Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - IC

within seconds of Spades betrayal Alexia growls and bolts towards the door.
Initiative: (14d6.hits(5)=7)= 18

she halted in mid step heading towards the door cursing Dreck, i just got the drones and hadn't gotten the chance to upload all the programs she brings the drones cameras back up and manually targets there weapons where she wants them
(ooc: brain glitch, i cant think of which dice are applicable. may be cause im tired, ill look it up in the morning and edit my post with the correct rolls)

SYLPH! roared his mental command into the ether. Fortunately he did keep the spirit ready to act and had asked it to protect him if necessary. At the same time, he dropped to the floor, taking cover, pulling Sha’hGrim with him. Alexia was gone before he could grab her too. Also, he changed his vision to the astral, knowing he would be able to see his targets better. You are dead for this Spade. If this was really you, you are dead. It was a vow he intended to keep. But for this, he had to survive first. And save his comrades if he could.

(Placeholder for necessary dicerolls)

(Dropping to the floor and changing ones vision should both be simple actions if I remember correctly. Which would use up Darkons pass.)

Andrealphus watches the firefight begin, and smiles, looking to his spirits, "Kill the ones attacking my allies. Keep one alive for later questioning." He makes sure they know that Sha, Spawn, Alexia and Darkon are friendlies.
[Andrealphus Initiative http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3287344/
"Bambi" Initiative http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3287377/
Lillith Initiative http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3287407/
Fire spirit Initiative http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3287431/
Water Spirit Initiative http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3287445/
Earth Spirit Initiative http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3287453/
I think SOMEBODY'S About to have a bad day.]
Andrealphus continues his astral watch, and thinks for a second. "Spawn, calvalry is on the way. Make sure Sha and Darkon know the incoming spirits are mine."

Not sure whether to follow the others into the warehouse Edgar finally decides to wait in his van. As the convoy pulls into the warehouse the hairs on the back of his neck raise even before the sounds of gunfire begin. Wasting little time he activates his wired reflexes and hops out of the van. Making his way along the wall towards the door Edgar readies a high explosive grenade as he nears the door.

Sha'hGrim rolled her eyes. She had been in so many staged assassinations in her day that they didn't phase her any longer. Sha'hGrim's blaze response to the situation would belie her actual feelings on the subject: That she didn't really expect to live through this at all. In fact, she figured she had used up at least 10 of her lives, if she were a cat, and probably a few more than that (yes, out of 9). - I wonder if I died early in a few past lives; and these "survivals" have been some sort of Karmic Reward... She wondered Idly, while instantly spinning in to motion.

Sha'hGrim's Initiative: 7 Successes: Init = 22
Chasky's Initiative: 8 Successes: Init = 29

"That was in extremely bad taste, Spade." She said, not raising her voice and turning her back on him to dash to the door of the office, pulling it half-way open and stepping behind it. The bullet-proofing in the door would keep her alive through the initial volley; long enough to gather her bearings, and, hopefully, begin her portion of the team's counter-attack on the goons outside. As she had already issues her Commands to the spirit occupying Chasky's body, she didn't need to utter a word to him - He would know what to do, and likely could figure out which are the priority targets better than Sha'hGrim could. - The interesting thing about spirits that most Magician's don't know is that, generally speaking, a powerful Spirit tends to be smarter than the Magician summoning it. She thought, allowing herself just the briefest moment of musing before fully focusing on the task at hand.
Sha'hGrim took stock of the situation, in an attempt to divine the proper path, and lamented, again, her lack of tactical training. Reviewing her team, Sha'hGrim realized that Spade was, in fact, the most tactically able team member from the old group, and Sha'hGrim cursed the fates for throwing him against them. This would be no small task, and likely no less than grizzly either. - At best, we can pray to succeed. At worst... She cut the thought off there, not wishing to pursue it to it's conclusion.
Finally deciding on a course of action, Sha'hGrim reached out her hand, brushing Chasky's shoulder as he went bounding down the stairs on his mission. She cast "Improved Reflexes" on Chasky, lending him the speed he would need to be effective in this fight.

Spellcasting: Improved Reflexes Force 5 on Chasky2 Successes = +1 Reaction + 1 IP
Drain Resist: 6 Successes = No Drain

Sha'hGrim felt the spell go off successfully, and sent her good-thoughts to Chasky on his mission. She needed him to succeed; and to survive.

With the incoming fire from the vehicles, Sha'hGrim and Chasky are the first to react, the great cat starting to race off while Sha'hgrim boosts her dear pet's abilities even further. This done moments before Chasky disappears down the stairs to the ground level in an almost heedless rush. With the great cat's body augmented by the spirit, it would be almost immune to the bullets riddling the walls. Edgar meanwhile rushes into place, preparing a grenade to throw and thus far unnoticed by the attackers, though that certainly doesn't seem like something that can last terribly long. He is momentarily greeted by the sound of two of Alexia's drones flying towards the same doorway that he himself is about to go through, though fortunately for both parties, the security forces are soon distracted by multiple sources, Spawn happened to be one of them though his grand entrance was slightly spoiled by a bad landing that definately left a nasty bruise as he slammed off the edge of the armoured truck, but managed to keep himself from falling right in front of the armoured turret and it's machine gun. That he fell afterwards would perhaps have doomed him in other circumstances, yet lady luck was on his side, as both Andre and Darkon ordered their spirits into action as well. Unlike the spirit inhabiting Chasky however, these spirits were able to phase in and out of the material realm at will, and so it was that with but a brief hop through astral space, they were suddenly materialized right on top of the enemy forces. They were soon joined by Chasky who appeared at a full gallop from the office doorway and was soon about to literally leap to the attack.

