astral gander, camera overwatch, satellite images, reports, accounts?"
«Plot» Walker says, "The group's current location is the Flatirons park, which is more or less wild country. Expect paracritters and spirits."
«OOC» Judge says, "Satellite images and first hand accounts of the area would be useful. We want to know where to avoid in the area so we can cleanly exfil."
«OOC» Swaggy says, "Okay. I can call my Native colleague and a decker? Then call a t-bird jockey? I can try on the sat images, but it will not be cheap."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Denver FTZ Smuggling Routes (to Walker) for "Like that? Can't recall if I can add any dice or not.":
1 4
You paged Nolan Void with 'Those dice won't get you much, but you know the most scrutinised areas to avoid. For a large group your best bet would probably be staying rural and crossing late night.'.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Corporate Security (to Walker) for "Not sure if this is applicable to what is happening at the borders right now, but Nolan would be watching the crossings pretty close as he needs to get in and out of the area fairly regularly.":
1 3 16

You paged Nolan Void with 'Got anything besides Corp Security? That doesn't really relate. You can keep the roll for another skill if you have Border Sec or something similar?'.
Nolan Void pages: I have straight up security measures. As well as electronic security measures. I don't have a lot of anything :)
You paged Nolan Void with 'OK, security measures will work, give me a sec…'.
You paged Nolan Void with 'While security in Ute is patchy at best right now, the borders are pretty well locked down, both by the Ute themselves and their neighbours. On the Ute side, that involves a goodly chunk of magical security, Sioux side is more physical with more frequent and heavier patrols than usual. Security checks are also more stringent at checkpoints, perhaps obviously.'.

Nolan Void leans in, he is a low talker, well… he is just not much of a talker at all. Not something he likes to do. "I live out there right? Railslums, not as far out, but I watch so I can get across. The Ute side of the borders are usin' a lot of magical security. It's beyond me really, but really tight at the checkpoints. On the Sioux side they have ramped up patrols, more frequent, more heavily armed. Again, around the checkpoints things are really ramped up."

«OOC» Judge says, "Skip the images then."
«OOC» Judge says, "I'm sure someone who is acting as a fixer, getting stuff for groups in that area would have some idea where people are and where to avoid."

«OOC» Walker says, "So let's sort the contacts out one by one. What are you planning to ask the Native? And can you +prove me their stats please?"

Swaggy pages: Shall I just roll madly? Which skills shall I roll?
You paged Swaggy with 'Roll me etiquette for getting stuff from contacts, but I'll need a bit of detail on them to figure what info they'd have if you're looking for that. I also need to know what questions you're asking them.'.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Etiquette for "Asking Lady Thi.":
1 2 3 3 3 10 16

«Plot» Walker says, "OK, those rolls will do nicely . Thi is happy to assist (for a price). What info were you after?"
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Threat assessment of the area we go to and two routes to Sioux border. Maybe a small truck or school bus."
«Plot» Walker says, "Thi comes back with a pretty comprehensive list of where not to go, ironically containing both the nicest and least nice areas in the sector. Flatirons and the areas around it are currently being avoided by everybody: seems like the native life is going as crazy as the nation generally. She can have transport ready to go in a quiet drop-off on the Ute side, but wouldn't be able to swing things outside the sector itself due to the clampdown at the borders that Nolan mentioned (advice which she echoes). If you avoid the security enclaves and standard rough parts, the streets are /mostly/ deserted, but she cautions that the population is restless and angry. Call it 3000 for the info and transport altogether."

«OOC» Swaggy says, "Wonderful. I have a few more rolls I would like to make, mostly rumors. Then I want to call the Jockey and be sure to have the decker waiting in overwatch, should something come up."
«Plot» Swaggy says, "3,000 is good."
«OOC» Judge says, "Swag, can you do anything to improve our smuggling passage in/out?"
«OOC» Swaggy says, "I can get us in in a few ways. What do you want, please?"
«OOC» Judge says, "I mean, we want a way to move 5 unknown folks across the border without needing to do a whole shebang at the checkpoints? I guess?"
«OOC» Judge says, "So a tunnel or passage that doesn't make them scale the side of a building, run through a defense grid, and play Ninja Warrior."
«OOC» Swaggy says, "I have a vtol rigger, a t-bird jammer, on call."
«OOC» Swaggy says, "They are a smuggler in a low flying tank."
«OOC» Judge says, "Fancy, okay.
«OOC» Swaggy says, "We stop over and have the decker look for govt tailing of Judge."

Judge nods his head at Mr. Swaggy. "I feel like we've done the ground work, we can only plan so much ahead of time, the rest we'll have to figure out on the other end," he proposes.

Swaggy pages: May I roll some knowskills now?
You paged Swaggy with 'Go for it!'.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls 6 (to Walker) for "Street Rumors 6, chipped.":
1 2 3 4 5 11
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls 6 (to Walker) for "Corporate Rumors 6, chipped.":
2 3 3 5 5 5
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls 6 (to Walker) for "Underworld Rumors 6, chipped.":
1 1 4 5 7 13
«OOC» Walker says, "I should probably point out that Walker is quite happy to help out as he can, although his skills are more in the magical arena… spirit support and a combat second stringer mostly. Got a smattering of runnery skills for low-level stuff though."
«OOC» Walker says, "But I don't want to steal anyone's thunder."

Mr. Swaggy empties the small bag of sunflower seeds of which he did not share much. The bald man cocks his head and nods to Judge, "We are almost done. We must lose any racist fed assigned to tracing you before we go in."

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "So you have heard that the situation in Ute is worse than the news coverage lets on, as the government is trying to keep a lid on things. Word is there are gangs openly running low-middle income neighbourhoods in places, and around the Flatirons there are tales of monsters roaming around at night.

Corp scuttlebutt is limited, the only relevant tidbits being the very serious beefing up of PCC resources nearby their Ute border, including rumours of some minor firefights breaking out where contact has been made.

On the underworld side of things, there is a bit more action: due to the inflated values of smuggling these days, there's a healthy competition between the big players in shadowy border crossings. On the upside, you know enough to know where one of their crossing points is, out in the more rural areas of the Ute-Sioux border. On the downside, they will be defending it, possibly more rigorously than government forces would defend theirs."

«Plot» Walker says, "If you want to contact your decker or t-bird rigger give me etiquette rolls for those too please. On the rigger, bear in mind that t-birds are /not/ subtle: unless they have made some concessions to stealth you can expect a pretty serious response. It's a high risk-reward thing."

Mr. Swaggy gets to hear back from a handful of rumor mills, low latency boards, airwaves of scuttlebutt, gang screamsheets, and more official sources, "Gangs are wild out there. Everything not a Mormon, official rep, corporate, or chief, or burgeois is like the Warrens now. We cannot go out through PCC without some holdup, because they went in hard and locked down on the double. I know an alternative, mind, but the exfil will take some shooting on the last lap. It can be fratellanza, it can be koshari, it can be triads, or others. I cannot tell right now, my friends." He smiles again, convincingly so.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Etiquette for "T-Bird lady.":
1 3 4 4 5 8 11

«Plot» Walker says, "What are you wanting from her? Just on standby or for pickup on call?"
«Plot» Walker says, "Or other?"
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Standby until we are near the boarder then pickup."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Etiquette for "Decker.":
1 3 4 4 4 4 5
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Okay. I guess I call the other decker."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Etiquette for "Decker 2.":
2 2 2 4 4 8 8

«OOC» Judge says, "Walker, can I take a shot at remembering a smuggling route across the border that isn't going to be too dangerous? Or do I need to do those rolls on the spot?"
«OOC» Walker says, "You'll get your t-bird on standby if you want it, but it won't be cheap: 20K for standby near a hotzone, and you cover any repairs if necessary. Decker overwatch you can also sort for a more reasonable fee: 3K for cover in the Ute systems.
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Deal. Sigh."

Judge, go ahead and roll, don't need to wait until the moment you need to know. :)"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Smuggling Routes + 2:
1 2 5
«Plot» Walker says, "Judge, you don't manage to glean anything beyond what Nolan already found out: security is tight, especially at checkpoints."

Nolan Void totally mac's down on his pulled pork sammich and slams his cola along with. Patting his stomach a little he looks around with a smile. Happily fed he is ready for whatever is to come.

«OOC» Walker says, "So I may have got turned around in the bustle… As I understand it plan is to sneak? into the Ute sector as a team then pick up the transport Swaggy's contact provided and head for the Flatirons, avoiding the no-go zones you've discovered, once you get there we need to convince the group to come with us. Then exfiltration is either t-bird or busting through the org crime 'alternative'. That sound close?"
«OOC» Judge says, "That's the gist."
«OOC» Nolan Void nodnods.
«OOC» Swaggy says, "Sounds right."

Mr. Swaggy engages the second glass and ends it with a long gulp, sighs and nods at the others, "Specialists are ready to engage. Second transport and distraction for any debil on your tail, Judge."

«OOC» Walker says, "So Walker will suggest splitting the costs of the assistance in case there was confusion on that front. He will also volunteer spirit cover for the t-bird to try and keep it concealed from the various sensors watching the skies around Denver. Won't be perfect, but it'll help… Also I need to roll some of his dice around…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Security Systems:
3 4 4 5 10
«OOC» Swaggy says, "The five shaman may help with that. If they can."
«Plot» Walker hmms… "Nothing much beyond what the others have already found, although perhaps with a different emphasis on the technical details.
«OOC» Walker says, "I wouldn't bet on help from them. 'Shaman' and 'run-relevant shaman' are different things. ;)"
«OOC» Judge will be swinging out to pick up a duffel bag with his heavy-side kit.
«OOC» Nolan Void says, "I left some of my stuff in my place in the Ute, like medic kit. Nice thing though is it's on the way to our destination :D"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring + 3 (Power Focus) vs TN 5 for "Conjuring F5 Mist Spirit…":
1 1 1 2 2 3 4 8 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Charisma vs TN 5 for "Resisting 5M drain":
2 3 3 3 4 4 7 13 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Walker gets a spirit with 2 services, trauma damper soaks up the remaining drain. Taking directions from Swaggy the spirit is dispatched to conceal the t-bird and to confuse anyone who tries to attack it."
«Plot» Walker says, "Whatever gear you are bringing, I'd like a list please. Doesn't have to be exhaustive, just general gist is fine."

«Plot» Judge says, " :is bringing .. standard gear like medkit and subvocal mic and such. The
light stuff. Two explosive grenades, two smokes, and his shotgun. I think that's it."
«Plot» Judge says, "Oh, and his shock gloves, in case he needs to stun a bitch."

«Plot» Judge says, "Given the area, I'll swap to shield and pistol, so I can hopefully somewhat tank something if necessary. -.-"
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " I'll prove this stuff, but just for simplicity: Armor, worn. A slivergun and ammo. My Savior and basic med kits. My toolkits which include a demo toolkit and lock manipulation kits, sequencer, remainder explosives (for breeching) that is basically it."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " I do have a comlink too. Don't recall how to use it :)"
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " All fits in an LCE vest and backpack."
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Greatcoat, bala mask, and tres chic. I get +1 to quickness skills from that. +4 chemseal and two others."
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Nonconductive 4, too."
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Three pistols, flashpak and maglite, two savior medkit supplies, some chips, extra phone, a pound of coke. :)"
«Plot» Walker says, "Cool. Walker is bringing his light sec armor plus accessories (comlink etc.), browning ultra power and I think that's it."

«Plot» Walker activates his magic tattoo for Increased Reflexes…
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Willpower + 6 (Tattoo Bonus Dice) vs TN 3 for "Resisting 3D drain":
1 2 2 2 3 3 5 5 9 10 10 10 = 8 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "No drain, tattoo activates."

«Plot» Walker says, "Any more for any more or are we good to go?"

The 'runners are set, the pieces are in place and the team rendezvous in a dark alleyway near the Sioux-Ute border. Judge and Nolan have between them identified a relative weak point in the border where patrols are a little more sparse and sensors a little less vigilant.

Waiting in the shadows, Walker is dressed in a slim black security armour. The elf looks a little awkward in the relatively bulky suit, not used to the extra weight, but certainly looks the part with the dark hood and no-nonsense pistol at his hip.

From his shadowy vantage point he scans the almost deserted street, waiting for the rest of the team to make their appearances.

«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Walker says, "Note to self: Will be using the border crossing rules on the wiki. +2 to reflect heightened security but -1 to reflect Judge and Nolan figuring out a weak spot Sioux-Ute would be 3, +2-1 gives 4 for the sensor. Random mod follows."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 (to no one) for "Sensor Mod":
2 3
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Walker says, "That's another -1, border is at TN3 for stealth tests. Patrols next."

Showing up for the meet, Judge is wearing heavy security armor and looks like a positive beast with a pistol slung under his arm, a heavy riot shield across his back and grenades in pouches where they belong. The sharp appearance of a subvocal mic across his neck being one of the few delicate things obvious on his person. He carries his helmet under his arm. "I usually never get to wear this stuff," he remarks.

Nolan splits from the group and takes mass transit back to this stuffer shack right on the other side of the Ute from where he likes to cross. It's a old apartment building that he can jump out of or climb up to that is fairly adjacent to the border. It's always sketchy and so he'll buy himself a 'payday' bar in the stuffer, get a couple of colas for the trip and to put into the fridge when he gets home, watch the patrols. A security patrol likes to stop in here and get some grub at night and he watches for them. Once they make their stop he waits for them to leave before making his move to catch up with the rest of the crew.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 4 for "TN6 base, -1 urban, -1 for heightened security":
1 1 2 3 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "I think for the sake of sense we can say Nolan is waiting on the Ute side for us, making him roll to hop the border when he lives there seems dumb."

Mr. Swaggy wears a dark balaclavas mask and a long, starless midnight dark sable coat. Gloves to match and flextastic designer jumpboots. He appears to be a little uneasy when he blows a kiss the way he came and then looks back ahead. He wears an arrangement of at least two holsters under the coat. The bald man waves to the parting Nolan. "Good on you, Judge."

Registering Judge's arrival with a quick swivel of his eyes, Walker gives the troll an almost scolding look but wordlessly turns back to watch for Swaggy's appearance.

Judge and Nolan seem to have done their job well: even with the recent reinforcements to the border the fence here still has holes in, and what cameras are visible jitter and creak on their mountings. It's a wonder it even counted as a border before now. Of the heightened security forces, there is no sign. Perhaps luck is on the team's side tonight?

When Swaggy appears, the elf mutters into his throat mic. «NV, heading to the bus stop now. Everything quiet at your place?» As he talks, he starts moving towards the other end of the alley that borders the open ground by the border.

Judge moves to follow, saying nothing, just staying alert and hoping that they don't get noticed on the crossing.

Nolan Void pages: Everything quiet as far as I can tell?
You paged Nolan Void with 'I'm just taking what you posed as true. You see the regular patrol and they depart as normal. Nothing unusual or concerning.'.

«This is NV, yeah. Standard crap. Keep an eye open though, streets are you know… they don't like us much over here.» By us he means anyone not them. He keeps his distance from the crossing, looking around like his head is on a swivel. «Yeah, looks good.»

