Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - IC

"I see nothing obvious.." The Spirit reported, continuing forward albeit at a slower pace.
"I'm headed down the stairs." It said, starting down the stairs cautiously. The Spirit didn't quite know what to make of this situation, but expected there would be precious little time to react fully.
"I am moving slowly." It updated Sha'hGrim again. Clearly the Spirit recognized that discretion is.often the better part of valour. Despite how un-shadowrunner that sentiment may be.

Actions:
Free: Perceive (not in detail)
Simple/Complex: held.

something about the whole situation sent Alexia on edge, they blew holes into Sha's house but whomever was behind it wasn't showing themselves. well two could play at that game, best to wait for the attackers to make their first move. nothing else would be helpfull now.
they know we're in this house. if i tried to get out because of what they might be tossing in i run right into the fatal funnel that was created. and i doubt my healing would be fast enough for what they might be able to dish out.

Staying put was the obvious choice but in the situation they were in the obvious choice was the safest at the moment unless...

Perception(12d6.hits(5)=3)
looking around quickly for any sign of movement heading to the doorway she was facing then she quickly moved to the closes window
quietly whispering to Sha Im going to drop out the window, watch my back. maybe i can get them off guard.
She prepared to jump out the window and move around quietly to the side of the house where the hole was blasted

Current Damage Track:
0 Stun | 3 Physical (-1)
Modifiers:
1 Sustained Spell (-2) | Physical Damage (-1) | Total: -3 Modifier
Stealth Threshhold: 2

Sha'hGrim stopped dead in her tracks. - Split up? I don't think that's such a good idea... She thought, turning her head to argue. Her mouth was open, and the look on her face (if you could see it) would have shown concern. But her attention was pulled back to the situation for just long enough to forget that Alexia was about to do something dangerous. - I wonder if the Drone coming to check out the fire will provide a useful distraction? And If I'm there to take advantage... She thought, realizing that the explosion would definitely trigger the clean-up drone, and might actually be enough to pre-emptively call the Fire Department. - This could work for us... She thought.
"I'm coming." She sent to the Spirit, resuming her forward motion toward the staircase. She walked several steps, exiting the door before she again realized that Alexia was putting herself in danger. [color=green]- Oh! Drek! Alexia...![/b]
[b]"Darkon, Sid. Watch Alexia's back."[/i] She hissed over her shoulder as she heard the muted sound of the Window being drawn open. She was the furthest forward at this point, already best in position to back up the Spirit. And Darkon was already in better position to watch Alexia's back. - I do feel bad though... She thought to herself, as Alexia had specifically asked Sha'hGrim for cover. Even though Darkon was clearly the best option at the moment. - Freakin' focus... She thought to herself, making a further mental note to purchase and bond another Sustaining Focus, or two, so that she didn't have to concentrate so hard on the sustained spells during battles.
By the time Sha'hGrim got to the top of the stairs, she no longer had any idea where Jenny was, and she wasn't about to switch to Astral to find out. - The Spirit can see Astral; it's dual natured. That's better than I can do at the moment anyway. She told herself, carefully taking the first step. Sha'hGrim was as focused as she could be on being silent. That is, with whatever leftover concentration she had.

Sha'hGrim's Infiltration:
Infiltration 2 + Agility 4 - Wound 1 - Sustained Spell 2 = 3d6
Infiltration: 2 Hits

Actions
Simple: Infiltration: 2 Hits
Simple: Move
Free: Speak

With the others already on the move, Sid wasn't about to sit idle. He checked his weapon before pulling up his AR interface and double checking the network status to ensure it was still secure. Hopefully with him bearing overwatch on this, even though it was bogging down his network connection speed, he'd be warned ahead of time of anyone trying to compromise the group's network. For an added bonus he reached into a pouch to pull out a small box containing his modified Flyspy drone and ordered it to launch. With the drone helping with seeking out contacts the group would at least have an extra set of eyes through the drone's improved sensor array. And while it lacked any autosofts at the moment, it was small enough and equipped with ruthenium polymers to help make an already difficult to spot drone, almost impossible.

Darkon stood there. While Sha'hGrim went down the stairs with her cat, Alexia went out through the window on the other side. Sha'hGrim at least had Jenny. He turned to look out the window, following Alexia with his gaze, looking out for any enemies hiding in the bushes. Still he was prepared to redirect any spell aimed for Sid or Alexia. Sha'hGrim unfortunately, has left his line of sight and he could no longer protect her.

Perception roll: Int5+ Perception2 -situational modifier2=5d (5d6. hits(5)=0) (ouch)

Nothing but landscape... come out, come out, wherever you are. The shaman was ready to compress mana into a spiky ball that would tear apart his enemies. That is, if he found any.

((Free action, declare counterspelling to protect Sid and Alexia. Complex action, hold until Enemies are visible.]]

