If Seneth is forced to drive by himself, he is thinking he’ll drive the motorcycle really carefully and slowly, even if it takes longer(more than 5 combat turns).
In a flash, Nail brandishes his pistol and holds it under the human’s chin. While audibly powering down and putting away the tablet reader in his right hand, Nail nonchalantly and with even still a hint of friendliness in his voice says, “I’d do what the Ork says, or this will be the end of the world for you after all.”
As a note, Nail will not shoot unless somehow the guards manage to pull their weapons and get within firing range. If the human goes for his weapon and does not stop with a pistol pressed further into his throat, Nail will initially attempt a stunning blow to the head or back of the neck with his now free right hand.
You’ll have to pick which guard Goethe is holding the gun to.
So far, I have a quick draw and intimidate attempt from Goethe, and a quick draw + intimidate attempt from Nail for the first round of combat. I’ll resolve the actions once I get everyone’s orders.
Donovan will use the surprise round to attack the troll in the throat.
Goethe will point his gun at the human.
Kirk will advise (but not order!) Darwin to pilot her motorcycle into combat to support her team, and then compile an unregistered fault sprite to help her engage the ICe next round.
Forgot to add, I’ll use Edge for that attack roll.
Darwin zips into action the moment Kirk realizes she has been discovered. With startling speed, Darwin dashes to Kirk’s motorcycle, nearly dragging Seneth behind him. Darwin assists Seneth into the proper seated position on the bike, and immediately the engine roars to life. Gyroscopic weight distributors extend to either side of the bike, and Seneth suddenly feels himself pulled backward from the momentum of the rapid acceleration. Darwin is plugged directly into the bike, making a hack-proof pilot connection.
*
Darwin and Seneth will arrive in the fight in 4 more combat rounds.
*
Meanwhile, Goethe and Nail draw pistols on the human guard.
Donovan surges forward to sucker punch the unsuspecting troll. As the troll glances up and begins to raise his arms in a futile gesture of shocked self-defense, Donovan’s right fist hits like a lightning bolt, striking the troll in the throat. As the troll begins to drop unconscious, Donovan’s left fist follows with an uppercut that snaps the troll’s head backward. The troll falls to a heap on the ground, unconscious. He appears to not be breathing.
The human looks down at the barrel of Nail’s pistol, and can feel the cold steel of another barrel to his temple. He can see the mountain of muscle that used to be a powerful troll, now just a tangled mess of limbs sprawled on the ground. He immediately drops his assault rifle, and stares at Nail with terrified expectation.
Nail, Goethe, and Donovan hear a commotion from inside the building. Goethe can detect heat signatures indicating 5 more humanoids inside the building.
Donny now has 1 used Edge. The human guard automatically failed his Intimidation roll.
The con group will have 1 round to decide what to do with their prisoner and storm the building, before the Two Weeks Truce gang inside the building becomes organized enough to fight back.
Meanwhile, Kirk has attempted to summon a Fault Sprite
The Two Weeks Truce hackers have conceptualized their network as a labyrinth of dark 20th century alleyways. The ICe look like old-tyme coppers, with odd shaped hats and billy clubs. Kirk herself appears much as she does in the real world, but as an idealized version of herself. Her metallic skin reflects and scatters the moonlight in the network, and there is a soft hum of a motor and turning gears coming from within her.
As the ICe old-tyme copper stumbles upon her hiding behind a building corner, he speaks into a radio held in his left hand. “Calling all units! Intruder alert at my location!”
Behind Kirk, a pair of eyes glows green in the darkness, and a low growling is heard. Kirk’s compiled Fault Sprite steps out from the shadows. It has taken the shape of a panther, crouched in preparation to pounce. As the copper shouts the alarm, the panther leaps upon him.
As you can see, a significant part of the Matrix involves conceptualizing your environment. Networks can appear to be any environment their designers choose, and the ICe security programs can similarly take any visual form desired by their designers. Sprites will project their own image, typically something closely psychologically linked to their purpose. Hackers and technomancers can be creative with the images they project themselves.
