If it only costs minor drain and we are not in battle mode…he actually will cast it anyway.
4509 tosses a gas grenade up to the 2nd floor, intending to poison the hallway leading to the VIP rooms with tear gas. The grenade richochets off an invisible barrier, bouncing back to the first floor. The grenade starts releasing more gas into the crowd on the first floor, which has started a full-blown stampede toward the exits.
Nail, Seneth, Goethe, and 4509 are all inside the club now. Seneth casts detect enemies, and resists the drain easily. He can not detect anyone within the spell’s range who plans to do him harm, but one person nearby dislikes Seneth, and wishes he could simply dispose of him. It’s a feeling more closely resembling contempt than hatred.
Seneth puts considerably more effort into his detect magic spell, and it shows. He suffers one point of stun damage due to the drain of casting, but his spell is quite successful and has a range large enough to cover the entire club. Seneth can clearly see a magically generated barrier* being sustained from inside the first VIP room on the 2nd floor. A fire spirit and earth spirit of superior strength are waiting within the barrier, bound to an individual who possesses magic power at least equivalent to Seneth’s. Finally, Seneth can see a spell being sustained on an unknown person (not the magic user) who is also within the magical barrier. This final spell will greatly increase the target’s combat ability. The group upstairs is ready for a fight, and in magical terms is quite alarmingly powerful!
*This type of magical barrier requires concentration to sustain. It will behave exactly as if it were extra “armor” for the targets inside, forcing bullets to expend energy to penetrate through it, in order to do damage. If enough damage is done to the barrier, it will collapse. It will prevent people from walking through one side to get to the other, and this works both ways! The targets inside will have their projectiles resisted by the barrier if they attempt to shoot out toward the group. Magic spells will not be affected by the barrier.
Seneth to the group.
"Death…quite…likely. For one of you, anyway, my children. This is very, very serious and it is not likely we will all survive without proper planning. This Vayne is not equal to me, but he is strong…very strong. He has two spirits with him and has enhanced a fighting partner with him.
All of your ‘weapons’ will be blocked by a magic barrier, but my magic won’t. If we engage, I will focus my magic on Vayne, as it isn’t affected by the barrier. I will need protection, though, for I will need to focus on a powerful attack spell and will be quite vulnerable. I suggest Identification number 450902603 goes in front. He seems…sturdy.
Oh, and whatever one of you has against me, grow out of it now, my child. I assure you, I am the greatest ally you have ever had. Getting rid of me is like emptying your weapons of all their projectiles: idiotic."
:sigh:
Seneth thinks to himself, “Could this Vayne be from the olden days? No one but me exists from that time. Owl would have told me if this were not correct. He must, must, must be able to die…probably.”
4509 stops midway up the stairs and turns his body towards Seneth as the mage talks, his head turning likewise a moment later. He rips free his mask and tosses it through the gas to Seneth. “Get your ass up here, then.” He reloads his shotty while waiting for the elf, quite unaffected by the tear gas flooding the club.
Nail looks around and yawns, unfazed by the chaos surrounding him. “I don’t think our new friend Mr.45 here is exactly the planning type.” He looks up towards the second floor and his demeanor changes sharply. His eyes narrow and his usually lackadaisical posture seems to jolt alert. “Now let’s go before he hogs all the fun.”
Mentally to himself, he has a moment of indecision that betrays his apparent calm. “Hope that gas doesn’t take me out right here and now. Damn robot.”
Edit to my last post: *elf should be *human, don’t know why I thought Seneth was an elf.
Probably because Kirk is, and Elves tend toward being mages.
As the crowd panics around him, Goethe takes in the situation with calm aplomb.
*Club rats. Annoying but harmless. Nice thing about them is they typically don’t try to be heroes in these situations. Which is good, because usually heroes result in not only getting themselves killed but others as well. I’d say it’s a shame about the bouncer, but really, either he was too stupid to realize that firing a light pistol blindly into a crowd at an enemy you haven’t seen yet is a bad idea, or that firing a light pistol at an obvious vatjob packing a shotty is a worse one. Either way, he paid for his idiocy with his life. The gene pool just got a little more chlorine added to it.
