[Jack_Spade]

<<Damn. We'll have to be very careful if we have to meet Below - and not just because of the inherent lawlessness of the place. There could be some very poor reactions if someone found out that we are infected with a magic disease.

And Al, please commlink only. I wouldn't give up on the place just yet. We should at least have a spirit do some recon. The thing is located right next to the Thames. A combination of stealth, magic and less lethal weaponry could get us in and out without anyone getting hurt.

Rick, Mrs. Karasu, if one of you would be so kind as to send someone.>>
Isaint replied. He felt a slight tugging in his bowels. 'Stop thinking that every twinge is a symptom. That's a sure fire way to get really sick. Stay positive'

[obidancer]

Deckard couldn't tell if the persistent headache he had was from the painful casting of the Mana Barrier back at the Angel's, or the proof the bacteria was already starting to debilitate him.
He had to either rest or distract himself with some action. The problem, and they all knew it, was that the clock was ticking.

<<Deckard-san did you bring lodge materials with you?>>

No, I-san didn't bring my lodge; would be too much to carry around. I have enough Reagent on me to create a temporary one, but by the time I'll be done I'll probably be on the deathbed from the disease we carry. Do you need Reagents? I can certainly provide you with some if they are of any use to you. 

Rick, Mrs. Karasu, if one of you would be so kind as to send someone.>>[/color]

I think I prefer going there myself. I'll do a quick Astral reckon while my brain still works. Yukika-san, if you want to send a 'Kami' of your along I'm fine for some company.

[DireRadiant]

[Yukika Karasu - Sunday July 5th, 2076; Francis Road Safe House, Former German Auto Dealership, Harrow, London]

I call for a Kami. Winter Wind answers. I promise an offering at the Shrine of Summer Breezes, strange as it seems. I introduce Winter Wind to Deckard-San. I command Winter Wind to serve Deckard-San.

<<Please everyone, I am sorry, Deckard-San does have what we need, it will take a reagent and one hour to prepare a temporary shrine and another hour to create a Circle of Protection. For every two hours the strength of the protection increases. The temporary Shrine only has affect till the rise and fall of the sun so the timing is very important. Please let me know if you wish to commit to this ritual?>>

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn texts, >>For what it is worth, my two nuyen is to go to the mages and get healed.  No muss, little fuss, and it is not likely to get anyone killed.  They are already moving to the meeting location.  I have a route planned that would get us to the rendezvous site in about 45 minutes of walking.<<

[Aria]

[Sunday July 5th, 2076; Met Safehouse, Harrow, London]
 
A quiet Sunday morning in an out of the way light industrial estate in one of the slightly nicer parts of outer London…it’s even too early for the trains to be running on the tracks alongside.  The sky is lightening with impending dawn but that only serves to highlight the clock ticking above all your heads…
 
As you scope out potential sources of succour and try to ignore the growing sense of ill health Robyn’s sensors alight with the arrival of multiple icons as a local gang swing in to the estate, seemingly at the end of a long carouse… it’s just a little too early in the morning to be convincing, however, and they look just a little too alert.
 
There are twenty three of them, a mix of races, both sexes and all of the bored teenager sub group.  They’ve obviously got an income source as they are all on bikes, either rice rockets or heavier choppers but thankfully, this being the UK, they don’t seem to be carrying firearms…although that’s not to say they are unarmed… with whoops and catcalls they spin around the estate, coincidentally watching all sides of the safehouse building…
 
As you gird yourselves things go from bad to worse to fragging terrible…first a sudden loss of magical strength and then almost instantaneously a massive electromagnetic pulse rocks the electrical foundations of the mesh network fritzing sensors and even disrupting wifi for a moment…as thermal smoke mortar rounds impact around the safehouse you get a brief glimpse of two step vans converging on you from either exit to the estate…
 

Mana static permanent effect – background count is now 5 in and around the safehouse!
 
