Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - IC

"Heh... Hoop..." Sha'hGrim said, enjoying the joke. Though her enjoyment was short lived. As soon as Spawn announced himself, Sha'hGrim's recent thoughts came swirling back to her head.

"Oh, that's no fun." Sha'hGrim said on the party line.
"I noticed some strange movement outside our perimeter too, though I couldn't make anything of it when I tried to take a closer look. Any of you have a Surveilance Drone you could send out that way?" Sha'hGrim asked, adding her thoughts to the mix. Sha'hGrim turned her back on the warehouse again, peering outside and trying to get another look at the disturbances she had seen. Sha'hGrim took a moment to really concentrate on what she was looking at, honing in on the spots she had seen before to attempt to make some sense of them. Once she'd located them, she flicked her fingers a bit, using the Vision Magnification enhancement on her goggles.

Perception Test: Perception 4 + Intuition 6 + Observe In Detail 3 + Vision Enhancement 3
- Add in Vision Magnification and Thermo if they're appropriate/helpful. Otherwise Sha'hGrim will have turned them off, getting the best image she could with her available technology.
8 Hits

As soon as she had a good look, Sha'hGrim flickered her fingers some more, dropping the image she had onto her Commlink and outputting it to the team.
"This is what I can see, though I'm not sure I have the best view on it. Let me know if any of you can make heads or tails of this." Sha'hGrim said, focusing on bring the information in, but not having had a chance to really let it sink in herself. For the most part, Sha'hGrim was not viewing the image she had captured at the same time as the rest of the team.

[EDIT]: Kesslan, send me the results of this perception test. I'll edit this post with the actual description - or if there's enough meat for another post, I'll add in some of Sha'hGrim's thoughts etc. as well.

"It is good to see you all alive and well." He meant it. "I think we should keep it that way." Darkon leaned against the wall, the staff firmly in hand. "I can take a look on the roof. I could drone on how I don't have a clue about these little mechanical bugs. But I think I should recognize them if they stand up there and wait for us." His grin under the transparent respirator became even more mischievously. "I will be right back." With that, his body slumped down against the wall when his astral figure left it.

Then he manifested, a floating image of himself, wearing some kind of dark robes, the shadow of his staff in hand. Slightly translucent like a cheap holograph. The ghostly image winked at Sha'hGrim and the others, then floated up through the ceiling. There he looked around carefully.

Perception test to see any threat, especially drones or sentinel turrets. Int5 +perception2 +observe in detail3+actively searching2 =12d (12d6. hits(5)=5)

After a good look into every corner, he floated downwards again, right into his body. His eyes opened and he straightened up. Playfully, he patted his pockets. "Good. My wallet is still there. Anyway. On the roof, I could see..." ((Whatever the GM had him see. ))

Alexia continues with a bit of a pep to her step as she walks towards the office room but making sure she dosnt make much sound if any at all as she moves twards teh door. getting closer she slows and cocks her head to the side as if listening. after a few moments she backpeddals several steps and levels her weapon at teh door. over teh link somethings in there and moving around. it doesn't sound right, what ever it is it's artificial and not biological. however it doesn't sound like augmentation. i'm not sure what were about to find in there.

"Perception Test Results":

"Huh. Well, we have company coming." Sha'hGrim said, looking at the scene she had just broadcast to the other commlinks on the Party Line. She was analyzing the same scene that the others would be able to start looking at now.
"I can't see them very well, but it looks to me like we have company coming. There are several vehicles coming our way." She said, noting that the plumes of ash behind the vehicles made it possible to guage their speed to some degree, but also potentially hid others coming in behind them.
"I suppose we had best get up there and see what this node has for us quickly; then get ready for some fun." Sha'hGrim said finally, having taken in the scene before her fully, and broadcast a few snapshots to the team.
Without really waiting for any kind of response, Sha'hGrim started walking forward toward the Office section of the building, following the tracks of whomever had set up their little treasure upstairs. She didn't bother to wait for anyone else, since she knew that Spawn would be close at her heals, as would Alexia - if not already ahead of her. Since she wasn't looking in the Astral at the moment, he could have slipped in without her noticing. Sha'hGrim kicked idly at the rats crawling about the floor, clearing the slower ones out of her way without a second thought. Her boots were well armoured, and she had no fear that they might attempt to bite her.
Arriving at the stairs, Sha'hGrim climbed quickly, but carefully, up the decrepit rusted old metal stairs, working carefully to keep herself on the still-sturdy looking steps. She didn't have any particular fear of a technological trap, at this point, as it was somewhat clear that they would be facing a Meat-Trap shortly. It would be far too much work to set a small land-mine for the group inside the office, when it could so easilly have been hidden beneath the ash at the door to the Warehouse. And with nothing out here to burn, there was no good reason to keep the potential landmine small either!