«Plot» Walker says, "So for any who haven't done it before, border hopping is done with a Stealth Test. If you want spirit concealment before we get there, just gimme a shout. ;)"
«Plot» Walker says, "The one with the t-bird is a separate spirit with it's own orders. I'd rustle up a new one."
«OOC» Judge says, "Well, I'd always appreciate having concealment, since I stick out like a sore thumb. -.-"

Swaggy cocks his head and nods sideways, then walks after the nimble blonde. He uses thoughts to voice technology to comm the others when required. How about now? «I need spirit concealment, please, or speed. Your pick.»

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Centering against BG1 to conjure a F4 City Spirit":
5 5 14 = 3 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Walker eliminates the BG penalty"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring + 3 (Power Focus) vs TN 4 for "Conjuring F4
City Spirit":
1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 9 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Walker let's that stand. L drain from F4 gets nommed up by bioware.

Nodding silently, Walker presses his hands together for a moment, fingers flickering through a series of rapid patterns before he looks up, eyes glowing softly. He traces one hand along the wall and from the faded brickwork a figure emerges.

Standing as high as the elf's shoulder, Walker inclines his head in greeting before softly speaking to the spirit. "Conceal our passage spirit, and guard us from harm."

The apparition, a hodgepodge of brickwork in different colours with mangled rebar poking from its back bows it's head and takes up position behind the others, working it's own subtle magic to mask their presence.

Nodding to the others, Walker creeps from the alley mouth and approaches the border fence.

«Plot» Walker says, "Stealth is now at +4, TN for the border here is only 3 (way to go Nolan/Judge), but we should still roll in case of glitches. ;)"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Stealth:
2 3 4 5
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Stealth vs TN 3 for "No whammies?":
3 5 5 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Quickness for "-4 default. -1 Penalty. +4 spirit.":
4 4 5
«Plot» Walker says, "That'll do. >.>"

«Plot» Walker says, "Oh and while I remember, everyone throw out a perception roll."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 2 3 4 5
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 2
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Intelligence for "Vision mag, LL, FC.":
1 2 3 3 4 4
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 3 4 5

Judge moves stealthyfully, even despite himself, but the spirit's assistance makes him part of the background quite successfully as he moves across the border. As they cross over into the adjacent zone, he nods to himself and relaxes slightly. Border crossings are never fun.

Mr. Swaggy is strutting across with the hem of his voluminous coat slightly raised. The masked man leaves YSL prints for the spirit to obscure or otherwise hide. His steps are far from flowing or swift. He miraculously -because magic- traverses. He sighs. «We move on. Treasure map for us to find the spot.»

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 (to no one) for "'Interesting' things happen on 1s…":
5

Glancing backwards at the trail left behind, Walker gives Swaggy a look before shaking his head silently and moving on deeper into the Ute sector. «Confirmed. NV you around? Also, who's driving?»

As the team make their way to where Swaggy's fixer had their transport dropped off, the streets around them seem eerily quiet, even more so than on the Sioux side.

Nolan Void is chilling, you know, just hanging out- nothing to see here. Which is a little unnerving when you expect to see something. «I don't see anyone… gonna' have to teach me that there.» Nolan makes his way to the rally point, slowly, looking about and hiding in a shadow cast by a sodium street light and a corner of a building. Once everyone is there he'll nod to the ride which is right up the way from the shadow.

«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "One thing at the diner where you encounter the patrol catches your attention. Regularly on the trid news are announcements instructing citizens to stay inside, complete with pretty threatening warnings about enhanced security powers to enforce the curfew. News reports between the announcements are pretty grim too dominated by riots, shortages, elevated crime, even disappearances in the sector."

Nolan Void pages: Not sure how to plot page back, but the thing that perks my radar is that the Cops are on "we can shoot you if we feel like it orders."?
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "Plot-page is =>player=text. It's not quite that bad, but certainly detention is on the cards, and that's for legit citizens. Bottom line: don't get caught."
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "Nolan will make sure everyone is aware of this and on their toes."

Judge keeps his eyes open and his mouth shut. Wary of their surroundings, though less so perhaps than when they'd crossed the border. Unless they happen across one of those AA ranked patrols, he doesn't imagine they'll get too hassled by the locals.

Nolan Void is kinda doing the pee-pee dance, anxious and wanting to get moving, he sub-vocalizes «It's quiet, but not really safe guys. We don't want to draw attention. Let, um- we need to get rolling.»

Mr. Swaggy sends a bright smile through the mask and swaggers in the wake of the tall drink of dragon plated water. «Nolan has the most driver in him, I vote.» He pulls up the low end of the mask, gets to light a cigarette and inhales deeply to cherish the carcinogenic happy time. «Let me punch in the correct door code.» The smoking man waltzes to the vehicle and does what he announced. «Anything astral?»

Ignoring Swaggy's trail of smoke that the spirit is doing its level best to dissipate, concrete fingers, wafting through the air, Walker waits while the others sort out their ride: a converted school bus, complete with peeling yellow paint job and a painted Ute flag on the hood. Inside, one of the little benches has been ripped out and a troll-sized seat bodged into its space. Similar 'refits' have happened to the rest: the entire back half is empty save for a set of cargo nets attached to the walls. Most of the windows have been boarded over after being smashed.

At Swaggy's suggestion he nods, and his eyes flicker gold for a moment. His expression shifts to curiosity, then concern. «Lot of Watcher activity. That could be a problem, depending on who's controlling them.»

He glances to Nolan, «Any ideas on that front?»

Getting into the school bus, Judge lets out a brief, "Chill," before slumping back in the seat. Spirits are only his problem if they pop their ugly mug into the physical world, in which case they'll get a fist to the spirit-mug. He glances over at the mention of them, however, and listens in. Thinking about it. "Could be someone spotted the drop here, and is curious what we're up to," he mentions."

Mr. Swaggy reaches back to pat the spirit on the shoulder, "Thank you." He gets into the ride then and moves on out of the way to not be in the way. «Not really. Any serious distraction spells more trouble. Can you try to hit some, if they get too noisy? Could you command a spirit to confuse any who follow us?»

The walking rolodex is not the fastest of striders and takes his time posing and arranging his sable coat prior to sitting.

Nolan Void closes the door on the bus and doffs an imaginary hat as he starts the bus up and puts his foot on the gas. "Here we go folks. I got some beef jerky and water in the backpack." He thumbs a thumb to the backpack and they start rolling down the road to find their stranded Shaman. "Is Shaman plural? Is it Shamen, or one shaman two shaman, five shaman?"

"Shamans," Judge answers.

Settling himself across two seats, Walker shrugs as his eyes continue to glow. «I can snuff out a watcher like a candle, but then whoever summoned it will know it's been destroyed. A spirit could do that: I'll conjure another to cover it.»

Silence reigns for a moment before he adds thoughtfully, «Of course I could start picking them off randomly so they don't know where to go to look for us, but then they'd definitely know something was going on.»

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 9 vs TN 11 (to no one):
1 2 2 3 4 4 4 7 10 = 0 Successes
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Walker says, "That was to determine whether Swaggy's t-bird friend got detected by gov/security forces on her way into position. Nothing yet, but they'll get another chance when she moves to pickup. I'm assuming she's flying a GMC Harpy Scout (Sig 6), and she is being concealed by the F5 spirit Walker summoned at the start, hence TN11."

«OOC» Judge is of a mind to just move out.
«OOC» Judge says, "Don't drive in a straight line, make a few unecessary turns so they can't make an ambush if that's the intent."

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "You receive a brief message from Katyusha confirming that she is in position near the border, the t-bird carefully hidden until you call. No signs that they've been detected."

«Plot» Walker says, "For the record, night in Denver at this time of year is about 7 hours. So far it's taken maybe 30 minutes to cross the border and find the vehicle. The drive to the Flatirons would normally be about 30 minutes, but if you're avoiding the danger zones Swaggy's contacts mentioned that time is going to be doubled. Plenty of time, just keeping track for my own amusement."

Judge says, "If taking them out would expose us, and you can't hide us. We should just get moving. Take a few extra turns as we go, so they don't know our vector," and settles his weight back in the heavy troll-reinforced chair in the back of the bus.

Nolan Void shakes his head at loud, then nods to quiet, "I prefer quiet. We get loud I get… full of holes." He nods to the get moving suggestion and puts the bus into gear starting to roll in a generally northwestern direction. Doing the zigging and the zagging, like a bus would do when transporting people from place to place, only exception is he isn't making stops.

Walker shrugs in response to Judge. "The spirit will keep us concealed, even in the vehicle," he reassures the adept, nodding to the mottled brickwork figure squatting in a corner of the bus, "But that ain't a guarantee. Bigger problem might be if a sec drone spots us…" He lets that thought hang in the air as he keeps his eyes on the sky.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 5 vs TN 4 (to no one) for "How many 'interesting' things might we encounter en route?":
1 1 2 5 5 = 2 Successes

Nolan Void jokes a comment, "With all the refugees that are in the sector, we could pick up a bus load including our five prime targets, charge a few hundred Nubucks a head." Then in a rather impressive Mexican accent says, "Coi-yo-te". He wasn't really being serious, was he.

Judge makes a face. "Unless you have a solution to security drones, or a reason to suspect that they have a problem with roving school busses, I think you're being paranoid. Security drones are a current risk. Check. We know now. Let's go," he says.

The streets the bus rumbles through on it's route northwest are eerily silent and still. Swaggy's contact seems to have delivered, as despite the occasional distant cry or sound of gunfire, the team make their way through the streets relatively unbothered. For about 30 minutes they trundle through the quiet streets and enter the township of Broomfield, about halfway to the Flatirons.

Mr. Swaggy smokes quietly and listens closely. It is not until he finishes the cigarette that the coated man mentions, "We could do a few things, but they would be too obvious. It is on you to distract them with a spirit. Confuse them, please."

Nolan Void meanders along in the bus, he gimmaces a little and looks uncomfortable. Shouldn't have eaten that BBQ. "Flatirons, isn't that near Redrocks? Or is Redrocks in the flatirons?" He has to think a bit, then he goes silent concentrating it seems.

Walker's face screws up in thought. "I think Red Rocks is a bit further out?" he hazards, "I don't really spend a lot of time out here though."

«Plot» Walker says, "On the roving schoolbus point. There is a curfew in effect. Nobody is supposed to be on the streets. To be fair, Walker does skew paranoid, but it's not entirely without merit."
«OOC» Judge says, "When do we need to have them back across by?"
«Plot» Walker says, "ASAP is better, the spirit Walker sent to cover the t-bird will depart at sunrise. (about 9.5 hours from current time)"

«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "As you approach a junction crossing the main road through Broomfield, you spot the reflection of several sets of headlights in a shop window on main street. You can't see them yet, but they're right where you wanted to be going."

«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "I'll let you respond to that before I drop anything further. :)"

Nolan Void quickly takes a right hand turn. He points out the windshield as he does, "See that? All those headlights?" there is a reflection in a window that looks like several headlights just ahead and in the exact direction they want to be going. He takes another right so they are going away from where they were going a moment ago. "not sure what you want me to do here." He starts going a bit slower to give everyone the time needed to think.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 vs TN 8 (to no one) for "Do any of the security forces hear the bus? Int3, 6 guys. Bus is regular noise (4), but they're distracted (+2) and round a corner
(+2)":
1 3 4 4 5 5 7 16 = 1 Success

"Go around, give it a bit of space," Judge recommends. He can't really help more than the vague suggestion, however.

Nolan Void agrees, "Yeah, wide berth."

Walker blinks once or twice, his eyes losing their glow, "Frag, should have noticed that, got distracted with the astral. One sec and I'll check it out."

With that, the elf goes limp as his spirit leaves his body. A long moment passes before he shakes himself and sits up again, "Yup, security patrol. I reckon one of them heard something, they've stopped and a couple of guys are heading for the street we were just in."

Nolan Void drives the bus again to the right and goes down three blocks before making another right. Now they are headed back in the direction they were heading, but three blocks further to the east. In hindsight he might have turned left, but when in doubt "Onward." not at a crawl, heeding the speed limits, if there were such a thing.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 5 vs TN 10 (to no one) for "Does the accompanying drone spot the truck?":
3 4 4 4 4 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Can I get perception from everyone again please?"

Mr. Swaggy sits up fully, lowers his Italian make sunglasses and zooms ahead, "Space is good."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 2
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Intelligence for "LL, FC, Visionmag3.":
2 3 4 4 5 8
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 1 3 3 10

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "Overhead, you hear the faint thump of rotor blades. Glancing up, you pick out the shape of a security drone passing over the street. It seems to be scanning the area, taking its time."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 vs TN 4 (to no one) for "Coin flip. Success means the patrol picks up their trail…":
1 = 0 Successes

The minutes tick by as Nolan picks his way smartly through the streets. Walker's head snaps up and he peers up out of the windows, "Anyone else hear that?" he asks softly, "Think they've got a drone in the air…"

Behind the team, a few snippets of shouted conversation can be heard, if not the words themselves. A moment later, a harsh bark of laughter follows.

The bus trundles onwards.

Mr. Swaggy gives the area a long visual. There is little else to do. He squints a few times, cocks his head this way and that, "There is a drone over us. Did we get into the wrong zone? Maybe there are a few channels to find to know who the owner is."

Swaggy pages: Does it follow us?
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "It does not follow directly, and after the laughter you all hear it peels away and heads back towards the patrol."

Judge glances toward the windows, as if he might spot the drone, but of course, he doesn't. "Keep moving for now, it's equally as plausible that it's some idiots looking to get geeked as it is a proper patrol drone. In the former case, they'd prefer we stop moving so they can catch up," he mentions. "Sooner we get to the para-animal infested area, the better. They won't follow us in there. That's my two nuyen."

«Plot» Walker says, "As a reminder, you did get matrix overwatch if you wanted to have Overmind be checking stuff like that for you. For now she remains on standby."
Swaggy pages: Okay.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 3 (to no one) for "'Middling' skill is about 4, right? +4HP against 7 access -4 utility":
1 2 2 2 4 5 9 10 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 5 vs TN 5 (to no one) for "System security…":
1 1 1 8 9 = 2 Successes
Mr. Swaggy waves at the thinning air, "It is moving away. Drone's eyes and ears are on the laughing mob. Typical security model rotor model."

Nolan Void is uneasy, but he keeps his cool driving along in a way to take them away from people, headlights, and "…not much I can do about the drone guys." He makes a quick decision when he sees a sign on the side of the road that says, BUS, and there is no one there. So he stops like he was making a normal pick up.

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "After a short pause, Overmind contacts you to inform you that you narrowly dodged a security patrol. the drone was attached to the patrol as an aerial spotter."
Swaggy pages: Swaggy sends a thank you and a 500Y bonus out of his share.
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker nods.
«OOC» Nolan Void says, "Got kinda spammy on pub there."

Walker nods in response to Swaggy's observation. "Yeah, looks like we're good."

When Nolan brings the bus to a stop he glances across at the man, "You OK? I think Judge is right, better to keep moving unless we have to stop. So far we seem to have been OK on the astral side of things."

No one gets on the bus, go figure there was no one there, so Nolan closes the door and rolls on. He doesn't really say anything just mummbles, "just another bus making it's rounds." Nolan listens up though and nods taking the advice of those who know better.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence + Astral Pool: 3 vs TN 6 (to no one) for "Does Walker notice the tagalong watcher?":
1 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence + Astral Pool: 3 vs TN 6 (to no one) for "Does Walker notice the tagalong watcher? KP1/11":
1 2 2 2 3 5 5 8 15 = 2 Successes
Judge doesn't comment on the stop, seeing as Walker already said something. He just keeps his eyes open.

