Nail finishes smoking the cigarette that he leisurely enjoyed during Goethe’s exposition of the plan. “Yeah, we’d be trapped like rats in here,” he says. Immediately after speaking Nail then uses his muscle and speed boost. “And here I didn’t bring any cheese.” Turning to Nightshade, he goes along with her countdown. “On 3. Three… Two…”
“ONE!” Nail shouts, and Goethe bursts through the door, assault rifle firing toward the lobby. Two of the possessed human UO employees are incapacitated by electrical surges from Goethe’s rifle, but the entire mass of hostile people and drones keeps advancing, completely unfazed by the sight of their comrades falling.
Nightshade and Nail are immediately behind. Nail pulls Rescigno toward the fire escape, turning only for a moment in order to fire toward the crowd. He may have hit a drone, but can’t be sure in his haste.
Nightshade takes position next to Goethe, her machine pistol blazing. A stream of bullets nearly saws a drone’s processing capsule in half, and it crashes down. Nightshade and Goethe are firing while retreating, covering Nail and Rescigno’s escape.
“Not so fast,” the hooded figure says. His voice is surprisingly gentle, nearly a whisper. He lifts an arm toward the crew, revealing a hand of long, thin fingers with sharpened nails. The figure makes a fist, and a translucent barrier appears before Nail and Rescigno. Nail slams into and rebounds off the magical wall, but can not get through.
The drones open fire as they advance, peppering Goethe and Nightshade with low-caliber gunfire. A total of six machines attack. Nighshade feels the sting of a bullet grazing her torso, while Goethe feels several bullets pounding his armor. Luckily, none of the hits actually pierced through, and so cause only stun damage.
Goethe has suffered 3 stun damage, and Nightshade has suffered 1 physical damage from drone attacks.
The possessed humans, much slower than the runners and machines, all begin to aim firearms at the trapped crew. Goethe and Nightshade are looking down the barrels of too many guns to count.
This is it, Goethe realizes.
Well, guess you can’t be lucky forever.
An unearthly screech comes from outside the building, and the east-facing window shatters inward with tremendous force as a fireball consumes three of the possessed humans. A shadowy blur, which appears to be a bird in flight, soars into the room and lands on the floor. Before Goethe can process what’s happening, the figure of the bird melts away, revealing a human woman with long, black hair. She stands defiantly before the hooded magician.
“Flee, foul creature!” she commands.
“Never!” the figure replies. The response is tainted with a hint of uncertainty, though. As the hooded man hesitates, the humans in his thrall stand motionless.
-End round 1, initiative pass 1
4509 is enroute to the attack, and hopefully a loyal UO security crew will be shortly behind him. He will arrive in 1 more combat round.
The crew should expect not to be so lucky next initiative pass. Those human thralls will certainly be fighting back, now!
Sinthia Erenia stares for a brief moment, a bit surprised that this fool mage is even daring to stand up to her.
*Certainly, he must know what I am(and who I carry within me)…the kind of pure energy and power he is up against. Why would he not stand down? *
“You fool; you have no idea what kind of power you are dealing with. This power is eternal, reaching infinitely into the past. While you are definitely no match for me, you are even more of an insignificant speck to what I serve.”
Sinthia pulls her hair back and moves her hands out in front of her.
“Burn…forever.”
Sinthia casts Lightning Bolt directly at the hooded mage.*
However, if there is enough space to prevent injury for herself and others who appear to be on her side, she will cast Fireball and attempt to incinerate not only the hooded mage, but all the humans next to him.
“Now that’s how to crash a party,” Nail quips as Sinthia rises to stand defiantly in front of the hooded mage. Without wasting any time, he turns to face the magic barrier. Drawing his gun, he thinks, It’s worked on magical stuff before. Here goes nothing, and opens fire.
That’s not something you see very day…or even every life. I don’t think I’ll ever get use to magic…
Goethe realizes that the only real threat is the mage. However, he also realizes that his chance of actually being effective against the mage is unlikely. If Goethe had the drop on the mage, it’d be no contest. But the mage no doubt has barriers up that will deflect pretty much anything Geothe throws against him, barring some amazing stroke of luck. So rather than switch back to explosive rounds which will take extra time and still probably won’t increase his odds at hurting the mage all that much, Goethe will stay with what he knows works. He doesn’t need to defeat everyone here, he just needs to keep them busy enough with him that they buy his allies time to take down the mage.