To say that the attackers were caught off guard was an understatement, but for all the sudden confusion and alarm among their ranks, the vehicle mounted machineguns none the less started to sweep the whole office in a methodical manner in an attempt to take out who ever was controlling the spirits. (GM note: Anyone in the office area who is not prone, or who gets up from a prone position is now in a 'suppressed' zone and must make a reflex test or catch lead.). The troops are relatively well trained however as two of them launch explosive grenades towards the structure on the far side. The rest however, are otherwise occupied, especially so as the water elemental and fire elemental each manage to engulf an unsuspecting soldier, the water elemental slowly starting to crush it's still visibly struggling victim while the other can be easily heard screaming his lungs out as he's rapidly getting cooked alive in his own armour. As if that were not bad enough one trooper appears to get frozen absolutely solid by the air spirit and the spirit of man unleashes a blinding beam of light at yet another one of the troopers, a bright explosive spark bursts out from his armour where it's hit before he goes down out of sight while Darkon's spirit unleashes a freezing blast of it's own at yet another trooper though that one seemed to shrug off the hit before at least attempting to return fire, though it at least seemed to be to no effect.

Most of the remaining men that were visible quickly turned their attention to either helping their fellows try and deal with the sudden appearance of the spirits, or fired more grenades off at the office area in a desperate bid to hopfully kill what ever mage was controlling the spirits. Spawn found himself practically face to face with one of the armoured goons who wasted little time at all on turning his weapon in his direction and opening up with two quick shots from his assault rifle almost before Spawn had a chance to recover his footing.

(GM Note:
It is now Jagger's action
Jagger: You need to either try and dodge under full defence or roll reflexes. You need to make two reflex rolls (Threshold 2 and 3 respectively). Keep in mind due to your wound your defence rolls are at -1. If you choose to go on full defence, you may not attack this pass.

All of those in the office area who are not prone must also either drop prone, or roll reflexes and risk getting hit by the machine guns. You must also all roll a damage resistance test (Body + Impact armour + 4 armour provided by the walls) to try and soak 5P damage from all the grenades exploding. Those in the office area now have a visibility modifier for light smoke (As well as an additional -2 unless you take an observe in detail action and a further -2 for any audio perception tests.)

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

As soon as the goon he landed on was down, Spawn immediately had to avoid the dead man's fate. He managed to stay on his feet, but a sharp pain in his leg and a tightening of the muscles there told him he had not made it through unscathed.
On top of this, two more of the baddies were swinging their weapons in Spawn's direction. The only thing he could do was throw himself between the two vehicles near him and try to dodge out of harm's way.
First: 11d6.hits(5) → [6,5,6,2,4,4,3,6,3,6,4] = (5)
Second: 11d6.hits(5) → [1,6,1,3,1,5,2,1,2,4,6] = (3)
5 and 3 hits, respectively.

Having leapt into a veritable hornet's nest, Spawn vaguely heard Andre's message; something about 'cavalry and spirits', but he currently had too much on his mind - mainly a warehouse full of flying lead and drekhead goons - to pay attention.
One word ran through his thoughts as he fought for his life, and the lives of his reunited team, 'Spade...Spade...Spade...'

"What do you see down there? And how should we be reacting to this?" Sha'hGrim sent the thought to her spirit, combining the complex words that she would have used to communicate with her teammates in to one clear thought, further underpinning the value of telepathic communication. The spirit and Sha'hGim could communicate almost an entire conversation in the time it took for her to ask a simple question of her teammate, let alone get it answered!
Chasky's Perception Test: 4 Successes
“I don’t understand these things so well,“ The spirit responded to Sha’hGrim; the statement coming in a form something like a picture of the trucks with a question-mark over the top of it. “But these make perfect targets.“ The spirit finished, again the form of the statement coming something like a quick "picture" of the scene, with a red hue over the attackers who had not yet been targetted by a spirit.
Sha’hGrim took stock of the picture sent to her by the spirit, figuring that it could do it’s job, and make the team’s job easier, if it focused on the ones that were attacking Spawn first. “Take those first.“ She communicated by sending the picture back, but "zooming in" on the two who were nearest Spawn.
“Edgar – Help!“ She said, knowing that at the moment, she was likely the only one of the team who had a reasonable sense of the who picture. Alexia, might be close, but her drones wouldn’t see the Astral portion.
“Focus on the [Left]“ She said, working hard to hold in her breath as she forcibly hit the ground, face down, and started rolling toward the staircase. There was currently only one way out of the Office area, and she needed to get there!
OOC: [Left] refers to the picture posted by Kesslan. Sha’hGrim will actually give a physical direction: North/South/East/West.
The spirit, increasing it's forward speed as it's footing became simpler, sent a question back to Sha'hGrim: "Should I hide?" It asked by sending a picture of itself, barely recognizeable through a dark cloud of shadow, coalescing in on itself. Sha'hGrim could not have been more delighted, immediately and emphatically sending back her ascent. That the spirit had thought to use it's powers to protect Chasky was deeply touching to Sha'hGrim, and she was more than happy to ascent to it's use of her Stored Power in her link to it. OOC: "Stored Power" of course translates to "Services" for those of us out-of-game.

