Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - Vested Intrest

For most people who were members of The Exchange, life was fairly normal save for the occasional and sometimes very odd requests The Exchange made of it's members. However, by now The Exchange was a fairly well known entity in the shadows of Seattle and had limited reach elsewhere in the world, at least for now. What had not been known however, until recently to even The Exchange itself it seems, was that some one was targeting members of the network. How this individual was finding out who the members where, where they were or any other such details was still a mystery but The Exchange was hardly being idle about it. While it had not informed all of it's members of the dangers, in some cases to actually protect the individuals themselves, it had informed some that something was up. You were part of that small group of someones, Shadowrunners or equally skilled professionals who could be trusted to engage what ever force(s) were arrayed against The Exchange. The latest task was to investigate a recent bombing that had claimed the life of one of the members of The Exchange, a human SURGEling known as Spawn. Knight Errant had investigated as part of their regular duties but so far none of the details had been released to the public and the blast site was still sealed off.

The Exchange wanted, needed to know more, and as usual promised you would be 'Karmically rewarded'.

So, in the dead of night you arrived at the meeting point, a bus stop, knowing only that there was some one else you would be meeting there. Gash had been asked to pick up a small Pizza on the way at a small mom and pop shop and bring it to the meeting point. He was given a pass phrase to expect to hear as he stood at the meeting point. Neuro on the other hand had been told to go to the meeting point and look for some one carrying a pizza. He was to stand there a moment before idly inquiring on what kind of pizza it was. Spawn was to respond 'Anchovies' this would be the actual challenge word to which Neuro had been instructed to respond 'In the end we are all small fish in the sea'. Neither of you knew the name of the other, nor the appearance but you had both been instructed to work together to try and find out who had been behind the bombing, starting with an investigation of the sealed off crime scene and going from there, using what ever means was necessary. The Exchange would help where and when it could.

GM: Jagger as this was your previous characters home, feel free to describe the area he was living in, though most of what was there would have been destroyed in the blast or buried under rubble. There is at present a lone police drone watching the area and there's the typical AR and physical signs noting the place as Off Limits - Police Crime Scene.

The evening air was warm and humid as Gashaska 'Gash' Kaajka kept his hog to a slow, leisurely cruising speed while prowling through the Seattle streets. His PAN-connected commlink, wirelessly subscribed to his bio- and cyberware implants as well as the smartgun system of the shotgun nestled beneath his jacket, he kept in Hidden mode to protect sensitive personal information. The other link, a cheaper model, remained in Active mode and broadcast his fake SIN: Bango Skank, a fairly reputable tour guide and low-level member of the Ork Underground. The bike, a Harley-Davidson soft tail chopper, was more of an affectation for the non-initiated who viewed orks - and the Underground for that matter - as overrated street toughs and gangland mafioso types. And, as Gash's fixer, Jasper Crag, often said, "Most people will ignore what they expect to see." It was advice Gash had seen proven time and time again, especially in the shadows.

He had other reasons for the slow crawl as well. One, he wanted time to consider his present situation, and, two, his 'expected image' didn't work the same way with law enforcement. In this, his slightly advanced age gave him an edge. Where a younger ork snaking the highways and byways of the sprawl would incite a shakedown from just about every patrol cruiser and drone for miles, Gash was obviously an older male and less likely to get up to mischief. 'If you curly-tailed cretins only knew...' he mused, a wry grin causing his tusks to catch a stray flash of light and shine like polished ivory.

As for his current situation... Crag had been trying to talk Gash into joining The Exchange for months now, to no avail. Still, here he was, on his way to meet with some chummer to assist in investigating the recent bombing of an OU resident. He'd never met the wetwork victim - for that had no doubt been the motive behind the incident, or at least that was the popular rumor - but Gash did know some of the orks who had been a part of the construction crews that had built the guy's home, as well as a couple of the gangers, also orks, who had served as watchers on the ground-level front to the secret entrance.
And the general consensus had been that the resident, a SURGE victim, had been a total wackjob.

"Can't remember the name...Shawn? Prawn? Chong? Whatever...slot was an accident looking for a place to happen," Crag had said, with his patented smarm. "But the hit was made in our backyard, and that drek don't fly. We start letting any chummer with a grudge come down here and blow up our neighbors..." He had let the statement hang in the air like a stale fart, but Gash hadn't needed to hear the rest. Crag had been right. Despite the cause or conditions of the hit, they'd invaded OU turf, and that had to be addressed.

