Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - IC

With a moment of reprieve but a new threat appearing guns blazing the figure kicked up off the railing in a short jump, the still humming blade seeking out the target above and thrusting in between the railing to slip between armoured plates and dig deep into Sid before the being landed heavily on the stairs facing down Jenny. Even as Sid let out a soft grunt before slipping down to the floor, guns clattering down, the figure at last spoke it's voice static and garbled ever so slightly at the edges, digitized by a voice masking unit. "Where is the artifact?"

Outside by the breach in the wall Alexia could hear a low soft woom woom woom in the air, the sound seemed to be approaching but it was hard to tell from just where exactly the sound was coming or what it might herald.

Sha'hGrim was far too focused for the swordsman's question to truly penetrate. However, she knew enough to take advantage of a pause while she had it. This might be the only chance she got to make sure the rest of her team would survive the encounter. Sha'hGrim still had not expectation that she herself would survive.
"Please come. I need your aid." Sha'hGrim said the "magical words" which empowered the magical link. Strangely, despite her tendency to treat all of her magical gifts as though she were somehow restricted (in many cases, it was entirely correct!) this situation didn't actually require an "empowering phrase" so to speak. It was a new magical link - one reserved for last-resort situations. Even more "last resort" than their earlier encounter had been. And based on what Sha'hGrim had seen this swordsman do to Jenny, Sha'hGrim didn't think her Spirit would be able to aid her in the way she normally intended.
Sha'hGrim's one Bound Spirit appeared instantly, responding to her call.
"What is your need?" The spirit responded as it appeared. It would work on her behalf to a higher capacity than normally summoned Spirits, but there was a risk in Binding spirits, and Sha'hGrim was loath to do so. The Bargaining that was required was challenging, and sometimes dangerous. If she was unable to meet their Magical Needs, they could turn on her.
"Protect me from within." She said, seeing the Spirit's understanding of her request. The Spirit, to her eyes at least, morphed in to a Mist, flowing toward her along the magical pathway which connects her to the Spirit. Rather than dispersing as it approached her, as would a mist on wind, the spirit's ephemeral form seemed to coalesce down to a point, entering her body almost like a spear piercing her. OOC: A "Possession" test is theoretically required; but the Spirit gets a +6 to it's roll... Do you need me to actually roll?
Services remaining: 2

Sha'hGrim inhaled, feeling her body's aches and pains fade slightly from her mind as the Spirit enhanced her Body's capacity to absorb damage. She didn't actually have any fewer wounds; they simply felt less dangerous than previously. Her inhalation turned in to a deep breath, almost calming, during which her mind floated back slightly to the comment from just a mere moment before.
"You must respond." Jenny's Spirit demanded of her. Likely it had seen what she had just done, and perhaps even approved of her actions. Certainly it would assist her chances of surviving longer - and perhaps improve her capacity to defend herself. Somewhat. Maybe it would extend the battle by a few seconds - giving her teammates a few more seconds to flee.
Sha'hGrim allowed her newly enhanced mind to wander backward over the words he had stated, noting that her initial response had not been to respond to him, but rather to fortify herself. If she weren't in such a hurry, she would have given herself a tactical congratulations... But she didn't have time for that thought to enter her mind at the moment.
"Where is what Artifact?" She asked, genuinely confused. While she might have realized what he was talking about were she at full health, and not sustaining a spell, at the moment, she truthfully didn't have the processing capacity to realize that he was asking about something the team had dealt with more than 6 years prior. And even at full health, it would likely have taken her some consideration to come to that conclusion. Sha'hGrim nearly held her breath as she waited for the swordsman to clarify himself. In fact, likely she would have, if not for the effect of the Spirit settling in to her body. Despite that it was more than a normal action for her, it was still an astonishing feeling. And it was a fairly recent improvement in her magical capacity that she did not have to sacrifice control of her actions to the Possessing Spirit.