Pulse spell – please make a general roll each, 9D for electronics, 16D for computers (ie links and decks), you don’t need to roll for everything, just get a flavour for the impact on your stuff

 
***
 
#36
 

[Jack_Spade]

Pulse Resist Electronics: 9d6t5 3 [9d6t5=3, 4, 1, 5, 3, 1, 2, 5, 6]
Pulse Resist Electronics: 16d6t5 6 [16d6t5=6, 4, 5, 5, 5, 1, 5, 2, 4, 1, 5, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3]

Leadership test: Leadership: 5d6t5 2

AGI 5 + Skill 6 + Aim 1 - Called Shot (engine) 4 - Blind Fire 6 + Focused concentration 3 + Adept centering 4= 9
Shoot w/aim: 9d6t5 2 [9d6t5=5, 2, 3, 4, 1, 4, 5, 4, 1]
DV 12P AP-4
Assuming the step van doesn't evade and doesn't soak all damage, it should be out of action



It felt a bit like being inside a nightmare, suddenly all of Isaint's gadgets went out or rebooted, a wave of charged mana pressed down on him, muting his reflexes, and dulling the connection to his patron. The smoke was the least of his problems. All his foci - except for his weapon focus where overwhelmed by the static, so he couldn't go astral.
But there were a few abilities they couldn't counter. Fighting the panic inside him he began to bellow orders as if he was back in the army:
"Jackhammer, Rick, Robin, Karasu, get over here to me. Al get ready to engage your emergency exit. We need to get out of this building and to our transports. Run as soon as the wall blows up. I'll start a diversion on the other side. Move, move, move..."

While he talked his hands had retrieved his Ruger Ultra Warhawk and exchanged the ammunition in the cylinder. Now the weapon was filled with 6 shots of hand loaded Ex-Ex bullets. The smartlink hadn't rebooted yet, but the long barrel and the custom grip afforded him a confident aim nonetheless.

When he was sure that his team had gathered around him he called: "Wait until you here me drawing their fire, than get out."
With that Isaint ran towards the front window while he focused on his core to blend out all distractions and opened fire on the step van in front. "VADE RETRO"

#368

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn's drone sensors pick up the arrival of the go-gangers and she relays that information to ISaint, her warning of company coming is bare seconds before the presence of the gang becomes obvious to everyone.  The gang does not make any overt actions, but continues to ride in circles about the building.  Suddenly, even her world goes dark as her drones go lifeless and her internal sensors go offline to reboot from some sort of massive EMP effect.  Not for the first time does she wonder why it is always the opposition that has the super spells and weapons.  Her naturally enhanced sense of hearing still functions, although at a lesser effect, and she hears the crump of the mortar rounds as they cover the building in smoke.

She reaches for the lead to the Hell Hound and stands, moving to where ISaint directs.  "My natural sensors are not affected and I can hear better than most people can.  Does anyone need me to be their guide through the smoke?"  She waits for the explosion indicating it is time to leave.

[adamu]

Al felt his connection to the voodoo gods jerk away from him like a carpet being pulled out from under his feet.

"Heh heh - screw 'em," he muttered to himself. The pull detonator was in one hand, and his car keys were in the other. Electronics were dimming out all around, so he pressed the analog key into Jackhammer's hand, not trusting the fob. "You know where the car is amigo, straight shot down the alley from where I'm blowin' this wall. You do what the bossman says an' git the squishies out there safe. This way two of us'll have a key in case one of us don't make it."

He watched Isaint start shooting, ready to detonate his charge as soon as it was clear the ork was drawing fire. In the split second that took, he idly wondered where his spare car key might be - probably at the back of his junk drawer back at the Caravan. And who the hell were these people? They sure didn't look like cops out to protect the world from plague. And they didn't have the dingus anymore. But he supposed that might not exactly be public knowledge.

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn moves to place herself behind Al as things get interesting.  Her hearing picks up the conversation between him and Jackhammer, but something about the timbre of his voice is off.  She casts her mind back to what she knows about this man and realizes that he is lying about the extra set of keys for the car.  She resolves to stay near him so she does not lose him again. 

[pistolgrip]

Jackhammer was feeling a little better, which he attributed to whatever the medkit had done to him. He still felt overly hot however, and that wasn't helped by the fact that reuniting with his gear had come along with changing into his full body armor. Still, getting his bow back in hand with his Ruger at his side was comfortably familiar. When the gangers rolled up, he knew it was time for action.