Game Stuff:
Sha’hGrim Actions:
Free: Drop Prone.
Free Action: Speak (6 words)
Simple: Communicate with the Spirit
Simple: Communicate with the Spirit
Damage Soak Test: Damage Soaked

Chasky Actions:
Free: Percieve
Free Action: Activate Shadow Cloak (-1 Services)
Simple: Communicate with Sha'hGrim
Simple Action: Run (7 Successes)

A massive devil appears by the last jeep, wreathed in flames and laughing before grasping a hapless guard in a massive bear hug.[Bear hug of fire: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3291665/ DV 14P fire damage] Lillith smiles and waves at the armed man on the other side of the armored Jeep, and a streak of light flashes out [Lillith using Laser: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3291671/ DV 11P Light damage(AP -half + Blinding) Resist Drain: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3291674/ Drain=1] and she sighs languidly, a little sound so out of place given the scene of destruction. A beautiful siren appears, and wraps the last luckless fragger in a watery embrace[Engulf: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3291687/ DV 10S] a beautific smile upon her face as she does so. As if that weren't enough, to the far left, a man with the antlers of a stag and a boisterous laugh slams a massive boulder into another guard[Elemental Attack: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3291695/ DV 10P] and what looks like a blue stripper kisses the man next to him[Accident: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3291751/ Hey, these two might be okay... for now.] and flashes her breasts at him.

The end effect of the Fire Elemental's deadly embrace turns into something perhaps a little less than expected. In the end it will never be known what killed the poor trooper in it's grasp first. The flames, or all the explosives he'd been carrying cooking off. No one could fail to notice the effect however as suddenly there was a loud explosion, followed by a chain of other explosions.. and then followed by yet more. In the end it wasn't just the trooper that died, the vehicle he'd been near suddenly turned from being a whole, intact armoured truck firing a machine gun, to something a little closer to resembling.. well.. some sort of ghastly inspired modern art as over half of it was litterally shredded into dust by monifillament fragments and the force of the explosion badly demolished, warped or melted the rest. The two troopers who had exited the vehicle in question were likewise rendered into a fine red paste mixed with now entirely unidentifiable bits of.. stuff, though one at least appeared to have been killed right before that moment by Lillith's laser blast.

However it was not all 'good news' for the home team. Faust could feel that for all it's power, the Fire Spirit succumbed to the explosion and was almost immediately disrupted by the blast (The spirit is now effectively lost along with it's remaining services). Lillith too did not escape unscathed as the spirit of man had been caught in the fringes of the blast and had been badly wounded (-7 boxes, now suffers a -2 penalty to all actions) but was still most certainly still in the fight.

The echoing blasts also had the downside of at least temporarily making escape through the large open doorway into the warehouse a very dangerous prospect to cross (For the next 10 combat passes ammunition and explosives will be cooking off, making it a rather nasty suppressed area.)

The loss of the Fire spirit was also somewhat offset by two more of the attackers dropping as the giant bolder from the earth spirit crushes it's victim in a rather gorey mess while the water's spirit entrapped victim finally ceased his struggles and was now completely still, thought it was hard to tell at first glance if he was dead or merely unconscious.

Updated Map:


(Jagger is in the middle of the formation. To his imediate left is one of the vehicles, a short distance to the right there are two soldiers and another vehicle)

cursing herself for her lack of usual preparation on her drones, they barely had half of the programs necessary to do what she needed them to do. As she had only bought them several days prior she had not had much more time to work on them to make them little more than a visual deter-ant at this point. She abandoned what she was going to do with the drones for the moment, they just circled over the vehicles. she dropped to the ground, just as she got close to the door and pulled out her pistol. then took a single shot at one of the attackers on the far left closest to her.

Damage Soak Test: (15d6.hits(5)=6) (no Damage taken)

Free Action: Drop Prone
Simple: Ready Weapon
Simple: Fire Weapon (10d6.hits(5)=2)

Sylph, the air spirit had been protecting Darkon when the attack began. But she also felt that attack was the best defense.

Her thoughts floated like smoke on the water. It didn’t seem likely that Darkon was going anywhere soon, so she didn’t need to hide him. Best way to be of service right now would probably be to stop the shooting.

The spirits thoughts went on, going up and down like curling mist. Machines had to be handled, right? Those big gun-cars had to be handled by someone.

The train of thought continued. She should look for that someone in order to take away his breath. If they can’t breath, they can’t handle things. She had learned that early about the corporeal beings. And if they can’t handle the gun-cars, the gun-cars won’t shoot at Darkon.

Simple, logic. Sylph felt proud.

She whisped off to find that being. And to take it’s breath.