Sha'hGrim was in the second floor of the office in short order, reviewing whatever was there to see. And waiting for her erstwhile team to join her once again, hoping that the fun and games they were about to face would be less deadly than the last round had been.
Perception Rolls walking in to the second floor office:
Visual: 3 | Audio: 4

When Sha'hGrim opens the door, no trap is sprung, no explosions, no darts, no guns. There was however a desk and some chairs, a soyfood dispenser, rations, some magazines of ammunition, a few guns on a gun rack, a cot... and Spade. Or at least the appearance of Spade. Notably, unlike everything else this room actually appeared to be in good shape, and the door itself proofed to be armoured on the one side. An occasional flicker and slightly tinny sound quality gave the spectre away as a holographic representation. The man lets off a grin while a small spec flits by through the door to land on the wall behind him. "Good to see you after all this time." he says rather calmly. "Just had to be sure you weren't followed in you see. I'm on my way now with some friends to provide security while we all talk." he pauses a moment 'looking' to see if anyone else enters the room "Seems our last job got tied in with some insect spirits and some one's rather upset about the whole thing."

"...Followed in?" Sha'hGrim repeats his phrase with a level of incredulity that was perfectly expected.
"What kind of a..." Sha'hGrim started, before taking a deep breath and leaving off her exclamation. She took a deep breath, holding it in for the count of 3, at least. Then letting it out slowly. Chasky's lips pulled back, showing his teeth. Likely it was nothing more than an Empathetic Response to Sha'hGrim's startled annoyance. Curious, Sha'hGrim figured she would ask the spirit if it did that in response to her, or Chasky. - Well, I'm not entirely certain. In general, my kind are not directly aware of your kind's emotions. But for some reason, I seem to have that ability tucked away in the back of my mind at the moment. I suppose it could have to do with this body... The spirit replied, adding to Sha'hGrim's puzzlement, as she didn't really have the time to analyze that response in detail at the moment.
"You know what? I'm just going to wait..." She said, exasperated, but unsurprised.

"Guys; what do you make of this? Anyone as uncomfortable as I am?" She asked, speaking subvocally in to her Party-Line to the team. Sha'hGrim looked around for a seat, finally settling for leaning against the wall adjacent to the door. That way, anyone coming up the stairs would see her first. And she, and Chasky, would see them.

"The Relic." Spade responded with an almost cold tone this time. "You do remember the Relic we stole right? Some one, not sure who yet thinks it's tied into insect spirits some how and I bet you five nuyen you can guess based on that what kind of people we handed that relic over to and why they paid us so much for it." The holographic representation starts to pace the room slightly, the man a little fidgety. "If this wasn't important I wouldn't have bothered contacting any of you. It wasn't easy in some cases either..." he notes "But I didn't want you all to wind up like.." he pauses seeming to struggle "Like the others. Figured I owed you all at least a warning and what intel I'd managed to put together."

