The Tacoma Entanglement

[Cairo]

Pop Idol

Elf

Tall & Skinny

Outgoing

Face

Low-Light Vision

 

Harry slips the keycard back inside his jacket as the doors slide open. His expression tightens at the smell of death greeting them.

"Front door's open. Dead guy inside, torn apart," he says in a low voice into his radio tab for Ram's benefit. He scans the dead end on the left, then steps over the dead elf to point his gun right but proceeds no further to let Doc move past him while providing cover. Slow like requested.

"Ram, you got eyes on that nut-mutt?"

[Landid]

Wesley "Doc" Valentine

 

HP: 7/7 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 2 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 13+ | Men 13+ | Luck 15+

Death reeked from the doorway as Harry quickly checked left then right, pausing for him to enter. Doc followed the set of motions Harry had performed; a careful entry, a quick look left and then gun aimed in a low ready position towards the right as he stepped past Harry, staggering their positions. This was the calm before the storm, but at least they knew about what was coming unlike the poor sod. "Should we leave the door open? Wouldn't want to end up like our new friend there, would we?" He almost got away too, if it weren't for that meddlesome dog anyway.

 

 

 

[Arcticus]

Wesley & Harry

Neither of you see any movement in the dead end. There's a streak of blood leading from the corner of the shipping containers to the dead elf. You notice a number of bloody pawprints, boot and shoe treads, and blood spatter on floor. It looks like something out of a horror trid. The light from the parking lot illuminates the entry way, your bodies casting shadows on the wall of containers in front of you. The air is stale, reeking of death.

You see no immediate threats as you enter. Your adrenaline-fueled hearts break the silence of the warehouse.

Phantom

A misty ethereal orb starts glowing in the palm of the Red Wraith. Little ones and zeroes scatter out from it like a fountain bubbling over. The Red Wraith lifts up its hand, pointing it at the shadowy Demon. A pulse of light, and the orb races out, striking the Demon. It contorts and glitches, before ultimately derezzing.

Bang

As you enter, you can see the faint glow emanating from the elf's corpse through your infrared filter. It's subdued, especially compared to the hot and bright outlines of your comrades, but the heat is still visible nonetheless. Your tactical optics filter highlights the body, scrawling text just above it: Target: Elf, Male | Status: Deceased

In your peripherals, you see a brief flash of a heat signature on the other side of the containers in one of the gaps. It's gone before you can turn your head to look. You think it might have been going toward the loading bay doors, but it happened so quickly you're not sure.

Ram

From your vantage point, there's still no signs of movement. The same flickering lights, the same dimness and dark recesses.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Arcticus (see edit history)

[Neopopulas]

Ram "Rampage" Gils

HP: 10/10 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 6 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 11+ | Eva 16+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

Patience waning, he makes his way in through the window as quietly as he can.

As quietly as he can seems to be smashing a window - quietly...

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanics

Still doing sneak stuff to try and get the window open/broken without being too loud.. Loud comes later...

 

[Lonewalker]

Jennifer "Bang" McCall

HP: 5 / 5 | AC: M14 / R16 | Damage Soak: 5 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 14+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

Her optics shifting and refocusing with every eyeblink, Jennifer brought her pistol back up into a ready position. She whispered softly but intently to Harry and Doc.

"Thought I saw a somethin' move behind this stuff." She gestured quickly with her gun at the piles of containers and crates in front of them. "It was quick - might'a just been a heat echo - but I think it was movin' toward the loadin' doors."

She nodded at the body. "The elf's still a little warm. Prolly didn't get geeked that long ago."

[Cairo]

Pop Idol

Elf

Male

Alive

Tall & Skinny

Outgoing

Face

Low-Light Vision

 

With Wesley in position keeping watch and Bang covering their rear, Harry advances slowly south. He quickly checks the dead end south of him before focusing on the opening to the east where Bang saw movement.

"Got it, looking for an Unidentified Fervid Object at twelve o'clock." he responds to her, following it up with "Yeah Doc, let's air this place a little. Leave it open."

Satisfied that he's gone far enough Harry stops and gestures with his hand for Doc to proceed in turn.

"You OK back there Phantom? I'm not getting anything from Ram."

[Aavarius]

Phantom⌥SIN://>E҉̰̰͎̆͞r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠_(n̸͐̈́͟͟͝u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝) ▣☐
HP: 6/6〘Damage Soak: 5/5〙Trauma: 7
╘ AC: R-15, M-13 | Saves: P-15, E-13, M-15, L-15
╘ Karma: ▣▣▣▣☐ | Strain: 0/9.75

⌥Cyberdeck://>《Access: ▣▣▣☐, Shielding: 5/5, CPU: ▣▣》_Sense Machine (Camera Server)

---

"Don't take my guardian angel too far afield, fearless leader," Phantom said. "I'm going to be slower if I have to keep meatspace watch for myself." Thankfully, she had more to say than just to file a complaint. She also had good news. "Ice is derezzed and I'm alone in the camera server. One sec and I'll have eyes."