Sylph searches for the one piloting the cars. Int(=force)5 +skill Search (=force)5 (10d6. hits(5)=5)

When she finds him/her, she would materialize and use Noxious breath on him/her. ((I couldn’t find what kind of roll the powers need.))

With a sigh of relief as he hears the explosions within the one thought that holds any sway in his mind is "Glad I decided to wait..." as he makes his way back towards the corner of the building. Looking at the grenade in his hand. "Shoulda packed some det-cord on me..." he says more to himself then anyone in particular, with a shrug he kneels down a couple meters from the corner and sets the grenade at the base of the wall.




Demolitions: 2(rank)+ 7(Logic) (9d6=4,3,4,5,3,1,6,5,6)

ooc: I think I did that correctly

While the spirits are busy seemingly ripping the place apart, Edgar quickly improvises on the situation once he finds his access to the warehouse blocked. A quick jog further down the wall and a very rough tamping job of piling dirt and debris against the hand grenade appear to set the grenade up properly to breach the wall the moment Edgar is ready. (Tenaka: It will detonate your next turn should you choose to find cover set it off). The job is crude but the street sam feels confident that it will do the job given the condition of the already existing structure.

Alexia meanwhile drops to the ground when the grenades start detonating against the walls and everyone inside the room is bathed with debris. Before the slight ringing in her ears has even stopped however, Alexia moves up to one of the recently opened holes in the wall to start returning fire, though with all the smoke, dust, explosions and action with the spirits below, it's hard for her to tell if her shot even landed. Coincidentally it was about this point that Faust's air spirit used the distraction on the solder being shot at to utilize it's accident power and thus, in ducking behind cover, the trooper soon finds he's some how hit the magazine release catch on his rifle at a rather bad time for such things to happen. Rather than bending down to pick up the magazine however he simply snaps a quick shot off from his under-slung grenade launcher at the spirits to try and buy some time (creating yet another explosion though if there's any effect on the spirits, no one is able to tell) before pulling a new magazine from one of his pouches and slamming it home.

Darkon's spirit abandons her previous assault on a trooper as the other spirits are soon mopping everything up, turning it's attention to the remaining vehicles. While no pilot is found in the first vehicle, a gunner most certainly is and in an attempt to quickly take the gunner out the spirit unleashes a noxious cloud of air that soon fills the whole vehicle up with dark poisonous smoke. While the gunner certainly reacts, and the gun ceases to fire, the gunner doesn't drop dead, or even seem to be much affected at all. What he does do however is pull out his pistol and start firing at the spirit that's suddenly in the vehicle with him in a total panic.

With so many dead or wounded in litterally mere seconds the apparent ambush had taken a drastic and complete reversal on the attackers. While none were cowards, they also were not foolish enough to want to stick around and die when they were so obviously badly outclassed. Most of the gun fire now starts to center on the remaining spirits in an attempt to take them out while the remaining soldiers start falling back to the only two remaining compromised vehicles in a very orderly manner.

Those left in the office soon find Spade's voice speaking up again, the holographic rendering of the man having never left. "Hah ha! Well done.. well done! Sadly, your still all going to die."

Amid all this, Jagger finds that the rather hostile attention turned his way, soon turns to more important things as the spirits are proving far greater a threat than he, (not to mention they are far easier to see at the moment than the shrouded figure). This allows him a moment to go back on the offensive but he's left with several choices. The vehicle he's right next to seems to be filling up with some weird green smoke and it's machine gun has suddenly stopped firing (though the remaining two are still going full tilt). The faint blurry outlines of the soldiers that had been firing at him just a moment ago are pulling back and the vehicles they are pulling back to are still firing on his fellow runners up in the office.

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

The gunfire, the explosions...the screams. It was the escape from Jester's mansion all over again. Spawn remembered how their team had faced that final gauntlet - fighting their way through a no-man's land under a savage assault from well-armed guards. He remembered why any of them survived at all; they had fought hard, fought well, and, most importantly, as a team.
Now here they were again, facing a coordinated attack, and once again pulling together as a team to overcome Spade's seemingly inept ambush. But something was wrong here. Something was tugging at Spawn's instincts. Spade may be a burnout chip/drughead, but back in the day he'd been their best combat tactician. Spawn couldn't believe the sammie had so totally lost that kind of battle expertise.

The tingle up his spine increased, the hairs on the back of his neck seemed to be trying to crawl right up on top of his skull. Then it hit home, the obvious ambush, the less-than-professional goons, and now the way the remaining goons seemed to be trying to bug out in a too-ordered fashion, as if preplanned and well choreographed.

Spawn switched off the chameleon feature of his bodysuit so that his teammates would be able to see him - uncaring now if their opponents saw him as well. He now thought they were no longer the main threat...they never had been.

Shouting to be heard over the cacophony, despite the fact that their party-line link allowed them to hear one another well enough to communicate in high noise level areas - his internal survival instincts were screaming at him and he could not refrain from relaying that urgency verbally - Spawn told his team what he believed was their true danger:

"Trap! The warehouse! Get out! NOW!"

Spawn saw that it would still be almost impossible for them to get out with the retreating vehicles still pouring lead into the warehouse. He had to do something to give his team a chance to escape. Ignoring the two goons who were now ignoring him, he quickly stepped over to the now defunct truck and tried the driver's door.

