[GrimWulf]

Ohanzee reaches... out with his mind, calling to the spirits of the land.  Clutching at the pendant on his neck he begins to sing in Lakota, calling the spirit of air the trickster.  Lightning flashes before his closed eyes as a Raven spirit answers, obviously unhappy that it has been called to work on this cold day.  Ohanzee fights a mental battle, pitting will against will, bargaining with his life force to have the spirit to come to his aid. The wind howls around him as it whips at his astral self. With a howled challenge in response he brings it around to his will, forcing it (for the moment) to obey him.

He snaps back to reality mere seconds have passed, he calls out to the freshly bound spirit commanding it to try and confuse the pilot of the metal bird befouling the skies above.

He then slumps back, spots of light bright in his eyes and pain wracking his body as his body tries to fight off the effects of the spirit resisting him.

[Ryo]

Ace:

Realizing his own weapons aren't well suited to shooting at a helicopter, Ace goes for Reggie's Springfield M1A, picking it up and making sure it's ready to fire.

(Simple Action: Pick Up Item. Simple Action: Ready Weapon)

Acc	DV	AP	Mode	RC	Ammo
6	12P	-1	SA	-	20(c)

Magician Lieutenant:

The Magician focuses his mind and strikes out at the aura of the Masked Woman, astrally attacking her with the intent to shred soul. But she is accustomed to this kind of attack, and defends herself, easily deflecting the Magician's force of will.

Ohanzee:

The massive spirit raven caws in the astral, flapping its wings and circling your aura while eying you with a degree of distaste.

'Your power is beneath me, shaman. I can see the pain in your aura, the way your body bleeds from the effort to summon me. But I am merciful. I will grant you two services, but no more.' His voice echoes astrally in your mind, waiting for your first request.

Air Spirit: Astral Initiative 16 + 3d6: 3d6+16 25 -10 for appearing mid-combat. Its turn is now, so you can spend a Free Action to give it a command.

He snaps back to reality mere seconds have passed, he calls out to the freshly bound spirit commanding it to try and confuse the pilot of the metal bird befouling the skies above.

The Raven Spirit seems to chuckle, flying away from the dwarf. 'A fitting task. Very well, it will be done.' The Raven spirit leaves the rover, flying up to the Nissan hound, and passes through the hull of the ship into the cockpit before Materializing.

Initiative Change: 1d6 1

The Air Spirit now has Initiative 18.

It is now The Masked Woman's turn.

[Tecumseh]

The Masked Woman lets the focused hate and anger of the enemy magician wash over her harmlessly, seemingly accustomed to such strong emotions. In response, she mentally flips her claymore around in a blink, then concentrates her will like a growing storm. She unleashes it in a flash, slingshoting forward like a hurricane blast. She targets the source of rage and loathing, trying to lance it from the astral plane.

[Ryo]

The Magician seems just as capable on the astral as the Masked Woman, taking the mental attack and disrupting it until it passes him harmlessly.

Combat Turn 1, Pass 2

Decker Lieutenant: 20
APB's Sprite: 20
Enemies: 16
Crumpled: 12
APB: 10
Sam: 8
Air Spirit: 8
Chino: 7
Ace: 6
Magician Lieutenant: 5
Dwarf: 0
Agent: 0
Mask: 0

The Decker's massive shoulder cannon revs up, the barrel splitting in two before a pair of red lasers trailing black electricity arcs out of it, aiming for APB's Sprite and the icon for the Rover. At the same time, the Sprite strikes at the Nissan's icon again, trying to sink its digital teeth in.

The Decker's first laser hits the sprite and knocks it away from the Nissan Hound, causing its attempted attack to fail. It successfully defends against the Decker's attack, but still takes the reflected damage from the failed data spike against the Nissan Hound. (The Sprite takes 3 matrix damage).

The second blast flies into the rover's icon and burns a mark into it shaped like a targeting reticle.

Enemies:

The Nissan Hound's icon disappears from the matrix as the pilot switches the wireless off, leaving only the decker behind, as well as the list of Running Silent icons that you assume belongs to the soldiers in the back of the Hound.

Back in the meat, the rear hatch of the helicopter opens and the soldiers start taking positions to take aim at the Rover before opening fire.

