[ismilealot]

When Jed cast his senses out he realized why the watchers hadn't alerted him. The gangers were several blocks away. And different groups of them almost certainly had magical protections, as they were ghostly in comparison to the others. Jed hadn't seen that before, but he'd always remembered that from class, that a wizards strength and skill determined the efficacy of the spell, and could most certainly be detected by another wizard with more skill. It had been a warning not to get over-confident and rely solely on the spell for protection. Now, as he watched, he saw the ghostly movements of the gangers as if they were setting something up. What it was Jed couldn't tell. Spells have limits. But, by their movements, it almost certainly had to be heavy artillery. It was a compliment in a way. The gangers considered them so dangerous that they were going to shoot from a distance. But, given modern technology, that distance was next to nothing when it came to accuracy and destruction if they had a target lock on them.

[gilga]

Marco said softly "Shell we fly away as birds ?  Before they start shooting  - I doubt anyone can expect this. Flying is fun once you get used to it... And the alternative includes spilling more blood, perhaps even our own." 

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena laughs softly and shakes her head. "No, Blackbird.  Yelena cannot leave like that.  Must stand before judges and face them to finish justice.  Yelena not run away.  Srui get drones in and shut down.  Check for other drones.  Shut them down.  Keep van invisible.  We get away.  Nicolai and Hellfire find judges."

[gilga]

"This whole plan makes little sense, Tsina was not the problem she was the symptom. Vory kept working with her for all these years. They did not investigate the circumstances of her raise to power - they only cared about their cut.  Nikolai is not much different - a romantic fool going after justice in a game that is rigged to the core. If he is truthful about his intention then he just killed everyone of his colleagues going after his white whale - his lost justice. Let me tell you this much, Vory is not going to help a bunch of fugitives while alienating a powerful bratva that can pad their pockets with riches. 

Vory has done nothing for you in decades, when Vory abandoned you only the Shadow remained. Shadow is your true self. He is your destiny and your only form of justice. No mercy, only justice this is your fate. You live and die by the sword by your own actions on your own power.  These life are all you have left, do not risk them seeking aid from external power.  Live, enjoy what you have left - before Shadow claims all. 

Your daemon is dead, your justice is served. Nikolai is a fool to place his fate at the hands of obscure judges that he has no concrete way of even contacting. He never met them - he just blindly believes that they will share his version of 'justice'.  Don't be like him, trust yourself. You may not love me anymore but you care about Arc  and about Jed - let's figure out how to GTFO before we are involved in another bloodshed. Lady luck is a fickle mistress you know..."

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena reacts like she has been gut punched, hunching over a bit and backing against the wall of the van.  She shakes her head and tears flow down her face.  There is much truth in what Blackbird has said, perhaps too much truth.  She has said her Vory oaths every day of her life since the first time.  But what has the Vory done for her.  No!  the Vory is her family, her ......her......her......frag.  What are they?  What is she?  She is nothing more that what they created.  Nicolai had taken a raw talent and a desperate girl and taught her, trained her, molded her. 

The truth is blinding and Yelena gasps.  How does Blackbird know what to say?  What can he know of Shadow.  But he is right; Shadow has been her guide and her religion.  Her punisher and her guardian.  She has searched the world and the Shadow has been her one constant companion and guide.  Not the Vory.  Is she so blinded by her faith in these criminals that she has endangered her friends?  The realization of this truth sends Yelena to her knees and she covers her eyes to try to blot out the knowledge of what Blackbird is saying.  No.....the truth of what he is saying.  Still, she tries to deny it but the Shadow lets her know see the truth when her own mind has refused it.  So much of her life has been a sham.  Too much.  In the blink of an eye, her mind threatens to snap and send her to oblivion and she leans back against the wall of the van, working things out in her mind.