Of course, bringing gas grenades to an enclosed area without informing the rest of your crew that you are doing so, in order for them to take the proper precautions such as procuring some gas masks, isn’t particularly genius either. I mean, sure one can close one’s eyes and hold one’s breath, but that kind of makes it difficult to do anything useful.*
How far away are the vehicles? If not too far, Goethe will go back for his assault rifle, because he’s not going to be able to do too much at the moment until the tear gas dissipates anyway, so he might as well prep himself for the inevitable firefight that will soon come. Or better yet, Geothe says to Nail:
“Hey, Nail. Since with the tear gas flooding the club and all kind of limiting our options here for now, would you mind, since you’re faster than me, going back for my assault rifle. I have a feeling I’m going to need it soon, and the pistol just isn’t going to cut it as well. I’ll owe you one.”
Seneth looks at the mask curiously.
“Someone must help me put this mask on. Also, does everyone else here have a mask? I will not go up there with only that machine-man.”
The vehicles are parked in the club lot, close by. Even so, going back for equipment will take valuable time that increases the risk emergency crews will show up before the task is complete. If the risk is worth it to Goethe, he’ll miss out on all his initiative passes for the first two combat rounds, unless the group waits for him. Nail’s speed advantage is not significant enough to reduce that penalty, but he may accept the penalty on Goethe’s behalf, if he chooses to go back for the rifle.
The tear gas is contained to the first floor. The test for holding your breath and walking through the gas to get to the 2nd floor without suffering the effects of the gas will use your BOD + STR attributes, with a very low threshold for success (since you’ll be spending very little time in the gas). Without exceptionally unlucky rolls, the group will almost certainly have no problem with the gas on the first floor. The tear gas will not dissipate enough to be safe before emergency crews arrive.
Well, in light of the clarification, Goethe will go through the gas and up the stairs with the cyborg and Seneth, protecting Seneth from harm.
Indeed, Seneth will now proceed with the others to the upstairs area(assuming someone helped him get his mask on properly). He will not risk holding his breath and cross on his own.
This should be interesting.
Nail is already on his way. Second floor here we come.
If necessary, Nail says halfway up the stairs, “Hey Donovan. Stop daydreamin’ and get your ass up here!”
4509 paces the second floor like a caged animal, firing his shotty repeatedly point-blank at the barrier. If and when the barrier goes down he immediately moves into the VIP area and attempts to kill whoever he finds there, with anyone that might be Vayne being prioritized.
Seneth’s top priority is maintaining cover. He says to his allies:
“My great power and agelessness come with a great drawback! I am too weak to resist much injury! Protect me and witness my power!”
If Seneth feels he has enough cover, he will use Edge to:
**Cast Chaotic World **on the area of his enemies
If this spell is known to be ineffective to spirits/mages, he will cast:
Manabolt directly at Vayne
Seneth’s top priority is maintaining cover. He says to his allies"
“My great power and agelessness come with a great drawback! I am too weak to resist much injury! Protect me and witness my power!”
The second floor is a large, wide open area with a balcony that overlooks the first floor dance area. The source of the magical barrier is within a room to the left of the stairway.
4509 uses his shotgun to blast through the door of the room. There is an electric sizzling sound as the shells expend their energy piercing through the magical barrier. Four slugs are enough to blast enough damage through the doorway to open a line of sight for Seneth’s spell.
A high-pitched wailing sound seems to come from somewhere near Seneth, oozing through the Void like melting butter. The sound grows in intensity, until it bursts into a screaming cacophony of conflicting noises; tortured screams, a full jazz band, a buzz saw, and a hundred thousand simultaneous whispers that seem to be desperate to all be heard at the same time.
As Goethe races up the steps, the banisters take an odd shape, and his hands slip from them. The steps begin to lose their edges, until it resembles a ramp more than a stairway. Goethe scrambles up the steps, but he’s suddenly covered in mud and shifting dirt, and losing momentum. Nail is above him, and reaches down to him.