Jackhammer took the key from Al. "Got it." he said simply, stuffing the key securely in an interior pocket on his armor. It would take longer to fish out that way, but he really didn't need it getting shot or melted or something. He drew his bow but left his arrows quivered for the time being; he wasn't sure which kind he might need first, or if he would need a free hand for smashing. He felt a little dull, like how the statue had made him feel, but by now he was used to it. He didn't spend all that money on 'ware just to count on some mysterious edge or spirit guidance.

[Aria]

[Sunday July 5th, 2076; Met Safehouse, Harrow, London]
 
Adrenaline courses as the noise escalates around the estate…Isaint’s fire crashes in to the side of the stepvan but it swerves to avoid the brunt of the force, dissipating it across the reinforced chasis in a spray of sparks…it responds by swivelling a small roof mounted turret around and sending a flashbang crashing into the window by his head…the impact perfectly timed with the decanting of the snatch team from the side doors of the van…
 
The sound of breaking glass is all the trigger Al needs to detonate your emergency exit route across the back of the building, much to the surprise of two of the gangers who are picking themselves up from their suddenly dead motorbikes
 
“Oi! Fragger…”
 
***
 
#37

[Jack_Spade]

'Oh shit.'
What he could see through the smoke was only hazy, but a turret deploying was never a good sign. Isaint was tumbling away from the window just as the grenade hit.


I'm assuming the thermal smoke isn't that dense if they are able to see Isaint through the closed window and make evasive maneuvers
Anyway: Interrupt action: Run for your life

[adamu]

Wall blown nicely, Al was about to follow Isaint's lead and get the hell away from the grenade when he realized that rather than take advantage of his beautiful exit, Robyn was right behind him.

"Dammit woman..." he said as he tossed himself atop the grenade.

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn's much enhanced hearing picks up the incoming grenade even before it hits the floor.  Anticipating Al blowing the wall, she is already moving that way when the new door is made.  She spares a word for Al as she passes him.  "Throw the fragging thing out the hole, Al.  Let's bloody well give them something to think about"    Trailing the monofilament of her whip behind her, she urges the Hell Hound through the hole in the wall beside her, commanding it to breathe at the two gangers that she can see there.  The two men are certainly not expecting the gout of flame and the whip is invisible to them as she flicks it forward at the man on the left while the hound follows the flame with a vicious bite to the arm of the one on the right. 

Even as the pair step back the one on the left can barely feel a quick tightness on his right arm before the monofilament cuts through clothes, flesh, and bone as if none of that existed, lopping off the arm just above the elbow.  The severed arm drops to the ground as the artery pumps blood from the stump.  If the damage alone had not been enough to drop the man, the shock at losing an arm is.  He screams once in agony before collapsing.  His partner fares little better as 170kg of Hell Hound slams into him and latches onto his arm, nearly removing it in one bite.  The last thing the man sees before going unconscious is a pair of ember-red eyes.

The explosion behind her sends her heart racing.  **Please God, do not kill him now that I have found him.**  Robyn uses her sensors to scan the immediate area and readies her whip for a second target if it appears.  She calls out on her throat microphone.  "Two gangers down out here.  Is everyone alright in there?  There are two motorcycles out here if someone can get them moving."

[adamu]

Al's light-enhancing optics had picked up the tiny bomblet as it bounced along the shadowy floor, and knowing his coworkers hadn't had time to get out, he dove. Somewhere nearby he heard Robyn offer some advice on throwing the thing somewhere, to which his unspoken reaction was: why are you still close enough to tell me that?

It was, of course, the ideal plan, but as his scarred hand reached down he saw a pinprick LED go from red to orange and - mind filled with the image of hot shrapnel ripping through Robyn or Karasu-san's face - he dove on top of it.

The next zero-point-oh-two seconds were the longest of his life as he wondered how the voodoo gods were going to get him out of this one.

But when the thing detonated against his chest with no more force than a brass-knuckled troll punch (a sensation with which he was intimately familiar), it wasn't Ghede or Legba grinning down at him but the big white Akita.

By the time he'd shaken his head and rolled onto his back to take a look around, the totem was gone.

"Stick around next time, I'll pour a beer into a hubcap for ya."