Mr. Swaggy replies, "Overwatch decker worked their magic." He winks at Walker and puts the sunglasses back in their former place. The bald man laughs, "It is the way of things. I am not a zen guy, my friends. We keep going. The sooner the threat of the para entities is closer the better."

As the bus rumbles along, the streets around remain deserted. Walker returns to watching the astral, eyes aglow and occasionally peering at the sky. By chance he glances back to say something to Judge when his eyes narrow.

"Frag it," he mutters, "We have a tail. Bigger watcher, where did that one come from?" For a moment he is silent , staring out the back window at a problem only he can see, "It's following us though, not running off to tell anyone where we are…" He sounds puzzled, as though the thought of a watcher that isn't a simple guard dog is utterly mystifying.

«Plot» Walker says, "More perception rolls please. ;)"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 2 5 11
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Intelligence for "Same mods as before.":
1 2 2 3 8 11
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Intelligence (to Walker) for "Astral second glance.":
1 2 2 3 3 3
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 2 4 5 10
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Intelligence:
4 5 5
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "We are after some Shaman, do they use those kinda things? Maybe it's from them watching us? IDK…"

"Maybe it only reports back if we do X-thing. Like, if we turn right up ahead and enter so-and-so's territory, it'll go do its job, otherwise it just follows anyone in the area?" Judge proposes, not the least bit familiar with how to command watchers, but it makes a sort of sense to him.

"Maybe," Walker allows, "I'll keep an eye on it."

As the bus approaches the final suburban streets that lie between the team and the Flatirons, obvious signs of a violent struggle appear. Doors and windows are smashed in, and there are large bloodstains on the walls and in the street.

As the bus continue forwards, in the middle of the street, you spot a small child cowering in a terrified ball. Racking sobs shake the tiny shape as it cries, occasional wails sounding clear through the still night air.

Nolan Void keeps on a rolling. He'd like to help the kid out, but that is how hand grenades get on helicopters. So driving slow as he goes he gives the kid a wide berth, watching to make sure they don't hit him… cause he might not be the bringer of death, but still "Better safe than sorry." is all he says as he rolls on.

Judge, seated where he is, somehow manages to spot the kid and eye-narrows. He nods his head at NV's good sense, and looks to Walker, "Walker, what the kid look like on the other side?"

Mr. Swaggy stretches his arms sideways and rolls them, sighs and attains a more restful pose, "It is a Damocles Sword unless we can read its thoughts or know the plans of its master. We have to lose it at some point, because it influences our decisions. The disruption will of course force our hands, but we can forsee how. I am willing to risk that the watcher gets attacked by the para entities, though."

Then he cocks his head, "There is a kid ahead. We have five lives to save, and that makes me say you do right, Nolan. We need to mind any codes you two follow, Judge and Walker."

«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "What's your willpower please? :)"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) has the Attribute Willpower with the value '5' (only to Walker).
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 5 vs TN 5 (to Nolan Void) for "Something… happens… maybe…":
2 2 3 5 10 = 2 Successes
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "Roll me your willpower vs TN5 if you would."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Willpower vs TN 5 (to Walker) for "Something something darkside…":
1 2 2 4 5 = 1 Success
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "Want to reroll the fails?"
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "For clarity, this will not result in immediate dismemberment."
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "You feel your muscles trying to all lock up at once into immobility."
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "Sure, can I auto filter the crying as well, just shut that shit off with my earballs."
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "Good instincts, but not what's going on. ;)"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Willpower - 1 vs TN 5 (to Walker) for "Hope the syntax is right One point of KP for a reroll of failures.":
2 2 3 5 = 1 Success
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "I think I have to stick with that."
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "OK cool. With a serious effort, you manage to shake off the sensation of paralysis, feel free to pose a reaction before I set what happens next."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Magic Background (to no one) for "Useful knowledge?":
1 2 7 9 10

Nolan Void's jaw sets as he continues to drive. Anyone paying attention might see him start to perspire like a whore in church, shiver a bit, and fight for his breath as he has to really gut through a feeling that has come over him. It's bad, real bad, and when the grip finally goes away he lets out a 'Oooof!' and inhales deeply able to control his limbs again, "Holy shit… what the frag was that!?"

Nolan Void says, "I shouldn't have eaten that BBQ."

The talkative Mr. Swaggy concludes his oddly phrased statements, "Do you have a bag to relieve yourself into, Nolan? On the topic of the child now. I abstain. It looks like a trap, because a curled up supposedly weak person is the most basic bandit trap. Every Russian kid knows that."

Walker silently shakes his head at the other three men, a look of revulsion plain on his face.

Narrowed eyes glowing, he peers at the huddled shape. Suddenly his expression blanks. "Paracritter!" the elf shouts as the huddled shape unfurls, shifting as it does into a canine form the size of a large mastiff.

The creature howls, and as if in response, a chorus of howls answers from all around.

«Plot» Walker says, "So. Dogs, several. Discuss. Also roll surprise and initiative. :)"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Reaction vs TN 4 for "Suprise":
1 1 1 2 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Initiative with a result of 16.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Reaction:
1 1 2 3 4 5 7 14
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Initiative with a result of 15.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Reaction vs TN 4 for "Surprise surprise!":
2 3 3 5 21 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Initiative with a result of 10.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Reaction:
1 5 10 11
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Initiative with a result of 8.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 5 (Critter's reaction) vs TN 4 for "Surprise":
2 2 2 3 4 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 for "Critter init":
2 5

«Init Tracker» Walker (#12094) has set Walker's init to 16.
«Init Tracker» Walker (#12094) has set Judge's init to 15.
«Init Tracker» Walker (#12094) has set Nolan Void's init to 10.
«Init Tracker» Walker (#12094) has set Critter's init to 12.

«Plot» Walker says, "All right, so situation is currently that the critter is a few metres away from the bus, with friends clearly audible nearby. Walker will go first but can't actually affect the critter since they tied for surprise. Everyone else can though because they didn't flub their rolls."

«OOC» Judge says, "Can I reach it with a fist?"
«Plot» Walker says, "If you want to get off the bus, sure."
«OOC» Judge says, "I mean, the bus is moving, so no. I'll shoot it then with my pew pew pistol."

Taken aback by the creature's sudden transformation, Walker stumbles back a step.

"Gabriel Hound!" he shouts as he readies his pistol and draws a bead on it, "They're like big dogs
that can make themselves stronger and faster with magic. Also they can paralyse you."

«Plot» Walker says, "Judge's action!"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Pistols:
2 2 4 9
«Plot» Walker says, "You want to add CP to that? Just gotta figure the TN…"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls 2:
5 5
«OOC» Judge says, "I'll add two CP to it."
«OOC» Judge says, "I'll make it a uh.. Burst-fire shot."

«Plot» Walker says, "TN 6, so you do wing it and since it's surprised it can't dodge. What's the damage?"
«OOC» Judge says, "9m default, steps up to.."
«Plot» Walker says, "12S I think?"
«OOC» Judge says, "That sounds right."

Judge, seeing the beastie hulking out and ready to attack the bus itself, opens his window and squeezes off a burst from his pistol. "Fraggin' beasts!" he growls as he peppers its with some serious damage from the pistol ammunition. He doesn't really take full advantage of the pistol's abilities, given how he's doing this from a seated position in a moving bus, but he still messes the dog up.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 vs TN 12 for "Resisting 12S. This should go well…":
2 3 4 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Critter takes a serious wound. Pose away Judge."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 5 vs TN 4 (to no one) for "WP test for critter not to
flee":
1 4 4 5 7 = 4 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "OK, hound resists the urge to run away (somehow) and charges the bus…"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 5 + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 7 for "TN4+3(S wound)":
2 2 3 4 4 5 7 8 9 9 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Bus body) vs TN 4 for "Damage resist for the bus, code is 4S after reductions…":
2 2 3 10 = 1 Success

«Plot» Walker says, "Nolan, can I get a Bike roll against TN 4? See if you can dodge the critter's charge and mitigate some of the punishment, then we'll see about you getting us the fuck outta dodge."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Bike vs TN 4 for "Keeping on keeping on… the road lets hope.":
3 5 7 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "All right. So between that and the resist for the bus, we're down to only moderate damage. OOC for the time being, what's your action Nolan? I'll get to posing…"

Despite the bullets lodged in its flesh, a gurgling growl escapes its throat and it throws itself towards the bus. The bus has clearly seen a lot of punishment in it's time, and between it's own sturdy construction and a well-timed swerve by Nolan, the only lasting impression after it rocks on its wheels is an odd wobble on one of the front wheels.

«Plot» Nolan Void says, " Nolan will just keep the bus on the road, maintain a straight course if possible and give the folks with guns etc a stable platform from which to do their actions."

Nolan Void thinks, 'fuck this' as he he says, "Here we go." He floors the gas. He doesn't feel the acceleration, his data jack doesn't provide him any -feel- for the vehicle, the road, nothing of the sort. The HUD though registers the gas consumption, the tach shows the needle creeping up, like an old ODB2 connector he sees what is happening in the engine, pressures, flow, exhaust but he doesn't feel anything. Not even a surge of acceleration when he steps on the gas because… old ass bus, that's why. "I got para-dogs, shouldn't have eaten the BBQ as it might have been dog, and I'm driving a Yellow Dog." An old euphemism for yellow school busses. The road is mostly straight, mostly clear, but he left his 'Class B' drivers license in his chaffer jacket. Hey it's got wheels and a motor. He has driven a car before, just not his thing. When the Paradog slams into the side of the bus though anyone looking into the rearview might see his eyes go real wide, but he keeps it on the straight and narrow.

«Plot» Walker nods, "I'll treat that as a delay. In the event you want to interrupt with something else as we go along, just shout out. Since you're entirely focussing on driving for the time being, I'm gonna say you can use your combat pool for evasive maneuvers.

«Plot» Walker says, "Swaggy's action!"
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Draw gun and shoot the closest paradog."
«Plot» Walker nods, "Just the one (currently) at medium range (TN5) and you're moving pretty fast (+2), so TN 7 to hit. Won't need much to put it down though."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 6 for "Vision mag cancels range mod. Lasersight cancels armor penalty. 12M with ExEx.":
1 1 4 5 7 11 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Stand."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) uses 1 of item 38: EX-Explosive Round(Heavy Pistol) from Firepower (#12061).

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 (Body) vs TN 12 for "Can't dodge as Swaggy beat it's surprise roll, so gotta make the hard save! :D":
1 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 (Body) vs TN 12 for "Can't dodge as Swaggy beat it's surprise roll, so gotta make the hard save! :D Reroll KP1/1":
5 7 15 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "I don't believe it made that roll… Good dog. ;)"
«Plot» Walker says, "Go ahead and pose Swaggy. You got another M wound on it, so it's still up, but only barely."

Mr. Swaggy takes a quick glance -compared to his sluggish body- and reaches to his back from where he pulls a sparkling, blingy, dazzling, and of all things, huge handgun of the magnum caliber cylinder type. He touches on the trigger and lets the fashionably hued dot show on the lurching dog's collarbone. The fixer pulls the trigger. The roar of the handcannon echoes through the bus almost in time with the explosion the shot ammo brings to the being. Red mass and mess is flying, the bone visible, but the magic mutt is alive. The bald man says lowly, "Cyka."

«Plot» Walker takes a shot at the critter.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 5 for "Shoot the dog! TN5+2-1(Aim)-1(Laser Sight)=5, 9M base damage":
1 1 3 4 4 11 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "Not gonna reroll, it only needs a tap to put it down."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 7 for "Dodge test, TN4+3(S wound)":
2 4 7 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 (Body) vs TN 9 for "Will it LIVE?":
1 1 9 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "Miraculously it soaks, Walker will take another shot as his second action."

«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "Can I try to bump it with the Bus? Like they do in the movies? :)"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 7 for "Shoot the dog! TN5+2+1(Recoil)-1(Laser Sight)=7, 9M base damage":
2 2 2 5 5 9 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 (Body) vs TN 9 for "Will it LIVE AGAIN?":
2 3 5 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Poochy finally goes down under the weight of bullets in it. Judge's action next, you can hear barking, growling and howling from all over, along with the sound of running paws. Will pose this up."

Somehow, the bleeding and battered hound remains on its feet, unsteadily lumbering along in pursuit of the bus.

"These fuckin' things…" Walker mutters as he looses a shot in its direction. A last minute dodge from the dog and a lucky glance off the creatures shoulder blade leave it lumbering forwards unperturbed.

Walker's eyes narrow to slits as he squeezes the trigger a second time. Finally, the bullet finds it's mark and the hounds ruined body collapses to the ground, leaving a gory trail behind it as it slides to a stop after a considerable distance.

From the nearby houses, more barks and howls can be heard getting ever closer.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 (to no one) for "Reinforcements":
1
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 (to no one) for "Init+5":
4 5

«Plot» Judge says, "I'll delay until I see something, since we're driving away presumably at a speed that animals have a hard time keeping up with?"
«Plot» Walker says, "You're driving at a fair clip, but from what you saw as the hound charged the bus, it might not be fast enough…"
«Plot» Judge will drop a smoke out the window, then. Maybe it'll confuse some stupid para -critters.
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " I'm'giving all'shes got Capin."
«Plot» Walker thumbsups. Pose your thing, Judge.

Reaching into his gear, Judge pulls out a smoke grenade and lobs it just ahead of the bus so that it provides them cover in time to their passage. Hopefully confusing some of the dumber para-critters, messing with their senses or something to that effect.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) uses 1 of item 7: Smoke Grenade from Stash (#13600).

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 vs TN 5 for "Perception for new hound. TN4+1(smoke)=5. Gabriel Hounds have thermographic vision, y'all.":
1 4 15 = 1 Success

From the mouth of an alley behind the bus, another, slightly larger hound emerges at a loping run. As it spots it's dead pack-mate, the creature growls deep in it's throat, it's broad head whipping around. Even through the smoke left by Judge's grenade, the creature's eyes lock onto the retreating bus and it begins to give chase. At first the 'runners seem to be making ground on the beast, but as it gets into stride it seems to just keep accelerating until its keeping level with the bus, maybe a block behind.

"They've got powers like spirits," Walker explains, "They can make themselves faster as well as stronger. They're pack hunters though, if we can kill off the leaders or enough off them they should back off."

«Plot» Walker says, "You've got a delayed action if you want to use it before the new round Nolan. I'm using the quick rigging rules for this, so you can try to throttle up to position you for a clean getaway next turn… or shoot it. Ramming is not an option unless you want to turn around."

«Plot» Nolan Void says, " My goal is to get away. I will do my best to speed up and get more distance."
«Plot» Walker says, "OK. Make me a Bike test then, TN 4."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, "If I'm right I can add 3CP to this roll?"
«Plot» Walker says, "Not this one, the CP was for dodging, not regular driving."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Bike vs TN 4 for "Gotta get away, gotta get away from here.":
2 3 14 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "Do you want to KP to try for more? The hound does get to oppose you."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " Yes. I think it leave me 1KP"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Bike - 1 vs TN 4 for "It's like a chorus…Gotta get away, gotta get away from here.":
4 4 = 2 Successes

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 4 for "Can doggo keep up?":
1 2 3 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 - 1 vs TN 4 for "Can doggo keep up? Reroll KP1/1":
3 4 5 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Can't remember how ties go, but normally they favour the active player, so you manage to get some distance in. On your next action you can try for a clean break unless nonsense happens."