A few blocks of shattered masonry fell to the ground from the hole blasted in the wall while small particles slowly settled down. The fires in the living room seemed to be more or less contained, most of the debris on fire sat in a blast zone that had burned up everything else, or at least gotten sufficiently scorched as to actually impede the spread of the fire. The house hold drone dispatched to check things out zipped along and promptly started spraying fire retardant foam from a tiny canister. It wouldn't help in a large fire, but it was more than enough to start dealing with the small fires or at least contain the situation for a little while, which was all they were actually designed to do. So far, try as they might the defenders could not see any sign of attackers, nor did they seem to make any sound. It was possible the breach was a diversion, or perhaps something else entirely as this was certainly and quickly not turning into your typical attack.

(Gala, if you have Jenny move into the Living room, please be sure to provide a perception check be it free or observe in detail action)

Locations:
Top of stairs: Gala
Bedroom: Darkon
Ouside, side wall: Alexia
Kitchen: Jenny
Guest Bedroom doorway: Sid
Living Room: Home Fire response drone

Time Elapsed: 3 seconds
Combat Turn: 2

Initiative: (1st Pass)
Jenny: 32 (0/4 Passes)
???: 28 (?/? Passes)
Alexia: 23 (0/4 Passes)
Shah'grim: 19 (0/4 Passes)
Sid (NPC): 16 (0/3 Passes)
Darkon: 14 (0/1 Pass)
Household Drone (0/3 Passes)

"This Shadow-thing; can I do that myself?" The words floated in to Sha'hGrim's mind on the thought-wavelength she was starting to attribute to "Jenny". - I gotta say, this is nice. Sha'hGrim thought to herself.
"No sweety. That's the Spirit's power - I bring them around to make you more dangerous, and less vulnerable." Sha'hGrim replied, continuing to slowly work her way down the stairs. - And because I couldn't bear to lose you... Sha'hGrim didn't add, hoping that Jenny already knew. Sha'hGrim wasn't terribly good at talking about her feelings; even with the Cats.
"The Cat is speaking with you now. This is good." The Spirit noted; the communication carried with it a palpable feeling of approval, and a mingled, partially hidden feeling of satisfaction. It was almost as if the Spirit could further trust Sha'hGrim because the Cat did. Like, her relationship with the Cat was further evidence that her magical relationships were mutually beneficial. Sha'hGrim had worked hard to foster that behaviour in herself, knowing that there were plenty of examples of Magicians who had been willing to "use" the magic they had toward their own short-sighted ends. Building the relationship, however, usually worked out better in the long run. And as an Elf, Sha'hGrim did need to concern herself with the long-run - even though she was also a Shadowrunner...
"I will look to you for guidance on how to further build this relationship. Later." Sha'hGrim responded to the Spirit. She could tell from it's mind-voice that it was focused on the task at hand, and that it's observation was nothing more than that. Her response was in-kind.

"This situation is confusing." The Spirit reported in a more "business-like" mind-voice. It was more curt, and to-the-point. It was clearly reporting, letting Sha'hGrim know that it was on-edge, and that she should be too. Not like a huge hole in the wall of her living room was insufficient indication...
[b]"I am going to look around carefully before proceeding."[/color] It stated, pausing as it entered the Living Room. Sha'hGrim took that as the perfect oportunity to peer at the room through Jenny's eyes.

Actions:
Simple: Spirit Perception Check, in detail, Astral: 4 Hits
Free: Communicate
Simple: Held

Sha'hGrim's Perception:
- Actually... I'm not quite sure how this works, and need to do some detailed reading on this... Not sure if I should use my own Perception+Intuition; or if, like using a Drone, I should use my Perception, but Jenny's Intuition; or if there's some other way to apply it. I will post my thoughts on OOC once I have a better idea of how this works.

The spirit posessing Jenny knew there was something off about what it saw in the room but for what ever reason it couldn't quite place it. Something was there, flickering but.. where? In the room certainly but... THere! Out of the corner of the eye it was there! Life, large and glaring as any aura in an otherwise lifeless room could be!

And then suddenly the thing, the man was upon it!

GM Note: Ok so the rules are really not at all setup for handling infiltration vs astral sight when both can see/interact with astral, much less anything else. Technically you could be naked in the middle of a room and with a high enough infiltration some one could completely miss you going by the perception rules but that's just silly. That said it's entirely possible that sneaking around the edges of a room one could briefly stay out of sight. In this case the infiltrator, even with a retarded penalty still got 1 more success than the perception hit. As a result I'm going to resolve this as a surprise attack scenario that allows Jenny/Spirit to act in response to it. As such using the suprise rolls I'm going to rule that she gets to have the +3 alerted bonus to her initiative roll

Responding to the Spirit's Perception only, the eyes, followed by the head, of the Cat snapped sideways, looking at... something.
"What is it? Do you see something there? Sha'hGrim asked Jenny. The response, however, was not one she would expect.

