[Thermo]

@Eugene:

You really enjoy seeing your uncle again. He hasn't heard anything about the artifact, but he mentions that it seems like there are a lot of foreigners in town very recently, all of which seem to have a lot of private security. Not the usual corp chummers looking for new weapons, these ones are here for something different.

You spend the rest of the afternoon training your severely lacking social skills with the grizzled old shopkeeper. He teaches you a few tricks on how to read the customer's needs and try to predict what they'll ask for so you can use it to your advantage. You feel confident that this will certainly help you should you have time to figure out how to apply it to your specific personality.

You and your uncle also spend a little time honing your assensing skills. You take turns trying to assense the customers and talismongers at the neighboring stalls, trying to read their auras. You're amazed as how easily your uncle can predict the exact moment that a customer decides to buy something.

[OOC: You've just spend three good solid hours with a trained instructor learning Con, Negotiation, and Assensing (1 hour each). This will help you when it comes time to spend Karma on character improvement.]

It's now 6:00 PM and the sun is starting to get a little lower in the sky. Probably a good idea to start heading back to the hotel. You see that Hyena has the same idea, as she's comes over with a contented smile hidden on her face. You immediately use what your uncle taught you to realize that she's sold all Iceblade's gear and feels that she got some good prices.

[Thermo]

@Hyena:

You walk around the market and try to determine which booth is best for each type of gear you're trying to sell. There are booths that specialize in magical countermeasures to aid in smuggling (biofiber is apparently a hot item these days), booths specializing in drugs that mages seem to crave such as Psyche, magical weapons and foci, and even one surrounded by annoying watcher spirits hawking the services of bound spirits. You manage to sell all the items at decent prices, as even the non-magical items have a use for people in the brutal city of Lagos.

[OOC: You sell all the items for a use price 30% of their original value, go ahead and roll Negotiation(2) on the Zoe Heritage Line Armor and the Moonlight katana sword cane and you can apply hits at +10% price per hit over the base threshold of (2)]

You find Eugene in the middle of an animated conversation with his uncle, both of whom look in your direction with unfocused eyes. It's obvious that they're trying to assense you. You roll your eyes and tell Eugene that it's time to go.

@Hyena & Eugene:

As you both walk out of the market, you hear the sound of a young girl yelling for help in Yoruba, followed by the sound of a heavy door slamming shut. You see a small sandy-colored brick building immediately outside the market's entrance, and there is an older-looking ork standing in the doorway wearing the old version of the Igbo tribe's commonly worn outfit. As you look in his direction he walks hastily inside and closes the flimsy-looking door behind him.

What do you do?

[Sentinemodo]

We need to get out of here...there are ghouls outside....
You've seen the McGuyver serie? There was an episode, where he was trapped like we are in the garage. I guess we could use his trick.
What we need to do is to push through them. We need a plowing ram. We don't have time (nor cash) to install proffesional one. But I think we can make one that will last long enough moment.

There are two sheets of weak armor. If we mount them at the front of the car in a similar way to the snow plow and high enough that they will cover the seats like this... Jerry started to draw a small picture in the dirt on the working table. We'll need to fasten it here and here and here. Once we get past them, we'll need to speed up and run through the main gate before they recover and jump over us.. So we need to drop the sheets. It need to be strong enough to survive direct hit into a ghoul, but easy to drop off. This is a HE grenade you got there? Good. We'll put a small charge here at the joining spot. The blast and speed will blow off the ram freeing us.

OOC:
assuming there are ghouls outside and that there are two sheets of metal in the garage (i could use even a surface of the working tables if need be), picture attached show the 'schema'
the triangle is the line of armor sheets, the cirecles are the fastening points. the red dot is where the explosive need to be put in.
assuming Doc, will share his grenade,
Assuming I need an armorer roll to disarm the grenade reduce it's power by 8 and arm again.
Assuming I need an automotive mechanic roll to mount the ram onto the Cinderella (that's how I decided to name the pickup ).
Assuming I need an demolitions roll to attach the grenade, I want something easy like a glued grenade at the joining spot with a string to remove the blocking ring, and have it blow out on the next IP

to all of the applying Juryrigger bonus, and good working conditions.
grenade - Logic(6) + Armorer(1) + Superior Tools(1) + Superior work environment(1) + Juryrigger(3) -> 12d6.hits(5)=3

temporary ramming plate - Logic(6) + Automotive mechanic(1) + Superior Tools(1) + Superior work environment(1) + Juryrigger(3) + plan (attached 1) -> 13d6.hits(5)=6 hits in first roll

ramming plate charge - Logic(6) + Demolition(-1, defaulting) + Superior Tools(1) + Superior work environment(1) + Juryrigger(3) -> this roll should probably be yours since I'm defaulting, but I'll roll anyway -> 10d6.hits(5)=2