Even as Sha'hgrim made her pact, the figure didn't move, didn't twitch, yet it was an act that couldn't have possibly gone unnoticed by someone watching the astral, was impossible to miss on the physical after the merge. There was just something about possessed things that screamed spirit power on the physical plane unless a spirit actually was able to hide it's true nature. It was something only a blind man could miss, and as far as you could tell, the individual was hardly blind. "The one your team stole. August 9th 2064 at 19:25 hours residence of Herman Jester. Team of 9, two casualties. Fred Munch, Age: 24, AKA: Fractyl. Hacker. Terry Noyle, Age 34, AKA: Blip. Mechanic and Rigger. " The tone was kept cold by the voice mask, though there was little doubt it would have been even a degree warmer without it. The actual names and age could have been made up, it wasn't information that was necessarily shared with the whole team. You all knew and trusted each other, but anyone that ran in the shadows as long as the lot of you had rarely used their real names any more. Reputation had been where it mattered, though the ages at least sounded right from what you'd known of the fallen members of the team. That there was that much detail up front, hinted that whom ever this was, or was at least behind them knew a great deal about what happened, certainly enough to be behind tracking down the team for the past several years. Of course Spade would have known, claimed to be working with Ares but this sort of thing wasn't Ares style. Ares usually used teams. Disposable assets like yourself or full on Firewatch teams. Still, it was entirely possible this was a special operative of some sort. Equally likely was that with the sort of deal the team had been involved with, a number of power players had been after the same thing, and only one had come out on top. Most Megas for example were not known for taking such losses lightly, nor were most crime families and certainly not dragons. That didn't help to narrow down things at all though, but who ever it was certainly had some serious resources to dig up that much after the crash had wiped out almost everything.

Outside the Woop Whooop Whoop grew closer, yet not louder. A helicopter of some sort perhaps, or a rotor drone maybe, it was hard to tell and the sound was definitely unusually muffled, but Alexa's keen senses had picked it up all right. (Alexia is now at the breach in the wall and can see into the living room. She can either move inside and get a proper view of the stairs and those on it, investigate the materials near the breach, or investigate the sound.)

GM Note: I'm presuming at the moment that Jenny is still on full defence guarding Sha'hgrim?

Top of new Round:
Initiative: (5th Pass)
Jenny: 32 (1/4 Passes)
???: 28 (1/4 Passes)
Alexia: 23 (0/4 Passes)
Shah'grim: 19 (0/4 Passes)
Sid (NPC): 16 (0/3 Passes) - Bleeding to Death
Darkon: 14 (0/1 Pass)
Household Drone (0/3 Passes)

Current Damage Track:
5 Stun (-1) | 3 Physical (-1)
Modifiers:
1 Sustained Spell (-2) | Damage (-2) | Total: -4 Modifier
Remaining Edge: 0
Summoned Guidance Spirit Services remaining: 6
Bound Earth Spirit Services remaining: 2

Sha'hGrim kept her arms up, ready to cast again. She didn't know what was going to happen; but it looked like the Universe didn't have it in their plans yet to have her die. Maybe.
"You must answer him." The Guidance Spirit prompted Sha'hGrim. It knew. If she could give this man the right answer, the team might survive. And maybe that was the best thing right now.
"We don't know. We don't have it. We delivered it to a drop, were paid, and left." She responded. And it was the truth. Unfortunately, Sha'hGrim hadn't really had the time to craft a response... In the heat of combat, seeing her best chance for survival, Sha'hGrim had simply answered the question. Now she was -far from helpless- prone, on the floor of her home, unsure as to whether she would be defending herself further or not. But if this attacker determined that he should leave; Sha'hGrim was not prepared to stop him.

Too slow too slow too slow... Sha'hGrim is down! Darkon just arrived at the top stair, seeing Sha'hGrim lieing below him. The enemy was close by. Too close. Verdammt. I can't just blast him away. And what if his armour protects him from being pushed against the wall... no. But I have another option. The thoughts sprinted through his mind in mere fractions of a second.

Darkon gripped his staff tighter when he reached into the mana deeply. Make it count... Aided by the focus, he bundled the mana, forming ropes and strings, which tried to attach themself to the joints of the enemy through his aura.