*GROWL*

Shocked, Sha'hGrim noted that the Spirit and Jenny had responded in precisely the same fashion. - At least I know they're acting in unison... She thought to herself while whatever was happening began to resolve before Jenny's eyes; through which Sha'hGrim was peering. She tried to concentrate harder, but could only see the room, the flickering flames, and the dancing shadows. - Wait... is that...? She thought as one of the dancing shadows started moving in a much more metahuman-like way. Sha'hGrim let her vision snap back, severing the Shared Connection for the moment to concentrate on getting to Jenny as quickly as possible. Though, this particular battle may be better fought without her...

Surprise Test: 9 Hits; Surprise Score: 35

Dodge Tests: First attack: 7, Second attack: 4
Damage Resist rolls: Roll 1: 10 | Roll 2: 12

If the spectre that had turned into a metahuman was real on both realms, it was uncannily fast, and most certainly using something to hide itself from normal perception. To say that their actions were blindingly fast, at least compared to most metahumans or anything else for that matter would be quite true, but Jenny wasn't just any ordinary creature at the moment, nor really was the spirit that currently possessed her. The differences in timing were literal fractions of a second, but even such tiny measurements gave Jenny the upper hand, at least for the moment. While the spirit seemed unaffected by it, Shah'grim knew, some how, that were Jenny in control she wouldn't hesitate to attack, wouldn't even consider backing down. Something about this being frightened her, made her hate this.. creature. What shreds of unwillingness there might have been before were gone on her part, not that it really mattered at the moment but she wanted this thing dead. Dead and in bloody tatters! The spirit on the other hand recognized that it had just narrowly avoided an ambush, had it not seen... had there been even a fraction more to draw its attention away to other things? No, no sense in worrying about that now.

GM note: At this point Jenny may make use of the simple action left to her this pass and combat will proceed normally. Initiative order will remain unchanged.

The form that moved in on Jenny didn't even skip a beat as the great possessed cat turned and growled at it. On the physical plane, had anyone been watching the fight (And certainly as any security cameras would show later) there was a ripple and then blur of movement along with a slight woosh of air that preceded a sharp hum turning into a warbling whine as the cloaked assailant struck out. On the astral there was hardly even a ripple in the meta's aura as it lashed out. Even with everything going in the possessed cat's favour, it soon learned it was up against no ordinary foe. What might have been indistinct before suddenly became all to clearly a weapon, one that bit into the possessed cat's flesh despite it's attempts to shift away from the blow. Fate stepped in and turned a near fatal blow to one that merely glanced off of the corner of her shoulder blade and left a faint trail of blood splashing against the floor. A second whirl of movement saw the tip of the blade suddenly reversed and this time it dug in deeper, but the still twisting body of the large cat caused the blade to again glance off bone and veer off course. What had been intended as a finishing blow to the heart had instead left a large and ragged gash through the cat's underside and the spirit knew, just knew, that the weapon had to be enchanted, a focus, yet there was none of the usual glaring beacons a focus would give away. Some how, this being, this metahuman attacking it had hidden the true nature of the weapon from even astral view, but once used the effect alone gave it's true nature away.

By the same token at least a measure of what the spirit was up against was given away as well. This was no ordinary foe, and perhaps that had played into why Jenny, trapped away in her own mind by the spirit had lashed away so blindly before she even really knew the being was there. No, this was no ordinary foe at all, but rather one that could badly harm, even kill both Jenny, and the spirit that possessed her. Indeed, almost had, would have almost certainly in fact had the initial blow from ambush been seen ahead of time.

GM note: Jenny has now suffered a total of 9P damage. Keep in mind, while possessed Jenny will have her damage track increased by the spirit but that increase will go if the spirit is disrupted or departs for other reasons. If I understand correctly the spirit effectively takes half the outstanding damage with it when it does? Will be relevant regardless at this point if for no other reason than healing tests later on.

After dropping to the ground Alexia tested the air around her, for though they may be hidden from sight its not likely they expected to be siffed out, and she was riding on the vantage that they probablky didnt think about masking their scent. Olfactory Perception (16d6.hits(5)=7) then she studied the astral space around her quickly to take in what she could see on that plain Astral Perception (12d6.hits(5)=4) after that she moved into position be the breach in the wall

*All Piano Keys* Jenny didn't quite send the pain itself to Sha'hGrim. Nor did she send words, nor cohesive thoughts. She sent the deep, jarring shock of the attacks, the damage she had taken. And while Sha'hGrim had "disconnected" from Jenny a mere instant before the attacks had hit, incidentally protecting Sha'hGrim from the damage as well, there was no doubt in Sha'hGrim's mind as to what Jenny was referring. She'd been hit. And hit hard.
"I'm coming." Sha'hGrim responded, intently.
"NO!" Jenny responded immediately.
"Whatever is here... We are not prepared to face it." The Spirit reported, at nearly precisely the same time as Jenny's exclamation.
"Attacker in Living Room. TOO POWERFUL!" Sha'hGrim reported over her Commlink, continuing forward until she was had a line of sight in to the Living Room. - We're going to get creamed... Sha'hGrim thought to herself, grimly setting herself to the task of keeping this super-being occupied for long enough to let the rest of the team get out. Sha'hGrim began preparing her spell.

