4509 hopes that Chaggo is intelligent enough to know that he’s asking what the precise source of the jamming signal is.
To which Nail replies a bit irritated, “Hey, thanks a lot.” And then a bit more coolly, " We managed not to break you at least."
To which Nail responds with equal sarcasm, “Thanks.”
Chaggo replies, “The office is at the end of a narrow corridor on this floor. Synthcorp have set up barricades for cover at the far end. We couldn’t push through, on account of being sitting ducks at the end of a shooting gallery. It’s the only way in or out, so I guess you can say we’ve got them trapped.” Chaggo chuckles at the obvious misrepresentation of the situation. “They’re locked down tight. Even have a couple of wage-mages counterspelling our shamans. Didn’t think of Synthcorp as the type of place that would invest so heavily in the arcane sciences, did you?”
Chaggo continues, this time addressing 4509, “The jamming’s new. I figure it’s close by, otherwise you lot would have noticed it before now. It’s definitely not coming from the group guarding the surveillance office. Maybe that fancy-pants elf technomancer can track down the signal. Not sure if it’s worth the time, though.”
4509 looks to Kirk. “Route me a path directly above the offices.”
Goethe asks the group in general:
“What kind of fire supression systems does this building have? If we can somehow trigger it in the vicinity of those guarding the office, it might make this go a little easier for us.”
He will also take a look around the immediate vicinity to see if anything in the environment is noteworthy. A fire extinguisher or hose can come in handy for group control as well.
Nope, but they don’t have our pal Seneth here. Compared to their chumps, I bet he can work up a real doozy of a spell and blow our way right in." Nail pats Seneth playfully on the back, “Right, Seneth?”
“Don’t touch me, child. And I’m sure I could come up with something to blow our way in, if you like.”
Kirk is obviously straining with the effort of accessing restricted information.
“I can’t access your comlink,” Kirk says plainly. “Their jamming signal is too strong. I can see a route plain as day, but I’ll have to explain it to you verbally. As you probably guessed, I’m not the best at verbal communication, the route is complicated, and I won’t be able to talk to you on the way. You could take me with you, I suppose. Or, better yet, you could take Solomon with you!” She visibly lights up as the idea comes upon her suddenly. “Yeah! I like that idea. You two will get along great!”
Chaggo looks sideways at 4509. “You plannin’ on blasting your way in? Risky move, but we’ll back you up with a frontal assault at the same time, long as mister doom’n’gloom figures he can help smash through their counterspells.”
To Goethe, Chaggo says “Fire suppression is mostly handled by emergency response drones on every floor, which are unfortunately out of service.” With a clever grin, Chaggo continues, “See, it seems a band of criminal thugs planted a virus in the security mainframe. The smart drones are stupid now, and the stupid ones are paperweights.”
“If the vatjob wants to take point on this little excursion, I say more power to him. Let’s provide a nice distraction for him. It’s time to take these assholes down. Senth, if you can keep their mages busy, the rest of us can handle the lead throwers.”
To 4509:
“If you got any of those grenades to spare, I’ll take a couple. It’s not really my thing, but it’s not as if they require pinpoint accuracy. Just make sure you keep a couple for yourself, since grabbing the surveillance room is top priority. We get that, these other guys are finished anyway.”
“I’m down to my last few.” The cyborg steps back onto the elevator, keeping his hand on the hold button. “I’m taking the drone with me. If I clear the jammer upload the route to my comm, otherwise you’ll have to guide me yourself.”
“Woah there, OK. But, I knew we could count on you.”
Nail daydreams for a bit. Snapping out of it, “So, let’s get this show on the road…Whete’s 4509?”
I’ll give Mahaloth a few hours to respond to the above before pushing the story forward. I know he has a lot of real life commitments, and I want to give him a bit of extra time to participate. Thanks for your patience!
“I can keep them busy. Let’s do this thing.”
Minor update before bed. A more substantial update will come tomorrownevening!