Chino gets to make a few Defense Tests. Reaction is 6, Intuition is 3. Willpower is 5 if you choose to Full Defense. You have 3 Edge if you choose to use it. You may make the Vehicle equivalent of a Gymnastics Dodge by adding your Pilot Skill to the dodge roll, but then you add the Handling as a limit on your dice pool. You do get +1 Handling for using AR, so your Handling is 6.

Enemy 1: Full Auto fire. Reaction + Intuition -9 for Full Auto.
Enemy 2: Burst fire. Reaction + Intuition -6; -5 for burst, -1 for defending previously.
Enemy 3: Burst fire. Reaction + Intuition - 7; -5 for burst, -2 for defending previously.

It is then Crumpled's turn.

[Ravensoracle]

The Crumpled Man cusses as the icon for the Nissan Hound disappears. I wanted to bring the damn thing down on their heads.

Instead of having that joy, he's forced to concentrate on the next target;The Master device. His icon slither's around the persona of the decker. Slipping behind the combat monster as the decker unleashes the attack on the rover and the sprite.

The Crumpled Man focuses all of his skill and determination to place another 2 Marks on the device. Smoke slinks through the armor of the enemy decker. A second and third Suit and Tie appear next to the one that the Crumpled Man has already managed.

[Ryo]

A hail of gunfire erupts from the back of the helicopter as Chino floors it and weaves back and forth to minimize the damage. You can all hear the thuds of bullets striking the outer walls of the rover, and several bullets that tear through the engine compartment, but Chino keeps driving on.

It is now APB's turn.

[Poindexter]

Perhaps if he'd been a more tech minded individual, Sam might have thought about hacking the helicopter. But he doesn't really understand all that matrix stuff. What he does understand is trajectory, target speed, and structurally weak points in vehicles. He's searching the seams of the chopper for signs of damage from the last hit, when the most wonderful thing happens. He grins sadistically when he sees it.

Are you good folks REALLY opening the hatch for me? Oh no. Don't do that.

He adjusts his aim ever so slightly and, watching through the range finder ARO of these amazing goggles he woke up with, he squeezes the trigger. He can barely see the tiny little can as it arcs through the night sky and disappears into the open hatch full of angry men with sputtering weapons. A moment later, he gives the mental command to >Detonate<

[Ryo]

The shooting stops as the grenade arcs up towards the helicopter and the men in the back hatch start to scramble to get out of the way. Two actually leap out of the vehicle altogether and take their chances in the trees below while the rest rush back inside, trying to take cover. There's a loud explosion and a puff of smoke out of the back of the vehicle, which seems to dip slightly in altitude, but otherwise continues flying.

On the matrix, several of the Running Silent icons suddenly vanish from the list, unexpectedly disconnected from the Matrix. The Decker's icon is still present.

In the cockpit, Ohanzee's spirit gets to work, using its powers to confuse the pilot. The helicopter begins to fly sluggishly, and somewhat erratically.

It is now Ace's turn.

[Ryo]

Ace moves to the side window and rests the barrel of the hunting rifle on the edge, aiming through the scope towards the Helicopter, putting it in his sights for a moment before shifting his aim upwards, towards the rotor, intent to take out the Engine directly.

Simple Action: Take Aim
Free Action: Called Shot (Engine Block)
Simple Action: Fire Weapon

Agility 9 + Longarms 4 - Environment 1 - Called Shot 4: 8d6t5 1
Edge Reroll: 7d6t5 3

With a loud retort, the rifle fires, and a small explosion of light and sparks is visible in the space where the rotors connect to the body of the vehicle. Smoke begins to rise and the helicopter begins moving erratically before falling from the sky, crashing into the trees below while billowing clouds of black smoke.

On the matrix, the Decker's icon blinks, going fuzzy for a moment while his persona seems to stumble. From what you can see under the helmet of his icon, his face looks pained, and he seems confused. More Running Silent icons have vanished from the matrix.

The Masked woman sees men rush towards the back of the helicopter, their auras shining with surprise and fear before a great explosion on the physical plane snuffs several of them out. The magician ducks for cover behind a wall on the opposite side of the craft from the decker, and comes out unharmed. He stands after the smoke clears, confused and angry, and preparing to attack The Masked Woman again. Then, the entire craft shakes and begins to fall from the sky, and the Magician loses his footing and briefly floats in terrified freefall before impact with the tree line hurls him against the door to the cockpit and cracks his skull, breaks his neck, shatters parts of his arm and collarbone and ruptures multiple organs. He collapses to the floor in a heap as his astral form fades and his aura begins to leave him.