Gash felt warm wetness on his lower lip and realized with a grimace that he was starting to drool. The pizza, tied to the fuel cell between his crotch and the handlebars, was wafting its mouth-watering aroma straight into his face. He wiped away the spittle with the arm of his jacket and leaned into a right turn. He was only a few blocks from the designated bus stop anyway, best start looking for a good parking spot.

A short time later, Gash approached the bus stop where he was to meet his new 'partner,' feeling a bit ridiculous dressed in bike leathers and carrying a to-go box.
'Only in the Seattle shadows,' he thought to himself, 'could an ork with half a mil in wares be found delivering pizza...'

Bringing the map up on his HUD, Neuro started looking for a way out. The words 'loading bay' seemed to jump out at him, and he headed west towards the exit. Pounding down the hall, and slamming his hand on the door activating pad, he noticed the sounds of battle were fading. He didn't get the feeling that the fight was farther away...more like the defenders were all dead, and that meant that he would be too if he stuck around much longer. After approximately forever, the big loading door opened up, and Neuro was greeted with the sight of a fast desert-buggy tearing out the big bay doors in front of him. He barely had time to wish that they had waited for him, as an explosion rocked the building. Looking around frantically, he spotted...a truck! A BIG frakkin' truck. It was a tractor-trailer unit, but the trailer had been disconnected, and was a few feet behind the back wheels. It will have to do. Shouldering his bag of gear, he sprinted for the driver's door. He flung the door open, and tossed his bag across the seat into the passenger compartment. As the big engine rumbled to life, Neuro didn't have time to familiarize himself with the controls. He saw lights from a large vehicle coming towards him through the big open doors. It was coming fast, and seemed to be some kind of armored personnel vehicles. As it rolled to a stop, soldiers piled out and started to ready their weapons. Neuro put the big monster in gear and his foot jammed the accelerator.

"I've never driven one of these before..." He said to nobody in particular.
"How the frack would you know?" He answered himself with a short bark of laughter.

As the transport truck was getting up to speed, the driver of the APC pulled forward sideways in front of the exit.
"DREK!" Neuro grunted as he braced for impact. The big truck slammed into the APC, and the result was kind of like a troll kicking a puppy. He felt the slightest of impact, and bent metal and Plasteel was flying through the air. Not at all like the driver had apparently intended. A fresh hail of gunfire bounced off the armor plating behind him as he drove towards the lights of Seattle, slowly picking up speed. He set his internal commlink to hidden mode. It wouldn't do to be broadcasting his real SIN and name all over the place...after all "They" were going to be looking for him. Cranodyne, they were called. He couldn't remember hearing anything about them before, but that didn't mean anything. Most of his memories were fuzzy...or gone altogether. He fired up his external commlink, and set it to broadcast his fake SIN. For all intents and purposes, he was now Rand Crueger, freelance security specialist.

~MESSAGE~ Flashed across his field of vision, and with a brief thought, he accessed it. This was going to take some getting used to. Even though he could remember nothing of his past, he knew somehow that one used to need a deck to access the Matrix, and it seemed he no longer did. The Exchange. They were the ones who gave him the map, and arranged his escape from the facility. Apparently they needed his help with something. He checked his Satmap, and adjusted his course accordingly. The rest of the drive was uneventful, and Neuro's stomach growled fitfully.

" Mmm. Pizza. Please let anchovies just be a countersign." He thought
"Who would ruin a perfectly innocent pizza?!"

As he got close to the designated meeting place, Neuro started looking for a place to park. Fortunately, there was a large parking lot not too far from the bus stop, and he pulled straight in, looping around to face the exit before he got out and locked the doors. Kind of a seedy neighborhood. He'd have to invest in some securtiy for that truck, after he had it cleansed. Hate to have Cranodyne find him just because he forgot to zap the tags. As he neared the bus stop, he saw an ork dressed in leathers.

"Is this my contact? Looks like some sidewalk-biker wannabe." Neuro thought briefly, until he saw the chopper parked across the street.
"Oops!" Best to keep his eyes open and his mouth shut for the time being. He'd hate to screw this up just because of his smart mouth and lack of attention to detail. He was here to investigate, and he doubted that the Exchange would partner him with some mere 'ganger. Perhaps this guy was more than he appeared. He walked over to the bus stop casually, and stood there silently for a short moment before he could hold it in no longer.