(If door open and motor still running:)

Spawn jumped into the pilot's seat, slammed the gears into Reverse, and stomped the throttle to the floor; sending the truck backward toward the other vehicles.

(Kesslan, if the green gas affects Spawn in a toxic fashion and/or causes him to pass out or take damage, let me know what I need to resist.)

Sha'hGrim just rolled her eyes. - Of course it's a trap! Spade has worked with us! He knows what we're capable of! Sha'hGrim thought to herself, reaching deep within her to get a feel for what she had left to give. This was already taxing on her resources, as a magician, and as a 'Runner. And she wasn't sure how many more "surprises" like this she would be able to take.
"We're cheaper alive than dead." Sha'hGrim replied to Spade, attempting to keep him speaking in the hopes that it would delay the inevitable. She didn't know what he had planned, but based on experience, she would assume that it was going to be exciting. Grim, certainly, but exciting none the less. Sha'hGrim peered about the room trying to decide if there was something there which would help to keep her and Alexia alive.
Distracted Perception: 5

Sha'hGrim was excited, as she seemed to have caught a momentary lull in the Dust and Debris flying about, and could actually see clearly. Even better, there seemed to be a slight break in the noise and explosions. Even the lead that had been filling the air seemed to have slowed for the moment. - Maybe the guns are all reloading, at the same time. She thought to herself, looking about with a strange level of clarity. Then the absurdity of that idea struck her, and she was forced to amend her thoughts. - More likely: I'm in that well discussed, never proven, "Moment Of Clarity" which seems to preceding death. She thought, her mind tinged with dark humor about the strange moment of clarity she was having.

In an attempt to use this moment to it's fullest, Sha'hGrim decided to review the outside wall for holes caused by the bullets and explosions. She figured that she might be able to connect some dots with her Combat Axe, and chop a way out for her and Alexia.

Chasky
Premonition. Divination. Visions. Foretelling. They were all words used to describe essentially the same thing. To Chasky, it manifested itself as a "Weather Sense" so to speak. Like that "feeling" that tells you a thunderstorm is coming. On a sunny day. Of course, if asked, Chasky could call on his Power of "Divination" and attempt to more clearly define that feeling in terms of a specific event, or a timeframe during which it might happen. But Sha'hGrim had not requested that, and Chasky didn't think it was important enough, at the moment, to attempt the use of the power on his own. He knew something was coming, and his duty was to attempt to stop Sha'hGrim from being damaged by it.
And he was seeing red. He knew his duty, and it was significantly at odds with itself at the moment. There was both the immediate threat, and the longer term potential, and both were in play. Sha'hGrim had tasked him with Guarding her, and with Magically Guarding her. That meant, to him, that he needed to weigh the challenges before him and deal with the Threats in order of urgency. But there was a quickly intersecting line where the urgency of the threats intersected, and then diverged. And worse: If the first threat was not dealt with effectively, it could become a third threat! "This is not good." The Spirit sent to Sha'hGrim. It didn't send along any particular warnings or statements, as it knew that Sha'hGrim had her hands full trying to keep herself alive. But Chasky (as it was starting to refer to itself, taking on a bit of the aspects of the Body it was borrowing for the moment) was one of the few Spirits who actually enjoyed the brief moments of experience it was gathering in the Physical Plane, as the Mortals called it. All told, Chasky was generally a "happy" Spirit, and perfectly willing to maintain a level of communication with it's Mortals that would be surprising to most Magicians. Perhaps that's why it always ended up with the ones who appreciated that.
The time was on hand, however, to make a decision and stick with it. It could either head upstairs to defend her against whatever the "Number 2 Threat" would be, when it came, and perhaps the return of these in front of him as a "Number 3 Threat". Or he could continue it's rush toward the Mortals in front of him, in an attempt to engage and delay their retreat. Perhaps staving off the "Number 2 Threat" that it could feel coming, like a thundercloud on the horizon.
Chasky chose, erring on the side of caution, to "Throw on the brakes". He chose that his duty, with the "troops" of Mortals on the retreat, was to be at Sha'hGrim's side. She may have need of his strength, in this body. Or his bulk. She may have need of a shield to stand behind. Or a sword to attack with. And none of those things would be possible with him "deployed" against these Mortals.
"Coming Back." He said, turning back around and retracing his steps. Chasky knew that this Flesh body would take longer to travel the short distance to her. it couldn't be more than 10 meters to Sha'hGrim's side... But because the of Flesh Body, Chasky was going to have to traverse between 20 and 30 to get there. - What a waste... If only these Mortals knew... Chasky started thinking to himself, before cutting the thought off, remembering that it wasn't a question of knowledge for them, but of capacity. This Physical Plane didn't work in the same way as his native plane.