Perception to see the fragger: OUCH! Failed even with Edge!
2 Hits...

- Is that....? Sha'hGrim thought to herself, watching Jenny reeling from a hit, but not quite sure which of the twisting Shadows belonged to her attacker. - She NEEDS me... Sha'hGrim thought, gritting her teeth and focusing. It was difficult, attempting to do so many things at once: Sustaining Jenny's enhanced reflexes, drawing her power to her in order to cast the spell, and still trying to see the attacker. Difficult, but necessary. - I can't attack what I can't see... At least, not with Mana Bolt... She thought to herself, resigning herself to the lost time needed to switch her vision.
"Astral." She mumbled, not bothering to speak loud enough even to be heard through the hood of her Form Fitting Body Armor. She didn't much care if she could be heard by the super-attacker, since likely he could see her just fine. She would worry about that later. After Jenny was safely out of his attack range.

Sha'hGrim's vision shifted. The colors, and shadows about her faded out, being replaced entirely with gradients of grey. Grey, punctuated by a brilliant splash of colors coming from Jenny and the Spirit. Their combined form was fascinating; something Sha'hGrim never got tired of seeing. Most Magicians considered Possession Spirits to be an aberration, or at the very least, not natural. Sha'hGrim, on the other hand, had an astronomical respect for them. They were stunning, in their Astral-Merged forms. They were, to Sha'hGrim, as worthy of appreciation as the most amazing flowers. But she didn't have time for that right now. There was another figure in the room. Another creature, which she didn't have time to study... She just needed to lock it in to her sights, and fire at it. She needed to cause it damage. And as much damage as she possibly could.

Assensing: 6 Hits - That should do it!

Despite that Sha'hGrim was viewing through the Astral, the Attacker was not obviously as powerful as it seemed to be. - Gotcha... She thought to herself, focused in, finally, on the attacker. Sha'hGrim knew, now, that the attacker was in her Sights. And she started to draw on her reserve Magical Abilities to prepare, and attack, this terrible foe.

Sid ordered the drone he had previously just launched out down the hall and down towards the second floor, linking the feed to the group's AR so they could see what it saw. It wasn't as good as running a tacsoft by any means, but it was at least an extra set of eyes that let everyone else see what it did and know what was going on. At the moment all it could pick up however was a badly wounded and bleeding possessed Jenny, and some blurry form that was hard to actually pin down. Despite the drone's advanced sensors, something else was blocking it's ability to detect what was actually there and the drone was too small to pack more effective active sensors that could detect cloaked enemies. Still, it was better than nothing. "I think his cloaking is tech based." Sid remarked over the team chanel. Minor information, but still important. Ruthenium could, after all, be countered by many things. Most runners with any experience knew that all one had to do was get it covered in something that would stick. Be it mud, or some other substance and it's effectiveness would be either reduced or even flat out nullified. Of course what Sid didn't get into at this point, was just how he had the experience necessary to spot something like that so quickly. Then again the man was a Hacker, and tech was his specialty.

Alexia seemed to be well and truly alone, at least as far as any hostile individuals went, or even metas or other such things. There were a few small animals out and about and the grounds outside of the house were teaming with life in general. Given that Gala was awakened herself it likely stood as no surprise that like many other awakened, she preferred to live in environs where there was a suitable balance between nature and machine. Better still, she'd had the money to afford a home that displayed such features and even now there was the hunkered form of some gardening drone carefully tending to the watering of the plants. The earth around here was rich and loamy, well suited to growing and sustaining the plants, she could even make out the faint scent of burnt explosive still hanging in the air from the blast, and yet through that she even recognized some of the plants, especially flowers by smell alone. The faint chemical smell from the explosives grew stronger the closer she got to the breach. She even came across the remains of once hermetically sealed packages that had clearly contained the explosives used to break through the wall.

Shah'Grim, inside was having some difficulty getting the exact position of the assailant in the physical realm. The shimmers gave away the general location, well enough even for her to start shooting at were she to use a gun, but then she might well risk hitting Jenny due to proximity alone. She was however able to catch sight of some glistening length, possibly a sword or other bladed weapon in use as blood still clung to part of it, but it was moving so fast it was difficult to properly track at the moment. Shifting to the Astral gave an entirely different viewpoint as the area, otherwise fairly empty of life gave way to the two battling forms that glowed brightly against the much darker lifeless colours of the inanimate objects around them. Jenny she could see right away, and even without having time to properly assense her could see she'd been hurt. Badly. The assailant on the other hand appeared by be by all rights to be a perfectly healthy, calm if cold minded human male in his mid 20's. Mentally and physically his aura showed him to be almost perfect save for a few cant flaws, but that couldn't be the truth, or at least not the whole truth. Shah'grim knew. KNEW there was a weapon focus in use, yet it didn't show up on the astral at all. That alone offered several potential conclusions, none of which were likely good. Notably however, what few scant traces any aura leaves as it touches things in the world had already either faded or were rapidly doing so even as the individual battled with Jenny. So too, after years of being a runner, she knew it was impossible, completely impossible for some one to move that fast without some form of augmentation, be it bioware, cybernetics, magic or drugs, yet there was no trace of any of it in this individual's system.