"Hey chummer. What kind of pizza you got there?"

As Gash recited his side of the code phrase, "Anchovies," he lifted the lid of the to-go box and turned it around so the human could see for himself that there were no little fishes on the pizza, but there was a goodly amount of meat. Though his code word had been anchovies, no one had specified that they indeed had to be on the pizza. And personally, he hated those too-salty aqua-fodder.

With the lid up, the smell was too much and Gash reached in to snag a slice. The look on his face as he took a big bite was pure adoration. Almost as an afterthought, he proferred the open box to his contact.

"Mmm man, that's good," he said, licking crumbs from his lips. "I been smellin that thing all the way here."

The guy certainly looked the part; maybe a tad too militant which Gash hoped would not escalate their working together into a 'chain-of-command' conflict; but there were lots of punks wearing military-issue ordnance with no proper concept of what that stood for. But he was getting ahead of himself...first things first.
Gash eyed the man, one eyebrow raised, waiting for the final part of the code phrase. He didn't seriously expect some other slot to have gotten this much without knowing the rest - and these 'cloak-and-dagger' games were a little over the top to his mind ((character opinion, Kesslan, not player's)) - but only fools took unnecessary risks in the shadows.

With a grin, Neuro reached in and grabbed a slice for himself. He hastily stuffed it in his mouth, and barely stopped to taste it before it was gone. Before he was done chewing, he reached for another slice.
"Mmmph. Good!" He mumbled around the mouthful of food, trying not to spit any of it at the orc in front of him.
"Er...I mean...In the end we are all just" He looked longingly at the second piece of pizza in his hand.
Uh...small fish in the sea." he finsihed quickly and wolfed down his remaining slice.
"Sorry, chummer...starving. I'm kinda new at this spy stuff."
" Name's Neuro" he stated, wiping the grease off on his pant-leg and proffering his hand.
"I'm guessing we'll be working together."

(Player Note: Gash is fairly clean-cut and heavily muscled...think Schwarzenegger in Terminator with tusks but minus the Slavic accent.)

The ork, having grabbed another slice himself, was caught off-guard by Neuro's offered hand. The easiest thing would have been to drop the slice back in the box, but as happens sometimes in moments of sudden indecision, the thought never crossed his momentarily flailing mind. Instead, Gash stuck the slice in his mouth, clamping his teeth and lips on it to hold on, and shook with the human.
Though this took care of the handshake issue, it also resulted in the loss of all the toppings from the pizza slice as sauce-soaked bits of meat and cheese slopped down the front of Gash's leather biker jacket.
Gash slowly looked down at himself with the expression of one who wants not to see what he knows he will. Grasping the offending remains of the slice in his mouth, he tossed the wedge of sauce covered crust aside and gingerly wiped away the mess from his jacket. This done, he cast about for something to clean his hand on, or with, but lacking napkins or a convenient source of water, shrugged and grabbed another slice, being careful to touch only the part of what was left in the box that he was taking. He didn't want to spoil his new partner's appetite any more than he already might have.

After chewing up and swallowing what was already in his mouth, he said, "Good t'meet ya, Neuro. Call me Gash. Yeah, looks that way."

He took another big bite, now determined to finish his share. They could get moving soon, but at the rate they were tearing through the pizza, it wouldn't hurt to finish eating first.

"So what's yer specialty? I mean, I figure they hired me fer my Underground affiliation since that's where the slot what got geeked lived, but what's yer angle?"

OOC: Curious as to how far we are from the explosion site. Can we see the AR warnings and police drone from here?

Carefully averting his eyes from the remaining cheese and sauce messing up the menacing looking orcs leather jacket, Neuro grabbed one last slice.
"That's good for me. Can only eat so much of this stuff."
"I'm guessing they sent me in for my Matrix abilities. These 'Exchange' folks are kinda vague, but they helped me out of a tight spot not too long ago, so I kinda feel like I owe them."
He didn't want to say too much about the escape. Wouldn't it just be his luck to flap his gums and end up back n the freezer. He made sure his analyze program was still running in the background, and set up a data search for any media coverage of the explosion, narrowing his results down to this neighborhood. He may not know the area, but with his Satmap, and a little research he wouldn't feel so blind.
"So, where do we start? I'm parked about a block away, but I have some gear in my truck that we may be able to put to use."
"You got a tacsoft?" He asked, running a hand through his thinning hair. Where most men his age had a forehead, he liked to joke that his was an eight-head.
" I have a few extras, just in case. Of course, they're way better with more of us linked in, but will be handy either way."