Chaggo, the Chinook warriors, and the rest of the crew line up behind the corner leading to the barricaded hallway. The hall itself is approximately 50 yards long, with barricades erected approximately 30, 40, and 50 yards down. The barricades act as heavy cover, offering great protection from projectile fire, including magic missile-type spells. Area effect abilities can partially bypass the barriers. There are more than a dozen Synthcorp agents spread among the barricades, and surely even more in the office at the end of the hall.
Donovan remains behind to guard Kirk as she controls Solomon the assault drone. They are in a relatively quiet area near the elevator. Kirk has shut down the elevator controls, and there is no other access to the area. It’s not likely Kirk will be interrupted.
Chaggo looks the crew up and down, and says to nobody in particular, “How do we know when this party is started?”
Meanwhile, 4509 is following behind Solomon, as Kirk navigates the drone through a deserted area of the building. There are no agents here, having more important priorities to defend. It looks like this floor is a designated employee break area, with video screens, a cafeteria, lounge rooms, table games, and even sleeping quarters. The path is complicated, but eventually the drone comes to a stop in a bathroom. A small torch extends from Solomon’s right arm, and he burns an “X” into the tile floor. Afterward, he indicates with his hand past the far wall of the bathrooom, apparently trying to communicate that the surveillance offices extend below them some distance beyond the far wall.
Solomon can not speak, but is equipped with noise sensors Kirk can use to hear. 4509 can speak to her, as long as he doesn’t expect a verbal response.
4509 crouches at the designated spot and runs the skinless metal palm of his right hand along the floor of the bathroom, nodding his head in approval. The cyborg coats the floor of the bathroom with four cans worth of explosive foam before producing a small spool of cable from one of his bags, laying down nearly ten yards worth of the detcord in a loose grid pattern onto the foam itself. Unable to trigger them remotely without use of his commlink, he sets a timer detonator at the center of his demolitions masterpiece and leaves, taking position just outside the door. He hangs two flashbangs and two high explosive grenades from the webbing on his clothing and pulls his gas mask over his face.
His machine pistols spin from his arms and into his hands as he detonates the explosives.
Nail scans the hallway at a glance. Quickly lighting a cig, he replies to Chaggo: “Trust me; you’ll know.”
Geothe adds in agreement to Nail:
“Yeah, subtle isn’t exactly in the vatjob’s lexicon.”
The explosives smash through the tile of the bathroom floor and penetrate through to the floor below, sending a mountain of concrete to a rubble pile on the floor below 4509 and Solomon. The explosion reveals a cris-cross pattern of heavy steel latticework between the two floors which doesn’t leave enough room in between the sections for a person to fit through.
Solomon ignites his torch, and begins working to cut through a section of the steel support beams. 4509 can see several agents blow him scrambling to organize after the sudden blast. They’ll be ready to fight soon, but they have clearly been unnerved by the sudden violent explosion above them.
Meanwhile, Chaggo and the others have heard the explosion. The shockwave rumbles through the floor and walls around them.
“Well, I guess that’s our cue,” Chaggo says. Nail is slightly startled to see the casual joke-cracking familiar face of the ork melt away, to be replaced by murderous fury in an instant. The ork shouts a battle cry and charges into the hallway, followed by the Chinook, Goethe, and Nail.
In the hallway, the crew are exposed to a perfect line of fire from behind the Synthcorp barricades. Each of you must decide whether to rush toward the first barricade at full speed, exposing yourself to a minimum amount of fire, or to shoot back hoping for a few lucky hits, which will slow your progress to the barricade.
4509 tosses a high-explosive grenade through to the floor below.
Nail runs down the hallway at full speed. OK there Nail, remember the first rule of combat: Don’t die, he half-jokes mentally to himself.
A few bullets whiz by. Heh. Easier said than done.
Nail will run top-speed to the nearest cover, without exposing himself any further than absolutely necessary.