«Plot» Walker says, "New inits please! New round, new dice pools!"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Initiative with a result of 18.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Initiative with a result of 8.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Initiative with a result of 18.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Initiative with a result of 8.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 for "Hound init (+4)":
4 5

«Plot» Walker says, "Judge's action!"
«Plot» Judge says, "How far is it?"
«Plot» Walker says, "Long range at the moment, base TN 6. Keeping pace though."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 (to no one) for "Reinforcements":
10

«Plot» Walker says, "Nolan, you want to pose your awesome driving?"
«Plot» Judge says, "I'm delaying until it gets close enough to not be borderline impossible for my piddly shooting ability."
«Plot» Judge says, "Though, does this bus have a back door?"
«Plot» Walker thumbsups.
«Plot» Judge says, "I suppose I could opent he back door and prepare to punt a pooch."
«Plot» Judge says, "Yeah, I'll do that, since it's definitively behind us."
«Plot» Walker says, "I think American schoolbuses usually do, so sure it does!"
«Plot» Judge says, "They absolutely do."

Nolan Void looks down to his foot. It is floored. Generally cars don't go faster than 'as fast as they can go'. Nolan pumps his foot a bit, nothing, but he is plugged in. The rig is in 4th, RPM's are steady at 3,500. He shifts down into third! The Reps shoot up to 5,000 and are just below the 5,500 RPM redline, but well shit the bus starts to pick up some MPH. He watches the redline intently and at 5,400 he shifts the bus back into 4th. "Yellow dog can hunt."

Opening the back door of the school bus, Judge fills up the gap and waits for the dog to get closer. Rather than sitting and waiting for a shot, he waits for the dog to potentially close the distance so that he can punch it. His hugely armored body filling the gap quite well. "I should get a machine gun," he mutters to nobody in particular. Not that he knows how to shoot a machine gun.

«Plot» Walker says, "Going to go with invoking a big spirit in case our other plans go awry. You guys probably have things under control for a bit, and I can always use it for something else."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Centering against BG count effect. TN4+1-3=2":
3 5 8 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring + 3 (Power Focus) vs TN 4 for "Summoning F4 Great Storm Spirit":
1 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 = 6 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Trauma damper eats the regular drain."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring vs TN 5 for "Invoking test TN2x4-3=5":
2 3 5 5 5 11 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Charisma vs TN 5 for "Resisting 5M drain from Invoking":
1 1 3 4 4 4 5 16 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Thank you bioware. Walker has 6 services on the spirit. That's my action, hound is next…"

Wrapping his arm around a pole for support, Walker's eyes blaze with golden light as he shouts something in Ute. Almost immediately in response, a shadowy creature crackling with electrical discharges materialises on the astral plane. As the elf continues to funnel power into the spirit, it seems to take on features of the shaman, a mane of lightning in place of hair, the storm clouds that form its body molding into a mimic of Walker's own.

Swaggy pages: Swaggy switches to astral perception and tries to cast Mob Mood F4(16m radius?) on the first line(s) of pooch pile. Intended emotion is apathy. (edit for typos)

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Sorcery + 2 (totem) + Spell Pool: 1 (to Walker) for "TN is Wil +1 for BG. F4 Mob Mood to induce Apathy into the leading ranks.":
1 2 3 4 5 5 7
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Willpower + Spell Pool: 3 vs TN 3 (to Walker) for "F4/2=2 +1 for mod. S drain with TD.":
1 1 1 2 3 3 15 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Willpower + Spell Pool: 3 - 3 vs TN 3 (to Walker) for "F4/2=2 +1 for mod. S drain with TD. 2KP applied. Reroll.":
1 2 3 5 = 2 Successes

Swaggy pages: Soaked!
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "I'll treat that as a delayed action, but that's all good. When there's a bundle of targets I'll make the resist rolls."

Mr. Swaggy gets up and gesticulates with the shiny handgun. He swaggers to the back and looks for himself. The blingy Russian takes in breath which includes a scant few traces of smoke from the grenade, but he does not cough. He smiles in a relaxed manner and cocks the bald dome. "Strange dogs, but not as debil as cyber beasts."

«Plot» Walker says, "Hound attempts to catch up to attack next phase. Nolan make a Bikes test TN5 for me please."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 3 for "Attempting pursuit":
1 3 3 5 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Bike vs TN 5 for "Keeping on keeping on.":
1 3 4 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Nolan Void says, "Nope, I'm focusing on driving, keeping it on the road."

Meanwhile, behind the bus, the hound seems to keep picking up speed, aided by it's innate magic. With the advantage of speed, it easily closes into position for a charge.

Nolan Void says something under his breath about learning to drive and really needing to. The bus is going as fast as it can. He can get bursts of speed out of it, but the road isn't perfectly flat so when they go up a little incline the thing bogs down. He shifts down, then back up, but it's really about all he can do for gaining distance.

«Plot» Walker nods at Judge.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 vs TN 10 for "Something…":
4 11 17 = 2 Successes

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 vs TN 4 (to no one) for "High rolls go to one side, low
to the other.":
1 2 5 5 10 16 = 4 Successes

As Swaggy moves to the back of the bus a cacophony of growls seem to greet him as half a dozen hounds explode from the houses and gardens on each side of the street. Two quickly move to take up position by their pack-mate already in pursuit, and the trio shift to the bus' right side. The other four take up pursuit positions on the left.

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "I presume that spell will go to the quartet on the left?"
Swaggy pages: Sure.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 4 (to Swaggy) for "Resistance for hound 1, WP 4 (Threshold 2). Needs 2 successes to resist.":
1 2 2 3 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 4 (to Swaggy) for "Resistance for hound 2, WP 4 (Threshold 2). Needs 2 successes to resist.":
1 1 2 2 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 4 (to Swaggy) for "Resistance for hound 3, WP 4 (Threshold 2). Needs 2 successes to resist.":
1 3 5 5 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 4 (to Swaggy) for "Resistance for hound 4, WP 4 (Threshold 2). Needs 2 successes to resist.":
2 3 4 5 = 2 Successes
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "Two down. ;)"

Shortly after the quartet on the left take up their position, something seems to go amiss. Two of their number suddenly shuffle to a stop, sniffing the air then each other's hind-quarters for a moment before darting away back down the street.

Mr. Swaggy frowns and snorts a low hiss. There are too many critters interested in the rolling corned beef can. The sable coated man squints and cocks his head, then mumbles something in Russian which seems to rhyme. He exhales with a "Chooooo. That's some weird dogs." and seems to shrink a little when there are even more coming at the bus.

«Plot» Walker says, "Next pass, Judge's action."
«OOC» Judge says, "Ok, does it look like the ones at the back will be trying to bite at the rear shortly?"
«Plot» Walker says, "Yeah, it's like watching wolves run down a deer or similar."
«Plot» Judge will wait until they get in reach, so he can karate chop some foos.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 for "Init+4(-10), Hound 2":
2 7
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 for "Init+4(-10), Hound 3":
2 2
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 for "Init+4(-10), Hound 4":
4 5
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 for "Init+4(-10), Hound 5":
3 11

«Plot» Walker says, "OK so only Hounds 1,4 and 5 have an action in the second pass."
«Plot» Walker says, "Walker will move to the right side and fireball that group…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Centering vs TN 2 for "Removing BG count penalties TN4+1BG-3=2":
1 4 4 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Sorcery + 2 (Totem) vs TN 4 for "6M Fireball :D":
1 1 2 3 3 3 5 20 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Sorcery + 2 (Totem) - 2 vs TN 4 for "6M Fireball :D Reroll KP2/11":
1 2 4 4 5 9 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Willpower + Spell Pool: 6 vs TN 4 for "Resisting 4D drain":
1 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 11 17 21 = 6 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "And damper eats the L."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 8 vs TN 4 for "Hound 1 dodge…":
1 3 3 7 8 9 10 11 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 8 - 5 vs TN 4 for "Hound 1 dodge… KP1/1":
2 3 4 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "Hound 1 dodges…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 8 vs TN 4 for "Hound 2 dodge…":
1 1 2 2 2 4 4 10 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 8 - 3 vs TN 4 for "Hound 2 dodge… KP1/1":
1 3 4 4 5 = 3 Successes

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 8 vs TN 4 for "Hound 3 dodge…":
1 3 4 4 4 5 7 7 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 8 - 6 vs TN 4 for "Hound 3 dodge… KP1/1":
3 5 = 1 Success

«Plot» Walker says, "Hound 3 dodges clear, 1 and 2 still need to resist 6M damage though."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 vs TN 6 for "Hound 1 resist, no CP left.":
3 5 7 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 vs TN 6 for "Hound 2 resist, no CP left.":
1 2 3 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Both take moderate wounds."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 6 (to no one) for "Hound 1 WP Test to keep fighting":
1 2 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 6 (to no one) for "Hound 2 WP Test to keep fighting":
2 5 10 10 = 2 Successes

Glancing around after exerting himself producing the spirit now hovering in astral space, Walker takes one look at the growing pack of dogs and shifts over to one of the smashed out windows.

After his hands flicker through a rapid sequence of movements, the shaman extends a hand and a ball of flame hurtles towards the dogs, blossoming into a large explosion that leaves scorched earth and flaming hedges in its wake.

While one of the hounds manages to hurl itself out of the way, the other two pick up a nasty set of burns across their bodies. For the one that had been pursuing the bus from the off, this seems to be too much: the creature breaks off, whimpering as it scampers away leaving a trail of smoke in its wake.

«Plot» Walker says, "Hound 1 flubbed it's WP test to keep fighting, leaving only 4 and 5 active this pass. They charge Judge. Wanna roll some bones buddy? You're at +1 for the two against one thing, but I suspect you can hang."
«OOC» Judge says, "I'll negate that with reach."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Reaction) + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 3 for "Chomp!":
1 2 2 3 3 4 5 7 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Reaction) + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 3 for "Gnash!":
2 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 = 7 Successes

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Brawling + 2 vs TN 4:
2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 7 11 17 = 8 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Brawling + 2 vs TN 4:
1 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 10 10 13 = 8 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "What's your damage code again?"
«Plot» Judge says, "10S default, 3 succs stages up to 10D? I think. The other stays at 10S. Herding on both to knock them around."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 10 for "Arf!":
2 4 4 5 5 5 7 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 10 for "Arf! KP 1/1":
2 3 3 4 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 10 for "YIPE!":
1 1 1 3 3 4 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 10 for "YIPE! KP1/1":
2 2 3 3 4 4 5 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "That physical damage or stun?"
«OOC» Judge says, "Physical."
«Plot» Walker says, "What's your strength for knockdown purposes?"
«Plot» Judge says, "Ten."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 vs TN 12 for "Knockdown after charging, TN10+2":
3 3 4 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "So the first pooch gets turned into paste, the second gets dropped to the floor like a wet bag of rags, pose the carnage buddy!"

Judge, sitting in the back of the bus, has been waiting for these stupid para-mutts to close the distance, and the moment each of them leaps at him. His fist flies out like a missile, clipping the first with enogh force to distort and completely obliterate what makes for its skeletal structure- causing bones to rupture from the creature as it slams against a nearby fire hydrant. The second is caught on the backswing, and sent tumbling in nearly an identical state. His armored fist coming up toward his face, he examines it and then brushes the bits of unnatural fur and guts off his fist. "Gross," he mutters.

Despite seeming unperturbed by gunfire and magic, something in the hounds' animal brains responds to the sight of their pack-mates being butchered by the giant at the back of the bus. The last pair seem to keep pace for a moment, but quickly think better of the pursuit and slow down. In a moment they dart away into the alleys again, leaving the bus barreling onwards unperturbed, save perhaps for a pronounced wobble on one wheel and an irregular clicking noise from the engine.

Walker exhales a long, slow breath. "Good job," he allows as he nods around the bus before turning to contemplate the large spirit still awaiting his command in the astral plane.

"What am I going to do with you?" he ponders idly.

«Plot» Walker says, "Good job team, hounds in full retreat, bus not too damaged. Nearly to the Flatirons."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " Ok. I see two approaches. NCAR Mesa Labs and a dirt road off Flagstaff road. Flagstaff road is a crazy climb zigzagging up in altitude as it gets you to the top of the foothills. Not sure of which approach to use."
«Plot» Judge says, "Keep in mind that the map is not 100% parity with what we'd be looking at, on a map from 2080. I'd imagine there are more roads in anyplace not already choked with them. The map is mainly for zones and thoroughfares that wouldn't change, but that's just my two yen."
«Plot» Judge says, "As to which road to take, the only guidance I can suggest is that we did ask for intel on the area so only 'avoid the areas we were told to avoid' otherwise, straight roads are better than switchbacks since we're in a slow moving bus."
«Plot» Walker says, "The Flatirons is still a national park, so it's not too far off. I wouldn't worry about the route too much, I was just gonna treat it abstractly, so improv as you like."

Mr. Swaggy holsters the ridiculous cannon and gets a silvery white flask from a vest pocket to take a shot of vodka. He screws the cap/lid back on, puts the small bottle away, "Amazing work, all of you. Thanks!" He says to Judge, "I wish I could share, but you would have to drink everything to get anything out of the healing properties." He pats the giant's shoulder slowly and goes back to his seat. "We are very lucky. This big fire did not light anything."

Nolan Void says, "I can slow down now?" The bus has been going a pretty steady 55. Hey you get what you get. "It's got a bit of a wobble in the front I think I should look at when we stop." He turns off into a place called Highland Park. It is pretty, meandering, lots of pine as the kept up roads give way to scraped and gravel. The road splits and Nolan almost takes a left and though he slows he continues to the right where the road gets a little worse. He nods, "Yeah, yeah… this is the way." How he knows? Gut. The road starts to cut back and forth as they climb in altitude in the foothills and the bus can't get out of second gear for more than a 100 yard run before the turn takes them back uphill and they shift down into first going 10-15MPH. In a slow and meandering manner they are nearing their target area.

Judge nods at Mr. Swaggy. "No worries, chummer," he replies in a friendly manner and adjusts his boot straps a little to make them more comfortable. "Yeah, you can slow a little, keep it out of the red and the ditch for now," he answers NV. "Everyone keep your eyes open for more para-critters," he says and makes sure he stares out the windows. Poorly.

Nolan Void kinda laughs along with Judge, he really had no choice in the slowing down. The old bus does what it can do and not more. "I'll keep it out of the ditch." A bold statement.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 2 (to no one) for "Did that big fire light anything? >.>":
3 10
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Walker says, "Oh yeah it did…"

Mr. Swaggy shakes his head, whether the designated driver can see or not. He tucks at his coat and sighs. "Do not go under forty, please. We leave one critter territory, we get into the next. Like blocks for gangs in the Metroplex, n'est pas? We will attract too many, if we limp too badly." He ramps up his smile at Judge, nods hastelessly.

Glancing back the way they came, a concerned expression crosses Walker's face as he points back behind them to where a cloud of smoke is steadily rising into the sky. "I'm not so sure about that," he murmurs, "Must've smouldered for a while before it caught…"

He picks his way to the front and claps a hand on Nolan's shoulder. "Solid driving omae," he mutters, before adding in a louder voice, "You know Skunk Canyon? That's probably our best bet. Eventually we're headed for Royal Arch. That's the sacred mountain: that's where they'll be."