Neuro realized that he was rambling, and paused to take a breath and let his new partner get a word in edgewise.

Spoiler:

Gash stood, the now mostly empty pizza box still held in one hand, his expression impassive, as Neuro rambled on before winding to a halt. The way the human was averting his eyes and looking as if Gash might at any moment suddenly lunge for his throat was fairly typical of most people's reaction to the imposing ork. Gash took it in stride. Despite the stereotyping brought on by media portrayal of orks as uncouth, ill-tempered hoods - accurate of many members of his particular metatype, admittedly, and, to be completely honest, nurtured by most others - he himself exercised at least a modicum of restraint...unless, of course, the situation warranted an uncouth, ill-tempered hood.

As he accompanied Neuro toward the indicated lot where the human had parked his vehicle, Gash related what he knew of their assigned investigation site.

"Place was a runner's dream," he told Neuro. "From what I heard, which ain't much, the ground level looked like a typical low-rent safehouse: Tudor-style house with a free-standing garage. That was the front. Somewhere on the lot was some kind of lift or escape tunnel that led down to the real home. Heard the guy had lots of security...even had one of them 'Raku servant drones. That's about all I know"

There was little to tell, actually, mostly second- or third-hand hearsay, but he figured they might have one advantage: a possible route to the victim's home through the Underground. If there was a way through the network of tunnels, they might be able to avoid not only the inevitable and unending questioning by Knight Errant detectives, but exposure to the media snoops and hounds that would surely be sniffing around the police barricades hoping to catch an image of anyone who might be even remotely involved in the bombing. And that kind of publicity they absolutely did not need.

In the lot, Gash first sought out a dumpster and relieved himself of the to-go box. Then, hunting through the refuse for a suitable bit of newspaper or cloth, he wiped away as much of the remaining spillage from his jacket front as possible.
Approaching Neuro's truck, Gash noticed the damage to the front end and turned a questioning eye, eyebrow raised, to Neuro.

Plucking a piece of plasteel out of the vented section of ram prow on the front of his rig, Neuro chuckled.

"Got in a little fight over a parking space...I won!" He responded to the questioning look. He jumped up in the truck and made ready one of his extra tacsoft programs and his Fly-Spy micro drone. Hopefully he wouldn't need the Dragonflys, but he took them out of their case and set them on the sleeper bed just in case. He should be able to link to the truck and open the window to let them out if necessary...assuming they weren't going into a blackout zone. He jumped down from the cab of the truck, grabbed his flashlight from the floor by his driver's seat and stowed it in his pack before closing the door and activating the locks.

"Alright, this is your turf. I'll follow your lead. You want me to spoof the security drones, or should we try to avoid them at first? Hate to alert the goon squad if we don't have to."

"Oh yeah...almost forgot. I got the tacsoft for ya." Neuro offered to set up the link and upload the program for Gash, sending his decryption key as well.

"Hate to be overheard. Can never be too safe!" He had to stop babbling. His new partner was going to think he was an amateur, no matter how many successful runs he had under his belt. It just felt good to finally talk to someone. He could remember flashes from his recent past...lab coats scurrying about like ants, busy at their tasks. When he was even able to speak, they never answered him. It was frustrating.

"Ready when you are"

Gash let most of the human's chatter wash over him. He didn't mind so much, some slots just seemed to need the silence filled with idle banter. One of his chummers, an ork 'gopher' by the name of Fetch, could always be counted on to spew syllables like the rapid-fire of a machine gun, to the groans of most folks within earshot. Neuro would, Gash was sure, learn that the big ork was not, despite his appearance to the contrary, likely to become suddenly irate - at least not with Neuro - and snap the human's neck like a chicken bone.

As for all the techno-babble about commlinks and tacsofts and such, Gash was at a distinct disadvantage. Not a total illiterate to the Matrix, he was nonetheless a novice when it came to the more advanced aspects of the wireless realm. And, since they would be working together, Neuro was right about the need for discreet communication between them.
So, with no expression whatsoever as to whether he trusted the human or not, Gash handed over his personal link with a noncommittal nod for Neuro to do his stuff. Gash didn't really figure the man would try anything funny with his link - they were, after all, going to be spending a lot of time together - and besides, if the man was foolish enough to do so, the ork would simply instruct him in his error...up close and personal like.