"Remember the relic? The thing haunts my dreams!" Sha'hGrim replied, looking back to the image of Spade.
"Five Nuyen? I think not. The odds are too obviously stacked in your favor... And, of course, by that I mean that the payout is far too low for the "effort" of filling in the blanks here..." Sha'hGrims smirked at her own joke. Then went on.
"But let's hold off on the discussion until you're in the room. I want to smell the air as you pass by, just to be sure it doesn't have any of that demon-water on it. And, more importantly, I want to see what kinds of toys your bringing to play with." She added, obviously referring to the fact that there were at least three large vehicles coming. At comfortable capacity, that represented 15 soldiers, or so, plus Spade. If comfort was unimportant... And there were a few more trucks... The numbers went up from there.
On the 'Link
"Hey; can one of you leave a Sticky-Cam out front, so we can keep an eye on Spade's masses as they come?" Sha'hGrim asked on the Party Line, noting that some of the team was still absent from the room. Sha'hGrim didn't ever actually carry those, though she frequently thought it would be a great "boy scout" addition to her pockets. It was another one of the things on the long, and growing, list of "nice to have's".

Darkon gets up, hearing Sha’hGrim over the comlink. “The cavalry arriving before the battle even started? How very suspicious,” the shaman states over the party channel. He climbes the stairs to the upper floor, entering the office. “Any idea who the upset one is?” The dry thump of his staff on the floor seems to emphasize the question. “It’s good to see you… in a way… Spade.” Too many old friends are gone from this world already, Darkon thinks sadly. He makes a hand gesture including the holographic image. “Is this an old hideout of you?” He looks around. “Well built and prepared.” With a hint of sterness he added: “Are you sure these cars are friends of yours? Are they friends of ours too or should we worry?”

Spade smirks at that response "Too low? How mercenary of you. In any case, I'll be there in another minute or so. I was wondering though if anyone remembered the name of that slitch we hit? I... gotta admit I didn't handle things well and my memory is all fragged up from the beetles and chems. Still, I think we'd best be sure he wasn't some how tied into all of this too." to Darkon's response Spade gives a brief nod "Just some runner friends of mine for added security. I still haven't figured out who sent me this message and it got me spooked. Any of you know anything about that either?" <<<Incomming attachment: Weird Message>>> (The attachment is the exact same message you all received on your links before Spade contacted you all.) "That drek scares the piss outta me because I don't have a fragging clue who sent it, why or what the frag their going on bout, unless their tied into the whole insect angle."

Greetings and salutations would have to wait for the moment as Spawn, alarmed at Sha'hGrim's announcement of 'company' prompted him to commence comm-silence until the anture of said companywas established. He was still wary of ambush and would act accordingly.

Slipping on his gecko-tape gear, Spawn quickly climbed up the wall to the ceiling as quietly as possible.
Moving Silently 3 hits
Climbing: 9 hits!
(Un-fraggin-believable!)
(Kesslan, I'm not sure how far that gets me. My goal is to position Spawn above the stairs so he can observe whoever goes up to the second-floor hallway and intercept if need be.)

Listening to the conversation as he climbed, Spawn heard Sha'hGrim's request for someone to keep an eye out.
"Getting into position now," he said, momentarily breaking silence. He didn't like it but he detected the note of unease in her voice so he wanted to ease her mind.
Now if only someone would ease his. He was glad he'd been cautious (paranoid) enough to come prepared, but being right was no bonus if this turned into a firefight.

Kesslan wrote:

"If this wasn't important I wouldn't have bothered contacting any of you. It wasn't easy in some cases either..." he notes "But I didn't want you all to wind up like.." he pauses seeming to struggle "Like the others. Figured I owed you all at least a warning and what intel I'd managed to put together."

Darkon nods. “Aye.” His face shows deep sadness for a moment. “Morrigan was taken away a few months ago too. I’m looking after her daughter. Remember Brighid?”

“And here I thought it was you sending it.” He sounded a bit alarmed there. “That relic. Yes, I remember. Took me a week of ritual cleansing to get rid of that buzzing in my ear.” He shuddered. “More important is, who sent these messages? I got the very same. And I assume you others did too.

So we’re up against either bug haters or bug lovers? Just great, he thinks. And I’m quite glad I brought along a spirit of my own. Darkon felt into the mana around him and sensed the spirit surrounding him like a wisp of fragrance.