Kirk has entered combat with an ICe program, and used one of services owed by her fault sprite to attack the ICe. Kirk’s compiling roll was quite effective, creating a rating 5 Fault Sprite. Unfortunately, her attempt to resist Fading was not as successful. She suffers two stun damage as a result of her compiling roll. If she suffers any more stun damage, she will begin to experience negative modifiers for her skills.
Goethe will drop his pistol (to be picked up later) and say “Hostage!” to Nail. (should be free action timewise)
He will grab the human’s dropped assault rifle and move as far as he can into the building. (However much he can do in a round.)
Nail’s eyes flash a steely stare back at the remaining guard, but his voice remains slightly warm. Turning the guard around and keeping the gun at the back of his head, Nail says into his ear, “Sorry, brother. Looks like you’re coming with us. Now, follow that Ork.”
Nail nudges the human forward with his pistol. Nail will keep up with the human with his gun either touching or as close to touching as he can. While they are on the move Nail says, “Do exactly as we say and you just might get through this. Try anything funny, and, well, you heard the sermon.”
Goethe, Nail (with hostage), and Donny (if he wants to) can enter the building this round.
Kirk will get a chance to either attack the AI this round, or try to hack one of the enemy drones while her Sprite defends her.
Seneth will use this round to travel, with Darwin driving Kirk’s motorcycle. He will arrive in 3 more rounds. Seneth is not busy driving, and can spend this turn attempting to summon a fire spirit in preparation for the coming combat, if he wants, with a negative modifier for distraction (he is being whipped about by the momentum of the bike). This would cause Seneth to make a roll to resist the effects of Drain.
Once I get everyone’s orders I’ll proceed with the narration. It looks like the group is in for a wild ride!
“Good kitty!” Kirk grins as her sprite savages the ICe, sprinting around the prone policeman as she sprints down a nearby alley.
Kirk’s fault sprite is pretty potent, so she will trust him to engage the ICe while she attempts to hack one of the enemy drones.
Senneth uses his hands to stabilize himself as much as possible in the motorcycle side car(or wherever he is).
At the top of his lungs:
“Spirits of heat and fire, hear the call that comes from millennia back, from the he who is of the past! You must serve me for I am your elder! Spirit of fire! Come to me!”
Donovan will grab the troll’s assault rifle and move inside the building closely behind Nail and the human hostage. Donovan is very mindful of cover and, upon seeing resistance, will make eery effort to find cover once inside.
Goethe, Nail, and Donny enter the building, as the inhabitants start to realize they’re under attack.
The men inside do not have weapons ready, but they’re aware of the threat, so there will be no surprise round, and initiative for this combat will be determined as normal.
As the team storms through the door with their hostage, two humans and two orks scramble to secure weapons and take cover. The door opens into what used to be a reception/lobby area in previous ages, but is now something of an electronic command center, with large mainframe-style cabinet sized computers that will count as “light cover” if the team decides to use them for cover.
Beyond the reception area is a wall that rises about 3 feet from the floor, dividing the reception area from the main section of the building. The main section is a large congregation area, approximately 3,000 square feet in all. At the far end of the congregation area is a set of 5 steps leading to a stage, where in a previous era religious sermons were delivered. This congregation room is where the four gangers are. Still standing remarkably intact on the wall behind the stage is a giant oak cross, easily four meters tall. At either side of the cross are combat drones that suddenly buzz to life. With no hackers in sight actively rigged into them, it’s likely the drones are being operated by their own AI, making them much less dangerous.
A fifth ganger, an elf with a purple mohawk and studded leather biker gear, is running toward a door at the opposite end of the congregation room away from the team, with a light pistol drawn. The other four gangers inside seem to be positioned in a way to cover his escape.
The four gangers count as being behind light cover (overturned furniture). They are all armed with light pistols which they have not drawn yet. Members of the con team can take cover in the reception area or against the divider wall using a simple action, or use a complex action to move from the reception area to the divider wall, over the wall and into the congregation area. Firing a weapon will take a simple action. Characters can use a free action to communicate very simple phrases, or a simple action for a full sentence.
If you want your characters to do something not listed here, it will be translated into free/simple/complex actions based on how fast/easy or slow/complicated the actions are.