Mob Control force 7. Magic7+Sorcery5+Focus2+Mentor spirit2+Edge3= 19d (19d6. hitsopen(5,6)=9)

Drain Mob control force7 (F/2)+2=5 Char7+Will6=13d (13d6. hits(5)=4) (1 box of stun, no malus yet )

"Stop right there!" The shout emphasizing the mental command that came along with it.

Darkon at first could feel the spell take hold. He HAD HIM! and then he could feel a sort of welling sense of panic as he could feel the spell suddenly being pushed back, fought against. Where the normal will of the mind had given way after a hard and bloody fight, something else deep down had welled up to push that little extra bit and break the hold before it had even really begun. Down below on the stairs, Darkon could see the power of the spell practically manifest in a physical display, all the more so as the individual he hit with the full brunt of his spell briefly glowed with the ghostly shape of some sort of beast that seemed an odd cross between a dragon and a great cat of some sort. The effect wasn't quite as distinctive as with a Shaman, but it had definitely been there, clear as day to normal vision and so blatantly obvious as to be impossible to miss on the astral.

By now there was absolutely no doubt, that no matter what the senses told the viewer of this being on the stairs, for all that it's aura insisted it was mundane, there was no way it possibly could be. No, this was another of the awakened without a doubt, and one very skilled at hiding it's true nature, for the countering magic had been strong enough to leave an imprint, however brief on the surrounding area though that faded incredibly fast even as Darkon watched.

The being on the stairs however, while having tensed up slightly, didn't even look away from Gala towards Darkon as he spoke once more in that warbled, distorted and mechanical voice. "Try that again, and your girls die." it was a threat, a promise but more importantly a warning. The tone remained even save for the pitches induced by the voice mask. "My master has questions, and you will answer."

By this point Alexia had reached the breach in the wall and after a brief pause to confirm her suspicions, shouted out a warning over the comlinks to the others. "Incoming helicopters!"

Darkon glared at the figure. How dares he?

Test(3) to follow advice of the enemy as to Mentor spirit disadvantage. cha7+will6=13d (13d6. hits(5)=4)

Fortunately, the voice of reason, that tiny little voice that so often had saved the shamans butt and other assorted bodyparts, took the opportunity to speak up. The girls are in their hands. If I act rash now, they are lost.

“Ask your questions. We don't have that artifact. As my colleague said, we have dropped it off. And we have no clue as to where it might be at the moment. Nor have we any inclination to stand in your way to take it. Yet.” His gaze was firm. And Darkon was still ready to fight, with magic or any other means. He spoke dangerously calm when he said: “Never threaten my girls again. Otherwise I will bring you down. In this life or in any other.” He meant it. “Now, unless this helicopter carries your friends, you should leave. And if you attack us any more, girls or not, I will end you.”

"You speak foolishly, as it seems most metas tend to do, were it not that we needed the information the girls would not be the only thing you loose. Perhaps it is time we remind you of what you've already lost so recently? Friends, family.. he doesn't stop there either. He will go after those who just knew you, every last one of your relatives and more." The stranger responds to Darkon with an icy tone that lacked any sense of remorse. "And if you think to frighten me, you will find quite to the contrary, that it is not you I shall ever fear. Rather you should be asking yourself, who it is that I call master for I, like all of you, am just a piece in a much larger game that you clearly do not understand. And it seems more of the pieces have arrived, so I would suggest you take this time to leave while you still can. We will speak again." and with that the blurr that was the figure and the more solid astral signature that represented it simply jumped over the banister of the stairs, going down much the same way he had gotten up, and simply made for the front door while the sound of the helicoperts grew loud enough that the low thwooop thwooop twhoop could be heard inside the house.

(Please, everyone by the stair make a visual perception check, threshold 2)

Perception roll(2) Int5+Perception2=7d (7d6. hits(5)=2)

"I merely stated what will happen." Darkon answered to empty air. Nevertheless he deemed it necessary to state. The Shaman looked left and right. Sid was bleeding profusely. Sha'hGrim at least seemed conscious. "Sha'hGrim, can you stand?" He asked while turning to Sid. "We need to get out of here." Who is his master? Who wants this artifact? Verdammt. How can he be so powerful? "Verdammt, verdammt, verdammt."