[SmilinIrish]

Jed looks at Arc.  They have mages still.  Some of them are hidden.  The invisibility hides us from eyes, but the mages and spirits can follow because of the spell.  But I may be able to lower the astral profile of the spell.  Once we are in the van, they can't see our aura on the astral.  But the spell shines brightly.  I can cast it at a lower power, but use my spirit to make the effect enough to conceal us.  Our best chance to break the ring is that way.  I'll...  A sudden realization struck and he was shaken.  They could be simply tracking their location by the dead mage's focus.  Looking at his summoned spirit, he handed over the focus, gave the order.  When we break, you go that way as fast as you are able.  When we are out of range of our agreement, you will be freed from this summoning.  Thank you for your assistance, hopefully we can work together soon.  He looked at Marco.    We are surrounded.  I can use a spirit to cast an effective low force invisibility spell.  I need to you to cast invisibility on my spirit.  Hopefully they will track him rather than us.  Maybe we can break free from this noose.  We all need to get back in the van.

I realize there may be some more RP, but here is my roll for when we get back into the van.  Low force spells are harder to perceive.  I'll use reagents to set the limit on an F1 spell, and use my bound spirit to boost its effectiveness.



So all that and 4 hits.  Anyone needs 4 hits on Intuition + Logic to see us.

I'm hoping that an F6 invisibility on the spirit will cause them to follow it and miss the faint F1 spell.  Perhaps they really are just tracking the dagger, and will follow it.

[gilga]

Blackbird said "Jed, wait I have a better idea. They do not know - that we know. Do not do anything rush! They focus on the van,  they are going to ambush the van. Let's hide in this lake as fish, the earth is solid to astral  - so we'll need to keep covered as much as possible.  They will continue following the invisible van until they ambush it - and then if we are lucky and they use such a large rocket or other forms of explosives, there won't be much left of our remains to determine this ruse.  How about that plan?"

[ismilealot]

Nicolai practically spits the words out at Marco, "What do you know of Vory ways. Vory justice. Nothing! You are pampered outsider. The money means nothing. Nothing! Only the oaths matter. But never understand oaths. Never understand blood. Only privilege and full belly and convenience. Bah! Understand this. We are dead if we do not stand before judges." Behind him Hellfires' lips are a thin line as he nods. But a thoughtful look follows, "Maybe dead yes. All will be tortured for truth. Yelena, Nicolai, I can speak truth with torture. Know truth. But you, you do not. Not Vory."

[gilga]

Blackbird said dark voice "Everybody dies eventually... but every single moment is ethernity. No point in arguing though,  we are going to meet an ambush long before you meet your judge or I am tortured... any opinions? what plan should we go for?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena stands and nods, her mind still trying to work through things.  But she cannot give in to despair now, no matter the source.  She gathers the Shadow to her and calms her voice. "Blackbird.  Yelena not become fish.  Can fish live in temperatures of lake?  Yelena remember how octopus feel in cold water.  And not want leave clothes and things behind.  Yelena like invisible plan from PI man.  We need to leave here."  She looks around.  "Is possible to trace deck from Tsina's man we killed?  If so, do we need to toss it?"

[Qwikfix]

As the exchange went down, Arc could feel her rage welling, trying to focus as she clicked off her drones one by one, powering them down and removing their Matrix presence.  Given the plan, she knew she would have to operate the van offline...old fashioned way.  Inwardly, she gave a smirk at that...hardlined in without a GridGuide or equivalent...well up her territory.

But as Yelena looked close to breaking, with everyone else giving pressure or beratement, the human couldn't take it.

"ENOUGH!"

Her metal hand slammed into the side of the van, her shoulders slump and breath fuming.  As she turned to Yelena, her green eyes softened, relaying her support before hardening on Nicolai.

"Get'yr head outta yo hoop, shmokey.  We 'kin argue thish drek later."  She clicked the last drone in her pack offline, leaving the bugged drone and the van for the split second more necessary.  She gave a nod to Jed, signaling she was ready to move.

[gilga]

Marco peacefully answered Arc "Not arguing... We go for Jed's plan no time for discussions." said Marco and made the spirit invisible. He held a small wooden cross in his hands and repeatedly whispered a short prayer, not for himself but for the rest.

"Dear Lord, 
If today is our day to die, help my friends find eternal peace at your side.

Normally, Marco would have prayed for safety, but given the terrible did they did earlier, such a request felt out of place. One does not simply spills blood and then expects mercy - no the world cannot work like that.  Mercy is sometimes freely given but asking for it when one does not deserve it is out of place.

Invisibility F6: 15d6t5 3
drain: 11d6t5 1

Ouch... 5 stun damage for Marco for swapping the invisibility to the spirit. Let's hope that it works.

