Retro-posting a smidgeon: The urgency in Nail’s voices rises as he replies to Kirk’s vague comment, “Yeah, and if you want to keep this meat from rotting, get me out of here. Pronto!”
Back in the present: With barely a second thought, Nail books it to the sound of the motorcycle. “Getting IDed would be a real pain in the ass,” he mentally gripes to himself.
The conversation goes over the commlink as well…
“Really? A fight on the roof of a fast moving train!?” Goethe gibes.
“You watch way too many late-night action trids, my friend. Unlike them, you don’t have a harness. You have to know this isn’t going to turn out well for you. It’s three against one. And while you seem to know Donovan here, you have no clue what my fellow runner and I can do. The name’s Goethe, by the way, I’ll let neo-goth guy over here introduce himself if he wants.”
While saying the next part, Goethe will release his heavy pistol from the arm slide into his hand. He will not try to conceal the action, nor will he try to draw attention to it. He’ll do it as if it was as natural as breathing. He will keep his arm down at his side as well.
“So tell me, why risk your life over some corporate drone?”
"Chaggo, my child, fighting against me is futile. I am, called by some anyway, a Warlock. My powers are beyond any of the men here on this train, and certainly far beyond anything you can imagine.
The Owl will not allow you to escape from us and if I must, I will cause you…great bodily harm. Must I do this? Surrender to us now and no harm will come to you. I can assure you of this.
Or…would you rather die? A fall from here would mean instant death, certainly you see this.
Or have you not met my friend? The Owl brings him near at this very moment. You…will not like him, my dear child."
Seneth begins to wave his arms around frantically. If it were not clear he is so powerful, it might look silly. Because of his presence, though, it looks…mysterious and terrifying.
Seneth will begin to summon a Spirit of Air.
Donovan to Chaggo:
"Underestimate me? You aren’t the first and won’t be the last.
“Now how’s about you stop the tough talk and man up. Let’s handle this like real men, hand-to-hand. Stop hiding behind your toys and toss 'em. But I understand if you’re scared.”
Kirk can sense that Darwin’s processing power is nearly at full capacity piloting the motorcycle. It’s doubtful Darwin will be up to the task if Lone Star gives pursuit. At any time, Kirk can use a free action to jump directly into Darwin (or the motorcycle itself) to assume the piloting task.
Next update will come in a few hours!
Chaggo laughs at Donovan’s challenge. “Nice try, kid,” the ork growls. With sudden incredible speed and fluid dexterity, he points the pistol at Donovan and pulls the trigger.
Donovan, Seneth, and Goethe are now engaged in combat with Chaggo on top of the moving train. The action order for this initiative pass will be Chaggo->Donovan->Goethe->Seneth. Seneth has indicated he will use his initiative pass to summon a spirit of air, although he may change his mind and submit a different order if he wishes.
[COLOR=“DarkGreen”]Full Defense - A character may sacrifice his NEXT initiative phase to respond to an incoming attack by using “Full Defense.” This will take all of the character’s concentration, but will double the dice he has available for opposed dice rolls that round. If Donny decides to respond to Chaggo’s attack by using all his character’s concentration for “full defense,” he will be much more likely to avoid injury, at the expense of sacrificing his normal turn of a free action and either two simple actions or one complex action.[/COLOR]
Meanwhile, the Lone Star cops have decided to give chase against Nail. One of the men rushes after Nail on foot, while the other activates his radio and barks out Nails description and direction of travel. “We are in pursuit!” the cop shouts. “Repeat, we are in pursuit of the suspect, requesting additional units to intercept heading west on Pine street, toward the train station.”
Nail can see Kirk’s motorcycle racing along an intersecting route to his current path. Nail focuses his energy again, and feels the sudden “whoosh” of tingling power exciting his nerves. As the motorcycle approaches, Nail leaps upon it. “Go Darwin! Go, go, go!” Nail shouts, and the motorcycle speeds away with Nail.
A new police cruiser pulls behind the motorcycle in close pursuit. Despite the motorcycle’s superior speed, Darwin seems to be hesitating at crucial moments while his processor calculates the optimal course. The cruiser is gaining on the bike.