Sha'hGrim stood, slowly, watching the retreating Astral form. - So fast... She thought to herself, attempting to turn her mind back to the task at hand. - And what is the task at hand again? She asked herself, wondering what it was she was doing. - Sleeping... Right. Got to get some sleep. She realized that the intrusion had awaken her, bringing her out of her much needed sleep. And now not only would she need some sleep, so too would Jenny... Sha'hGrim sighed deeply, realizing that Darkon was speaking as well.
"Huh?" She asked, honestly not attempting to be dismissive, but not really having heard his statement, or question.
"Ungh..." She groaned, having finally allowed some of the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that had been locked away by adrenaline to flood back.
"I hope we can replay that... I didn't hear it all." She said with a shrug. The truth was, with this latest spirit enhancing her body, she likely could have done some real damage to this guy. And lost. She would have lost no matter what. But she could have held him off, for a time anyway, and given her team a chance. - A chance a what? Running? To fight another day? When he's freshly healthy, and ambushing them again? She demanded of herself. She didn't actually know what the right answer was to that question... She didn't know what she had been fighting him for, other than the implied threat. He had broken in to her house. But she would have paid the fee freely to avoid the damage Jenny had taken. - And Sid!!! A voice shouted from the recesses of her mind.
[b]"Oh my god! Sid!!"[/i] She gasped, stepping around the alive but deeply damaged Jenny to get to Sid and attempt to assess the damage.

Darkon knelt down next to Sid. "This doesn't look good." All the while he could hear the thwoop thwoop of whoever was coming closer. "We need to get to my car and leave this place." He said. Heal him now or in the car? That's the question. If I heal him here, whoever it is in the helicopter will probably catch up with us. If I heal him in the car, he might be dead by then. Verdammt.

He looked at Sha'hGrim. "Get Jenny to my car. I don't want to wait and find out who is in that helicopter." A bit louder he said: "Alexia! Can you help me with Sid?"

"Get Jenny..." Sha'hGrim said, responding slowly. Despite her incredible physical speed, Sha'hGrim was very much limited at the moment by her mental clarity... Which was most certainly not functioning at it's fullest.
"How are you?" Sha'hGrim asked the Spirit as she was taking in Sid's condition. He was gravely wounded, and she wasn't sure if he would survive a trip to the Car.
"We are fine. For now." The Spirit responded. Sha'hGrim knew that this situation was far from ideal - but these were the cards she had been dealt, and she needed to play the best hand she could.
"Will Jenny survive you leaving her body? I have another task for you - and it would be easier if you could take possession of a different body." Sha'hGrim responded, slowly getting herself to her feet. She started heading toward her Bedroom to collect Chasky. Waking him would be difficult - he needed his sleep nearly as badly as she needed hers. And now Jenny needed sleep as well. And worse than Sha'hGrim needed it. Jenny would need days to heal. - Or I could heal her... Sha'hGrim thought, considering the situation. She would have to if the Spirit didn't think she would survive the separation.
"She will live. My power was unable to protect against the Magical Blade in the same way as it protects against normal metahuman weapons. Despite that, my power protected her against further damage; even if it was insufficient to stop the initial damage. She will be in pain, but will not get worse." The Spirit explained, sending reasurrance to Sha'hGrim to accompany the explanation. Sha'hGrim heaved a heavy sigh, feeling the tension release within her. She didn't realize how much she had been holding this on her shoulders, how much this had been effecting her, until the Spirit had made certain she knew Jenny would be fine.
"I also will be fine. Further combat is a poor choice for me at the moment - but I am adequate for any non-combat tasks." The Spirit continued, finishing it's explanation of their conditions. Sha'hGrim didn't realize that the sustained damage would track the Spirit, as well as Jenny. She'd never before asked a Spirit for further service after a battle. - There's a first time for everything... She mused, turning the corner in to her bedroom and heading for Chasky's slumbering form. Somehow he'd managed to sleep through the entire engagement. She imagined that the combat itself had been fairly quiet, but the explosion hadn't...
"Please head to the animals in the barn. Break all of the door locks and then possess one of the Bandits," She sent a picture of the Bandit, including it's Astral Signature, to the Spirit to make certain that it would know which animal it was going to be looking for.
"And then make certain that all of the Animals are packed in to my truck. I will back it up to the Barn door - I'll need you to get started on the animals though." She finished, clarifying how the Spirit would be helping her by sending it a picture of the Bandit's impressively capable hand-feet removing the locks, opening the cage doors, and carrying the animals out to the Truck.