"Sorry to hear that Omae." Spade responds to Darkon "Nice of you to look after her though, lot of others in the shadows wouldn't ever bother. How old is she now anyway? As to the message, no. That wasn't me. I'd like to know who it was though."

“You know me. I always had a big heart. Brighid is not the only girl in my home at the moment. She is fourteen now. And quite stubborn. Like her mother.” His smile tells of melancholy and nostalgia. “A typical teenager. I also suspect she has the gift.” That last one was addressed at Sha’hGrim.
“But it has not surfaced yet. At least not evidently. But there is this… feeling. Call it a hunch.” Darkon turns around to look out the door, checking habitually, before turning back at him. “I would like to know who sent this message. I really do not like being toyed with. Alas, this is a task for the techheads among us. Not my resort.”

"Wow Omae, you really have gone soft. You at least sending em to school or having em tutored? Or you gonna have em follow you down this kinda line?" Spade asks "Wouldn't be the first time these days, ya hear bout whole families of runners now. Still, couldn't hurt to get em some proper schooling, it's what I'd have done, well.. with some proper precautions too."

This gets Darkon to laugh. “I always have been soft. I’m basically a pacifist, don’t you remember when I stopped that guy from shooting the guard? What was his name again? Trent? Torres? Tarantino? I know it was something with T.”
Despite the joyful small talk, Darkon had not forgotten about the cars approaching. But he continued: “They do get education. From matrix subscriptions, tutoring, real books, and from myself of course. It’s not that I’m stupid or anything. And I am said to be a good teacher.” Darkon leaned onto his staff.
“If they decide to run the shadows, I will do my best to give them the abilities to do so. Robyn already wanted to accompany me on this little trip. But for now it is too dangerous for her. Brighid on the other hand is more interested in chatting with friends than in running the shadows.” He shrugged. “Anyway. How have you been? Except from becoming a bunch of photons?” Suddenly he clicked his fingers. "Quentin. That was his name. I knew it was something with T."

"I've been better." Spade responds softly "Like I mentioned earlier didn't cope with things so well, got into beetles and drugs but friend of mine dragged me back out while back." The apparition of Spade makes a motion as if to check his watch. "You should probably hear us pulling up shortly. Sorry about the location but this safe house was the only place I could think of where we wouldn't be bothered."

"Yeah, well, that was a rough run. It was the hardest I've even heard of, let alone been a part of. The days since then have been almost cake in comparison, which is good, 'cause I wouldn't take too well if someone Geeked Chasky or Jenny. As for the Beetles, I'd heard about that. And I can't say I blame you; if it weren't for Chasky and Jenny, I likely would have been down that path myself. They kept me above water. Though, for a while there, it felt like I was breathing through a straw..." Sha'hGrim responds, looking around suspiciously. It wasn't that she didn't trust anyone; if there were any metas out there that she could trust, these would be the ones; it was just that old-seated, well learned 'Runner's Paranoia.
On the 'Link
"Can you verify? Is the cavalcade pulling up now? How many are there?" Sha'hGrim asked the party-line. She hadn't bothered to invite Spade in to the line yet, as that was neither her decision, nor did she trust him yet. She wanted to look at him, and smell him. She wanted to be completely sure that he was clean and healthy; free of those deep-mind drugs. And then, and only then, would she be willing to bring him in to the fold. You never knew what kinds of things an Addict would do to get their hits.

Alexia grimaced after hearing about the approach of the vehicles. she took a second to send a couple of commands to the drones she brought along, One of the side doors of her bus opened and 2 MCT- Nissan Roto Drones flew out and started paroling around the area at the front of the building. She made sure that she told them to stay high enough to escape most observations from close by but low enough to be able to lay down fire in the area if necessary.