[ismilealot]

When Arc wipes the drones a firestorm is unleashed and a half dozen rockets come speeding through the air.









HE rockets 21P AP-2 blast -2m

[ismilealot]

Marco sees a faint outline, The Lady, his sister, and a scared voice says, "Fratello, per favore. Non riesco a tenere più a lungo." And suddenly memories came rushing back. His parents death, them being taken. The things they'd done to him to break him. The things they'd done to her. The unspeakable things they'd done to her while they'd made him watch. They'd made him cry and beg, and hurt until he'd snapped. And started pretending it wasn't her. Wasn't his shy, scared, twin. It wasn't her. She was safe. Still with his parents. They were alive and had kept her. She was safe. It was only him they'd taken.

[gilga]

Marco thinks quickly, he calls for Velenkoradi and two of his extra spirits and command them, "Play as cars my little birds of paradise, Pick up one of Arc's small fly spy drones and move at random directions, at ground level try to mimic the speed of the van... and I will make you invisible . Be safe my allies."  His head was aching from the previous spell -but his new power focus provided clarity, he weaved 3 spells at the same time, they did not come out that well - but all 3 were successful, and with that 3 more invisible spirits were trying to distract any would be attackers.

"Arc, they are going to physically take your flying eyes and move them around... if they have deckers let them hack these drones it will only delay and confuse our attackers."
He said - but as the time was dire, there was no time to consult.


Marco can weave up to skill/2 =3 threads of mana at the same action, he will recklessly cast 3 invisibility spells (F1) and use 9 reagents to set their limit to 3, they are F1 spells - just like the one on the car - hopefully it will confuse them once Arc dodges these rockets it will be more difficult to follow the van. (if we survive that is).

He has 15 dice -2 for sustaining a spell -1 for wound penalties = 12 dice/3 = 4 dice for each spell.

Invisibility spells:
Invisibility F3: 3#4d6t5 1 3 1
no drain.
drain: 3#11d6t5 2 3 4

oh and now Marco takes -8 dice for spell sustaining so - that trick pretty much means that he just seats there unresponsive to the external world holding his cross and praying for his sister.


With that deed done "Marco needed all his attention to just prevent the spells from collapsing, four spells were a lot and Firefly was not there to comfort him for doing so - oh how fast did things escalate with that one. There was his sister and that odd link and memories, he was overwhelmed and unaware of his surrounding. He prayed and fantasized and in his mind he was somewhere else... in another world where she was safe and pure and innocent and he was still an escort.

How fucked up is that - that searching his entire life for happiness - the only moments are with Yelena and before that with Shilla. Can't I love someone less dangerous ? Will I never be truly happy? Marco felt as if his shreds of sainity were collapsing - it was all mechanisms of control... religion, memory manipulation, the priests Agrat, Sam and given the situation, perhaps even Yelena - he was a like pinokyo allowing external forces to puppet master him into their own interests - their own desires...

and what did he want? Could his sister even be safe? Perhaps she was the one doing the manipulation in the first place? Was she really captured or did she work with them the entire time? She knew so much more magic then him, she could not possibly be defiant. It took Marco all his learning capacity to fortify his mind - how could she retain herself if she passed the same treatment?  So his sister was trying to undo what Agrat did?!   - Was she like the rest of them? forming an emotional attachment only to bring him back into submission and control?  And Marco? He never was free - his only freedom was to trade one puppet master to another.

He was lost, and flying so much mojo at the same time just escalated his emotions and his paranoia - Perhaps they already have me and this is all a game. Perhaps I am in their interrogation room right now... how else would I hear my sister in a middle of a freaking death... trap.

or did I die and my mind is refusing to let go? Can't move on ? am I roaming the earth like a ghost - oh please ... God? Satan? is anyone even listening?  I just need a rest...  Can't I just forget how to use magic? is this gift refundable? All my problems seem to come out of the same point - I can do extraordinary things. Can't I just be mundane for crying out loud? Why did I get all these abilities if I cannot be free? Cannot harm people and struggle with values that nobody shares, nobody appreciates - what is the point in pacifism when people are launching rockets at  you. When other people are training you to kill, Is that another cruel joke? Why are life so important to me when they are worth nothing to anyone else?