The first and third are easy tasks probably - treshold 2 maybe?
The second probably require extended test, but since I specifically want it to be temporary solution, I assume 10 minute of work and an easy fix type of job for the skill -> treshold 4, I'll certainly finish it by the second roll if you judge it treshold 8 - complex repair


If the above is correct than probably in 15 mintues we should have a McGuyver style ghoul-plow ready (actualy this is more of the A-Team style, but Doc wouldn't notice the subtle differnece anyway )


Once finished Jerry packed the tools and weapons crates onto the Cinderella. and parked drone into it drone rack. The plan for the closest future is that you open the garage gate. I drive out. You jump in on cargo pickup. I am driving out to the main gate. if we hit one ghoul then it is no problem. if we hit more then one I'll try to wedge through them.  blow the ram and get the fuck out. If anything jumps on to the cargo, it's your job to take it off.  You can hide behind the cargo covers - here are gun ports. Try to fasten yourself so you don't fall off - here are the belts.

[farothel]

"Let's go," Hyena said to Eugene while checking her Alpha.  She first looked for a side alley and a back entrance to the building.  Storming the front door in full view of the market might not be the best idea, so she went looking for another way into the building.

OOC: going with the fact that Eugene will be following and that we find a quiet spot somewhere close by.
negotiation roll: charisma 3 + negotiation 2 =5 (5d6.hits(5)=1)
nothing added I guess.

"If you go and have a look inside the building astrally," she said to the mage as soon as they had found a spot not too far from the building where there were not too many people, "I'll guard your shoes in the meantime."

[Eleven]

Well Jerr-O, I called you "my boy" as a gesture of friendship, but based on your behavior it is clearly also an accurate description of your maturity level.  That said, if I let every gruff pill head I've known get under my skin, I'd have a short career (no pun intended).  However, the best I've worked with have always been irritable jerks, and I'm guessing you'll measure up to their standards as well (also no pun intended).

I'm happy to lend you a grenade or two, further I'm happy to lend assistance to your work. Did you want Flash or HE?

Assisting with demolitions: Logic (4) plus Demolitions (1) (5d6.hits(5)=0)

I can keep anyone out of the back of this rig, provided you drive sanely.  Also don't assume everyone on the streets is a ghoul, even here, even at night - the overwhelming majority are just regular folks out.  If we go down a back alley in a bad neighborhood that might change, but otherwise drive cautiously.

[eighth circuit]

What is this crazy woman doing? Eugene thought. She'd seemed the level-headed type, but now here she was chasing after phantoms. If Eugene went looking every time he thought he'd heard a girl screaming, he'd have run himself off a cliff by now. But, the only thing more dangerous than chasing a rabbit down a hole was doing it yourself, at night, in Lagos. So here he was, hiding in a shadowy alley in Lagos trying to be a do-gooder. At least it was a chance to try out one of his new spells.

"I don't like to leave my body lying around if I don't have to. Plenty of nasty surprises out there. But, I have something better." Eugene's pupils dilate, his brow furrows and his eyes grow wide with a yellow tint. You notice a leather and resin pendant in the shape of a hawk's eye around his neck, glowing faintly.

OOC:
Casting astral window at force 5. I'm assuming we're within 25 meters of the building.
Magic(5) + Spellcasting(detection) (5)(+2) = 12 (12d6.hits(5)=4) 4 hits
Willpower(5) + Charisma(4) + Focused Concentration(1) = 10 (10d6.hits(5)=2) Drain resisted. Actually, the pool should have been 12--I forgot to add my fetish bonus. But no need to roll 2 more in this case.
I'd like to read the aura of everyone inside the building, provided there are not too many. Also I will inspect the astral shadows for weapons, escape/entrance routes, and anything else of interest.

[Thermo]

@Eugene:

You cast your Astral Window spell and immediately your vision fills with images from inside the building. The building is made of stone, and therefore it appears as a dullish blue surface. You spin your view in a 360-degree circle and see a single window at the back of the room and a single wood door, presumably the door you were able to observe from the street. The wood door glows brighter than the surrounding stone, as it contains trace amounts of the life-force of the tree that was harvested ages ago to create it. You can make out black lines in the window opening where there are some kind of bars installed, probably metal. There is a single metahuman sitting on a chair at a small table in the center of the room who appears to be eating something. The food glows brightly in your astral vision, having just recently been alive.

You notice that there appears to be a black square on the floor under the table the lone figure is sitting at.

[OOC: you'll need to roll Assensing to tell anything more about the figure in the room.]

[eighth circuit]

Eugene remains silent and still. He appears to be concentrating carefully on something, though you have no idea what.

OOC:
Intuition(4) + Assensing(2) + Owl Mentor(2) = 8 (8d6.hits(5)=5) 5 hits!
After assensing the figure, I'd like to move the astral window below the black square on the floor, to see if there's anything to observe.