There was more to it than that, but getting an uncompressed download on the code she was being forced to reconfigure just to interface with this camera server wasn't going to help any of them. Best just to keep the update basic. They had enough to worry about where they were.

《 In the infinite demesne of cyberspace, the Red Wraith placed an emaciated, dead-fleshed hand upon the heart of the eye master. It throbbed steadily beneath her touch. Her servitors gathered around the entity, forming a ring. They leaned in to watch, vultures encircling a kill, as their mistress began to squeeze the beating heart. There was an unholy strength that belied the Wraith's frail form. Cardiac flesh bulged and deformed. It would take but a moment to rupture and ruin, and the servitors would get their visceral entertainment.》

 

Mechanics

• On Turn Action: Using the Expert Programmer focus to rewrite my Door subject to the Machine subject. I've noted the change on my character sheet.
• Main Action: Using Sense Machine to try and get access to every camera feed connected to the camera server.
  • No Access cost for Sense.
  • Machine actually gives me a -1 penalty to my roll (included in the dice below).
  • Spending 1 Karma to get an extra 1d6 on the skill check.
• The Hacker edge gives me an extra action each round I can use exclusively for hacking. I'll definitely use it to try again if this roll fails.

 

[Lonewalker]

Jennifer "Bang" McCall

HP: 5 / 5 | AC: M14 / R16 | Damage Soak: 5 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 14+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

"I gotcher back, girl - null sweat," Jennifer told Phantom with a half-smirk. She shifted slightly, staying half-in and half-out of the doorway. Her attention moved slowly back and forth between the perimeter outside and the direction she had spotted that movement.

"Don' go gettin' too far ahead 'til Phantom's got us a look," she advised Harry and Doc, "Which window's Rampage comin' down?"

[Landid]

Wesley "Doc" Valentine

 

 

HP: 7/7 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 2 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 13+ | Men 13+ | Luck 15+

Doc proceeded cautiously forward with Harry. Whatever was going to hit them was going to hit them fast. Bang yelled out not to get too far and they both paused with a better view of the warehouse before them. The lack of movement was a little unnerving while they waited for Phantom's signal. He looks up into the windows of the office for any movement. Seems so close but yet getting there was so far away.

 

 

 

[Arcticus]

Phantom

The Red Wraith waves a hand over the blurry, static-filled screens. One by one, the images on the screens clear up, the pictures sharpening until you can see three distinct images of the interior warehouse. Each camera has 3 view modes: normal, infrared, and night vision.

The first camera is in Cormac's office, with a somewhat unique viewing angle. Rather than being mounted up high for better sight lines, the camera looks to be hidden on a desk, pointed directly at the main terminal across from it. The camera is set back on a desk, obstructing your view of the floor, but you think you can make out some rubble and the vague outline of a body.

The second and third cameras each have a different view of the main warehouse floor. The second is set up high in the corner near you and Bang, while the third is placed just as high, in the corner of the other side of the loading bay doors. These cameras seem to have an extra feature of motion tracking. Little square boxes outline your comrades as they move about.

Another box appears right below the camera and the camera zooms out to accommodate it. It's slowly moving toward Bang. In the camera's normal optics, you can't see what is happening, but after switching it to infrared, you see the unmistakable heat sig of a stalking cyberdog.

Ram

It's clear the only way through this window is... well, through it. With force. You raise your fist back, and slam it forward like a sledgehammer through the glass. If a human tried this, they'd probably break their hand, but the force of your punch shatters the pane. Shards of glass bounce off your skin and fall to the floor below.

Harry & Wesley

You suddenly hear the shattering of glass above and you see Ram's fist come smashing through the window pane. Large shards of glass come falling toward Harry, which he scrambles out of the way to avoid.

OOC

Harry needs to make an evasion save against the falling glass.

Bang

Bang hears the slightest clack sound from somewhere off to her left in the deadend. Whipping her head around, her vision is filled with a bright thermal signature of a stalking cyberdog. Stalking along the wall a mere 4 meters away, the dog leaps at your throat the second you see it.

You twist out of the way enough to avoid it's jaws clamping down on your throat, but it brings its blood-stained cybernetic claws to bear against your chest.

Cyber Doggo

 

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by Arcticus (see edit history)

[Neopopulas]

Ram "Rampage" Gils

HP: 10/10 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 6 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 11+ | Eva 16+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

He had been as quiet as he was going to be, now was no longer the time for that. He clambers through the window and drops through. Now he just had to find the target in this mess of a place.

He hits up the others on his comms, at least, anyone he can contact "Well.. I'm in but it was noisy.. Anyone want to point me in the right direction?"