“Come on!” Nail shouts, and Goethe reaches for his hand. Nail pulls on the ork, and pulls him past the avalanche.
“What the hell is going on?” Goethe shouts through the noise.
“Seneth!” is all Nail can say above the noise.
A marching band shoves past Nail and Goethe, stepping a steady cadence through the wall of the Dog Track club and disappearing. Goethe struggles to separate the illusion world from the reality, but his senses are overwhelmed with stimulus.
In the center of the swirling chaos stands Seneth, standing calmly amid the insanity. He even looks peaceful. The cyborg 4509 continues to fire his shotgun recklessly, but Goethe can’t tell who or what he’s even aiming at.
Seneth has scored 5 hits with his Chaotic World spell, which will cause any test made by any character in the area to suffer a -5 dice pool modifier due to the distraction of the illusions. This spell affects electronic sensors, magical senses, cybernetics, and organics (your normal senses) equally! This will continue until either Vayne manages to dispel it (not likely, considering the penalty he’d suffer while trying) or Seneth chooses to end the spell.
4509 has blasted through Vayne’s barrier, and shredded the door. Inside the room is a terrified hooker cowering in a corner, Vayne himself, and two Synthcorp agent bodyguards. Also, two spirits bound to Vayne are ready to fight.
Seneth has cast an extremely powerful spell, which is quite draining. He has suffered four points of stun damage due to drain as a result of casting this spell. Further spellcasting will be more difficult until he has a chance to rest!
Note: the penalty Seneth has inflicted applies to everyone in the area. It will be very difficult to make effective attacks, although not impossible. In order to make your shots more likely to hit, try sacrificing a “shoot” action in order to make a “take aim” action, negating some of the distraction penalty at the cost of smaller volume of fire. Vayne, his allies, and your crew will all participate in the next combat round.
Edited to add: Seneth now has 1 point of used Edge. All of the Edge used in the previous run has been refunded.
“Take aim, children! Machine-man, I hope you are not affected! Kill them all!” Seneth cries to his allies.
*Damn. That warlock has some fucked up spells. He should quit running and just pimp himself out as a walking hallucinogenic factory. All the “fun” without any of the physical addiction. Probably make a fortune at it.
Face it. You can’t fully trust your normally reliable senses anymore. Instead, focus on where you are, and what’s reasonable to see. Marching bands and mudslides aren’t commonly found in dance clubs after all. But your target is here, and even if Seneth’s spell distorts what he looks like, a mage of that level of power is still pretty easy to suss out. Most aren’t very good at hiding what they are. Keep your wits about you and you’ll do just fine.*
Goethe will go over to where Vayne is hiding out and taking aim will fire his pistol at him.
Despite everything that’s going on, the cyborg seems calm and relentless. 4509 will fire, taking aim, at Vayne.
Nail assesses the situation around him and thinks to himself, “We can’t all be shooting at Vayne, or his minions are going to hammer us. And getting in melee range would be suicide… looks like I have no other choice.”
Nail will take aim at the closest elemental and fire as many times as he is able.
Begin Combat Round 1
As Seneth’s chaos spell roars like a wildfire around the combatants, the crew opens fire on Vayne and his allies. Vayne’s trained, professional bodyguards respond in kind, turning the club into a war zone.
First initiative pass
Vayne’s magically-enhanced bodyguard is the first to get his wits. A cloud of swarming bees buzz around his head, but he manages to ignore them while carefully aiming at the obvious source of the insanity, the tall and wispy looking warlock. The Synthcorp agent scores a direct hit that crashes through Seneth’s skull, and the warlock slumps to the ground, instantly dead. The blood that pours from the wound flows toward the agent and begins to clot, forming a strange looking tower of gore. The bloody mess begins to laugh in a powerful demonic voice, “FOOL! NOW DIE!” before bursting into a cloud of dust. The agent blinks, and there stands Seneth, right where he was before the bullet hit him, completely unharmed.