[Thermo]

@Eugene:

You analyze the metahuman, trying to scry any details you can by looking at his aura.

He appears to be a mundane. Due to his size he appears to be either a large human or more likely an ork. His aura is faded and has a lot of dark spots; based on your past experience, this is common with people who have lost essence at some point in their life, or who have knowingly done terrible things to others.

You shift your astral window down below the floor. You enter a basement or cellar space without any windows or doors besides the one in the ceiling. The walls glow with an extremely faint purple glow indicating that they are probably made from natural stone. There is a wooden ladder propped up to the hatch in the ceiling, again showing its age by its faded glow. There are some small tables and chairs in the space which appear to be covered in candles and hooded lanterns.

There are several figures in the room. One of the figures is definitely Awakened and he appears to be a fairly powerful mage. He is standing in the middle of the room and appears to be speaking, but you have no way of knowing what he is saying. There are two more figures in the room, both females. The both appear to be Awakened, but either don't have a high level of magical ability or are masking it in some way. They are kneeling on the ground facing the male. There appears to be something made of paper or papyrus on the ground that both female mages are looking at. The room has a feeling of fear and desperation embedded into the walls, as though it has been used for bad things for a long time.

You also notice a small ball of light floating around the room, slowly circling the perimeter. It's definitely a low-powered spirit of some kind but you can't tell much more.

[eighth circuit]

Eugene can't resist the chance to be a hidden voyeur at a strange magical ceremony. He voraciously reads each aura in the room.

Assensing for mage, females, paper, spirit (8d6.hits(5)=3, 8d6.hits(5)=1, 8d6.hits(5)=4, 8d6.hits(5)=4)

[farothel]

"What is going on there," Hyena asked to Eugene.  She could always hear when people were talking when she was looking in the astral, but she wasn't sure if the same went for mages.  Well, he was still standing up, so that was a probable yes.  The mages she had seen going off in the astral always dropped down.  Maybe she could see something as well, she thought, so she quickly had a look in the astral as well.  If there was nothing to see she would come back in the normal world.


OOC: I don't think I can see through that window, if I'm not mistaken.

[Thermo]

@Eugene:

You assense the people and objects in the underground room:

The mage's Essence appears to be less than yours, but his Magic appears to be roughly equal to your own. You notice that the mage is an ork, and that he has cybernetic replacements for several body parts, including lower arm, lower leg, and one eye, all on his left side. The mage projects an aura of control and dominance.

The two females are definitely Awakened, but you're having a hard time telling how powerful they are. They appear to be mostly unharmed with the exception of some minor injuries. They project an aura of fear.

The paper is very old and has an aura indicating it has been read many, many times. It projects an astral signature of a Manipulation spell.

The spirit is a watcher spirit. You see the faint echoes in the mana around it linking it to the ork mage in the room.

[Thermo]

@Hyena:

You switch over to astral vision but don't see anything except for the closed door. Eugene is completely still; his astral signature shows you that he's not projecting himself, but is instead using some kind of spell which you guess is performing roughly the same task. Might have to learn that one, you think to yourself.

[Thermo]

@Jerry:

You take a look at the finished product. It doesn't look too shabby. You're particularly happy with how sturdy the plow feels; you aren't quite sure how well the charges will work when it's time to blow them, as you're not really all that into demolitions. Screw it, you think to yourself, It'll be fine.

You decide that the truck needs one last finishing touch. You find a can of bright orange spray paint and write on the makeshift ram prow in big block letters:

"MOVE IT, ASSHOLES"

It sure was nice of that old bastard to let you use the tin roof of his workshop as your ram prow, you laugh to yourself.

You pull Cinderella into position about 30 meters back from the gate, its engine thrumming nicely. The weapons case is tied down in the bed of the truck and has an old tarp over it. You've got a feeling that once Doc T unlocks the gate, the ghouls are going to swarm in like crazed hornets. You lean your head out the window so you can see whats going on in front of you. Doc T is approaching the gate, trying to be as stealthy as possible. If he's stealthy enough, he might be able to unlock it without the ghouls noticing.

[Thermo]

@Doc T:

You can't believe Jerry went and used the owner's shop roof as his fragging ram plate. The guy's going to be so pissed that you don't know what he'll do in the morning. You consider leaving some coin on the workbench as payment for the dwarf's "appropriation", as he called it.

You decide that Jerry's original idea of ramming the gate open is a terrible idea. It would alert all the ghouls in the area immediately, and they would come swarming into the old man's shop. He wouldn't be able to lock the gate, and he'd probably get killed if he went outside his barricaded little house to investigate. No, that wouldn't do. Needs to be something that does as little damage as possible.

If you try to sneak up to the gate to unlock it, roll make an Infiltration roll, otherwise state how you plan to open the gate