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "As the bus starts to climb out of the town and into the Flatirons park, you notice the background count gradually vanish."

Judge stares out the windows, aware that he isn't the sort to spot a problem before it approaches, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't try. "Just to be clear, the t-bird pickup is back by the border, right? We aren't calling them in to the forest here, yeah?" he asks of Swaggy directly.

«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "As the bus keeps climbing up the steep incline, the internal diagnostics keep flashing up warnings at you. Apparently when the first hound smashed into the bus it did worse than warp a tire."

Mr. Swaggy suddenly looses all tension only to outright scowl at Walker, "The fire did good in how it troubled the dogs, but that is shaping up to be more than fallout. Burnout. This is bad enough to warrant actualy worry over expletives. I will look into this when the job is done. And surely, Judge. We need to ride back, but it should be safe enough."

Walker looks from the scowling Swaggy, to the column of smoke, to the swirling thunderclouds of the astral figure hovering in the bus.

The elf smiles.

"Spirit," he begins with a hand over his heart, "Go to where the smoke rises over there." He points in the direction of the swirling column. "Bring a rainstorm and keep it going until the flames die. Then return to me."

«Plot» Walker has 5 services left.

Nolan Void shakes his head, "Hey Umm…. Next flat I have to pull over. It's like…" He looks to be looking off at something in his image display. "That first dog damaged something. If we have a moment best to look at it now before shit goes tits up."

"Do what you have to do, though these woods are not a good place to be pulling over," Judge mentions, leaving it to the guy who has to actually steer the thing to make that decision. "If you think you're risking worse by going on, pull over, otherwise, we might hold off until we get to wherever they are, since they are likely somehow protected from the para-critters."

Mr. Swaggy cocks his head across and rolls his eyes once more. He sits up and comments, "You are the vehicle expert right now. We must hurry, though."

Swaggy pages: Any gas stations or waystations(for rangers) in sight?

«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "You got any kind of vehicle B/R skills?"
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "I Do! and some skills."
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "Want to throw some dice my way to figure out what's up? Open test."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Car B/R (to Walker):
5

«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "So the warnings you're getting aren't too serious. If you wanted to keep the bus it would be a major problem, but you can probably just mute them and let the engine run itself into the ground. It should last long enough to get you guys out. Of course, if you run into combat again and it takes another serious hit… it occurs to you that t-bird extraction might be a better alternative."

Nolan Void so, yeah. He pulls the bus over at this wide stop in the road. There is a sign, "Scenic Overlook" He has a look, takes a picture, and then checks out the damage to the front. he is only off the bus for about a minute, nah… three. He gets back on starts the thing up and starts to drive again. "Ok, so I muted the warning, but we have a bent front linkage. Knocked the wheel in about 3 degrees if we have to rely on this thing for much longer we're going to lose the tire. Should be ok, say 100 maybe 150 miles. Unless we get chased by more FiDo's then all bets are off." He smiles as the bus climbs to the rally location and offers, "So where is the T-Bird going to be? Cause that sounds like a better option to me."

While Nolan examines the car Walker gets out and peers at the sky for a short while, his eyes glimmering.

After Nolan is done and the pair are back on the bus he breaks the other bad news. "Remember that watcher that was tailing us?" he asks, "Well it's disappeared. Haven't seen it since we chased off the hounds. Might have just gotten confused and broken off, but it might also have gone to report back on us to someone."

He lets the thought hang in the air for a moment before continuing, "Also, there's something seriously weird going on in the Flatirons. There are spirits flying around overhead like they're looking for something, but they're way too high to see anything on the ground."

"I think the moral of the story is the same as it was before you saw these things," Judge points out. "We keep moving, concealment and running the shadows like we do. None of that makes me think we should stop or hide, and I'm still wanting to get to our exfil tbird on time," he says.

Nolan Void is partial to sign language and when he talks sometimes his hands move. In this case, when Judge speaks, he just touches the tip of his nose and points to the rearview.

Mr. Swaggy contributes with careful guard. He waits, basically, and checks in with the decker. Then they are back on the bus. Another one… The fixer says in a friendly voice, "Ute side of the border. I guess they can move a little closer to save us from the long march. Thank you for the spirit news, Walker." He stares at the roof of the bus and drops, "We need a distraction, but it is worthless musing until we are closer. We do want the timely exfil."

Walker shrugs at Judge's response. "Me neither. I'm just telling you there's more going on here than first appears and we ought to be prepared for worse than paracritters." He grins gamely, "Though like you say, that doesn't change the plan any."

After listening to Nolan and Swaggy's exchange, the elf looks thoughtful for a moment. "Suppose we had a way to signal them," he muses, "You think they'd do a pickup on site?"

Away to the east, thunderclouds gather above the growing column of smoke left in the team's wake.

Judge continues to sit and watch out the windows.

Mr. Swaggy says, "I have the rendezvous coordinates and imagery in a protected file to protect us from mind control from the critters. I can show you when we board the bus again." He appends, "I can ask them, sure."

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "Roll me some etiquette if you want to ask for a specific location for the pickup. In fairness it's only about 30 km from the border, which is maybe 5 minutes tops by t-bird."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Etiquette for "Challo, chauffeur?":
2 3 4 5 5 8 11
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "You charmer you! Katyusha is actually very accommodating. Maybe it's because you paid the asking price without trying to haggle her down, maybe it's because you agreed to comp her repair bil… maybe it's because she wants a bit more excitement in her evening, who knows? The important point is you have a pickup on request from where you want it, just send her the coordinates when you know where and she'll be there in 5."

Nolan Void can only shrug. "I don't know. Not sure how we talk to them. I'm kinda hoping when we get to the end of this road they are there, flowers in their hair, just looking for a bus to get them to San Fransisco." He smirks, "…'cuz if they are not and we have to go on a walk about to find them. Time we might not have."

Mr. Swaggy says dryly, "We have the burning man with us. How could they resist?"

Not wanting to be a negative guy, Judge just continues to watch and wait. He can't interject anything useful at this point. He can't deploy spirits to improve their concealment, he doesn't know any useful alternative routes. So, he sits, and he listens. "I'll thump a few if I need to, that usually gets people moving," he mentions.

Walker gives Swaggy the side eye after that one. "I have heard I'm irresistible now and then," he confides in a careful deadpan, "Although flames don't usually help there."

Nolan Void reaches behind the seat where his back pack is hanging and he pulls out a couple "Slim'e Jims" He offers them around to anyone, "Hungry?" He sticks one in his mouth and bites through the plastic so he can suck the kinda spicy-greasy flavoring off from around it. People who care for their health should not-aught to eat these, but he has a handful of them… like he stole a whole jug of them from a Quickie Mart.

"Starving!" Walker confesses openly as he reaches for the snack. "I swear that storm spirit took the food out of my belly," he mutters as he rips the plastic open, cutting a rather odd figure combining his elven features with the grease on his chin.

"How far?" Judge asks, again, since he hadn't gotten an answer earlier. He doesn't ask for any of their food, he has his own for when he feels like it's the right time for it, but in reality, he'd eaten a big supper before the mission to help him last without needing to snack while on the job. "You know, for future reference, bringing meat into para-critter territory, if we have to hoof it, both a good and a bad idea. Good idea as a lure to throw away, bad to bring with. Something to keep in mind," he mentions.

Nolan Void looks down to the 'Slim'e Jim' he is all but eaten and frowns a bit. They are noxious. Going in and coming out. He stuffs the rest of it in his face anyway.

Mr. Swaggy messages the t-bird team »>Hello, mes cheres. Be so kind and move the pickup loc a little inward, if you would. Our transport got a chewing yours is too tough to be subjected to. 50 klicks. You have to wait less this way. Sound good?«<. The fixer is all smiles, "It is based on the fire you try to stoke." He laughs and informs at some point, "T-bird jammer is positive. Nearby pickup will be done. 5min after we let them know."

Mr. Swaggy addresses Nolan, "Thank you. Not hungry." "Judge is right. Any meat has to be scent sealed."

Walker glances guiltily at the /delicious/ grease on his hands. Then begins to stick fingers in his mouth and lick them clean. From the satchel at his hip he produces a canteen of water and rinses off the last of the sauce.

"Nice," he responds to Swaggy's news, "Now we just have to find them and a decent landing spot for the t-bird."

With his hands cleaned to his satisfaction, Walker glances around. "All set here, drive to the end of the road then hoof it?"

Nolan Void starts to slow down the bus, they are coming up quickly enough on the rally point and best to take the last few hundred at a nice steady clip. He is also looking for a wide enough spot to turn the bus around in. "I want to turn this thing around, get it pointed in the right direction when we stop. You know… in case."

Nolan Void scans a place. It's a wide turn in the road, little more than an addition of shoulder on either side, but it's enough for a short bus, and they are all on the short bus. He noses off the road to the left, then backs up turning hard right. Using a see-saw motion Nolan pulls off the perfect 20 point turn and finally gets the bus pointed the direction they came from, "Last stop, home appliances, irons, flatirons." He looks a little nervous as he grabs up his pack and gets ready to disembark. Ah! He remembers the keys.

"Not a bad idea, take your time about it," Judge says soberly, watching the passage of Denver's greater greenery as it passes by the windows outside.

Mr. Swaggy gestures agreement and looks about himself to leave as little evidence as possible. "That. We do not want to stumble at this point."

Judge, huge shield slung over his shoulder and kit tucked beneath it, lumbers out and heads in the direction of their targets. Glancing over his shoulder, he glances at NV, but says nothing, just silently moves ahead. Wary, but not expecting a mine field.

Mr. Swaggy gets out without much delay, because he is the delay compared to the nimble others. That does include the troll who takes the lead. "Breathe, my friend. Nice driving."

With the bus parked to their driver's satisfaction, the team disembark and begin short hike up to Royal Arch. Below and behind them, the lights of the Denver metroplex glitter like a sea of stars, the darkness of the terrain around them standing in sharp contrast to the man-made constellations.

Of the paracritters that normally frequent the area, they see no signs. Instead, the wilderness is eerily silent. No nocturnal animals roam, to birds call, not even insects can be heard.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 (to no one) for "Does anything interesting happen on their way in? It does on a 1…":
1

Without warning, the dark silence of the night is shattered by an unnatural shriek.

From somewhere high above the group, a large shape hurtles downwards and whips over their heads, a great gust of wind in its wake. As it passes, multiple lightning bolts split the air around it, the thunderclaps almost deafening those without some kind of defense.

A few of the bolts find their mark on the large shape which ploughs a large furrow in the dirt as it crashes to the ground and comes to a smoking, sputtering stop. The others however, rain down around the team…

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 vs TN 2 for "Judge":
4 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 vs TN 2 for "Nolan":
5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 vs TN 2 for "Swaggy":
7 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 vs TN 2 for "Walker":
4 = 1 Success

…thankfully missing them, if leaving them with some interesting scorch marks here and there. In
the sky above, a group of swirling shapes fade from sight as they disperse.

«Frag that.» Judge mutters over sub-vocal mic, but keeps moving at a steady pace. Not running outright because he'd rather not stumble over a trip wire or something. Not that he thinks it's likely there is a tripwire here, but unless someone tells him otherwise, he intends to keep a pace that also maintains vigilance.

Nolan Void jumps, then jumps back, then freezes. Moving is a bad idea. "What the actual fuck?" His auditory mods keep him from going deaf, but seriously, "The hell is going on?" he picks his pace back up though not at all about getting left behind.

Mr. Swaggy strides calmly through the storm and only frowns when hairs on the coat are struck by the many missing bolts. «Not this. There are spirits aiming the lightning. The burns hurt my coat.»

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence + Astral Pool: 3 vs TN 6 (to no one) for "Astral Perception to spot the dissipating elemental":
1 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 10 = 1 Success
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "You've got astral perception, right? Want to roll that for me?"
From afar, Swaggy nods.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Intelligence (to Walker) for "Astral.":
1 1 3 4 5 11
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "In the smoking scar left by the crash, behind the dust cloud, you can just make out the shredded, dissipating form of an air elemental, and quite a powerful one at that."

"Fraggin' shit!" Walker shouts at the thunderclaps all around them. "Yeah," he adds to Swaggy, "That was a fight between spirits and… something."

He takes a moment to jog a little off the track towards the scar left in the earth by whatever crashed, his eyes glowing softly. «Huh?» his voice comes over the commlink. «An elemental?» he mutters, half to himself as he rejoins the group, «Keeps getting weirder and weirder.»

Mr. Swaggy laughs, «It is waning. We have to remain careful, though. Keep going. The targets must not be that far. Look out for kivas. Underground magic altar things. Bunkers. That kind of stuff. It is the logical spot unless they sit under a magic barrier.»

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "As if on cue, as you clear the next rise, your astral sight spots what /has/ to be Royal Arch. A great arch of rock at least 30 feet across inside lies at the peak of the mountain a few hundred metres ahead of you. Nestled beneath it, pressed against the rock arch, is a shining astral barrier, clearly fairly potent."

Nolan Void ain't the best shot, nor does he really like the thought of him being the one that has to get a shot off. He is hesitant to unsnap the leather on his piece, but he does. It's just a Slivergun, but it's what he has. «What's a Kiva look like? A cave?»

As the team crest the next rise, Royal Arch comes into view. A great arch of rock at least 30 feet across inside lies at the peak of the mountain a few hundred metres ahead.

The land around it looks like a battlefield: small fires burn here and there, scorch marks criss -cross the rocks and large rockfalls are scattered around. Inside the circle, six figures stand looking outwards in all directions.

«Remember they don't know we're friendlies,» Walker reminds the others as he examines the site, «So go easy.»

Mr. Swaggy squints and shakes his head rapidly. He points ahead after, «Nahui.» «The arch. I think I see a few under it. On we go. Ignore the kiva part, s'il vous plait, unless we need to find shelter more than now.»

Judge continues forward until he spots the shamans, at which point he lifts a hand to his neck, «Someone not a troll want to try the approach?» he questions of the others rather than popping up and potentially scaring them.

«Plot» Walker says, "Can I get perception from everyone please?"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 4 5 7 11
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Intelligence:
3 5 10
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 2 4 5 8
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Intelligence for "Do I notice?":
1 1 1 2 10
«Plot» Walker says, "OK, so everyone notices that one of the figures in the circle is so large that they /have/ to be a troll."
«Plot» Judge says, "Oh, okay, less racist natives, yay!"

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy and Judge) Walker says, "You guys spot telltale horns on two more that are either orks or shamans with a serious penchant for bio-modding."

Nolan Void says, "Well shit that is cool." He gets a good look and takes a picture with his eyeballs. With the picture framed under the arch he is smiling and nods as he puts his firearm away. "Want I could, don't mind really. If they shoot me I'm small and easy to carry ok? Don't leave me."

«I speak the language and all,» Walker begins hesitantly, «but elves aren't exactly popular in Ute right now… I'm happy to play translator or backup if someone else takes point, but a friendlier face than mine might do better.»

Mr. Swaggy is used to all kinds of beings, people, folk, types. He surely flashes his big smile to the limits of the mask, opens his arms wide like a Russian going to bearhug a good comrade, and walks across, "Hello!" His voice is loud. "Hello! We come to take you to safety."