Darkon understood. Cloaked. I can work with that! He thought grimly and switched to astral sight. I can't and won't let Sha'hGrim fight this fight alone. "Anyone else on your screen?" Darkon asked Sid as he moved towards the stairs.

((Simple action switch to astral sight, Simple action move, free action, counterspelling still declared for teammates]]

Meanwhile, undisturbed the Fire Supression Drone makes good and certain the fires are out with a good follow up spray of foam before chirping happily that it's job was accomplished and all was well once again in it's tiny little world. If the machine had feelings, right now it would be quite satisfied and probably wanting tea and cruppers to celebrate. The central home unit accepted it's report that the fires were out and thus put off calling the fire department while ordering the drone to remain and monitor the situation until instructed otherwise. Meanwhile it's logic circuits dictated that now would be 'A good time' to contact the residents, specifically the great and glorious owner and request further instruction. The system was fairly advanced, but in the end, mostly for insurance reasons, the 'big calls' were always left up to actual people. Unless of course your central unit had spawned an AI like Deus and it locked down the whole place and murdered and experimented on everyone inside..... But of course that would never happen... Again.

Thus Sha'hgrim, at a most inopportune time received a message on her AR (Which she wasn't able of perceiving at the moment) along with an audible chime of an 'urgent message' requesting further instructions on 'what to do' as her AR was fed a run down of what the central unit could tell was wrong. Namely that there had been a small fire, and that the air conditioning unit in the room was apparently malfunctioning as it couldn't keep the room temperature stable. It also wanted to know if it was authorized to file an automated claim with housing insurance.

(Top of the turn. Jenny's up)

AR Chat buddy 2.1 has a message for you!
Error: Message blank. 1 Attachment

Current Damage Track:
0 Stun | 3 Physical (-1)
Modifiers:
1 Sustained Spell (-2) | Physical Damage (-1) | Total: -3 Modifier
Stealth Threshhold: 2

Sha'hGrim, now finally able to target the intruder, honed her sites in on the non-descript mundane aura in front of her, which was somehow moving at near super-speeds without the appearance of either magical or cyber benefits. - Well, let's see if this little fragger's aura will just absorb this! She thought, reaching her mental feelers out to the mana sources surrounding her. She opened herself up, like a submerged bucket in a lake, and allowed the mana to begin pouring in. - More... More... She intoned within her mind, reaching further and further for mana to throw in to this spell. She knew that this attacker would be a challenge no matter what happened; but she knew just as well that she needed to slow him down, to cause him pause, at least long enough to provide a buffer for Jenny, and for her team.

"No! Run!" Jenny exclaimed immediately. Her mind-voice carried a tone of hysteria, and perhaps more than a little resolution against this terrible attacker.
"I believe you should flee." The Spirit stated in it's detached voice with a coldly resigned tone.

The two separate communications came in at precisely the same time, and were it not for the fact that Sha'hGrim was focused so heavily on the task at hand, she likely would have needed to ask for both of them to repeat themselves, one at a time. But she had neither the time nor the available attention to really "hear" either of them. And strangely, that actually made them easier to understand. Sha'hGrim got the basic understanding that they both wanted her to leave. The problem, of course, is that she was just as devoted to Jenny as Jenny was to her. Sha'hGrim wasn't going anywhere. Not while Jenny was in this kind of danger.

Jenny's teeth curled back, emitting a snarl of rage. It was hard to tell, externally, whether that was the result of the Spirit, or Jenny. But the two were of like mind at the moment, and there didn't really need to be a distinction. They were both attacking. And they were both determined to damage this thing.

"I'm not leaving you!" Sha'hGrim responded to both the Spirit and Jenny at the same time.
"I won't survive this. Run. Now." Sha'hGrim stated over her Commlink. She wasn't entirely sure the team would do as she ordered, but she needed to give them the chance. i]- And if they don't?[/i] She asked herself, starting to shape the spell in front of her face. She couldn't use her most potent spell, because it would hit Jenny too. A Ball lightning was an incredibly powerful spell, but she didn't have any way of controlling it well enough (to her knowledge) to make it small enough to hit only the attacker, and not Jenny, or one of her other teammates. - They will... They must. She told herself. The spell was twisting and writhing in front of her face, almost in slow-motion. She was drawing on the entire well of mana she had gathered. - I need more... She thought to herself as the glowing lance of power took form in front of her. - It needs to be bigger. She thought. Suddenly she saw Jenny act.