Geothe dives for cover and lays down a full series of supressive fire on the corp zombies that pose the most threat to his allies. He shouts:
“Those who can take out the mage, do so! I’ll keep the wage-slaves busy!”
Unexpected, but welcome. Nightshade hardly hesitates an instant–the basic tactics needed haven’t changed. Unable to keep moving, though, she needs cover, of which there’s very little in this hallway. She and Goethe end up crouching in the same corner. As she unleashes with both pistols on the drones, she glances at him and says, “OK, I changed my mind.” In response to his quizzical look, she continues, flashing him a tight smile, “I’m glad you brought all that hardware down here.” Now, let’s see if that and this new player is enough to keep us alive until more reinforcements get here. Hope that’s seconds and not minutes.
Nightshade will fire as many wide bursts as she can at different drones with both machine pistols, trading accuracy for the chance to degrade as many of their targeting systems as possible.
Combat round 2
Initiative pass 2
Nail pulls the trigger, and his pistol kicks with recoil. His bullet smashes through the magical barrier, but it doesn’t collapse. A second shot has similar results. It will take combined fire to blow through the barrier!
Goethe and Nightshade waste no time firing into the distracted mass of robots and metahumans. Nightshade is reckless, showering the area with full-auto streams of bullets from two weapons. She manages to hit two of the drones, but they recoil and stagger instead of collapse. Goethe places a shock round into a human’s armored business coat, which is completely ineffective. His second shot nails a Dwarf technician in the gut, paralyzing him with electricity.
The mages are engaged in a battle of wills. The dark-haired female newcomer conjures a stream of brilliant white magical energy that appears to consume the cloaked figure, who staggers backward against the force. He holds his hand forward, palm out, billowing darkness flowing from it. But the darkness is swept away as quickly as it is conjured, flowing over and around the hooded mage.
Finally the spell ends, and the hooded mage breathes heavily with the exertion of counterspelling. He glances between the female mage and the Shadowrunners. This is the first time the crew gets a look at the man’s face. Goethe does a double-take of near-recognition.
Seneth?
It can’t be. In a split second, the mage turns away before Goethe can get a closer look. The mage runs toward the broken window and leaps through it. His body seems to melt away, as a small, dark blur of fluttering wings soars through the open window and away. His hooded cloak flutters and twists in the air, as it falls to the floor.
The commotion in the room is over. Nail feels a humming buzz and crackle as the magical barrier disappears. The possessed humans in the room stand confused, glancing around as if unfamiliar with their surroundings.
The elevator dings, and 4509 appears. He scans the room for active threats, and finds nothing obvious.
Sinthia’s clothing did not transform with her when she arrived. She had been fighting in the nude. She takes this moment of confusion to pick up the Dark mage’s cloak and wrap it around herself.
Suddenly, a howl of tortured anguish comes from the interrogation room. It’s Johnson, back to his old self, and feeling the pain of 4509’s previous shotgun blast to his knee…
After shooting the barrier ineffectively, Nail gives it a few swift kicks. When the hooded man makes an exit stage right, the barrier crackles and falls to the ground. Nail knows it wasn’t his kick that did it, but it feels good anyway. He turns back to the party and is confronted by Sinthia in mid-change. He doesn’t see much, but it doesn’t take much to see to know what he saw was worth seeing. Reflexively letting out a low whistle, he says: “Helloooo sorceress.”
Johnson’s howl snaps Nail out of his hornball moment. Putting a serious expression back on his face, Nail goes into the interrogation room. “Welcome back,” he says to Johnson, before then stopping and waiting for the others.
“Hi.” Sinthia is obviously clueless as to what “helooooo soreceress” means besides the literal greeting.
Sinthia approaches Johnson while still dressing herself.
“Don’t move, Raven-bane. I’m probably going to Death-touch you now, or possibly cast an agonizing pain spell that would fry your mind into oblivion, which is where you belong. I have yet to decide.”
She pauses for a moment, stretching out one finger toward Johnson. The finger is covered in neat black finger-polish…or is it dried blood?
Her finger is but an inch from Johnson’s face.