Swaggy pages: Spell defense on max.
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "Noted, Walker will cover you too. Etiquette please?"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Etiquette for "We come in peace.":
1 2 2 2 3 4 5
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Etiquette for "We come in peace. 3KP used. Reroll.":
2 3 3 3 5 8 10

«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "Turning on all my mods, hearing mostly. Hearing amp, filter, high adn low filter, listening in on them. I have some eyeball mods too low light most applicable."
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "Do you understand Ute?"
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "No I do not. It's on the list :) I need to get a ME3 first. Walker could maybe listen in on an open mic and tell me what to say?"
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "OK. They're pretty quiet on the whole, only exchanging very brief snippets of speech if any. Your vision mods reveal that a few are wounded, one with a bloody stain on their side but the others only superficially."

Nolan Void takes his back-pack off and gets out his med kit, "I'm not very good with this, but some of there folks are injured. One kinda badly." He says, "Swaggy, catch?" ready to throw the medkit to him if he wants it and isn't… you know getting shot currently.

Judge, keeping a bit back from Swaggy, is prepared to leap forward and bring the pain if necessary, but for now he just waits and watches. Hoping that these idiots don't make this more painful than it has to be- and that those spirits weren't theirs. Given that they are all reportedly shamans, and probably even if they weren't, his goal will be to get up close and personal as fast as possible if he has to knock them out. Simultaneously, he also starts eyeing the area for cover, positions and means of getting out of the area if things go very badly.

Half a dozen heads snap round in unison as Swaggy calls out, and a couple of the shamans raise their hands aggressively before a commanding shout cuts them off.

"No you dimwits!" the voice comes from the shortest of the figures, seemingly an old Native women with skin so wrinkled and tanned it looks like old leather. The authority in her voice is unmistakable however, and the raised hands drop almost instantly. "If they were here for violence we would already be dead or worse."

She looks at Swaggy, then peers over his shoulder at the hulking form of Judge. Her eyes glimmer blue in the darkness. "Be welcome… friends," she offers noncommittally, "What brings you to this sacred place?"

Behind her, the troll shaman moves up to her shoulder, almost mirroring Judge's movements, while a muscular ork takes up position on her other side. The other three figures return to keeping watch in other directions.

Mr. Swaggy's reply is the simple, "You." He carries on with more gravitas, "We come to you as rescuers. Most of us are not that selfless, but one is. I will call an escape bird to carry us to safety. It is all paid for. We have a little time to patch you up, too." The socially adept man then carefully hugs all he can, and hopes the sentiment will be returned so he s not crushed.

He could not hope to catch the medkit. Not with all the lightning and winds and the heavy armor coat.

Not the least bit impressed with his mirrors on the other side, Judge is still mostly just hoping that they come along quickly and quietly. He doesn't say anything, his shield stays on his back and his gun stays holstered- of course to someone who can peer into the astral, he is definitively and adept, which means that his approach is far more dangerous than any gun he might draw. Staying apace with Mr. Swaggy, if Mr. Swaggy decides to move up, his armor hiding almost all of his skin.

«Plot» Walker says, "Out of interest, anybody else speak Ute?"
«OOC» Judge speaks.. nope.
«OOC» Swaggy says, "Not yet. Ute have little money so it was not on the shortlist."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Etiquette + Karma Pool: 1 vs TN 6 for "I'm… helping?":
3 3 4 5 7 = 1 Success

Nolan Void doesn't throw the medkit as soon as it's obvious that the introductions are afoot. He does make sure he can be seen though poking out into view so his hands and such are visible and empty. He does point to the injured Shaman with the big gash. He holds up the medkit and makes a gesture like, 'fix-m-up?' he doesn't speak Ute, but sign language is something he is more than adept with. Gotta dumb it down though.

Swaggy is brought up short by the large troll who puts a hand out in front of the charming man's chest. "Circle is sacred, anglo," the troll growls softly, "You stay outside."

Pulling his hood down as he comes out from behind his rock, Walker makes a show of setting his pistol on the ground before approaching the group. He bows his head in a formal greeting before clipping out a rapid spiel of Ute that seems to produce a flicker of recognition from the elder.

She looks to Swaggy, "He is the selfless one?" She cackles riotously, "With a face like that? HA!"

Her humour evaporates as suddenly as it appears. "It is not as simple as that, friend. Someone wants to take us from this place by force, or perhaps you haven't noticed the destruction around here?" She casts an arm around to indicate the area, "Our spirits have kept them at bay, but their elementals are strong and we are weary. Bring your flying machine if you wish, but we dare not leave the circle before our escape is assured."

That pretty much confirms Judge's earlier guess that the elementals weren't random, but he decides to remain silent for the time being. Letting his companions ask the appropriate questions. Nolan Void subvocalizes, «We had that watcher on our tails and then it was gone yeah? Like we got to a place where it turned around and went and told on us? Magical do not cross line, I don't know does it work like that? If so the someone likely knows we are here. We should prep for incoming real world hostiles.»

Mr. Swaggy winks, "Not a trace of anglo. I'm safe. WASP boy here with the cop armor is your benefactor." He points at Walker. "It will be worse. You must evacuate. There is a war building. War is for power. This place holds power. You cannot defend this sacred place, only purify it later. All who want power will try to control instead of destroy the arch which leaves it open to later healing and purification rituals. Live to burn the sage another day. We patch you up now, then we help you get away. "The next waves will be physical and magical which you must realize."

«Any chance we can find where they're attacking from, and would those elementals pose a problem for the T-Bird?» Judge asks, pressing his hand to his neck so that he can ask a question without interrupting the conversation between Swaggy and the locals.

Swaggy's words produce another gale of laughter from the woman. "Told you that himself did he?" she manages between cackles, "That one's just as Ute as I am, fancy man, or I'm a Sioux! Besides, you misunderstand."

She elbows the large troll, who steps aside with a grumble, "We're in here so the elementals can't get to us. We'll leave if you can get us out clear, but in the mean time we should /all/," she side eyes the other shamans, "get in the circle to wait out what's coming. Especially your metal-eyed friend with the medkit." She pauses for a moment, "And even the pretty elf that Coyote's been playing with."

Walker looks taken aback by this assessment for a moment, but he covers it well as he retrives his weapon and heads back to the circle."

«Could be anywhere on the planet,» Walker responds briefly, «As for elementals against a t-bird? They might do, but I don't think they'd keep up with it, and we'd only have to hold them off until we got up to speed and away.»

Mr. Swaggy sends, «They can manifest inside and outside. Burn, suck air, shove oxides down our throats, you name it. There can be another protection zone in the t-bird to shield us.» He actually talks at the same time which he reinforces with friendly motions, "Of course, good friends." «Come over into the barrier. Before the hostile spirits and critters strike you with their abilities.»

«Please.»

A nod at the words from Walker, and Judge continues to stand there for a moment, thinking, and then nods his head to himself. He would already be standing in the circle, if Swaggy is. «If you say there's no way of knowing, then quick take off and landing is the only option. Walker, can you check to make sure they aren't watching from the Astral, at least?» he asks.

«Plot» Swaggy says, "Calling the t-bird with a few warnings to keep them in the loop about the spirit party."
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "Katyusha confirms the coordinates and thanks you for the warning, giving you an ETA of 6 minutes. About 4 minutes later, you get another message: apparently she got pinged by one of Denver's radar installations and has been radio'd with a request to ID herself. She will continue as planned, just keeping you in the loop."

Nolan Void isn't paying attention. Well, ok he is, but not to the old lady. He is looking off into the forest and taking in the view. It's beautiful even at this time of day. "Wait?" Oh yeah, he just heard the words. Took a moment, but he heard them. "What? Especially me?" He comes closer muttering something about g'dam Slim'e Jims as he wipes his hands on his pant legs. He is a little hesitant about crossing a magic circle, hey he has watched a lot of movies, he waits until he is given the ok to proceed in some fashion from the Shaman.

Seeing the hesitation, Judge reaches over with one of his serving tray sized mitts and steers Nolan into the circle with a palm on the back.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Willpower vs TN 8 for "Complications?":
2 3 5 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Willpower vs TN 8 for "Complications? KP4/11":
1 1 2 3 4 5 = 0 Successes

As Walker approaches the circle, there is an almost inaudible hum in the air which brings the shaman to a halt. He glares briefly at the old woman, who simply smiles back at him and says something in Ute.

Whatever it is, it seems to tweak the elf's nose. "Old woman, you can sit in your circle and die if you like," he spits, "I have spent the entire night struggling to find you and almost burned an entire neighbourhood down in the process. These three," he indicates the rest of the team with a nod of his head, "have risked their lives to get us here and you think that now is a good time to insist on niceties and tradition?"

He shakes his head with a thunderous expression and spits out a final phrase in Ute that draws an outraged look from the shamans in the circle, apart from the old woman who remains poker-faced throughout it all.

With that the elf stalks off a short way and snaps his fingers. His storm spirit, apparently returned from putting out fire, materialises out of the air beside him. "Keep a close eye out," the elf instructs it in a tense, clipped tone, "If you see an elemental, or an astral form that isn't from the folks in that circle, confuse it then throw lightning at it."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intimidation vs TN 10 for "Probably doesn't make an impression on her, but you never know…":
1 1 2 2 = 0 Successes

Judge just glances at Walker with his polar episode and continues to stand guard, waiting for the bird and any spirits or mages he might punch. Not that he really expects any of the latter to show itself until they move the shamans. As to the political disaster that Walker is brewing, he isn't having any of it. Swaggy can smooth that over.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 10 vs TN 11 (to no one) for "Sensor test to spot the t -bird.":
2 2 2 3 3 4 4 10 10 16 = 1 Success

"T-bird got pinged. Somebody had the spare resources for that. It might get rockier, but living Mile High, we can sort this through." He looks over to Walker in his nice armor, pats him on the shoulder, "We are in this together, one and all. We not one. No bad words have room here. We can all drink tea, eat something good, smoke and party later. We must stand as one, you understand."

Mr. Swaggy says in addition, "The situation will escalate more and there will be time to burn and main. Not now, though. Calm down, please."

Walker seems to ignore Swaggy's appeal to reason, standing resolutely outside the circle while his glowing eyes scan the area.

Nolan Void , after getting a helpful hand into the circle, doesn't hesitate to offer the Medkit up to any of the folks that might need or want it. The one Shaman who looks the worst is the one he looks at, "Might help?" It's not like he is a doc or anything, but he has the supplies.

Judge stands around, watchful and silent. Hearing about the bird, he nods a little but doesn't move. "The moment it lands, you all need to be ready to move. The mage who sent the elementals might not be watching, and won't be able to retarget, possibly," he advises.

«Plot» Walker says, "Hmmm… roll me your charisma Nolan? These folks are not terribly trusting."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Charisma for "What? Look at this smile!":
1 3 5 5 11

The shaman in the bloodied tunic is a middle-aged ork with a ragged mane of surprisingly white hair. He eyes Nolan's approach with some caution, but the man's disarming attitude (or possibly the gut wound) result in a curt nod. "Do what you do, anglo, just make sure your machine knows I am awakened."

That said, he returns to keeping watch for threats.

«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "I'm not skilled with a saviour kit. Is it fool proof? Cause Nolan has the equipment not skills."
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "The interface is very user friendly. The calm and professional expert system will happily guide you through all the steps. Just let me figure what to roll…"
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "OK, bit tough because he's a shaman. Roll me 6 dice (savior rating) against TN 7."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls 6 vs TN 7 (to Walker) for "Want to make sure there is an abort before doing anything :) Like a do you want to contiune.":
1 2 2 3 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "Yeah I'll be like… "Uhhh I'm not sure about this.""
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "I do have one KP left. This might be a good use."
«Plot-Page» (To: Nolan Void) Walker says, "You can't KP for the medkit unfortunately, as they aren't your dice. Doesn't do any harm though."
«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "Ah yeah that makes sense."

Mr. Swaggy fidgets with the box of smokes and does not kindle the acrid life improvement now. He sighs and puts the poison stick stash back to nods avidly at the shaman club crowd, "We will get along. My espresso cooker is computerized. It is not all bad, my friends. Anyone else need help?"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 + Astral Pool: 2 (to no one) for "Stealth test for nasty surprise. Only Walker has much of a chance to spot it as he's the only one outside the circle.":
1 1 2 4 5 5
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 + Astral Pool: 2 (to no one) for "Stealth test for nasty surprise. Only Walker has much of a chance to spot it as he's the only one outside the circle. KP1/1":
3 4 5 9 11 11
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence + Astral Pool: 3 vs TN 11 (to no one) for "Let's see what happens here…":
1 1 2 3 5 5 5 10 11 = 1 Success

A tense silence descends as Nolan begins to set the medkit to work.

One of the watching shamans, a young woman with streaks of blood across her face, glances to the group nervously. "My spirits to the south both just vanished," she reports in a whisper. This bad news is quickly followed by the medkit politely suggesting that you seek medical attention immediately, as it cannot determine the appropriate treatment here.

Suddenly, Walker's eyes go wide. "Astral mage!" he shouts, pointing to the rocks off to the edge of the circle. As one, the shaman's inside spin to look for the intruder while Walker's eyes glow brighter still.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Reaction vs TN 4 for "Surprise! :D":
2 3 5 9 15 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 3 (Mage Int) vs TN 4 for "Mage surprise!":
1 2 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Sorcery + 2 (Totem) + 3 (Power Focus) + Spell Pool: 4 vs TN 6 for "6D stunbolt at the intruder…":
1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 5 7 8 9 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Sorcery + 2 (Totem) + 3 (Power Focus) + Spell Pool: 4 - 3 vs TN 6 for "6D stunbolt at the intruder… KP5/11":
2 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 8 8 11 14 = 4 Successes
«Plot» Walker stands on 7 successes, mage doesn't have the willpower to negate that. Whole lotta nothing happening here folks, nothing to see. XD

Anyone watching the astral plane might, just might, pick out a shadowy presence approaching the circle from the direction Walker indicates. They certainly would see it start to gather mana for some kind of spell and reach out to the barrier, followed by it vapourising under the torrent of mana that Walker sends blasting through it.

From the material plane, hairs might stand up on necks and they might notice an odd glow in the air, but otherwise there is no sign.

The old woman who seems to be the shamans' leader looks up to the sky. "They come," she states matter-of-factly.

«Plot» Walker says, "Going to need perception tests from everyone again."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Intelligence:
2 2 4 5 11 13
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Intelligence for "Having a perceptive look see.":
1 2 4 4 5
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 3
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 3 5 10 10

Nolan Void looks to the injured older Ork, "Sorry man… We need to get you to someone who knows the craft." The shout of Astral Mage and the alarms going off make it so the Ork, as well as most everyone, is distracted by reality. Nolan casts his look around trying to see what is up.