Game Stuff
Sha'hGrim Actions:
Free: Percieve
Free Action: Speak
Complex/Simple Actions: Held (for the moment, pending Perception Test)

Chasky Actions:
Free Action: Communicate with Sha'hGrim.
Complex Action: Run = 3 hits

ever sense the message from spade came to her several hours ago something just hadn't been sitting right with Alexia. she quickly went over the information she had gathered beforehand for this meet turned betrayal. and still that same think was nagging at her. so she turned to reviewing Spade's personality. He had been a good teammate, and invaluable on the last heist with that creepy artifact. Everyone was invaluable though at that time, without everyone's skills no one would have made it out alive. That brought it back to this recent betrayal, overall not something new and the situation was not far from expected. The "Dead" don't just randomly come back to haunt you, and these fledgling runners that spade brought for the ambush were not up to the job obviously, but Spade's experience should have let him know that before hand.

This entire thing just felt wrong somehow, it looked like the ambush that was supposed to get us which so quickly turned to our favor in mere fractions of a second. Was for some reason to Alexia still feeling like we were on the loosing side of the stick. Things just didn't add up, spade till now didn't add up with the situation. He might have been a bugger but his attitude didn't hint at that which said something about his mental state. but again without him in front of them for her to see herself or for that matter Sha, it meant nothing this could be just a big bluff on his part, and he could have nothing. Though it didn't feel like a bluff.

Then it came Spawn's shout at them it drew back the image from her divination attempt earlier. the images she couldn't understand, and still couldn't completely understand. Though she did know her own skills and knowledge, and instincts were telling her that spawn was more right than he knew. It all clicked Spades comment of us doing well, as if he knew these guys weren't going to be enough. And he should have known, his comment that we were still going to die it all clicked now. She started to get to her feet as fast as possible while moving back to Sha' she urgently put across the com to the rest of the team.

GET OUT!!! she started to grab Sha' to drag her out if necessary but pull her along at the least EVERYONE GET OUT!, HE'S RIGGED THE PLACE still having to try and dodge some lead but not nearly as much as when the trap was initially sprung. with the other team retreating they weren't worried as much a keeping up suppression fire as getting out as quickly and organised as possible.

Reflex: (8d6.hits(5)=1)(wasn't actually sure what die to roll so i just rolled reaction, let me know if i left something out)
Possible damage taken (13d6.hits(5)=4)

Prior to pulling the pin on the improvised wall breach charge Edgar calls out over the comm. "I'm making you guys a door, lower level, (top right not sure on the directions lol) corner." After rigging the grenade to blow he makes his way towards cover to escape the blast radius. As he waits for his impromptu door he readies his smg to provide cover for the others retreat.

The battle itself started to end almost as quickly as it had begun, though all the fighting was still far from over. For the most part the attacking forces continued to pull back and started piling into the remaining vehicles. All around him Jagger could hear the sounds of troops pulling back as he opened the door on the one vehicle that was still intact but filled with gas. An absolutely horrible stench assaulted his senses even through the top grade respirator he was wearing making him feel sick to his stomach. Perhaps it was the smell that made him fall back, or maybe he just saw the gun swinging his way through all the green smog that poured out of the truck. In either case he had just enough time to duck to the side as some one still inside the vehicle opened fire, the first shot seemed directed at something inside the vehicle but the second had clearly been aimed at the now open door.

Meanwhile Edgar's well timed blast blew a man sized hole in the wall on the lower level of the office, breaching an at least seemingly safe way out for everyone still stuck (Anyone wishing to reach the way out from the second floor may do so in a single run action). By this point the remaining two vehicle turrets began to turn their fire away from the office and towards the attacking spirits in an attempt to some how slow them down if not stop them outright. However that wasn't before one last stitch of bullets traced it's way through the office and caught Alexia in the shoulder. Fortunately beyond a rather nasty bruise, the shifter managed to avoid any serious damage thanks to her armour (Starcraft: Don't forget your regeneration roll at the end of your last pass. You roll Magic + Body. Each hit heals 1 box of stun or physical, so you need 3 hits to fully heal the injury.)

For now only one enemy vehicle started to show signs of pulling back as it raced for the large exit door and through the still raging fire. Shrapnel pinged off it's sides and pitted it's armour as it made it's way past but seemed otherwise unharmed. Still it marked the zone as still hazardous to pass. A few more grenades were launched in the direction of the spirits during the retreat and by this point all obvious gunfire had been turned on the spirits that had beset the attackers, though if it had any effect the spirits manifested forms certainly didn't show it.

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

Choking from the gas in the truck, his stomach cramping with convulsive nausea, Spawn hardly noticed the round that pinged off the door where his head had just been. His immediate concern was to get away from the open door and the toxic fog drifting lazily out of the truck. The sound of someone inside battling some spirit only confirmed the need to put distance between himself and whatever was happening in there.

Amid the noise and confusion that any sustained combat became, he vaguely noticed the new message alert flashing steadily and patiently in his peripheral overlay. Having no immediate threat - except for trying to fight off the need to yark - Spawn took a moment to access the file as he was instructed to do so before leaving the warehouse.
Once the file was read, he felt - not for the first time - that the Exchange seemed to delight in popping up when the task offered would make whatever situation he happened to be involved in all the more difficult. However, he was well aware of the benefits of such tasks, and the consequences of refusal.

So, with a bit of time to catch his breath, he backed away a little further from the smoking vehicle and its mini-battle raging inside, and sent out an 'all-points bulletin' to the group:

"Everyone! Don't let these drek-guzzlin' goons get away! No time to explain now, but its fraggin important! No one escapes!"