“But…Raven has need of you. Allow me to mind-probe you now, freely.”
If allowed, Sinthia will probe Johnson’s mind. If not, she will use her assessing skill to analyze the aura to determine who that mage was based on the mind-control spell.
4509 makes his way to Rescigno and tosses the prototype into his arms. “The R&D department has lost men.”
Nightshade takes stock of her injuries. Just a scratch, really–should probably take care of it soon anyway. Might be others who need help more, though. Unclipping her medkit from her belt, she glances at Goethe. Seeing that none of the bullets penetrated his armor, she’ll turn her attention to the wageslaves who fell to Sinthia’s spell, checking for signs of life and/or impending death. Over her shoulder, she’ll query in the general direction of Rescigno, Nail, and Goethe, “So–who the hell is that?”
To Nightshade:
“Good question. Hey, Rescigno! What did UO end up doing with Seneth’s body after the mission? Because if I didn’t see him die with my own eyes, I’d be inclined to think it was him. It certainly looked like him.”
To the newcomer:
“Not that I don’t appreciate the help; believe me I do, but who are you? And what brings you here, particularly at the moment that we were all likely going to be drawing our last breaths? And what’s with the whole Raven thing? Seneth kept going on about Ravens as well. And the guy you just drove off looked a lot like him. But Seneth is supposed to be dead. No one should have been able to survive that.”
"You’d be surprised what Seneth can survive…and what he has endured over the long years of his life. Very little, if anything, could stop a force like him. Alas, that mage was not Seneth, though is perhaps using his most recent body. I take it he never mentioned his long life to you, then? Surprising.
I’m here because you needed help…you obviously did, by the way. I want to help you and get to the bottom of what is going on here. In some ways, I’m more powerful than our dear Seneth. I think you would be foolish to not take me with you.
And I not discussing Raven with you."
Ah, I forgot about the injured wage slaves. Nail would tend to them first before heading into the interrogation room and saying ‘Welcome back,’ to Johnson.
While checking on the wounded, Nail’s ears perk up about the mention of Seneth. So that crazy guy is possibly still alive? Well, I’ll believe it when I see it. As the lady said, whoever that was, it certainly wasn’t Seneth.
After Sinthia requests to join the party, in a manner of speaking, Nail responds to Goethe and Sinthia’s conversation. He says, “Well, she lacks Seneth’s love-able awkwardness, but she certainly has her…” And here he turns his gaze to the slightly-more-dressed mage, “… charms. What do you say Goethe? Think we can fit her in?”
A pinge of guilt runs over him. Your wife would kill you if she heard you now. he thinks. Oh, shut up, it’s all just in fun, he mentally reassures himself.
Rescigno catches the weapon. Research and Development is not his department, and he is only tangentially aware of the weapon and its capabilities. He seems overwhelmed by the suddenness of the situation.
But the man didn’t get to his position by being indecisive, or weak willed. The moment of panic is gone, and the confident leader resurfaces.
Rescigno hands the rifle to Nightshade. “Stow those popguns, and take this. You’ll need it.”
"The official report says Seneth’s corpse was retrieved by his crew. Namely, you. I never knew Seneth to control minds or shape change, though. Couldn’t have been him. The report is obviously wrong, but that doesn’t mean dead men are lurking around Seattle. "
Nightshade finds most of the humans involved in the attack to be in good condition, suffering only bruises and welts from the stick’n’shock rounds of Goethe’s rifle. Unfortunately, the three employees consumed by Sinthia’s fireball are little more than roasted hunks of meat.
Rescigno is the first to answer Nightshade’s question. “I don’t know, yet. But she’s earned herself a spot on the Universal Omnitech payroll for now. Keep an eye on her, though. She says she’s on our side, but trading one dark hooded mage with ulterior motives for another isn’t exactly my idea of an improvement.”
Sinthia stands before Johnson, who is whimpering in agony from his previous bullet wound. After she makes her demand to probe his mind, Johnson sobs in response.
She touches the human’s forehead with her fingertip, her nose curled with displeasure at having to make even this small physical contact. Magical energy flows between them as Sinthia probes his mind.