"Yeah right," he replied to Neuro's question, "let's not stir the anthill just yet. Least not til we get a chance to do some snoopin of our own."

Gash peered in the direction of the crime scene for a moment then around their immediate vicinity as if looking for something, or trying to remember something. Then with a grunt he said, "C'mon, if I 'member right, there's a way down near here. Should be an old subway access a block or two from here. Best we steer clear of the circus, least for now."

Memory Test
Int4+Will5= 3 hits
(Kesslan, this roll is in case you want it.)

There indeed was a Subway access nearby. Once it had been boarded over and blocked, but when the orks had taken over the underground it had been reopened and several walls inside knocked down to connect the tunnel with the city beneath a city. Some of the area had been blocked off due to risk of further collapse after the blast, though at least where the underground was concerned there wasn't anyone actually posted, just some one had strung caution tape and AR tags over most of the place. If some one was stupid enough to get themselves killed, the Seattle Underground generally didn't care. Life was hard enough without having to constantly risk your life for fools. The trick now of course would be finding a passage into the proper area that hadn't been blocked off by rubble or wasn't so unstable it might collapse any moment and either crush or cut off anyone going through.

(GM: If you have it now would be a good time for skill rolls on demolitions, chemistry (Knowledge or active) or other possibly related knowledge skills such as architecture)

The Seattle Underground was always a mix on what you might expect. Some places were in such poor condition they were almost death traps, some even deliberately so. Other areas had been reinforced and refurbished so well, that one not aware they were actually underground, might actually believe they were in a modern high rise or other building. Mostly it depended on just how much the orks and trolls in the area as well as other residents had in the way of resources. Most of the time that was barely just enough to stop the whole place from falling apart. The Underground was a dirty, unfriendly part of Seattle for many reasons, not the least of which was the blatant poverty everywhere that hardly anyone cared about. Still, here and there non Orks and Trolls could be seen. The rare elf or human could sometimes be found, more commonly dwarves in an almost comedic stereotype were relatively common as well.

Of course what also happened to inhabit the area were devil rats. A small pack of whom seemed to have claimed the entrance to the underground as their lair while they seemed to be chewing on what at least appeared to be the remains of some poor meta, though it was honestly extremely hard to tell if it really was, or just some other creature.

Peering down into the inky blackness filling the subway access like a fetid, stagnant pool, Gash drew his Desperado and worked the action, chambering a heavy slug round into the shotgun's breach. He glanced at Neuro and hefted the weapon, wordlessly suggesting the smoothie do the same. Though he was intimately familiar with the network of tunnels that made up the Seattle Underground, many sections were still unexplored and could prove lethal if trespassed without proper precaution. Aside from the many cretins using the Underground as a refuge from law enforcement, gang or mob retribution, or as just a retreat from the ratrace of sprawl life, far nastier critters laired within the recesses of the subterranean world.

Boots gritting on bits of dirt and flecks of chipped plascrete with each descending step, the chromed ork started down into the dark. As they left what little light remained topside, Gash activated his cybereyes' low-light mode to take advantage of any residual luminescence that remained this close to the outside. Little to none, it would not be long at all before some other source of light would become necessary.

At the bottom of the steps, he took a moment to look and listen, even to smell, at their surroundings. One didn't go hareing into these dangerous 'rabbit-warrens' unless you had a death wish...which would usually be granted in less time than one might think.

Perception Tests to check out area (with seperate roll for Visual specialization)
Intuition5+Perception4 & Intuition5+Perception(Visual)6= 3 (both)

(Assuming Gash spotted the devil rats)
The unearthly squeaking came first, followed by the sight of the disgusting vermin themselves. A small group of devil rats were dining contentedly on some corpse - it was unclear whether it was some poor slot or something else, their long, sleek, hairless bodies burrowing and thrashing over and around one another in an ecstasy of gorgeing abandon. The skin of the unfortunate creature bulged and writhed from the vermin within.

