The Audition: Hackers

Pete lashes out again at Skuld, hurling another stream of deadly black IC.
>>Black Hammer running.
>>This had better work. Getting hit by a Technomancer would suck, and she won't make the mistake of hitting me with Black Hammer twice.
>>YOU WILL DIE SCREA-MING
>>P.D.

(OOC: Black Hammer at Skuld. 5 cybercombat + 5 program rating = 10. 2 hits.)

Defense roll vs. PD

Response 7 + Firewall 5 - 2 Wounded + 2 Hot Sim = 12 = 2 hits

Tie. Defender's Favor.

Skuld feels the second attack as its malignant code batters against her defenses. Ready for it this time, she manages to keep it behind her firewall... but she was hurt badly and couldn't afford to take any more punishment.

(OOC: It's Ratatosk's action, unless it has to use its action to maintain the Electron Storm. Also, try to include a note saying whose turn is next - that'll help keep things moving!)

Ratatosk had sunk it's buck-teeth into the green bird of prey icon. From within it's mouth sparks flew, static signals that jammed up Digit's code. But Digit out of the fight yet. With great effort, his mind straining at the task, he managed to break free of the sprite's influence. Ratatosk flew off his back. The little squirrel's monitor-like eyes flashed with streams of code, trying to divine how to regain the upper hand against its opponent.

(OOC: Unless you say different, Paradox, I'm going to have Ratatosk loose it's action due to the crit glitch on it's opposed roll earlier. Also, I'll assume her crit glitch on the fade resistance test earlier doubled the impact of the damage. That would mean she took 2S.
I'll kill two birds with one stone and go back to Skuld now, at the top of the next IP.)

Skuld flung her hammer at the infuriating bear before her. She had not intended to use it, were she to be honest. The audition's master had made it clear that he preferred non-lethal methods. Yet she had brought it along in hopes of cowing the competition. To find herself on the receiving end of the program had infuriated her, and all caution against slaying her opponents fled. She wished only to taste blood, and to repay the pain she felt pounding against her temples tenfold!

Attack: Black Hammer vs. PD

Cybercombat 3 + BlackHammer CF 5 + 1 threading - 2 wounded + 2 Hot Sim = 9 = 3 hits

Resisting fade from Threading:

Willpower 5 + Resonance 5 - 2 wounded = 8 = 3 hits

Results: No damage... to her or her opponent.

The hammer flew true, the nimbus of lightning around it crackling as it impacted against the little bear, the target of her ire. It hit... and nothing happened. The bear avatar didn't show any signs that the attack had effected it, and Skuld's eyes widened in shock. "Loke forgiftet øyne! What is it!?" Fear ripped through the girl. She didn't know what it was that she faced. Had it defeated the hammer in some way that she couldn't understand? Or... was there nothing for the hammer to work upon?

Skuld raised her voice, issuing a new command to her sprite. "Ratatosk, glem den ene foran deg. Drep den lille bjørnen!"

(OOC: Digit's sprites turn now, I think.)

(OOC: Oh, wait, you need the turn to thread the hammer, don't you? Oops...guess that makes my posts look a bit weird, what with me defending against a black hammer that you hadn't thrown yet. )

Ping withheld its action since the other sprites attack did not continue as far as ping was concerned it was no threat it awaited it next orders.
(Sprite on standby)

Digit was hurting bad. The attack had been more painful then anything ivy ever threw at him. He thought about that for a nanosecond or two. She was more then capable but why did she not. No matter he would take up her coddling with later for now he had to pull what the old TV show would call evasive maneuvers. He activated the Stealth (CF) and told Ping to Assist him. The sprite would lend its rating to his stealth complex form. And anyone looking would see the bird of prey disappear in a shimmer.

(Ooc: Paradox if I can ill move away and start the download of the key now, but if Iv taken to many actions already ill just move away. Ill be back on lata guys V is about to start soon oh and my stealth is like 8 now i think if i read that right lol)

Ratatosk jumped, launching itself at the bear in its yellow shirt. The little sprite's eyes shown with purpose, and the promise of the fulfillment of its tasks. With the end of the one before it, it would be free to return to the ether from which it had been wrought. Static crackled around its teeth as it opened it's mouth, prepared to sink them into digital flesh.

Attack: Electron Storm vs. PD

Cybercombat 5 + Attack 5 - 1 wounded = 9 = 2 hits

(OOC: You're up again, PD)

Pete felt the crackling of the Black Hammer die down around him. A stroke of luck. He wouldn't get that lucky again.
Through the residual haze of the Black Hammer, he almost does not see the sprite charge him. Thanks more to luck than any skill on P.D.'s part, it just sails by, its teeth coming within pixels of biting down on his arm.
>>Damage Assessment: None. Control given to sub-personality: Dalek.
>>What?! Nononononono, NO! Don't do that, you idiot!
>>Control Transferred.
>>No! There's no need for anyone to die here, dammit!
>>YOU'RE MERCY IS YOUR GREATEST WEAK-NESS! DA-LEK HAS NO SUCH WEAK-NESS! DA-LEK HAS NO CONCEPT OF COMPASSION!
>>P.D
Another black hammer forms in the koala's hand. Then he throws it, sending the black IC hurtling at Skuld's hooded form.

(OOC: Matrix Defense: Response + Firewall = 5+5 = 10, 1 hit
Edge to reroll misses, 1 hits
Total Hits: 2
Tie, defender's favor.
Attack Skuld with Black Hammer Program: Cybercombat + Program Rating = 5+5 = 10, 5 hits.)