Sadly for Sid there was one last bloody gurgle from the man and he was just... gone. His still cooling grasp he'd managed to push out a small box that The Exchange had given him and his comlink lay on top of it with his hand now merely resting while his body lay in an expanding pool of blood that was starting to congeal around the edges. At one moment when Darkon glanced up he found his gaze looking out over the area below towards the now open front door and the oddity of something being there that he was certain had not been before stood out in his mind. It had been a simple figurine of a dragon. The sort one found on the occasional themed chess board or in the old style board games, or perhaps it was simply the sort one placed on a knick nack shelf but it didn't look terribly expensive from a distance (And any close up inspection would confirm that it was of reasonable quality but still mass produced)

GM Note: If you wish to examine the figurine further, make an observe in detail action at your leisure when you wish to do so.

Alexia meanwhile rushed up, and wordlessly paused to check on Sid and see that he was dead before saying softly "I'll pack up our things." and then moved on at a sprint towards the bedrooms to grab what gear and the like that she could in a bid to help pack up and get everyone ready to go, though given the sound it wouldn't be long at all until the helicopter arrived.

Indeed a sudden fwoosh of a rocket, followed by an explosion soon indicated just how close the helicopters were, punctuated by the burning wreckage crashing down into Sha'hgrim's back yard. That at least answered the question of who might or might not be friends of whom, but also further highlighted that the people in the helicopters were also not just making a late night drop in to say hello and ask for a cup of sugar.

A few moments pass before the House's central computer turns on all the TV's, radios, speakers and other sound systems at once. Even as everyone gathers their wits and their things A speech goes out, crossing even over onto all unsecured public channels.

“Sid! Stay with us dammit...!” But Darkon could already see the aura fading. There was no anchor point to push in lifeforce anymore. Sid was gone for good. Darkon closed the deckers eyes. “Rest well.”

Then the close impact of a rocket shook the house. “Everyone get out of here now!” He had the presence of mind to take the box and comlink of Sid and shove it into his shaman lair bag. As he stood up, he noticed the small figure in the doorway. He looked at it for a moment. Much longer than he should.

Observe in detail, dragon chess figure. Int5+Perception2=7d First mundane, then astral. (7d6. hits(5)=4, 7d6. hits(5)=1) (Mundane view 4 hits, Astral 1.)
Assensing chess dragon figurine. Int5+Assensing4=9d (9d6. hits(5)=1) (Assensing it didn't help much either.)

After reassuring himself it had no magical significance, he took it on the hand. ((If not, he leaves it on the ground))
Darkons Ears perked up when every speaker in the house started to come alive.