“Stop the vehicle!” a voice shouts over a loudspeaker on the car.Nail glances in the review mirror, and sees the cruiser behind him. The Lone Star cop in the passenger seat draws a pistol from his holster, and leans out of the open window, attempting to line up a shot. “Stop, or we’ll shoot!” the voice says again.
Nail and Kirk have several options. Kirk can pilot the vehicle herself, and instruct Darwin to attempt to disable the vehicle with his small caliber weapon, or she can remain in the TA network with the hopes of helping the train group somehow. Nail can fire upon the pursuing vehicle in an attempt to injure the passengers or slow the vehicle down, or he can sit tight, not show his face, and avoid the possibility of being identified by the camera on the Lone Star cruiser. It’s a bumpy and fast ride at the moment though, so the camera will have a hard time getting a picture with resolution good enough for positive identification, but it’s possible.
“Need a little more speed here!” Nail, now completely losing his calm, yells at Darwin.
Is there such a thing as a ‘Sense Motive’ or even a ‘Knowledge’ check on whether the cop is bluffing or not about him shooting at Nail?
Kirk will take over piloting the bike, and trust Darwin with attempting to disable their pursuers.
If Donovan goes full defense, Goethe will fire two shots of stick-n-shock into Chaggo with his heavy pistol.
(If not, well, he’ll do something else possibly depending on what Donovan does.
There is a test for determining a person’s truthfulness or whether they’re bluffing, but it’s not useful in such an impersonal setting. It relies on things like body language, perspiration level, and other “empathetic” cues you just can’t notice looking at the rear-view mirror during a high speed vehicle chase.
Much more useful is a knowledge of Lone Star procedure and reputation. Lone Star is known for its extremely reckless officers, who shoot first and ask questions later. The good news is that they also have a reputation for incompetence in most circumstances. They are so ubiquitous precisely because they are typically the lowest bidder for Security details. That’s why the truly successful corps rely on their own security forces for their turf. Nail would naturally know that Lone Star would shoot in this situation, and it’s showing quite rare and remarkable restraint that they haven’t already.
Seneth will summon the Air Spirit and give it instructions when it appears.
“Sounds like he means business,” Nail thinks to himself. He covers his face with his right hand (his eyes to the left and right of his pointer and middle finger), and with his left attempts to shoot out the front tire of the cruiser.
What kind of roads and traffic situation has the chase been racing through?
Donovan will trust his finely tuned combat instincts, honed over years in the ring, and go on the offensive. He’ll draw his pistol, take a knee to fire from a more stable position, and aim a shot to Chaggo’s head.
Donovan will spend a point of Edge on his shot.
Goethe will still fire two shots at Chaggo.
Donny sees the muzzle flash on Chaggo’s pistol as if he were in a dream. He feels constrained, like he’s surrounded by water, slowing his movements to a crawl.
Of course it’s impossible, but Donny has the impression that he can actually see, feel, or otherwise sense the trajectory of the medium-caliber slug as it speeds toward him. He’s much too slow to actually dodge the bullet, but he knows with sinking certainty that it will strike him. As Donovan takes to a knee, Chaggo’s bullet strikes him directly on the breast of his armored business suit. The full kinetic force of the impact transfers directly into the material, sending a mini-shockwave of violent energy through the air around the impact site.
The hit has barely registered on Donovan’s consciousness before Chaggo fires again. As Chaggo squeezes the trigger, the train hits a minor imperfection in the rails, causing a slight sudden jerking motion. It’s enough to ruin Chaggo’s aim, and send the second bullet flying harmlessly past Donovan’s shoulder.
Chaggo has used two points of Edge to shoot twice at Donovan. Chaggo’s first shot attempt rolled adequately, but was nearly completely absorbed by Donovan’s equally adequate defense. Donny has suffered 1 point of physical damage.
In response to Chaggo’s attacks, Donovan squeezes off a single shot from his light pistol. The bullet misses Chaggo’s head, but instead grazes across his shoulder, doing minor damage.
“That hit would have crippled a normal person,” Donovan thinks to himself. Chaggo must be protected by more than just an armor vest.
Donovan has used Edge to fire a single shot at Chaggo, which dealt two damage to the ork. Donovan used a free action to quick-draw the pistol, and a simple action to steady himself (or “take aim”) in order to prevent negative modifiers from the motion of the train.