«Plot» Walker says, "OK, so this is mainly a question of who notices what and when. Swaggy and Walker see them first: a group of four elementals rocketing through the sky above: two fire and two air. They are all at least the size of Judge and are closing in on the barrier with single-minded purpose. They each get enough time to prepare some sort of delayed action or to reposition as they like. Nolan and Judge, you notice them basically when combat starts. Speaking of which, inits please."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Initiative with a result of 14.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Initiative with a result of 10.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Initiative with a result of 16.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Initiative with a result of 8.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Great storm spirit (+16)":
3
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Air ellie 1 (+20)":
10
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Air ellie 2 (+20)":
1
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Fire ellie 1 (+19)":
1
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Fire ellie 2 (+19)":
5

============================> Initiative Listing <=============================
Combatant Name…………….. P1(B) P2(-10) P3(-20) P4(-30) P5(-40)
Air 1…………………….. 26 16 6 — —
Fire 2……………………. 24 14 4 — —
Air 2…………………….. 21 11 1 — —
Fire 1……………………. 20 10 — — —
Storm Spirit………………. 19 9 — — —
Judge…………………….. 16 6 — — —
Walker……………………. 14 4 — — —
Nolan…………………….. 10 — — — —
Swaggy……………………. 8 — — — —


«Plot» Walker says, "So elemental's do get their actions first, but Swaggy because you spotted them incoming you get a bonus action to do… something. Ideas?"
«Plot» Walker will attempt to banish one of the air elementals after putting all his spell defense dice on himself.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring + 3 (Power Focus) vs TN 8 for "Banishing Air 1":
1 2 2 4 4 4 5 5 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring + 3 (Power Focus) - 1 vs TN 8 for "Banishing Air 1 KP6/11":
1 1 2 2 3 5 8 16 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring + 3 (Power Focus) - 1 - 2 vs TN 8 for "Banishing Air 1 KP8/11":
1 1 2 2 3 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 vs TN 8 for "Elemental's resistance test":
2 4 4 5 5 7 7 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 - 1 vs TN 8 for "Elemental's resistance test KP1/4":
4 4 4 5 5 5 8 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 - 1 - 1 vs TN 8 for "Elemental's resistance test KP3/4":
1 2 3 4 8 10 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "No gains on either side, but Air 1 is locked in a contest with Walker."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 2 + 2 (totem) vs TN 6 (to Walker) for "F4 spirit barrier to shield us.":
1 1 2 2 2 7 9 11 = 3 Successes

===================> Spell Catalog Listing: Spirit Barrier <===================
Spell Name: Spirit Barrier
Category: Manipulation/Transformation
Target Number: 6
Drain Code: S
Type: Mana
Duration: Sustained
Casting Range: LoS(AoE)
-----—> Spell Description <-----
Spirit Barrier is a variant of Astral Barrier (p. 198, SR3) that only works against spirits,
including materialized spirits. Spirit Barrier also impedes the use of spirit powers.
The barrier has a visible glowing surface and this causes a +1 TN mod for attacks attempted
to pass through it.


«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Willpower + Spell Pool: 2 vs TN 2 for "Drain. S so need 4.":
1 1 1 2 4 5 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Willpower + Spell Pool: 2 - 3 vs TN 2 for "Drain. S so need 4. One more KP so 4 now, I think.":
3 4 5 = 3 Successes

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker nods, 4KP.
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "What's your magic, btw? For spell areas and all?"
Swaggy pages: 4

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 vs TN 6 for "Fire 2 attacking the circle barrier.":
3 4 4 4 4 4 5 7 = 1 Success

Mr. Swaggy hastily stashes the cigarette cache and gestures with his outstretched palm while engaged this way. He furrows his brows and sighs a soothing, kind noise or word. Probably in Russian when his features loose some of their tension and his brows straighten out.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 vs TN 8 for "Barrier resist":
1 1 1 3 5 16 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 vs TN 6 for "Air 2 attacking the barrier":
1 2 2 2 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 vs TN 8 for "Barrier resist":
4 4 5 5 5 8 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 vs TN 6 for "Fire 1 attacking the barrier.":
1 1 2 2 2 2 3 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 vs TN 8 for "Barrier resist":
3 4 4 5 7 10 = 1 Success

«Plot» Walker says, "Holy shit that barrier! Air 2 and Fire 1 each lose a point of force. Barrier is undamaged. Judge is up. Elementals are physical so are amenable to punching."
«Plot» Walker says, "Oh, and per its instructions, the storm spirit confuses the elementals. All of them. XD"

One and all, the quartet of beefy spirits charges in to test their mettle against some kind of invisible energy field which darkens when it compounds like anti ballistic mats to a big bullet, or a power shield in a scifi show. Only this hailstorm of MMG equivalent menaces is deflected and even weakens. Mr. Swaggy allows himself a little smile.

One by one, the elementals dive from the sky, leaving roiling flame or billowing clouds in their wake as they race towards the barrier.

The first air elemental is halted in mid-air by some unseen force, seemingly Walker from the wordless scream of fury from the shaman. Eyes blazing, Walker remains as rooted to the spot as the elemental.

Shortly afterwards, the other three spirits slam into the barrier described by the sacred circle which remains miraculously unharmed. A couple of the spirits recoil, diminished a little in size.

«Plot» Judge punches Air 2.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Brawling + 2 vs TN 3 for "-1tn for reach, herding him into the fire guy if I hit":
1 2 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 10 11 13 = 8 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "So… they have friends in melee as they are working as a group, have you got whirling or similar? You should still be OK with the help from Confusion if not."
«Plot» Judge says, "Whirling? No, I have reach and positioning with the barrier, I'd imagine."
«Plot» Walker nods, good point re: the barrier. We'll say that keeps you on TN 4 then, 7 successes.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 10 (Reaction) + Combat Pool: 10 vs TN 6 for "TN4+4-2, air elementals are /quick/ kids.":
1 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 7 8 9 10 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 10 (Reaction) + Combat Pool: 10 - 4 vs TN 6 for "TN4+4-2, air elementals are /quick/ kids. KP 1/4":
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 7 8 8 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 10 (Reaction) + Combat Pool: 10 - 4 - 3 vs TN 6 for "TN4+4-2, air elementals are /quick/ kids. KP 3/4":
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Ooh, so close! Damage is 12S? Do I have that right?"
«OOC» Judge says, "No extra succs? Just 10s."
«Plot» Walker says, "And is it Killing Hands?"
«Plot» Judge says, "Always."
«Plot» Walker nods.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 10 (Body) + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 10 for "Resist 10S… ain't gonna be pretty":
1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 10 (Body) + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 10 for "Resist 10S… ain't gonna be pretty KP4/4":
1 1 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 8 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Air 2 takes a serious wound and is herded into Fire 2. Pose the carnage Judge!"

Stepping from the barrier for a brief moment before he ducks back inside, Judge lets loose with a single swift punch, attempting to force the spirit towards its nearest companion, one of the fire elementals. Hopefully the barrier holds out, because these things are tough nuts.

«Plot» Walker says, "Walker's banishing attempt continues…"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring vs TN 8 for "Banishing Air 1":
1 1 1 1 1 2 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring vs TN 8 for "Banishing Air 1 KP9/11":
2 3 3 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 vs TN 12 for "Resist (TN+4 from confusion)":
1 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Watchfor» Laz (#1899) just connected to the game.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 vs TN 12 for "Resist (TN+4 from confusion) KP4/4":
1 2 3 3 5 5 5 10 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "No ground gained again. Nolan's action!"

Walker and the airborne elemental continue their struggle, magical energy occasionally crackling out
as sparks between the pair. Sweat beads on Walker's face as he grapples with the powerful spirit,
but neither opponent seems to have the measure of the other.

«Plot» Nolan Void says, "Can they be shot?"
«Plot» Walker says, "I mean, you can /shoot/ them. Whether or not the bullets will /do/ anything is another matter."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " Ok, well I punch an air spirit :)"
«Plot» Walker says, "Engage in a contest of wills you mean. ;) Roll me willpower, and you can add up to 5 combat pool if you want. TN will be 5."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, "Ok!"
«Plot» Walker says, "Wouldn't matter this time since you don't physically touch it. Fire might even be a better option…"
«Plot» Nolan Void says, "I am willing to take direction, eager actually. The first part of my pose is going to be, "What can I do!?" and then do as I'm told."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Willpower + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 5 for "Using my willpower and combat pool to take on one of the macNasties. Syntax correct?":
1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Willpower + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 5 for "Using my willpower and combat pool to take on one of the macNasties. (Last KP! Mamma needs a new pair of shoes!)":
1 1 1 2 4 4 5 5 15 17 = 4 Successes

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 10 (Reaction) vs TN 12 for "No CP left, TN4+4+3+2-1":
1 1 1 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 (Force) vs TN 5 for "Soaking the damage, 5D…":
2 2 2 3 3 4 5 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "Nolan pops it! :D"

Nolan Void doesn't know what he is doing, but he's not about to go down without a fight. He sees Judge throw a punch at the Air elemental and the thing reals back with the impact. Well holy shit, the things can be punched. He's not a brawler though either, his craft is all about getting into places and getting out, but he knows a little about a little. As the thing is blasted back by Judges heavy hand it bumps, turns and prepares for an attack. Perfect Nolan rushes! He's going to swing a kick, but gets in close quick, so much so that he just brings his knee up into what would go for the things spine as he grapples the elementals shoulders. It's solid, for a moment, it's there he feels it give way under his intensity, but then- like the wind it's gone and he lurches through it to land, gingerly on the ground.

«Plot» Walker says, "OK, let's do Swaggy's action quick, then I need to go sleep to get up at 0430. Finish it all up nice tomorrow?"

«Plot» Swaggy says, "Swaggy kneels by the bloody ork and gives it a love tap to let his savior medkit work the magic."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls 6 for "Savior medkit on awakened patient. Kind mode.":
1 2 4 5 5 7
«Plot» Walker says, "This is on autopilot?"
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Yes."

«Plot» Walker nods. You set it up and let it have another go to see if it does any better than Nolan's did. It'll be a while before you can tell though.

Mr. Swaggy squats like a true Slav by the hurt ork shaman. He pats him gently near the wound and probes wind from his arm to sink into the meta mage. They convulse as nanites are pumped into the bloody ork to work their technomagic. "No worry. You will be better."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls 1 for "Supplies check.":
4

Swaggy pages: The savior is in Swaggy's arm. :)

«Plot» Walker says, "OK log back on, top of pass 2. Air 1 can't act, since it's locked in a banishing contest with Walker, leaving us on Fire 2 (still F8) who flies up into the sky and begins circling while shooting a jet of flame at Walker's spirit."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (Force) vs TN 8 for "8M Flamethrower, TN4+4(Confusion)=8":
1 1 2 4 5 5 9 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (Force) - 2 vs TN 8 for "8M Flamethrower, TN4+4(Confusion)=8 KP1/4":
1 1 1 3 4 9 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 7 vs TN 4 for "Storm spirit's dodge":
2 3 3 3 8 11 11 = 3 Successes
«OOC» Judge says, "Go Stormy."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Combat Pool: 7 - 3 vs TN 4 for "Storm spirit's dodge, need extra successes due to the way innate spell works… KP1/6":
4 4 4 5 = 4 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Storm manages to dodge like a champ. 8)"

«Plot» Walker says, "However, Fire 1 is going to do much the same…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 (Force) vs TN 8 for "7M Flamethrower, TN4+4(Confusion)=8":
1 2 4 4 5 7 14 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 (Force) - 1 vs TN 8 for "7M Flamethrower, TN4+4(Confusion)=8 KP1/4":
1 1 3 5 7 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Body) + 4 (Spirit's spell defense) vs TN 3 for "Resisting 7S damage, immunity from weapons applies, but since it's elemental damage the effect is halved (7-(4x2/2)=3)":
1 2 2 3 4 5 5 7 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Body) + 4 (Spirit's spell defense) - 5 vs TN 3 for "Resisting 7S damage, immunity from weapons applies, but since it's elemental damage the effect is halved (7-(4x2/2)=3) KP 2/6":
1 2 4 = 1 Success

«Plot» Walker thinks he got all that right…
«Plot» Walker says, "Stormy somehow comes through unscathed."
«Plot» Walker says, "And then stormy gets to throw lightning back…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Force) + Karma Pool: 1 vs TN 4 for "4M lightning bolt at the three elementals KP3/6":
1 1 3 4 5 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Force) + Karma Pool: 1 - 2 vs TN 4 for "4M lightning bolt at the three elementals KP4/6":
5 5 7 = 3 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "This spirit, man…"
«Plot» Walker ponders, "So come to think of it, only the F7 can actually get hurt by this anyway…"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 vs TN 2 for "Resisting 4D damage, immunity drops the power to 1, but not 0.":
1 1 2 2 2 3 4 5 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 - 6 vs TN 2 for "Resisting 4D damage, immunity drops the power to 1, but not 0. KP1/4":
1 4 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 - 6 - 1 vs TN 2 for "Resisting 4D damage, immunity drops the power to 1, but not 0. KP3/4":
9 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "Whole lotta magic, whole lotta no effect. XD"

Seeming to sense that a direct attack on the circle is a remote prospect, the two fire elementals take to the air once again, circling menacingly above the arch of rock that partially covers the clearing. The pair take turns loosing jets of white hot flame at Walker's storm spirit.

It ducks the first but the second catches it dead on, although even then it's magical nature spares it any lasting damage.

It returns fire with a trio of arcing lightning bolts that strike the elementals squarely, but the attacks prove insufficient to harm the more powerful entities.

«Plot» Walker says, "Judge is up. The two fire elementals are airborne and circle overhead."
«OOC» Judge says, "Is the one air in reach?"
«OOC» Walker says, "You could try it. Walker did catch it in a dive… make me a TN 8 athletics test if you want to try."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Athletics vs TN 8:
1 4 5 5 5 = 0 Successes

Judge is apparently an idiot, in his rush to try to jump up and swipe at the distant spirit, he ends up standing outside the circle. Apparently. Nothing connects however.

«Plot» Walker says, "OK, you don't hurt yourself or anything by missing the jump, but you do wind up outside the circle near Walker. Speaking of who…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring vs TN 8 for "More banishing…":
2 3 4 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring vs TN 8 for "More banishing… KP10/11":
1 1 3 4 5 13 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (Force) vs TN 12 for "Resist":
1 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Walker finally manages to reduce Air 1's force by one point. XD"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (Force) vs TN 8 for "8M Flamethrower against the spirit again, TN4+4(Confusion)=8":
3 3 4 5 5 5 8 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (Force) - 2 vs TN 8 for "8M Flamethrower against the spirit again, TN4+4(Confusion)=8 KP2/4":
1 1 2 3 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Body) + Karma Pool: 1 vs TN 4 for "Resisting 8S damage, Power is (8-(4x2/2)=3) KP5/6":
1 2 3 5 7 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 (Body) + Karma Pool: 1 - 2 vs TN 4 for "Resisting 8S damage, Power is (8-(4x2/2)=3) KP6/6":
3 3 5 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "Stormy takes a moderate wound."

«Plot» Walker says, "Which brings us to a new round!"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Initiative with a result of 19.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Initiative with a result of 9.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Initiative with a result of 15.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Stormy (+14)":
1
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Initiative with a result of 5.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Fire 1 (+18)":
3
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Fire 2 (+19)":
2
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Shamans":
16
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 1 for "Air 1 (+19)":
3

Walker finally seems to gain ground against the remaining air elemental, which seems to shrink a little as the shaman brings his magic to bear.

His spirit, unfortunately fares less well, as a flaming bolt from the larger of the free elementals tears a ragged whole in its cloudy form.

As the elementals continue to circle, the distinct twin roar of a T-bird's engines can be heard approaching from the east.

«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "Katyusha radios, this time with some urgency to let you know that: a) arrival is imminent; and b) she would love to know what the large flaming shapes circling your position are."