Composure Test to resist attacking devil rats
Charisma4+Willpower5= 4

Gash had the barrel of the Desperado trained on the corpse, the urge to blow away the offensive scene almost irresistible...almost. The thought of someone on the surface hearing the shotgun's boom and coming to investigate stayed his hand. Besides, with slug rounds, his weapon would be less effective against these vermin; shot rounds with their spread effect would have been better. The rats, too engrossed in their meal to notice the two newcomers to their den (Kesslan, this is an assumption and I will edit if you say), twitched not a hair at his and Neuro's presence.
These loathsome scavengers were a plague in the Underground, thriving in the less-populated sections, scrounging for whatever refuse they could find and attacking the occasional victim foolish (or unfortunate) enough to get lost or wounded, or both, within their patrolling range. If the devil rats could be said to have any beneficial effect down here, it would be that their presence kept most, if not all, the nosey curiosity-seekers from poking around; as if the constant threat of collapse wasn't enough for that.

Looking down into the darkness, Neuro reached inside his jacket and pulled his optic glasses out of their case, placing them on. He thought for a moment that he might look ridiculous, as they were horn-rimmed and too large for his face, but they were just too useful for it to bother him. . .much. Cycling through thermographic mode first before they went into the access tunnel, he settled on low-light enhancement for now. He did have a flashlight, and there was always the option of switching to ultrasound if it was necessary to avoid bumping into walls or running into anything unpleasant. Taking his cue from Gash's actions, he pulled his Ruger Thunderbolt out of it's holster, and chambered a round. He'd leave the safety on for now...it could be released with a thought anyways. He'd hate to stumble and fire off a round. You never know who or what's attention could be drawn by gunfire.

Perception test to notice devil rats (unsure of situational modifiers) Assume actively looking, but in general, not for anything in particular.
Intuition 5 + Perception 3 (3,3,6,3,1,1,4,4)

If I did notice them, I would try to see if I knew anything about devil rats. Failing perception test, disregard roll.
Intuition 5 + Paranormal Creatures 2 Intricate Knowledge (threshold 4) 5 hits

Character note: for future reference with regards to knowledge test, do I roll and result tells what level of knowledge I have, or do as I did and choose level of knowledge I am seeking before I roll? Rulebook led me to believe I did it correctly, but logic leads me to think I should roll, then consult table to see how much I recall.

"They are not really territorial, but can hunt in groups up to 30." Neuro subvocalized.
"There's a good chance they won't even notice us if we don't disturb their meal."

Filled with a revulsion that fueled his constantly simmering anger to a boiling point, Gash reholstered his short-barreled shotgun, activated his body's bio- and cyberware enhancements and, taking a running step like a football goal-kicker, aimed a Kick Attack at the devil rat-infested corpse designed to send the creature's remains flying not only away from his and Neuro's vicinity but in as many separate pieces as possible, and hopefully splattering a few vermin brains in the bargain.

Savate Kick Attack (+1 Reach)
Agility 9 + Savate 8 (17 dice) = 6 hits
Unarmed DV= 9P

The blow was a properly solid kick and the remains of what now were a little more clearly once metahuman scattered slightly as chewed through joints gave way and several rats were scattered. However with their meal suddenly and violently disrupted the large devil rats turned and with a hiss of anger, turned their attention to the two beings that had dared interrupt them. Devil rat's were not necessarily all that agressive towards such larger beings by nature, but they were, as Neuro knew, pack hunters and easily got to reach up to a meter in length from nose to tail. While it was not unheard of them to gather in groups as large as 30 when after larger prey, fortunately there at least seemed to be fewer here. None the less they reacted to the attack by grouping up and leaping, fangs glaring, at the two meta. Gash, having been already among them was the first to feel their wrath while the more cautious Neuro at least had some time to act before they reached him, but reach him they soon would if he didn't react quickly.

4 Rats are now attacking Jagger while 2 are heading to attack 10d6. Please Roll iniative:
Group of 4 Rats: 13
Group of 2 Rats: 15


For future reference on Knowledge skills, just state what your trying to learn and then roll. The threshold varies based on what kind of knowledge skill your using VS what your trying to use it to learn. You don't just pick the threshold yourself. In this situation your using a generalized skill to try and learn information about a specific creature. This makes the threshold higher than say if you were using a specialization such as Paranormal Critters: Urban Areas or Paranormal Critters: Devil Rats.