Sha'hGrim ignored the speakers, and the videos. She may have noticed them, potentially, but she didn't have the available focus to actually give them her attention - she was capable of one task one.
"Does that happen often?" The Earth Spirit, currently residing within her body asked her. It actually took her some time to realize what the Earth Spirit was asking, as without her metahuman eyes, it wouldn't even be able to interact with the trideo.
"Well, no... Not really..." She responded out loud. She didn't mean to catch anyone's attention, but this was surprising enough of a situation that she actually forgot that she could respond to the Spirit directly, rather than indirectly. In fact, if she'd been paying attention (nevermind that this wouldn't have happened) she would have been deeply amused by the situation. She'd just used her own personal voice to speak to something that can only hear her through her own personal ears. It was the epitome of talking to herself; and she wasn't even doing that - Her imaginary friend was actually real!
"Oh." The spirit lapsed in to silence. Sha'hGrim presumed it was paying attention to the trideo; but despite it's interest, she didn't have the focus to notice the topic of discussion. Sha'hGrim continued through the house and directly out the front door, so focused she'd forgotten that an "Easy Access" entry-way had been created for her in the wall of her living room. Sha'hGrim paused to hold the door for Chasky and Jenny behind her, in a hurry to get the other animals.
"Oh Drek! We're under attack! Again!" Sha'hGrim shouted, hoping the team would hear her over the din of the Hellicopter blades pounding the air in to submission. It didn't occur to her that she might have dropped her Commlink while in battle with the swordsman. And because that thought had not occurred to her then, she hadn't looked for it, nor had she located it. Sha'hGrim was radio-silent, and didn't even mean to be.
"The possession was successful. And you were right - these creatures have remarkably capable hand-feet. I am quite impressed." The Guidance Spirit informed her as it completed taking control of one of the Bandits. Sha'hGrim nodded, not realizing that the Spirit wouldn't hear her nodding. Again, she didn't have the capacity to split her focus at the moment.
"Guys... I'm at a loss here... What do we do now?!?" She asked, again not realizing that no one could hear her without the commlink, which had fallen off the while she fell down the stairs.

As the team debated what to do, the sounds of battle seemed to only intensify outside. Automatic weapons fire started to echo through the air along with the slightly more dreadful sound of some sort of assault cannon opening up on full automatic of all things, and while the sound of the cannon itself was quite some distance away, the sound of the explosive shells striking were considerably closer to home in the most literal sense possible. Some one out there was picking a hell of a fight though it was only a matter of rapidly dwindling time before the team, still in Sha'hGrim's home, would no choice but to get involved in the apparently escalating battle.

Hastily, Darkon put the small figure into Sids box, hoping it would dampen any tag signals the figure might emit. He then put the box into his bag with the magic lair material while exiting the house. Sha'hGrim, Alexia, where are you? He asked over the com. Sha'? The fighting seemed to get worse. Now he shouted, loudly: “Sha! Where are you? We have to get going!” There is no time to look all over the place. Her animals. She has to be there. He went for the barn. “Sha'hGrim! Are you ready?” Goddess protect us, he prayed silently.

Sha'hGrim shrugged when she got not response. She knew Sid was beyond assistance, and the team could do nothing to provide anything additional to him at the moment. Not even, really, a burial. She closed the door behind Jenny and Chasky, still using the Front door, rather than the hole in the living room wall. Probably more out of habit than anything else.
"I'm on my way over there. I will be there shortly to assist." She responded to the Spirit. She would have been delighted, any other time, to chat with the Spirit about the vagaries of the Bandit's hand-feet, and what astounding things could be done with them. But it would have to be another time.
Sha'hGrim found her "multi-tasking" capacity slightly higher now that she was not sustaining the Improved Reflexes spell on Jenny. But her headache was still there from earlier in the day, and moderately intensified by this most recent attack. Sha'hGrim knew she was literally at the end of her resources - but this was the time when survival was of the utmost importance! Thankfully, Sha'hGrim noticed Alexia as she hurried out of the house toward the barn. She paused for a moment, hoping to get some help from Alexia.
"'Lex, would you back my truck up to the barn please? I can't leave them behind..." She asked. Alexia tore her gaze away from the helicopter taking fire, and locked eyes with Sha'hGrim. A quick nod was all Sha'hGrim needed, and she continued on her way to the barn.
"Jenny, take Chasky to the Truck. I'll join you there." Sha'hGrim told Jenny on her newly created mental-magical channel she had with the Cat. In short order, Sha'hGrim, the Bandit, and Alexia had the animals all loaded in to the Truck. Not sure if this actually completes. Using Alexia should shorten the time down from the previous estimate of 60 seconds. Maybe it's now 30?