Almost simultaneously with Chaggo’s and Donovan’s attacks, Goethe squeezes off two non-lethal stick 'n shock rounds at Chaggo’s center-mass. Both rounds hit the target, but deal no damage. The rounds are unable to transfer an electrical charge to Chaggo, presumably due to a non-conductive feature of the ork’s armor. The rounds “pop” with with ineffective cycles of high voltage signals.
Stick n’ shock rounds will not be useful against Chaggo, unless Goethe rolls extraordinarily well on a normal shot, or takes a simple action to “take aim” at an exposed section of Chaggo’s body. Goethe can use a free action to eject the stick n’ shock ammo clip, and a simple action to replace the clip with normal ammo during his next initiative pass, or he can stay with the stick n’ shock clip and combine his next shot with a “take aim” action.
The air around Seneth is streaming with tendrils of power as Seneth raises his arms. The tendrils swirl and coalesce into the shape of a carrion bird. “Mighty Owl,” Seneth cries, puzzlingly mistaking the identity of the bird, which is clearly a raven. “Hear your servant’s plea! Confound our enemies!”
A mighty sigh escapes from the spirit, and it turns to focus directly on the mage. “You have been found wanting,” Raven says. “I will perform this service, but no more.” Raven then takes flight with sudden, violent energy.
Seneth has succeeded in calling the spirit, but did not score well on the summoning test. Raven will perform a single service for him, but future attempts to summon air spirits will automatically fail until Raven is satisfied with him again. Seneth may make a single request of the spirit. A request to enter combat against Chaggo will cause Raven to attack until he has taken four initiative passes.
Meanwhile, Kirk is attempting to ditch the Lone Star cruiser chasing behind Nail and Darwin.
Nail can feel an immediate difference as Kirk assumes control of the motorcycle. The bike’s engine even seems to roar with approval as the technomancer seizes control of its systems.
This is Kirk at her best. The wind blowing past her sensors, the hum of the pistons as they fire in perfect sequence, the warmth of the exhaust as it’s ejected behind her…all of it is more real to her than the cold meat her soul is imprisoned in. Kirk keeps the motorcycle on Pine st. for now, heading east. The street is not exactly congested with traffic, but there are plenty of cars and traffic signals for Kirk to weave through in an attempt to lose the cruiser.
The Lone Star passenger somehow senses the tables turning, even before the bike speeds away at seemingly reckless speed. He fires a single shot at the bike, which misses by a mile.
In response, Darwin and Nail both open fire on the cruiser. Two sudden flashes come from the barrel of Darwin’s small-caliber weapon. Even though the drone’s shooting does no damage to the bulky cruiser, the sudden violence of the attack spooks the driver, who instinctively turns the wheel in a futile attempt to “dodge”. As the driver struggles to regain control of the swerving vehicle, the driver-side tire is exposed in profile, giving Nail the best chance he’s going to get for his shot. He squeezes the trigger once, and is met with an extremely satisfying “BANG!” as the tire violently decompresses. The Lone Star vehicle swerves completely out of control, as the driver slams on the vehicle’s brakes, eventually coming to rest in a sideways position, blocking traffic on east Pine.
There are more Lone Star cruisers in the area, but Kirk can easily avoid them. Her dragonfly drone is still operational and uploading a live feed of the Lone Star vehicles’ positions to her. Kirk is now free to bring Nail to the address where he believes Arry is being held, or she can let Darwin take over the motorcycle again now that they are no longer being actively pursued. If so, she may spend a combat round jumping back into the Transportation Authority network.
Kirk has succeeded in an opposed vehicle handling test vs. the Lone Star driver. Darwin and Nail ensured the cruiser will not be able to force subsequent opposed handling tests.
Kirk will stay in the motorcycle for now- it’s fun, and now that they’re all on the move she assumes the risk of trying to re-enter the transportation network isn’t worth it.
“Whoo!” Nail lets out a cry of exhilaration. Speeding away with the wind in his poofy hair, Nail smiles wide. Enjoying the ride, he hums some jazz tunes and taps the handlebars to the rythm.
After cruising for a bit, he subvocalizes to Kirk, “Next stop, Arry’s house please.” Nail then informs his crewmates of his recent happenings.