Jenny's Attack:
Unarmed Attack: Agi (5 + Force-1=6) 11 + Unarmed Combat (Force) 7 - Damage 3 = 15d6: 8 Hits
Damage: 5+(Net Hits)

Leaping forward... OOC: You'll have to tell me if this lands before I can add a description... And I can't post for her next round until I know if this landed. Remember, the Spirit is smarter than Sha'hGrim: 7 Int, 7 Log...

"No!" She thought, sending the combination of pain and fear forth. It was not a command; she knew she could command the spirit to leave. It was more like a plea. Perhaps, though, she was so deep in the spell, she had somehow forgotten that she could command the spirit to flee. Perhaps she was so used to the stronger spirits' capacity for Autonomy that she had overlooked the possibility of usurping the combined being's will with her own. Nevertheless, Sha'hGrim reached back in to the bucket of power, finding it dry, and decided to do the thing she rarely did (although already once this day had done!). She reached through the well, pulling yet more power, mana, in to the spell. The color shifted barely, almost imperceptibly. Perhaps that was just her doing that. Perhaps she added a new color dimension, through old practice, to remind her that this spell could hurt her too - and physically. This spell could add to the already long and growing list of invisible scars that self-defense had already cost her this day. - No matter... She thought to herself, ignoring the deepening new color in the spell. - They'll survive. Better one than many. She thought. Her mana lance, now complete, was sent spinning forward.

Spellcasting with Edge (last point!): 5 Hits
Drain Resist (Target 5): 6 Hits - YES! No Drain!
Damage: 10+(Net Hits) - FYI: Resist is Counterspelling + Willpower or Magical Guard + Willpower(if there is a spirit guarding him); or just Willpower. If the resist test (Counterspelling/Magical Guard + Willpower) gets 5 or more; the spell fails. This test is not reduced by the Damage from above... If there is any...

OOC: Again, I will add further description once I know what happened...

When Jenny went on the offensive the figure was still whirling about from the double strike, maybe that's why Jenny's attack almost landed but didn't strike true. The spirit could feel the very tips of the claws making contact with something hard and there was the slight scraping feel of just brushing over something but it wasn't enough to punch through. Wasn't more enough to do more than just cause a temporary shimmer in the suit the figure was wearing where the strike had hit home. It left a slight imperfection but nothing immediately noticeable. Shah'grim's spell on the other hand seemed to have far more profound an effect, and a much, much more noticeable one. As the lance hit there was a bright flare of magic energy that was momentarily almost blinding on the astral and so strong that it bled over into the physical as the magical effect seemed to almost fold in on itself before finally resuming it's shape and punching through.

The figure staggered, but stayed on it's feet.

"Now Jenny! Run now!" Sha'hGrim heard her voice pierce the otherwise silent air in the room. The battle had been near noiseless, the cat's paws keeping it's movements as close to silent as was reasonable to expect from any living thing, and the attacker was silent for perhaps other reasons. The crackle of the flames was a barely preceptible backdrop to the violent action occurring in the middle of the living room. And only the drone was disturbing the otherwise silent and peaceful night - or seemingly so. Until Sha'hGrim shrieked at Jenny. It was a plea, and desperate. But not a command - and the Spirit which controlled Jenny at the moment knew the difference. Despite that, the Spirit also knew a few other things. Things that perhaps Sha'hGrim herself may not know. The Spirit knew that Jenny wouldn't survive another attack. The Spirit knew the Sha'hGrim wasn't fighting alone, despite her best efforts to the contrary. And the Spirit knew that if it moved out of striking distance now, it could return quickly. More quickly, even, than this attacker. And so, knowing what the Spirit knew, it chose to hold it's valiant efforts for another attack. Perhaps not another day, perhaps only seconds from now. But precious seconds that might make the difference between success - life, and failure. Precious seconds to allow the rest of Sha'hGrim's battered and cornered, but stalwart team to arrive. To defend just that extra little bit to tip the balance. And that was enough. Enough for Jenny. Enough for Sha'hGrim. Enough for survival. And most importantly, temporary retreat did not break the previous command issued by Sha'hGrim: "Go to Jenny. Possess her. Protect her. Do whatever is required; use whatever powers you must. Keep her safe for me." Sha'hGrim had stated, her first and reigning command to the Spirit - it's driving force, so to speak. The very reason it was summoned. Her secondary, and much later commands, had been issued not in opposition to this primary command. And the Spirit knew that it could, by retreating for the moment, serve Sha'hGrim best.

Actions
Free: Move
Complex: Use Power -

"Confusion":

3 Hits - Ugh... You'd think with 14 Dice, I'd get at least one more!
- It's an opposed test - Resisted with straight Willpower (I don't think Damage is considered for this test - so no modifiers).