"Oh, hey Darkon... Yeah, we're ready." Sha'hGrim said, closing the cage on the last of her animals. Jenny and Chasky were curled up in the back of the Truck. - I really need to heal her... Sha'hGrim thought to herself, closing the back door of the Truck.
"Lex, you take your Truck. I'll take mine." Sha'hGrim said, walking over to the driver's side door. The gunnery was intensifying out there, and Sha'hGrim didn't want to be around any longer than necessary.

"Where is your comlink?" More impact sounds nearby. "Nevermind. Here take this. And hurry." He shoved one of the throwaway links from Sid into her hands, then he rushed to his own car, got in, threw the bag on the passenger seat and started. All the while his public comlink broadcasted that weird speech. He would have to remove the battery from it soon.
And off we go. Hopefully to a safer location. With that, he drove off the farm with the others in tow.

The electronic air filled with the buzz of static as some one out there activated an area wide jamming device, and it seemed a powerful one at that. By now, on their way to the vehicle the remainder of the group could see (Mostly because none of you have said you switched off of astral sight) scattered groups of men around Sha'hgrim's property, and they were all armed and approaching the house while trying to keep under cover and using staggered firing for cover against... something.

When one of the metas noticed the group however there came out a call "CONTACT 3 oclock!" and the air suddenly filled with weapons fire directed at the fleeing members of the team. GM: Gala please dodge 2 hits, Darkon 4, Alexia 5 That however wasn't their only target as the majority of the weapons fire seemed to be directed elsewhere including several thermal smoke grenades that started going off around the area.

By the vehicles themselves there was one figure, astral sight quickly confirming the man was dead, propped up against one of the trucks. Normal sight easily showed the man wearing milspec armour readily marked with the Ares logo along with numerous shell casings on the ground around him and a fair bit of blood. GM: Determining what exactly killed him or other details will require an observe in detail action. Fortunately at the moment most of the fighting seemed to be centred on the house itself but it was clear the latest batch of men were starting to converge on the fleeing group itself. There was at least some distraction however for the fleeing group when a large armoured truck, it's form blurred by ruthenium polymers crashed through a large hedge on the edge of Sha'hgrim's propery and started opening fire on the soldiers with a heavy cannon, the same one going by the sound, that had opened fire earlier.

It seemed fairly obvious to the runners that from their experience, though this sort of thing was rare and usually only seen in movies, two or more groups had clearly come here for something and wound up fighting each other as much, if not more than the people they'd come for.

Dodge roll. Rea4+def-1+Running2=5d (5d6. hits(5)=2) (Means he takes 2 hits.)

Running towards his car, the bullets whooshed left and right of him. Unfortunately they didn't stay left and right. "IhatesportIhatesportIhatesport." Running a few surprise hooks and leaps helped him to evade some of the bullets. But a few found his back. Fortunately, he was wearing his coat, and it took the harm out of the impact. Not the push though, or the sting. And Darkon landed spread eagled in the mud.
Damage resistance, Body4+Bal12-1(circumstances)=15d (15d6. hits(5)=6) (Means 2 boxes of stun, giving him a dice malus of -1)

I am too old for this crap.


He rolled aside and leapt up again, continuing his sprint for the car. A dead soldier leaned against it. "Verdammt." While pulling him off the side of his rover, Darkon got a nice look at the dead, empty eyes.

Perception (Observe in detail) Int5+Perception2=7d (7d6. hits(5)=2)

With a grunt and another pull, he got his car free. Darkon thought for a moment. This could come in handy. He took the combat knife off the corpse and quickly cut through the straps of the soldiers gearbelt, which held a few grenades and clips. He threw it on the backseat along with the rifle. Next, the shaman got seated. Get away first. Coordinate next. But where could we go? They mean business. Big con business...

Places to stay. Log2+Skill2=4 (4d6. hits(5)=0)(No hits.)

Later! First get away from the fireworks.