On the way over, he again talks to Kirk. “Oh, we should probably just drive by first, huh?”
Seneth to the Air Spirit:
“Strike fear into this ‘Chaggo’. Make him fall to his knees in terror so we can take him in.”
Seeing his shots get absorbed Goethe thinks “Damn! Guess this guy really does have a death wish. Far be it from me to disabuse him of that. Besides a contract’s a contract.”
While that thought rolls about in his head, Goethe, in one smooth action as if he’s done this many times before to the point that he could do so in his sleep, nonchalantly pulls a clip of standard ammo from his belt with the fingers of his left hand and brings it up under his pistol just as the SnS clip drops out into his left palm, all while his right hand holds its aim without even a twitch except for where he pressed the clip release. Then deftly slamming the new magazine into the underside of the grip, he lets loose a single slug into Chaggo.
Nail and Kirk('s motorcycle) speed off toward the address on 134th street. They can plan for how to approach the house at this time.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team is engaged in a fight to the death on top of the speeding train. Chaggo shouts in frustrated rage upon seeing the ineffectiveness of his attacks. The sound of his shout resonates like a gong, cutting through the howling wind around the group. Seneth recognizes the primal power of magical energies within Chaggo’s voice, and realizes that he has just become much more dangerous.
With lightning-quick reflexes faster than Donovan has ever seen, Chaggo steadies his pistol and fires another shot. Before the shot even hits Donovan, Chaggo is in motion, turning toward Goethe and lunging forward with sudden impossible speed.
The bullet strikes Donovan in the chest, between the folds of his armored business suit. The shot goes through-and-through, entering near his right collar bone and exiting near the shoulder. The air in his collapsing lung rushes from him, and Donovan can’t draw a full breath. His vision swims in stars, and he nearly collapses.
Chaggo has used two simple actions, to increase his AGI through an Adept power, and fire at Donovan with the improved AGI rating. He followed up his simple actions with a free action, bringing him closer to melee with Goethe. Chaggo will be in melee range after one more free action of movement.
Donovan has suffered 5 physical damage to Chaggo’s pistol shot. This is a serious injury, which severely affects his combat ability. Donovan will suffer a -2 dice pool modifier for any test he takes, until the damage is healed. Furthermore, every round Donovan will have to make a willpower test to remain conscious, beginning with the next round. Donovan now has 6 total damage, and could die if he takes 3 more damage.
Spirit Raven surges toward Chaggo, immediately engaging him in combat. Raven’s sudden piercing screech staggers Chaggo, as swirling black tendrils of energy surround the Ork. Chaggo shrugs off Raven’s attempt to distract him, continuing in a path directly toward Goethe. As Raven realizes his confusion spell was ineffective, he lashes at the ork with his talons, tearing through his armored clothing and drawing lines of blood from his back.
Chaggo has successfully resisted a spell cast by the Raven spirit, and Raven has responded by physically attacking the Adept, dealing one point of damage. The stress of the battle is beginning to show on the ork. He has taken 3 total damage, and will now suffer a -1 modifier for any test he makes. He is showing no signs of quitting, however, and is remarkably resilient.
Goethe stands fast as Chaggo approaches. Calmly, the seasoned Shadowrunner ejects the stick n’ shock clip from his weapon and inserts a fresh clip of live, deadly ammo. He fires off a shot as Chaggo closes the distance between them. Goethe’s aim is true, and his shot hits Chaggo in the stomach. The high-caliber slug partially pierces through Chaggo’s armor, shredding the flesh beneath.
Goethe has used his two simple actions to change ammo clips, and fire on Chaggo, dealing two damage. Chaggo is still charging toward him, however. If Goethe wishes to avoid melee combat with Chaggo, he must make an opposed test with his REA+AGI against Chaggo’s REA+AGI. Even though Chaggo is injured, Goethe isn’t too proud to admit that he would likely fail that opposed test. If Goethe succeeds the test to avoid Chaggo, Goethe will keep his two simple actions and be able to fire next turn. If he fails, he will lose his next initiative pass, letting Chaggo have a “free” round of melee against him. If Goethe decides to fight instead of attempting to avoid Chaggo, Goethe will participate in melee combat next turn.
Goethe, Raven, and Chaggo will participate in the next initiative pass.