Sha'hGrim let out an audible sob. It was unintentional - but she had seen the affect of the attacker's hits. She had seen the damage Jenny had just taken, and she feared deeply for her friend. The bond, only just starting to take on a direct affect, was deep between her, Jenny, and Chasky. They had been together a long time - had been through so much. Sha'hGrim couldn't bear the thought of losing her. And when Jenny, still snarling deep in her body, took several steps back toward Sha'hGrim, and put some space between her and her attacker... Well, there was a chance that today wouldn't be the day she would lose her closest friend and finally now: bonded companion.
"Maybe together we can take him. But I cannot survive alone." The Spirit confided in Sha'hGrim, perhaps by way of explanation, though clearly none was needed. Jenny's only statement, only acknowledgement of the situation was the continued deep growl, emanating from deep within her chest.

With Jenny at her side, Sha'hGrim felt like the world would soon be right. She stood taller, squaring her shoulders and perhaps for a brief moment was able to ignore the still-powerful headache she was plagued with as a remnant of the earlier day's fight-to-the-death. Sha'hGrim began to collect the mana about her again, preparing for a second attack. - At least we're together. She thought to herself, distantly wondering how it was she had managed to throw out such a powerful spell... And determined to master the level of power she had just managed to create. Later.

The figure turned to give chase as Jenny ran, though its direction changed not towards Jenny, but towards Sha'hgrim still standing on the staircase perhaps now considering her the greater threat of the two presently locked in combat, for where Sha'hGrim's spell had had a clear impact, it was unclear at first if the possessed Jenny's attack had any effect. That soon turned out to not be the case however as the spirit felt it's attempt met with a mental wall that deflected the attack while the being itself didn't even bother trying to go to the foot of the stairs, but simply charged straight up the short distance of the wall supporting the staircase, grabbed hold of and leap over the railing in an attempt to catch the spellcaster with a solid knee strike before suddenly reversing the same leg to strike out at Jenny in a single fluid movement. The only upside at this point was that the movement all but negated the chameleon coating for at least a brief moment as the suit's processors were unable to keep up with the speed, briefly outlining the attacker in a hazy halo of blurred colours that faded in and out as the chamelon coating strained to adjust.

Sha'hGrim must defend against 4 hits, at a Stun DV of 6. Jenny may defend against 5 hits (DV 6 but I think, not sure that a spirit's armour protects against melee attacks as well. It can potentially however still cause knockdown/back)

Initiative: (3rd Pass)
Jenny: 32 (3/4 Passes)
???: 28 (?/? Passes)
Alexia: 23 (3/4 Passes)
Shah'grim: 19 (2/4 Passes)
Sid (NPC): 16 (2/3 Passes)
Darkon: 14 (1/1 Pass)
Household Drone (2/3 Passes)

Current Damage Track:
5 Stun (-1) | 3 Physical (-1)
Modifiers:
1 Sustained Spell (-2) | Damage (-2) | Total: -4 Modifier
Stealth Threshhold: 2

Sha'hGrim Defense Roll: 1 die; 0 Hits
Sha'hGrim Stun Soak (target 6+4=10): 5 Hits; She takes 5 Stun
Jenny Defense Roll: 7 Hits - Not hit
Note: I've already updated the Damage and Modifiers in the Header.

Updated Post Complete

A surprised Exhale left Sha'hGrim's lungs as the knee connected firmly with her midsection. Sha'hGrim felt herself stepping back, attempting to catch herself, only to realize as her foot missed the ground that she was still on the stairs. - Oh Drek... She thought to herself, her weight continuing to shift backward while she came to the realization that she was currently powerless to stop the impending fall. - And now he's going to be on top of me. She considered, briefly, while weighing her options. She could still cast, she could call the one Bound Spirit she had available, or she could attempt to roll with the fall. In fact, she could call the spirit, and attempt to roll with the fall. Or she could cast. - And the last spell seemed to actually do something[/i].[/i] She thought, still weighing her options. By this time, she was tipped, likely 10 degrees or so, out over the stairs, and her lungs were just about completely emptied. She could feel the beginnings of what would likely turn in to a sore spot for a few hours. And she knew she would be a little further distracted by yet another ache in her already battered body.
- That's it. I've got to cast. The Guidance Spirit didn't do much to protect Jenny. And the Earth Spirit likely would do little to protect me. Perhaps enough - perhaps not. She thought, finally having made up her mind. - And if the Earth Spirit doesn't extend my life by another couple of seconds, then I will have sacrificed this one chance to save my teammates... I've got to hit him again. At least enough so that he leaves, rather than continuing to pursue the rest of the group. She thought, set now firmly in her course. - And Jenny will help... Her last fleeting thought before she focused on pulling the Magical Energy in from around her again.
Reaching down in to the bottomless well of power, Sha'hGrim discovered, to her discomfort, that she was up against a wall, of sorts. Not that she couldn't draw on more power, but that she didn't have that "extra something" to put in to the spell. She didn't have any way to extend her abilities. Not even a little bit. And that chilled her. - I've always had something extra to give... She started to say to herself, before realizing that she had never been in a situation where she literally had to fight for her life, barely escaping alive, twice. That she had nothing left in reserve now should come as little suprise.