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanics

 

 

[Aavarius]

Phantom⌥SIN://>E҉̰̰͎̆͞r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠_(n̸͐̈́͟͟͝u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝) ▣☐
HP: 6/6〘Damage Soak: 5/5〙Trauma: 7
╘ AC: R-15, M-13 | Saves: P-15, E-13, M-15, L-15
╘ Karma: ▣▣▣▣☐ | Strain: 0/9.75

⌥Cyberdeck://>《Access: ▣▣▣☐, Shielding: 5/5, CPU: ☐☐》_Sense Machine (Camera Server), _Glitch Cyber (Cyberdog)

---

When she saw the cyberdog spring on Bang, Phantom blurted out a string of expletives in about three broken languages. It was a total fluster cluck of a reaction, but the general 'Oh, no!' message was clear. "Bang!" she finally got out in intelligible language.

Phantom got to her feet and scrambled towards the doorway nearby. If the output jackline on her cyberdeck that was strung into the camera up above didn't have enough spare slack in the cable to get her around the corner enough to establish line-of-sight on Bang and the mutt, then she'd just have to yank it out along the way.

She hadn't seen anyone else living on the cameras (not that it meant they weren't still hidden elsewhere) but risking loss of eyes on the inside was a gamble Phantom was willing to make if it meant she could immediately help save Bang. She could always jack back into the network after everyone was safe, right?

Yeah, sure..., she told herself. God, she wished she actually felt as good about this impulsive plan as it sounded in the moment.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

 

Mechanics

This is a little complicated, but I think I have just enough actions to pull it off one way or another.

If there's enough slack in the line...

• Move Action: Move 3 squares south to get line of sight around the corner.
• Main Action: Use Glitch Cyber on the doggo, targeting its visible sensory chrome
• Extra Hacking Action: I'd use this to try again if I miss, but in this scenario I'm out of CPU to Glitch anything.

If there's NOT enough slack in the line...

• Move Action: Use the Jack Out hacking action (to avoid the dumpshock), which removes my avatar from the network but frees up all my CPU for the following...
• Main Action: Move 3 squares south to get line of sight around the corner
• Extra Hacking Action: Use Glitch Cyber on the doggo, targeting its visible sensory chrome

Miscellaneous Notes

• Glitch Cyber lasts 3 rounds for me, and I think it self-terminates after time is up.
• Wireless hacking requires 30m line-of-sight and applies a -2 penalty to the Program roll.
• Already moved my token on the map
• Got Karma to burn. Might as well use it!
• I figure a cyberdog without any senses for 3 rounds is easier for everyone else to take care of.

 

[Cairo]

Pop Idol

Elf

Male

Alive

Tall & Skinny

Outgoing

Face

Low-Light Vision

 

It all happens so fast: the sound of glass breaking above him, Ram's voice coming through his earpiece, Phantom shouting out a warning.

Without thinking twice Harry rolls out from under the falling glass, riding the momentum to get back on his feet between Doc and Bang. He brings his pistol up and takes a shot at the cyberdog's silhouette as it's trying to tear Bang's face off.

It's a terrible shot, but it makes noise, so...

OOC:
Move 4m north, 2m north-east and attack cyberdog. Rolled a 1 on the attack, automatic miss.

[Lonewalker]

Jennifer "Bang" McCall

HP: 3 / 5 | AC: M14 / R16 | Damage Soak: 5 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 14+ | Men 15+ | Luck 15+

Jennifer cried out in surprise and pain as the cyberdog pounced out of nowhere. She staggered as the claws dug into her torso, and it was only the armored inserts of her protective jacket that kept the thing from tearing out her heart.

Her immediate instinct was to move, to put distance between herself and the canine. But another part of her awareness realized that she was currently the only thing between Phantom and this monster. She stayed in place, bringing her pistol up to almost point-blank range - but the cyberdog was moving wildly, making it difficult to aim. Her gunshot echoed as she fired and hoped for the best.

"Somebody get this thing offa me!"

Tabletop

Main Action: Ranged Attack (with pistol) at the cyberdog. No penalties thanks to Close Combatant I.

Move Action: Screen an Ally (Phantom from the cyberdog).

 

Edited January 11 by Lonewalker (see edit history)

[Landid]

Wesley "Doc" Valentine

 

 

HP: 7/7 | AC: M16 / R16 | Damage Soak: 2 | Trauma Target: 7

Attack Bonus: +0 | Saves: Phys 14+ | Eva 13+ | Men 13+ | Luck 15+

Wesley's attention was swiftly pulled from the window as the glass shattered above him and Bang yelled out behind him. Spinning around the glass clatters to the floor where Harry once stood. A couple shots rang out in the warehouse, nothing hitting their mark. Quickly moving up behind Bang he too brings his pistol up and aims at the cyberdog. Pulling the trigger he realizes the safety is still on, a quick second later and a third loud bang rings out as a bullet hits the cyberdog solidly in the flank. Rookie mistakes like that would get them killed.

 

 

 

Edited January 11 by Landid (see edit history)