- Oh Drek! Sha'hGrim thought to herself, knowing beyond a doubt that she would still have to retrieve her animals.
"This is going to be more challenging than we thought..." She said to the Spirit, hurrying over to the barn. Sha'hGrim ducked behind the barn door at the last minute, as one of the attackers seemed to decide to attack her, rather than their other targets.
"Activate the sight." Sha'hGrim mumbled to herself, realizing that she would actually be better off seeing everything in the physical plane than in Astral. As her vision shifted, she continued forward toward the barn.
"Jenny and Chasky made it in to the Truck ok. You'd better hurry up in there Sha'hGrim..." Alexia announced over the Commlink. Sha'hGrim, unfortunately, didn't hear the comment. - I wonder if Jenny and Chasky are ok...? She wondered idly, continuing about her business.
"And you'll have to possess more than one of my pets..." She said, pulling the hatch open on one of the Barn Owls. She reached in and grabbed the Owl, going for the next one, while letting the Bandit climb up onto her shoulder. With the Spirit inside the Bandit, it would be immune to nearly anything non-magical. But the Owls Sha'hGrim would have to protect with her own body. Sha'hGrim could hear the *ping*-*ping*-*ping* of bullets ricocheting off her Truck as it pulled up to the door of the Barn. She knew she only had moments - but she had no choice as to what to do with them. If saving her pets meant she would be fighting to run, then she had to fight.
"Darkon - We can't leave my pets. They're enchanted!" Sha'hGrim said, knowing he would understand. Unlike his girls, Sha'hGrim's pets would give a Ritual Spellcasting group the capacity to target her with a spell from relatively infinite distances. That would endanger the entire team - not just her.
With the two Owls and the Bandit on her shoulder, Sha'hGrim hurried over to the barn door, peaking out to see what she was up against.

With the flurry of activity that the team showed around the vehicles, they in turn started drawing more attention from the troops who were present and splitting their attention between the obvious counter attackers and the runners trying to get away. Fortunately the enemy forces still seemed to be some distance away but even a quick look around showed that a small group of armed individuals had broken off from the main body and were making a bee line to the group of runners trying to flee. However as they were not under any return fire so far they in turn started holding their fire as well the way a flat out kill team would. At the present rate the group had a matter of seconds, not minutes to clear out before they would inevitably have to deal with what was coming their way. To make matters worse a large fire elemental suddenly materialized on the scene, though it was off in the distance fighting something else. Still, it showed at least one mage or shaman was about and that could spell some serious trouble for the group trying to clear out.

GM Note: You have exactly 40 seconds worth of actions to clear out before some one will reach your group.

Already sitting in his car, Darkon heard Sha'hGrim shout. He watched her move with incredible speed. I don't think I can help you like that. Why the heck do you need to keep so many at once anyway? He looked out of the window at the fight scene and noticed the approaching group. "Ach Drek!" They were not firing yet, which was good. But the way they were approaching, even Sha'hGrim might run out of time. Still, he could not allow the animals to stay behind. If I kill the animals, the link should be severed. But then Sha'hGrim will kill me, he pondered. I am not a killer anyway. Well then, time to have fun. With that, the shaman touched the mana, using it like a lightning used ionized air to conduct his magic upon the approaching group. Surprise! Darkon thought gleefully when he thrust the magic onto the area, causing physical and mental reactions in them that should slow their pace.

Cast Orgy F7. Macig7+Sorcery5+focus2-stun1=13d (13d6. hits(5)=2) (Only 2 hits... seems Darkon can't perform well under Stress. )

Drain for orgy spell f7/2=threshold3 Cha7+will6=13d (13d6. hits(5)=5) (At least the drain roll worked. Too bad they can't be swapped.)

The spell had at least some of the desired effect as at least two soldiers wound up dropping their weapons and one of them was flat out on the ground shortly after, lost to the throws of the spell. The others managed to retain their composure, at least somewhat. "MAGE!" one of them shouted in warning, though given that Darkon's spell had managed to catch almost all of them in it's radius it was unlikely none of them knew of the threat by now. Of course telling just where the spell hit from was a whole other story, which was perhaps a good thing since 'Geek the Mage first' was a saying that tended to apply to any awakened individual on the battlefield, both on the street and off.