3rd Pass - OOC: Let's call this one: "Taking one for the team."
Sha'hGrim, gripped in an inexplicably strange indecision had almost missed her chance to act at all. - Clearly this is not you. She said to herself, shaking her head and attempting to make some sense of the myriad of choices that lay before her. Obviously Spade wouldn't intentionally blow the place with his other assets still inside, so it actually helped the situation to keep them there longer. As strange a thought as that might have been. That said, she had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't really matter in the end. So, for some short-term effect, it would be useful to keep the goons busy. But long-term, it still wouldn't matter... - What to do? What to do? She thought to herself, not sure how to proceed. [b]- Got it![/i] She thought to herself, a wicked idea clarifying in her mind. Fortunately, Spawn's testimony to her thoughts was right on time to set the record straight on her future action.
Sha'hGrim grinned evilly, picking out the driver of the truck heading through the open door. She knew that this particular trick was one he was totally unprepared for, and she threw everything she had behind it. In order to make this work, however, Sha'hGrim knew that she couldn't sustain Chasky's hastening, and reluctantly released his Increased Reflexes spell, sending out a silent prayer to whatever gods there were that he would survive despite the speed penalty she had just hobbled him with. - He'll be fine. She told herself. She knew she was lieing, but she did what she had to do.
Her course of action chosen, Sha'hGrim resisted the urge to allow Alexia to pull her to "safety" just yet, hanging on to her uncommonly clear visual on the scene before her, and optimizing what may just be the moment before she perished.

Casting Force 9 Ball Lightning: 8 hits (W/Edge)
Drain resist (10) = 7; 3 boxes. Physical. OOC: It would seem I used all my luck on the perception...

Sha'hGrim reeled from the force of the blast, knowing that the pain she was feeling was nothing in compared to the massive damage she had just inflicted. Despite the now severely bleeding nose, Sha'hGrim looked through her tearing eyes to watch brilliant light expanding within the center of the no-longer-escaping truck. The ball lightning would almost certainly take out everyone in it, leaving the truck there as an additional road-block for any further escape attempts. They would have to ram through this one to get out, now.
OOC: That's 17 boxes of Lightning Damage, resisted at half Impact. If they take any damage, and survive, they need to succeed a Body+Willpower (3) test or be incapacitated for (10-resist) Combat Turns (yes, turns, not passes); success applies a -2 penalty to all actions for the same duration. Sha'hGrim centered the Spell on the center of the vehicle, and limited the Area to only 3 Meters Radius (so a 6 Meter diameter); which will comfortably encase the entire vehicle, from the inside out; but shouldn't reach any of her teammates. My guess is that even Military Hardening won't stop this from overpowering the electrical circuits in the vehicle - but that's your call...
Sha'hGrim slumped back now, no longer resisting Alexia pulling at her arm. She had retained consciousness, which was more than she had any right to expect, but the power of the spell coursing through her had been more than her body had been prepared for. It had blasted through her with such violent ferocity, it had done some damage in it's passing. Thankfully, far less than she had anticipated; less, even, than it should have! It was, after all, an awesome spell. Awesomely terrible, but awesome, no less.

[EDIT] 4 Edge used so far.

In other situations, an ordinary vehicle might be obliterated by the massive magical assault. That was not the case against an upgraded military vehicle, even one that was slightly outdated compared to the most modern tech out there. Even so the massive electrical ball that connected with the vehicle's windshield left it scorched and smoking as well as happened to widen the doorway and melt pavement as well as partially melt the vehicle's tires. The latter didn't matter terribly much at the moment however as despite surviving the mighty blow, the vehicle's systems were overloaded (The 'lead' vehicle is now overloaded and non functional for 5 combat turns after which some one may attempt a reboot.) as the vehicle was already in motion it continues to spin backwards though notably soon goes out of control and winds up swerving off suddenly off to the left and out of view of those in the warehouse (Edgar's viewpoint, being largely unobstructed will easily note it slowly rolling towards what will be an eventual dead stop though it is presently still moving)

4th Pass (Initiative is now 21, due to wound modifier)
- Ugh... That didn't help...[/i] Sha'hGrim thought to herself, being tugged toward the stairs down by Alexia. - And I don't think I can do it again... She thought, feeling the weight of crushing responsibility settle on her shoulders. She needed to hold up her end on the team, and she'd most definitely done that; but now they needed more. - Yes you can! a voice from inside of her screamed out, forcing itself to be heard. - You can. And you will! It shouted again, confronting her pain, and fears bold-faced. The voice in her head brought her thoughts back around, again bringing her focus and concentration on the moment and matter at hand. Sha'hGrim knew that she could, in fact, do the same again. She knew too that she could survive it. Though, she may not survive with enough strength to get herself out of the building...
"One more... Sha'hGrim groaned over the open Comm line. Taking Drain damage wasn't like taking a bullet. Lord knows Sha'hGrim, and every other 'Runner had done enough of that. Drain damage was like an icy poison spreading through the veins, untouched by your body's capacity to "ignore" localized damage. A cut, or a bullet even, could be forgotten in the heat of battle. Drain damage forced itself to be heard; felt.
Sha'hGrim struggled to bring her mind back to that peaceful place, where spellcasting happened. She struggled to control the whirling death of the magics coalescing in the air, and in her very soul, as she forced them to do her bidding once more. Sha'hGrim reached back down inside herself, struggling to pull together the force of will to shape another brilliant and violent explosion like the one she had just shot.
"Use the hole in the wall; go get that car." She sent the thought as a picture of Chasky running through the hole in the wall toward the car that had just been shut down to her spirit and Chasky, giving them leave to exit the building. Sha'hGrim was unfailingly loyal to her team, and her pets. Chasky being outside would free him from whatever hell was about to rain down on this place, while assisting in a guarantee, of sorts, that the survivors of Sha'hGrim's previous spell would be kept busy, for a time, and unable to focus their attentions on her team.
[i]- This one will have to be smaller... Sha'hGrim told herself, surveying the scene before her. There were two operational vehicles remaining, one of which was leaking green gas, and unlikely to be going anywhere. Sha'hGrim knew that the target of her spell would have to be the other vehicle. She needed to shut it down. But she could only do it one way, and since these vehicles were likely hardened, it actually required her strength, and power, to be thrown recklessly in to a spell like the one she had just cast.