"Incoming. Get ready to move to the bird!" Judge yells out, not wanting to hesitate in the slightest in getting everyone on board. They can't leave the T-bird out taking damage from the elementals. Swaggy pages: a)Thank you, Madamska. b)Less of a last second problem with a shot from your main gun. We mostly have that under control, though.

Swaggy pages: 3k bonus for that shot.
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker nods, smiling evilly…

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 for "Surprise!":
4 4 5 5
Nolan Void isn't a whole lotta help right now, but he does look around to everyone and nod that they are ready. He looks to the ground, looks for anything that someone might leave behind in their haste and if he spots something he will motion towards it and pick it up if needed. Generally trying to make his self of use.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 (Launch Weapons) + Combat Pool: 6 vs TN 4:
1 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 10 11 = 8 Successes

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 9 (Body) + Combat Pool: 13 vs TN 2 for "Resisting 18D damage, immunity reduces to 2D with 8 successes incoming…":
1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 7 7 = 17 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Oof, fire elemental soaks the missile from the t-bird."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (Force) vs TN 8 for "8M Flamethrower against the t -bird":
1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (Force) vs TN 8 for "8M Flamethrower against the t-bird KP3/4":
1 2 2 3 5 9 10 25 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 (Control Pool) vs TN 4 for "Uh-oh!":
2 3 3 4 5 5 = 3 Successes
«Plot» Walker forgot t-bird's have like: so much armour… XD
«Plot» Walker says, "Plink."
«OOC» Swaggy says, "Yea. But the pilot will bitch about the coat, still."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 (Force) vs TN 12 for "7M Flamethrower, at the t-bird's engines, TN4+4(Confusion)+4(Called Shot)=12":
2 3 3 4 4 5 9 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 (Force) vs TN 12 for "7M Flamethrower, at the t-bird's engines, TN4+4(Confusion)+4(Called Shot)=12 KP2/4":
1 3 3 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 (Force) vs TN 12 for "7M Flamethrower, at the t-bird's engines, TN4+4(Confusion)+4(Called Shot)=12 KP4/4":
3 3 4 5 5 8 10 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Swing for the fences and miss. Judge is up!"

«OOC» Judge says, "It hasn't landed yet?"
«Plot» Walker says, "Not yet, just about to come over the clearing."
«OOC» Judge says, "I'll take one more jump swing at the air one, and then get ready to shove people on board as soon as it lands. Ushering everyone on board."

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Athletics vs TN 8:
1 1 3 5 7 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Judge (#13508) rolls Athletics vs TN 8 for "kp1":
2 2 3 4 5 = 0 Successes

As the roar of the t-bird grows to a deafening crescendo, a streak across the sky and burst of flame announce the arrival of heavier ordnance than the team brought with them. Despite being hit squarely however, the powerful elemental remains undamaged by the ensuing explosion.

The return fire from the elementals however, is just as ineffective against the t-bird's armoured chassis.

«Plot» Walker says, "I'm just going to say Stormy's next lightning bolt doesn't phase the elemental's either, the chances are vanishingly small."

Judge tries with all his might to jump up and give the air elemental a swat to reduce the number of opponents they leave in their passing, but finds nothing but.. air. Landing again, he moves a bit closer to the landing position and tries to time it so that the shamans will run over just as the vehicle's door gets open.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring + 3 (Power Focus) vs TN 7 for "Even more banishing…":
2 2 3 3 4 4 5 7 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 vs TN 12 for "Resist":
1 1 2 3 4 9 11 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Air 1 shrinks to F5. All over but for the crying now."

Despite landing more lightning bolts on the elemental attackers, Walker's spirit is too weak to challenge them. The shaman however, enjoys better luck, his eyes flaring with renewed power as he relentlessly crushes down on the air elemental, now reduced to almost half it's original size. The cloudy figure squirms and screeches as it is slowly stripped of power.

«Plot» Walker says, "Nolan is up!"
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " I'm going to prepare myself to move, get everyone ready, kinda plan out a route to where the T-bird will land- think of alternate routes. I don't think I have any combat action that I could do that would be of use and might even make things worse if I was to end up squissy and needing evac."
«Plot» Walker says, "That's fine. Effectively a delay with some movement and keeping your eyes
peeled."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, "Yup."

«Plot» Walker says, "The shamans finally get their act together and team up on Fire 2…"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 (Sorcery) + Spell Pool: 6 vs TN 8 (to no one) for "6D
Stunbolt":
1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 10 10 10 11 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 (Sorcery) + Spell Pool: 6 - 4 vs TN 8 (to no one) for
"6D Stunbolt KP1/4":
1 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (spell defense) vs TN 6 (to no one) for "Resist":
2 2 3 3 4 5 5 11 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (spell defense) - 1 vs TN 6 (to no one) for "Resist
KP4/4":
1 2 2 3 3 4 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 8 (Willpower) vs TN 6 (to no one) for "Willpower resist":
1 2 2 2 3 3 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 (willpower) vs TN 2 (to no one) for "2D drain":
1 3 4 5 7 10 = 5 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "The shamans between them manage to zap the big fire elemental. Swaggy's turn next."

The shamans, recognising how close rescue is, finally shake off their surprise at the unexpected attack on multiple fronts and go on the offensive. The variety of shamanic masks on display makes the clearing look like a festival for a moment, and at the end of it all the larger of the two elementals remaining in the sky gutters to a spark and winks out.

«Plot» Swaggy says, "Let's try something. I hope their pool dice are down. Can I catch two or am I in for a single target, please?"
«Plot» Walker says, "The remaining elementals are too far apart to catch together."
«Plot» Swaggy says, "Okay. :)"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 4 + 2 (totem) (to Walker) for "Manabolt 4D. 2+2=4D drain. +2 for sustaining the barrier. Smol fire bunny.":
1 1 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 8
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 4 + 2 (totem) - 1 (to Walker) for "Manabolt 4D. 2+2=4D drain. +2 for sustaining the barrier. Smol fire bunny. 5KP. Reroll.":
1 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 9
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "The 9 will do it."
Swaggy pages: Stand.
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Willpower vs TN 4 (to Walker) for "Drain time. TD will help.":
2 2 3 4 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Swaggy (#7565) rolls Willpower - 1 vs TN 4 (to Walker) for "Drain time. TD will help. 6KP. Reroll.":
2 2 3 = 0 Successes

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 (willpower) vs TN 4 (to Swaggy) for "Resist?":
1 2 3 4 5 5 5 = 4 Successes
«Plot-Page» (To: Swaggy) Walker says, "Takes S damage. Pose it!"

Mr. Swaggy ends his talks with the T-Bird crew. The Russian cups his masked earlobes with his gloved hands which shows the eerily glowing liquids in the tubes which run from the cuff of his sable coat to the shoulder of the bloody ork. He would smile, but instead grimaces beneath the obscuring plates of the armored ski mask at the impending soundgeddon, "It will get loud in a second!" Et voila. Enter the boom! The spirit's integrity sadly survives.

Mr. Swaggy flicks his left to the side and breathes in, then out in a slow, gradual hiss. He clucks his tongue for only Nolan to hear (and maybe the medicated ork), then punches his fist forward in an attempt to punch a hole into the remaining fire elemental. The invisible lance stabs through the creature and leaves a gaping hole in its "chest" area. It does not wink out, though.

The fixer stumbles and leans heavily on the ork's other shoulder. The next two seconds are spent on ragged breaths.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 (Heavy Weapons) + Combat Pool: 6 vs TN 4 for "Vermicide Autocannon… TN4+1(Target Moving)+1(Shooter Moving)-2(Smartlink)":
2 2 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 10 11 13 = 7 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Elemental has no CP remaining…"
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 9 (Body) vs TN 10 for "Resisting 10D damage (20-16+6)":
2 3 3 4 4 5 5 10 11 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Katyusha turns the elemental into festive confetti…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 vs TN 21 for "7M Flamethrower at that magey chap who hit me! Oh wait he's in a barrier… two of them…":
1 1 2 3 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Storm spirit will try in vain to bolt the ellies, not that it'll help, which leaves Walker banishing…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring vs TN 5 for "Finish him?":
2 2 4 4 4 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring vs TN 5 for "Finish him? KP11/11":
1 1 2 3 3 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Centering vs TN 5:
1 2 3 = 0 Successes

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 5 (Force) vs TN 12 for "Restist":
2 3 4 5 7 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Walker says, "Now a F4 elemental…"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 6 (Heavy Weapons) + Combat Pool: 2 vs TN 4 for "Finishing off the other one…":
1 1 1 1 2 4 4 5 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 7 (Body) + Combat Pool: 12 vs TN 12 for "Swiss cheese…":
1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 7 7 8 9 16 = 1 Success

«Plot» Walker says, "And Katyusha deletes the other one. I'm calling the combat there. No way Walker doesn't banish a F4. I'll roll it for the sake of form but do you guys want to pose piling into the t-bird?"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Conjuring + 3 (Power Focus) vs TN 4 for "We done now?":
1 2 2 4 5 5 5 11 19 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Centering vs TN 4:
2 5 7 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 4 vs TN 12 for "Resist":
2 2 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Yup, other ellie disappears."

The second time, the t-bird doesn't bother with missiles. As the aircraft lumbers into position overhead, the roar of its engines is joined by the heavy thud of an autocannon. The elemental, already reeling from the missile impact, is caught in a hail of bullets and ripped to pieces by the onslaught of automatic fire.

The remaining fire elemental tries in vain to lash out at the puny creature on the ground that put a new hole where its chest cavity used to be, only for the bolt of flame to bounce harmlessly off the protective barriers erected by the shamans and Swaggy. From the ground, there isn't even a change in temperature. Shortly afterwards, a second hail of autocannon fire dispatches the wounded entity back to the astral nether realm that spawned it.

Walker meanwhile, having gained some purchase on his dogged opponent, cries out triumphantly, his fingers seeming to flicker faster and faster as the elemental diminishes. With a final exultant cry, the shaman brings his hands together with a loud clap and the now shrunken creature simply explodes.

In the relative calm that follows, a heavily accented Russian voice issues from the landing t-bird.

"All aboard boys and girls. Next stop: the Sioux sector. Monsieur Swaggy, I will expect a touch up of the singed paint and a new missile."

Nolan Void keeps his head down to avoid stray lead, gusts of exploding Air elemental death howls, and flying debris from the rotor wash of the T-Bird as it comes down to 'not quite' land. It's only an inche or two off the ground, but the pilot has such tight control of the stick that even as the Shaman board the gear barely bobs off the inclined LZ. Truly an impressive feat, but then when you have all your senses plugged into a craft that you feel like it's your body it is somewhat expected. Nolan helps the white haired Ork get on, he is the most hurt and it takes more than just him to do it. The long and the short of it is that before Nolan knows it he is sitting on the ground in the troop area of the T-Bird, loaded up, ready to fly once everyone else gets aboard.

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls 10 (Sensor) vs TN 11 (to no one) for "Do they get pinged on the way out?":
1 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 7 = 0 Successes

Mr. Swaggy is not clear of mind. His head feels four times the size. He solely avoids hemmorhage by cheating nature and the rules of magic. The healing nanites should have run their course and the tubes are thereby retracted with a mental command the bald man almost forgets. The elf's shout echoes through the ear canals which should be bleeding and the fixer winces because. He shouts for more aching, "You hear the chere chauffeur. Your can trust her flying." He mutters under his ragged breath on the stumbling distance crossing ordeal to the evac's inviting entrance. «Naturelement, Kat.»

Walker, his eyes still glowing like windows into a golden furnace, grins madly as he crosses to the landing zone. "FINALLY!" he shouts irritably, voice distorted by unnatural bass harmonics and golden hair floating like some kind of halo, "I THOught THAT one would nevER DIE!"

He gives the group of shamans a smile with slightly too many teeth and stalks aboard alongside with Judge after taking a final glance around the clearing.

Once aboard, he walks over to Nolan and claps the man on the back, still grinning like a maniac. "You ever tried fighting spirits before omae? Seemed to take to it like a pro!"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Charisma vs TN 8 for "Does Walker manage to win the shamans over against all the odds?":
1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 = 0 Successes
«Plot» Walker says, "Nope, they just think he crazy."
«Auto-Judge[1729]» Walker (#12094) rolls Willpower vs TN 8 for "I canz bee polite nowz?":
1 3 4 5 7 7 = 0 Successes

Nolan Void shakes his head to Walkers question. He speaks loudly even though the sound of the 'choppa doesn't seem to be too much for him to handle, "I didn't think you could till I saw Judge punch one into October." He has no idea. Blissfully unaware is no way to go through life, but it did seem to serve him OK today. He thumbs a thumb to the Shaman, "These guys are alright. Real hometown types." He knows one thing, Anglo in the soul of the Ute is like a turd in the sole of a boot.

The shamans, apart from the elder and the wounded ork, the former lying the other out with nothing but force of will, stare in a mixture of awe and horror at Walker, and crowd into the far back of the transport away from whatever that mess is.

Walker seems to pay them no mind, and sits himself down cross-legged beside Nolan, head resting against the wall.

"That tracks!" he yells in response to the man, trying to make himself heard as the roar of the engines picks up again as the t-bird roars back into the sky and towards the border.

Nolan Void turns to one of the Shaman and nods yelling, "I'm Nolan, nice to meet you." oblivious smile on his face, though he is not really. He's just kinda friendly. "I live in Zocolo if you ever need anything."

«Plot-Page» (To: Walker) Nolan Void says, "Winning smile to The Shaman. :)"
«Plot» Walker says, "Make me an etiquette or Charisma test. Your call which Nolan."
«Plot» Nolan Void says, " Street ett 5 and Cha 5 are the same Ett 3 alone is less. I'd rather not
default. Suggestion roll plain ett?"
«Plot» Walker nods.
«Plot» Walker says, "TN 5"

«Auto-Judge[1729]» Nolan Void (#8570) rolls Etiquette vs TN 5 for "Letting the Shaman know where to find me, pass the info along, help them if needed in the Ute as Nolan lives there. No Whammys!":
2 3 11 = 1 Success
«Plot» Walker says, "Nolan nails it!"

"Hi!" the young man responds uncertainly, "I'm First-Snow-of-Winter! Thanks!" He seems shell-shocked by the experience, a nasty bruise welling on his temple while wide eyes dart around the cargo bay. Occasionally he stares at Judge or Walker for a moment before hurriedly looking away.

Mr. Swaggy reclines in the tank. He sticks a cancer stick to the armor covered lips, mutters a disheartened, "Cyka." The next move is to stuff the rumpled smoke into a coat pocket. «Take us away, please.» The masked Russian says as loudly as he can, "Sit and hang in tight, please. Try not to reopen any wounds in the process, please." Thunderbirds which t-bird is an abbreviation of, well and truly does the roaring beast justice.

Screaming through the pre-dawn sky, the t-bird makes it back over the border in minutes, making only a minor detour to avoid a couple of choppers seemingly dispatched to investigate its earlier radar contact.

Fifteen minutes later, the shamans have been bundled into a minibus at the LZ in the middle of Sioux countryside and whisked away to a safehouse.

In the conspicuous silence after the t-bird ride, Walker nods to the other men.

"Good work tonight folks. All of you. That lot wouldn't have lasted much longer if we hadn't arrived when we did. Couldn't have done it without you. We saved a little bit of the Ute's soul tonight."

«Plot» Walker says, "And SCENE!"

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