after she switched her link to show the camera feed from the drones she minimized it to only take up a small portion of her AR display. then walked in to the room right behind Sha. She remained quiet during the whole transactions of words, planning and looking around to find the best defensible position, It would be better to be able to leave but seeing as there wasn't enough time to get away things could get dicey. Drone Perception (13d6.hits(5)=3)

finaly loosing patience with the banter which was a note to people who knew her how stressed she felt about the current situation.
spade, why the FRAG! would you bring others with you? No don't answer. i don't want to hear it, it had better be you pulling up and not be trying to set us up or i swear to you you will live to regret it. during her whole exchange to spade, she never raised her voice but it lost its normal playful edge, which signified her displeasure with there predicament. Past experiences with her would also go to say that her mind was busy with planning for as many safeguards as possible. After all her tenacious attention to detail and setting up alternate means of escape was one of the main reasons all of them managed to escape biting the dust on there last run together. over the teams connection my drones are up and patrolling around the front

Climbing Extended Test (7 vertical meters so far)
Scaling 6 + Strength 3 + Balance Receptor 1 + Assisted (Gecko) 2 - Sheer Surface 4
8d6.hits(5) → [4,4,6,4,1,5,3,6] = (3)
8d6.hits(5) → [6,6,4,1,5,5,6,5] = (6)

Ok, here starts the climb across the ceiling. I checked the book and the only modifier I could find for traversing a ceiling was the Threshold is meters x2.
8d6.hits(5) → [1,2,2,1,5,1,3,4] = (1)
8d6.hits(5) → [1,5,3,1,1,1,1,6] = (2) glitch
8d6.hits(5) → [1,1,5,1,3,6,3,6] = (3)
8d6.hits(5) → [6,4,1,2,2,4,6,4] = (2)
8d6.hits(5) → [4,1,5,2,6,3,4,1] = (2)
8d6.hits(5) → [5,6,6,1,1,5,4,1] = (4)
8d6.hits(5) → [1,2,6,5,3,5,3,5] = (4)
8d6.hits(5) → [5,1,6,4,6,4,5,2] = (4)

My roll on Invisible Castle was for 10 rolls since I didn't know how many it would take.

If I flubbed it again let me know or modify as you need.


Having taken some time - and too much concentration for responding to either Sha'hGrim, Darkon or Lexi - Spawn finally reached a good vantage point on the ceiling above the stairs where he could see the bay door entrance, the warehouse floor and the stairs leading to the office where three of his teammates waited for Spade's arrival.

'Could have done that an easier way,' he thought to himself sardonically, then, 'Spiderman, eat your heart out.'

He set himself in a way that would afford the best angle of attack should the need arise; foot- and kneepads planted firmly on the wall, one hand gripping the ceiling for stability, and the other hand gripping his pistol at the ready.

(Kesslan, if a roll is needed here, say the word.)

“Oh yes, beetles. I guess it’s been a hard days night back then. I am glad you are over it now.” He nods at Alexia when she comes in, glad to see her again. It had been too long. “By the way, it might be a good idea to step out of the car first and alone. Not that I don’t trust you, but we all have survived by being a little paranoid.” Darkon shrugs apologetic at the holograph. “I’m sure you understand.”

On the 'Link
"I completely agree! Though, my focus at the moment is mostly on whether he's drugged or not. Trust me! I'll be burning a hole in his aura with my Assensing when he gets in here! If there's even a hint of Beetles on his Astral Breath, I'm going to frag him on the spot! I don't trust druggies." Sha'hGrim added to Lexi's rant, though keeping it to the non-public channels for the time being. Sha'hGrim was definitely less-than-impressed, as was Alexia obviously, with
Back off the 'Link
"Yeah, I can echo that. We're all just a little paranoid; and rightly so, considering our line of work." Sha'hGrim says, nodding ascent to Darkon.

"Well, I can at least understand that." Spade responds, and by now the sound of engines can be heard. "But you shouldn't worry so much, this whole meeting should be over rather shortly."

Outside, four older model GMC MPUV's shift into single file before suddenly accelerating through into the only open doorway. As they do so a hidden top hatch slide back while armoured turrets pop up, clearly armed with LMGs that start tracking almost immediately towards the lone office section of the building. The vehicles haven't even completely screeched to a halt before doors on the sides of the GMCs pop open and three shadowy figures disembark from each. All of this clearly visible to Alexia's drones, and the others still out in the main warehouse section. For those inside, one couldn't miss the sound of the racing engines, followed by the crashing crunch sound of the few stacks of pallets, garbage cans and what little other debris there had been about being slammed aside or simply run straight over.