The magically-enhanced Synthcorp agent has missed.
While the agent is firing at illusions, the cyborg 4509 advances into the room. Vayne seems unaware of the danger approaching him as 4509 levels his shotgun at Vayne’s head. The screaming illusions try to distract 4509, but he brushes them off without consequence. “Time to die,” the cyborg says, and pulls the trigger.
Vayne glances up just in time to have his head rocked backward by the concussive force of the shotgun round. The man slumps to the ground, so covered in gore that he is no longer even recognizable as human.
The Synthcorp agent is the first of Vayne’s allies to realize the wizard has been killed, as he can feel the improved reaction and combat ability provided by Vayne’s spell instantly vanish.
4509 has used Edge (via private communication with the GM) and a “take aim” action to kill Vayne with 12 total damage from his shotgun. The Mage has been killed outright, with no chance to be saved.
Goethe is a split second slower than the cyborg. He knows a killshot when he sees one, and realizes that shooting him again would be a waste of ammunition. He turns toward the nearest remaining target, a Synthcorp agent.
“You picked the wrong team, pal,” Goethe says as he aims and fires at the man. Goethe is remarkably calm amid the chaos surrounding him, and manages to shut the illusions out as he fires. The agent never sees the shot coming. The bullet hits the man somewhere in the torso - a good hit, but not fatal.
Goethe’s pistol shot has done 3 damage to a Synthcorp agent.
Nail can recognize a powerful spirit when he sees it. Vayne is-well, was-a remarkably accomplished summoner. The fire and earth spirits in the room will carry out Vayne’s final order before departing, and that order would certainly have been to kill Nail and his crew. “Not today,” Nail says. “Sorry chum,” he says as he fires his pistol at the fire spirit.
As Nail fires, it’s apparent to everyone that the weapon is magical in nature. No mundane weapon could have damaged such a strong spirit. Nail’s essence pours through the pistol, literally merging with the spirit infused in the tool. The magical chaos around him falls to a small buzz of annoyance in the background, as the Adept focuses his aim and pulls the trigger.
The bullet scores a perfect hit. Instead of passing through the gaseous form of the fire spirit, it explodes with magical force as it crosses the spirit threshold. The fire spirit gasps with a deep supernatural voice, and is suddenly banished, disappearing with a resonating bang.
Nail has banished the fire spirit with his weapon focus.
The earth spirit responds with a resounding roar of challenge, and rushes toward Nail, engaging him in melee combat. A trunk like arm lashes out at the Adept, smashing him in the chest and knocking him backward. The air rushes from Nail’s lungs as he slams against the balcony railing, gasping for breath.
The earth spirit has done 6 points of stun damage to Nail. This damage will heal in a few hours.
The second Synthcorp agent (who has not attempted a shot yet) tries to shoot Seneth with his pistol. He fires twice. The first bullet hits Seneth in a glancing blow to the torso, while the second goes wide, hitting nothing.
Seneth has suffered 2 physical damage from the Synthcorp agent. This damage will not heal quickly on its own, and Seneth should consider using magic or medicine to heal the damage.
Seneth, realizing that Vayne has been killed, attacks the only target remaining which can not be easily destroyed with mundane weapons, the earth spirit. He struggles to remember the words of power focusing to use for the spell, but in a flash of insight manages to shout them into the howling wind. It’s not his greatest success, but he does manage to conjure a small projectile that flies toward the earth spirit and crashes into it.
Seneth has cast a low-powered version of the manabolt spell, which is both easier to cast, and easier to resist drain. He suffers no drain from the spell, and has done 2 damage to the earth spirit.
End of first initiative pass
The following characters will participate in the next initiative pass:
Goethe
Nail
4509
Seneth has no remaining initiative passes, but he may spend 1 point of Edge to gain an initiative pass and participate in the next pass. Furthermore, he may choose to end the chaotic world spell at any time (without having to use an action or spend Edge, even if it’s not his turn to act).