He should have been wearing a safety belt.

Combat Turn 1, Pass 3:

Decker Lieutenant: 10
Enemies: 6
Crumpled: 2
Sam: 0
Air Spirit: 0
Chino: 0
Ace: 0
Dwarf: 0
Agent: 0
Mask: 0

The Decker seems to have lost interest in you, more concerned with the horrible pain he feels dully from the meat, and promptly jacks out. His icon De-rezzes and disappears from the matrix.

Enemies:



It is Crumpled's Turn.

[Poindexter]

Sam watches his handiwork from the window of the rover with grim intensity. As soon as he sees the men leaping from the hound, he's filled with the urge to do the same, track them down the mountain and find out what's really going on. Then, he sees the chopper start losing altitude from the engine shot and it's nearly too much to bear. He shouts over the comm, "Chino! Stop and let me off! I'm going to get some answers from these men!"

[Tecumseh]

The Masked Woman pauses for a moment at the surreal nature of seeing a helicopter go down from the inside out while remaining unharmed. With the death of the enemy magician, she floats out the back of the Hound and considers the scene below. She glances about for signs of the men who jumped out the back (or were blown out - she doesn't know) and fell to the earth. This would be easier with thermographics, she thinks to herself, her astral vision blinded by the bright, dense colors of the forest beneath her. Uncertain of whether the men who jumped would have survived - perhaps they were broken on trees in much the way the magician was - it's unclear to her if there are any living auras to see.

She looks up, trying to pick out the van as it continues down the road. She can barely spy Sam and Ace hanging out the windows, Sam's aura both anxious and intense. She catches up to the van in a blink, then rejoins her physical form. She opens her eyes, shaking off the momentary disorientation that comes every time she projects and then again when she returns to her body. APB and the Crumpled Man are still limp, just as they were when she left them, but what is this spreading pool of red on the floor? Her nose twitches as she smells the red mist hanging in the air.

[Ryo]

As the adrenaline of recent combat calms down, you begin to notice that APB isn't simply motionless from a VR trance, as you glance her way and see the blood splatter across the passenger seat, window and dashboard. A whistling sound of cold wind above you draws your attention to the bullet holes in the ceiling of the rover, and you can easily gather that a few rounds from their last attack made it through the car and hit her directly. Lucky shots, or unlucky, as the case may be.

[Ravensoracle]

The Crumpled Man lets out a scream of rage as a second target dissappears from his grasp. It must be one hell of a fight happening in the meat. He moves on quickly he begins looking for other targets. He spots two more appealing targets and he quickly heads for them. He sends off a message to the team chat before he strikes.

"Don't know what you guys are doing out there but my target rich environment is quickly dissappearing. At least leave the comms intact so I can scour them for information."

[Poindexter]

The Crumpled Man lets out a scream of rage as a second target dissappears from his grasp. It must be one hell of a fight happening in the meat. He moves on quickly he begins looking for other targets. He spots two more appealing targets and he quickly heads for them. He sends off a message to the team chat before he strikes.

"Don't know what you guys are doing out there but my target rich environment is quickly dissappearing. At least leave the comms intact so I can scour them for information."

"Roger that."

[Tecumseh]

The Masked Woman sees the splash of blood, follows the angle to the ceiling, then back down to APB's head.

<<drek, man down>> she comms tersely, jumping up from her slumped position. She sets her claymore aside as securely as she can and then moves forward to the passenger seat.

The situation is grim. On the astral, APB's aura is fading quickly. She presses her fingers to APB's neck but doesn't feel anything. Maybe that's the gloves though. But her thermographics don't see any telltale pulse, and she can't hear any breathing either.

<<medic>> she comms, turning to look at Crumpled, who was good with a medkit earlier. He's still out though, hacking away somewhere.

Not knowing what else to do, she reaches for another throwing knife to start another preparation. It's hopeless and she knows it, since it's going to take a minute at least - and that's with regents - but APB only has seconds, if that. It's too late, but this at least keeps her hands busy.