Defense Roll:

Reaction 7 + Firewall 5 + 2 hot sim - 2 wounded 2 edge = 6 hits + no hits

(OOC: Forgot the wound modifiers on the roll itself, but also the hot sim bonus, so I've gone ahead and left the roll, since it didn't change the number of actual dice rolled.)

Skuld's face was a mask of rage. But rage was good. Rage gave her focus, let her fight because of the pain, not through it. She embraced it, and it gave her strength, made her lust for vengeance and blood. It gave her the will to avoid the bear's attack... and to give it back.

She dropped her threading, since her own black ice was obviously less than effective at this moment. Raising her athame up, she slashed at the bear, the distance between them essentially meaningless. The action was just the way the mutual hallucination of VR chose to represent her attack.

Complex action: Attack P.D.

Cybercombat 3 + Attack 5 + 2 hot sim - 2 wounded = 8 = 1 hit


(OOC: That should bring us into round 2, unless Ghost wants to take his delayed action with his sprite, right? Do we keep the same initiative score for the next round? If so, I'll post that up just as soon as I hear.)

Dalek hates. That is all Pete made him to do: to hate everything. That was what made it strong. That is what made it win.

They avoid another counterattack, the attack program balked by the Firewall. If Pete had teeth, he would be gritting them. He had no control and he could not afford to wrestle it back. He could only watch as Dalek fought.
He really hoped he was right about the hate thing.

(OOC: 5 System + 5 Firewall = 10, 3 hits.)

(OOC: New combat round, new initiative rolls. Also, the IC is now active as well.)

VR initiative: 12 + 5 hits = 17
Initiative Passes: 4

VR Matrix Initiative 9 dice = 2 hits here we go again lol 3 passes

(OOC: Initiative 10 dice = critical glitch. Great. What happens if you critical glitch an initiative roll?)

Initiative for Ratatosk Response 5 + Rating 5 - 1 wounded = 9 = 3 hits = 12

(OOC: Also, forgot to put wound penalty on Skuld's init. Here's corrected:)

Response 12 - 2 wounded = 10 + 6 hits = 16

I too am guilty of not putting in wounds in my initiative ill re-roll.

Pete's critical glitch means he goes last in each pass and only gets two actions. I've also just realized that an A.I.'s System and Firewall attributes are actually independent of Response, so my dice pools will be higher next time.

VR Matrix Initiative 9 dice -2 wound 7 dice = 4 hits

Ping is assisting a CF so he is not going to get a roll i assume.

Initiative Passes: 3
Score: 9 + 9d6.hits(5) => 11

Ghostmaker: Roll for Ping - it still gets actions.

Skuld: 16/4
Digit: 13/3
Ratatosk: 12/3
Sentinel IC: 11/3
Pete: 10/2

IP 1
Skuld
Digit
Ratatosk
IC


IP 2
Skuld
Digit
Ratatosk
IC
Pete

IP 3
Skuld
Digit
Ratatosk
IC
Pete


IP 4
Skuld

(Skuld, you're up!)

"Fjandinn það..! This fight is too even for my tastes." Skuld broadcasts her message to the node. "This one fights to kill! Aid me, and we'll both live!" She turned her attention back to the matter at hand. If the other hacker joined her, fine. If not...

Complex action: Attack P.D.

Cybercombat 3 + Attack 5 + 2 hot sim - 2 wounded = 8 = 4 hits

She struck out with her athame again, sending a prayer to the gods to aid her strike...

Gotcha.
>>Dalek aspect repressed. Gestalt Control has been regained by Pete.
>>Gotcha!
>>YOU FOOL! YOU WILL DOOM US ALL!
>>P.D.
The yellow-shirted bear flickers as Pete finally wrestles control back, just in time to harden his firewall against another attack. He is lucky; he just manages to fend it off unhurt.
Pete hears the broadcast. He laughs, his taunting voice resounding its reply through the whole node:
>>If you destroy this icon, I will die. Can you truly blame me for trying to keep the game fair? And it is not too late for you to simply back down, after all.
>>P.D.

(OOC: 5 Response + 5 Firewall = 10, 4 hits.)

(OOC: sorry rolling)

Pings initiative: Pings initiative pilot 5 response 7 = 12 dice = 5hits = 17

Withholding action until orders given, message me when its my go please ill stay logged in for a while. this is so much fun.

Vindictive: Threshold 2

Willpower 5 + Composure 5 – 2 Wounded = 8 = 3 hits

Skuld's lips curl back, baring her teeth. This one, this little bear, dette lille jævla bjørn , had the temerity to plead innocence? She could feel the damage he had caused her... not just in the matrix, but to her very body! She hurt, and she could scarcely contain the rage beating against the back of her eyes!
She raised her athame, readying her strike... and stopped. “If I destroy his icon, he dies? Not even a technomancer suffers death simply from de-rezzing... Could it be possible...?” Skuld pulls the knife in close to herself, held in a guard position.
She looked over to where Ratatosk was moving in on the bear. Snarling, she barks a command. “Ratatosk, you're tasks are finished! You are free!” The squirrel stops, its action arrested in midair, where it hangs, looking with its vidscreen eyes at its master. After a moment, with a faint, echoing chitter, it fades from view.

Complex Action: Full Defense