"As much as I've enjoyed our talk, I regret to inform you Ares has decided your all too much of a risk." the figure of Spade grins "Good bye."

Those words, are suddenly punctuated with the unmistakable sound of gunfire as the machinegun turrets open up and start pouring streams of fire into the whole office section of the warehouse. The walls hold in parts, but no one, anywhere inside the office section can help but notice all the holes alarmingly starting to turn the inside walls into Swiss cheese.

(OOC: Jagger, you are in place for a surprise attack should you so choose. Once Jagger reacts, everyone may roll initiative as normal)
(GM Note: The 'shadowy figures' are wearing chameleon suits. As a result visual tests to properly locate them is at -4. The MPUVs on the other hand are not concealed in any way.)

'I fraggin hate it when I'm fraggin right!' Spawn thought as the approaching vehicles suddenly rushed forward into the warehouse and the ambush began.
He wanted to shout to the ones in the office to take cover, but he knew they'd have already heard the unmistakable sounds of betrayal. Besides, his best tactic now was to take advantage of his concealment and try to surprise their attackers; possibly confusing them and disrupting their coordinated efforts.

Knowing his weapon would be useless against the combined firepower being trained on the office area, Spawn started to reholster it. Then he thought of an idea that might give him an even better edge than just surprise.
From his high perch, he dropped the Fubuki (Distraction.) Pausing only long enough for the weapon to get close to the warehouse floor, Spawn tensed his body in preparation for a Great Leap.
6 hits
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3285716/

Launching himself at the nearest gun-wielding goon, Spawn let out a warwhoop he hoped would startle his prey even more and used the Kick Attack maneuver. Though the greater Reach might not prove as advantageous while coming down like a one-hundred-ninety pound guided missile, the concentrated power of his weight plus the added velocity of his forceful leap should increase any damage he might inflict.
Surprise Attack=2 hits
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3285730/
(argh!)

(DV=2S, plus whatever your kind-hearted GMness wishes to add)

While Jagger's jump isn't 100% on target, the pure velocity he picked up during his fall is what ultimately does the job. Jagger finds himself with his foot landing squarely on a heavily armoured shoulder of one of the attackers as they are exiting the vehicles. Momentum carries the figure backwards against the armoured jeep, the figure's head almost gonging audibly off of the lip of the vehicle's roof. What was even more audible, even over the sudden sounds of gunfire, at least to Jagger's ears, was the crunch of breaking bone.

Unfortunately his momentum continued carrying him forward towards that same edge of the vehicle, threatening to trip him up, or worse still possible cause him to fall flat faced directly in front of the firing machine gun (Jagger, please make a gymnastics test with a threshold of 3 to avoid injury due to the uneven nature of the surface you are landing on.)



Blue dot is Jagger, Orange dot is the guy he just killed, red dots are approximate locations of other bad guys.

Initiative:
Gala's Pet: 29 (0/2 Passes)
Gala: 22 (0/3 Passes)
Faust Fire Spirit: 23 (0/2 Passes) (2/3 Services)
???: 21 (0/5 Passes)
???: 21 (0/4 Passes)
Faust Man Spirit: 21 (0/2 Passes) (2/3 services)
Faust Water Spirit: 21 (0/2 Passes) (2/3 services)
Faust Earth Spirit: 21 (0/2 Passes) (2/3 services)
Tenaka: 19 (0/3 Passes)
Starcraft: 18 (0/4 Passes)
Faust Air Spirit: 18 (0/ Passes) (2/3 services)
Darkon: 13 (0/1 Pass)
Darkon Spirit: - (0/2 Passes) (1/3 services)
???: 13 (0/3 Passes)
???: 13 (0/3 Passes)
Jagger: 11 (0/3 Passes)
Faust: 11 (0/1 Pass)