Force 7 Ball Lightning: 5 hits = 13 Boxes
[u]Drain Resist (9) = 3: 6 BOXES (Stun) 2 Meter Radius (4 Meter Diameter), centered on the Windshield again - on the only remaining functional vehicle. This should not be anywhere near Spawn.

"ACH! Sha'hGrim screamed out in pain as the power of the magical deluge surged through her soul, tearing and ripping as it passed. Her headache intensified to heights Magicians only hoped to imagine, in fear and awe, from the safety and comfort of their theoretical musings. But never experience. Not like this. It was all she could do to maintain even the barest modicum of focus, strength, and mind to the task at hand. Sha'hGrim had been destroyed by this spell.
Weakly, Sha'hGrim gripped Alexia's hand, allowing her to be dragged by the girl in whatever direction Alexia was headed.
"No more... She muttered, weakly.

Game Stuff:
Complex Action: Cast Spell.
Free Action: Speak.

Wounds (-3): Physical 3 (-1); Stun 6 (-2)
Edge: 2 Remaining

Last Pass

Alexia, Hurries out as fast as possible pulling Sha along behind her. However she was trying to be a little more cautious in getting out than she had in standing up. As urgent as she was to get out of the building alive she also wanted to get herself and Sha out as safely and in one piece as possible.
once she got to the ground floor she she quickly made her way towards the exit that Edgar had made.

Reflex: (8d6.hits(5)=3)
Damage Soak (If Applicable): (13d6.hits(5)=6)

Upon reaching the exit she swong around and fired a shot at the closest vehicle, hoping to hit one of the tires with the shot.
Firing: (11d6.hits(5)=4)


Regeneration: (11d6.hits(5)=3)

Sha'Grim's spell went off flawlessly, though this one didn't seem to pack enough oomph to actually stop the second vehicle as it kept on moving with a notable roar of the engines. The vehicle did however momentarily swerve out of control and clipped the now melted edge of the warehouse exit, denting in the fender but once again, the beast of a vehicle just kept on going. Alexia for her part, in having to help drag Sha'hgrim down the stairs only managed to get a parting shot off at the second vehicle as it fled and while she clearly heard the metalic 'ting' of the round hitting home on something, it didn't seem to have the slightest effect on the heavily armoured vehicle. Notably however, the turret mount seemed to be pointing up in the air and it seemed unlikely that it would start firing again in the immediate future.

That left only the one intact armoured vehicle near Jagger, a number of bodies and at least several so far unaccounted for enemy, that and the Hologram of Spade still standing there in the office where you'd run into him.

GM note:
New Initiative folks.

Round Summary:
Starcraft: Unharmed - Ground floor near hole breached by Edgar
Gala: Badly injured (3 boxes of Physical, 6 boxes of stun: -3 to all actions) - Ground floor near hole breached by Edgar
Tenaka: Unharmed - Outside of Warehouse near the hole he created
Faust: Unharmed - On the floor 2nd level of office
Darkon: Unharmed - On the floor 2nd level office
Jagger: Injured (3 Boxes of Physical, 2 Boxes of stun: Nauseated. -2 to all actions) - Warehouse near gas filled vehicle
Faust Fire Spirit: Disrupted
Darkon Spirit: Unharmed - In gas filled vehicle occupied by trooper
Faust Air Spirit: Unharmed - Warehouse floor
Faust Spirit of man: Unharmed - Warehouse floor
Faust Spirit of Water: Unharmed - Presently engulfing enemy that is no longer moving
Faust Spirit of Earth: Unharmed - Warehouse Floor
Chasky: Unharmed - Presently ground floor, office heading towards breach in wall.

Enemy Vehicle #1: Destroyed and in flames near entrance. Ammunition and grenades are still occasionally cooking off in this area
Enemy Vehicle #2: Inside Warehouse - Filled with Gas, Turret no longer firing
Enemy Vehicle #3: Badly Damaged, Disabled (5 Combat Turns) - Sitting just outside of the entrance
Enemy Vehicle #4: Damaged, Retreating.