Spellcasting: 3 Hits, and a Glitch OOC: You like that? 8 Dice, 3 hits, and still a Glitch!! The dice gods are really unhappy with me lately!

"Glitches":

- Damage will be 7+ Net hits; as before, this is resisted with Willpower (against 3) or Willpower+Counterspelling or Willpower+Magical Guard (as applicable).

Ok, so, I suppose the dice rolled above force me to continue to wait before finishing my post.
Fortunately There is enough above for the game to go on... No need to wait on me any longer. All that is remaining now is the rest of my description, and other fluff that I can add.

Though confronted face to face as it were by her assailant, Sha'hgrim still managed to keep enough of a state of mind to fire off another spell even as she fell. This however had the unfortunate downside of her landing hard on the disposable comlink that Sid had tossed her. This in turn caused the casing to crack slightly and the comlink to fall free on the stairs. While she still remained in relative range of it she would be fine, though if she had to move away without picking it back up she would as a result loose contact with it. Additionally the small crack meant that the comlinks' temporary battery was damaged and the comlink would now last about half as long as intended. That of course was the least of her worries as her spell connected solidly but seemed to simply get shrugged off by the blurred individual attacking her.

Not one to leave a team mate in need hanging, Sid rushed from cover, drawing both his pistols as he headed for the top of the stairs in an attempt to provide both Sha'hgrim and Jenny some covering fire. In his haste he didn't manage to hit a thing other than the railing, the stairs and the floor beyond, but really the point had simply been to cause a distraction and try and actually hit something later.

Alexia meanwhile had neared but not quite crossed over the threshold of the hole in the wall (She will arrive at the start of the next combat turn. She may use other actions in the meantime).

The small fire suppression drone, having completed it's task let out a merry sounding chirp from the livingroom before going into partial standby mode as it awaited further instruction from the central control unit, which in turn had been patiently waiting for a response to the message sent to Sha'hgrim's comlink. As the message had not been responded to yet, it resorted to attempt vocal communication through house hold speakers. "Minor fire contained. Further instruction necessary."

GM Note: that takes us to the top of the 4th and final pass, meaning Jenny is up once more. Alexia may still either try to delve more into potential clues or continue on to the breach in the wall (As well as ready any weapons etc along the way as she may or may not desire). Sid, Darkon and the household drone are out of actions.

Initiative: (4th Pass)
Jenny: 32 (3/4 Passes)
???: 28 (?/? Passes)
Alexia: 23 (3/4 Passes)
Shah'grim: 19 (3/4 Passes)
Sid (NPC): 16 (3/3 Passes)
Darkon: 14 (1/1 Pass)
Household Drone (3/3 Passes)

What does that mean? The Spirit asked Sha'hGrim, hearing the house's statement that the household drone had completed it's work, for the moment. Clearly, the Spirit was in no position to draw on the significant modern "cultural" knowledge that Sha'hGrim and the rest of the team had to understand what the Drone could, and might do. Despite that, if the Spirit actually knew what could be done with the Drone, the Spirit may actually instruct Sha'hGrim to issue some commands - being a far more intelligent being than Sha'hGrim herself, or nearly any other Metahuman. The Spirit was not a Tactician, but was certainly capable of the logical thought necessary to plan a tactical advantage, or to organize a resistance.
"What?" Sha'hGrim responded, not quite sure what the Spirit was talking about. Sha'hGrim, unlike the Spirit, was far beyond her capacity for anything other than direct focus. Splitting her resources like she was at the moment was almost more than she could manage, and she only continued to sustain the spell out of hope that the two of them together would last longer than her alone. -thereby giving the team more time to flee. That, of course, didn't seem to be what they were choosing to do however...
"Oh - it's the cleaning robot." Sha'hGrim responded, realizing what it was the Spirit was asking. Her response to the Spirit was punctuated with the heavy "Hungh!" Sha'hGrim let out of her mouth as she hit the stairs, and started to slide backwards. Jenny and the Spirit likely didn't notice the sound of the Commlink breaking away from her and bouncing down the stairs with her. They were far too focused for that.
As it was formulating a plan, the Spirit and Jenny stepped slightly backward, placing herself over the top of Sha'hGrim and baring her teeth. She followed by letting out a very house-cat like hiss, intended to ward off an attacker or warn against something she was about to attack. Of course, the noise would have sounded quite a bit different if she were not so deeply injured...
Jenny knew better than to think that she could stand successfully against this attacker for long, but she hoped that she would be able to at least distract the attacker from getting in another strike against Sha'hGrim.

Game Stuff...
Free: Communicate.
Complex: Change to Full Defense.