Reaction5+Intuition5+SynapticBooster3= 13 dice
Initiative Score= 18

Reaction 5+ Intuition 5 = 10 dice
Initiative Score = 14

With his superior reflexes and having been the one to start the whole fight in the first place with the huge rats, Gash manages to avoid the initial clawing and biting at his legs and feet, though he soon realizes it was a thankfully relatively small pack of the rats considering their size. Then again Devil Rats were a fairly common sight in the underground and a nuisance at the best of times and a complete menace the rest of the time.


Initiative Order:
Gash: 18
Rats Attacking Neuro: 15
Neuro: 14
Rats Attacking Gash: 13

Claws out, Gash whirled like a razor-edged dervish to both avoid the leaping devil rats and discourage them from further attack. This latter, of course, would prove only temporary at best. Despite their lack of higher brain function, these vermin possessed an animal cunning that allowed them to thrive in these dark warrens; traveling in packs and using their greater numbers to bring down larger prey like hyenas. Luckily for him, and Neuro as well, this had been a relatively small group, probably the meta had already been sick or perhaps the victim of a higher form of 'jungle warfare.'

Claw Attack = 3

With an eager growl - he was more than willing to 'warm up' on a few of these filthy critters - Gash sliced at the nearest hairless scavenger, his claws whizzing through the air like berserk shredders. Still relying on his thermal vision gave him enough sight in the partially lit area near the subway entrance to clearly make out his targets. He could not be as confident about Neuro's situation, however, but the human would have to fend for himself...for now.

(Ok, would have liked to have gotten more than 3 hits out of 17 dice, but we takes what we can gets.)

Gash's attack landed fairly solidly on the first Devil rat to run at him, skewering it and making short work of it. The rats might be numerous most of the time, but they were thankfully not terribly hard to kill on an individual basis. That left the two rats that leaped at Neuro to try and sink their teeth into soft fleshy bits of skin, though at least he'd come armoured and would.. proably, be ok.


GM Note: Please be advised that as you are both outnumbered, you are up against Multiple opponents in Melee Combat modifiers.

Neuro faces 2 attacks: First attack is 4 hits, 2nd attack is 6 hits. Both attacks deal 1P Damage base at -1 AP (Meaning that attack 1 has a potential of 5P -1AP and the second has 7P -1AP potential)

Neuro watched Gash quickly dispatch his first assailant, and felt a surge of triumph. This guy was good.
"Oh, drek!" He stated, as he realized his own situation. Why hadn't he been paying attention to what was going on. While he was playing cheerleader, two of the rats had closed the distance between them, and were upon him. There had been plenty of time to have fired his weapon, and he might have taken at least one of them down. Hell, he could have drawn his knife, even. He was alright with a knife, not so good at hand-to-hand. It was too late to think of such things now...he quickly settled into a defensive position.

Spoiler:

first rat defense Reaction 5 + Dodge 3 + Dodge 3 = 2 hits
rat modified DV =3 Body 5 + Armor 5(-1) = 3 hits no damage.

second rat defense Reaction 5 + Dodge 3 + Dodge 3 (-1) = 5 hits
rats modified DV = 2 Body 5 + Armor 5(-1) = 4 hits no damage.

The rats hammered into his body almost as one, biting and scratching at him. Neuro managed to get his arm up in time to deflect the first one's attack to his face, while the second went for the 'soft' spot under his arm and met the folds of his 'not-so-soft' greatcoat.

GM note: Yes 10d6 that is correct. Under most circumstances defending against additional melee attackers nets a negative that if I recall increases with each subsequent attack in that pass. The attackers, if they outnumber you, also get a bonus of up to +4 if there's 5 or more of them attacking the same target.

That said there are martial arts maneuvers etc that counter some of this.

With one of it's compatriots so readily dispatched by Gash, one of the rats turns to flee while the other presses the attack, not liking the intrusion one bit! It was sort of like taking a bite out of crime, except at this point it was vermin trying to take a bite out of an armoured, armed adult. Then again Devil rats were plentiful, but not necessarily always that intelligent.

GM: Jagger, please defend against 2 hits.

Block = 5 hits

Gash grinned savagely as the devil rat's sharp teeth came together on nothing but titanium as he blocked the attack, leaving the nasty little scavenger with what he sincerely hoped was broken teeth if not a broken jaw.

While devil rats had a sometImes rather nasty bite, the upside was that they were not terribly fast, especially against augmented metahumans, nor were they particularly difficult to kill on an individual basis.

GM note: you may both now use the remainder of your actions. The rats only get 1 pass per turn.