Unfortunately, she’s not sure exactly what she’s looking for. She browses through his memories and feelings, looking for the moment he became possessed. The information is not helpful in any obvious way. Where the past several days of Johnson’s memory should have been, there is simply…nothing. The last memory Johnson had prior to coming to his senses in this room, is of him sitting in his dungeon, alone and full of self pity.
There is another way to search, Sinthia thinks to herself.
Sinthia pulls her hand away from Johnson, severing the connection between them. As Johnson whines in the background, Sinthia feels the mundane world bend and swirl around her, fading further into obscurity.
Soon, she is standing in the world of the Astral. Evidence of the magic used in this room is clear and obvious. Her own spells have left imprints in the air, bright and vibrant. Here, she can not hide what she is. Her spells, her relics, even her very nature are on full display for anyone who cares to look.
The adversary’s spells are different, though. His Astral signature is fading rapidly, like mist before the rising sun. Even so, she recognizes Seneth’s work. After all, who could possibly recognize him better than she?
That mage could, Sinthia thinks, answering her own question. The mage is an expert at an obscure magical talent, the ability to manipulate his own Astral signature. Whoever this mage is, he is going through extraordinary measures to disguise himself as the late champion of Raven.
He didn’t do a perfect job at it, though. Where Seneth’s spells were wild, chaotic, and full of confusion and madness, this mage has left behind an Astral signature betraying his determined, orderly, and rational nature. This mage can not be Seneth.
As the Astral fades disappointingly, and Sinthia returns her consciousness to the mundane world, she is not surprised to see several people staring at her expectantly.
Rescigno is the exception. “This place isn’t safe, he says. Goethe, take us to one of those safe houses you mentioned. We’ll figure out our next step from there. We can’t risk going anywhere known to UO, until we find out how to protect our employees’ minds.”
After it is clear that Sinthia is finished with Johnson, Rescigno catches 4509’s eye. “Finish the job,” he says to the cyborg, referring to the miserable Johnson. “Once the weaker stomachs are out of here, put that rat out of his misery.”
Nightshade frowns and hefts the unfamiliar weapon in her hands. It’s got to be better than my holdouts. It’ll have to do, anyway, until I can safely grab some serious gear from home. Rescigno’s right, though–that’s not a safe place to go, not until we know more about the enemy and have a chance to plan. “I’m sure they know our rides if they know our places,” she points out. “Nobody start their vehicle until I get a chance to look it over–a half kilo of plastique could really change how it handles.” With that, she turns toward the emergency exit. “And stairs sound better than elevators right now.”
She heads out the door, sparing not even one backward glance for the doomed prisoner. She might shed a tear for some of the innocent dead once her life isn’t in immediate danger; but she’s read the files on Synthcorp, and there’s no chance of her wasting any of her limited supply of pity on that wretched waste of oxygen.
4509 glances at the screaming Johnson. He tosses a grenade into the interrogation room before turning to follow the others.
“Hey 4509,” Nail addresses 4509 as he enters the interrogation room. He notices his cybernetic body is a little worse for the wear and says, “You look roughed up. Have a run-in with the recycle shop again?”
The casual one-liner is barely off his lips when Nail sees 4509 pull the pin of the grenade and throw it near Johnson. He dives from the room and barely escapes from the blast of the explosion, his blazer and jeans covered in smoke. Dusting himself off, he says simply, “Some people can’t take a joke.”
“All right. Since our situation isn’t as dire as it was, we should head for a place a bit out more remote and a bit better to meet in then the one nearby. However, we shouldn’t all arrive by the same route. I’ll send each of you a route to get to the place via commlink once I know how we’re dividing up transportation. I have my bike and can fit one other person on it if necessary. I can map out routes that will take roughly 20-30 minutes to get to the place. That should be plenty of time to figure out if you’re being followed. Once we are all there and have lost any tails, we’ll figure out what our next plans are. If you find yourself being tailed, let me know over commlink. I might be able to help you find a route that can shake them.”
Sinthia watches the machine-man throw a grenade into the room with Johnson.
“Consider him exposed, I guess. Not quite right, but it will do.”
Sinthia looks back toward Rescigno:
“It is an improvement, though I rather doubt your new promotion is. You are too weak for your job and should resign and move away, don’t you think?”
“Fine. Once we’re all set, I’ll meet you all there on my own.”
Sinthia will cast Raven Form and fly to the chosen spot once she knows where it is.