From the haste that the elf figure (presumably Fortnight) is using to retreat, it’s extremely unlikely he knows or cares that you have a hostage.
Meanwhile, Seneth is speeding toward the battle on Kirk’s motorcycle, and attempting to summon a fire spirit.
As Seneth shouts his command into the nether, a powerful screeching sound pierces the air around him. Moments later, the source of the sound bursts through the astral barrier, into reality. It’s a bird of prey, which resembles a ghostly version of an impossibly large raven with a wingspan of three meters, ablaze with dark magical energy. The spirit is able to keep up with the motorcycle, and flies alongside it with an almost lazy ease.
Seneth has successfully summoned a moderately powerful Force 4 fire spirit. He has resisted the effect of Drain for this action. The spirit owes Seneth two services, meaning Seneth can command the spirit up to two times before the spirit’s obligation to Seneth is complete. Seneth and Darwin will arrive along with the fire spirit in two more combat rounds.
Meanwhile, Kirk is attempting to hack one of the TWT drones, while her sprite fights the ICe pursuing her.
The panther rips into the ICe copper, shredding him to death without effort. The sound of several more ICe program coppers can be heard converging on Kirk’s position. The sprite panther dashes to her side.
In the TWT network, Kirk ducks into a building that appears to be abandoned. Inside, she sees two drone uplinks, remarkably undefended. Kirk is surprised not to find any TWT hackers resisting her. Kirk has no difficulty hijacking one of the drones, and will be able to command the drone in battle alongside the rest of the group, starting next round. As she jumps into the drone, she hears the ominous sound of her sprite growling at an encroaching horde of ICe cops.
Kirk estimates the ICe will overwhelm her sprite in two combat rounds, and sever her connection to the drone.
As her senses merge with the drone, Kirk automatically accesses information from the drone’s memory banks, as if the memories were her own. Through the drone’s sensors, she sees the elf figure dashing toward the back door and immediately recognizes him as Fortnight. The drone’s memory tells Kirk the building layout, and reveals that Fortnight is likely headed for his vehicle, a vintage 2000s Harley Davidson motorcycle parked in a garage which opens into an alley behind the building.
Kirk has successfully hacked into one of the two drones in the congregation area of the Zion building. She will join the battle with her drone next round. Fortnight will reach his vehicle in two combat rounds, and depart in 3.
Nail hurredly shoves the hostage towards the wall. Holding him up and using him as cover, Nail’s pistol pointed at his head from the side, Nail shouts towards the other gangers. “Throw aside your weapons or your friend gets it.”
I have a few questions. A) What is the initiative order? It was never explicitly said. Last combat, it seems Donovan went first, so I am guessing that is the usual you mentioned? Are we even supposed to be aware of the initiative order? If so, does the second person in initiative wait for the first person, and so on? I hope I did the right thing by just going ahead and posting…
The order you submit your posts doesn’t matter. I’ll gather everyone’s orders together and narrate them in the order they happen according to initiative. The characters are not necessarily aware of the initiative order, except in a vague sense (whoa! That guy’s fast!)
Also, Donovan went last in the previous round, as he punched the troll after the two of you pulled guns on the human.
How far away from Fortnight is the drone Kirk has hacked? If she were attempt to intercept him in it, could she engage him next round?
As far as drones go, this one is pretty low-end and not quite as quick as the fleeing elf, but there’s a good chance your drone could make up the distance in the time it takes Fortnight to start his vehicle and exit the building. Like any stressful combat situation though, nothing’s guaranteed!
Also, the initiative order for this round is as follows, with the number of initiative passes the character will receive in parenthesis:
Kirk’s Drone (3)
Donovan (1)
Goethe (3)
Nail (3)
Fortnight (?)
All 4 gang members (?)
Note that Kirk’s impressive initiative only applies while she is in the Matrix, or hot-sim rigged into a drone. Her drone is limited in speed, and can take only a single “movement” action, despite the total number of actions available to it. The drone is equipped with a light pistol capable of burst-fire or single shot attacks, and will enter the combat next round.
In that case, Kirk will attempt to make all due haste to intercept Fortnight with her drone.