"OK, then. Good work Lenny. " Willie can't remember the last time he complimented someone. It seems logical to do so, though. Huh. Maybe that's what leadership is about. Doing the logical thing?

"Let's go." He goes to the door, opens it, and steps outside first. He heads towards the intersection with the path east.

The group rolls out into the clear night. Lenny says <<hey Flatline I can't see you. >> at least he remembers not to speak out loud.

Glatline days <<Don't worry about it. Just keep on Willie. I'll stay behind you so you don't have to worry about me being in your way .>>

The group makes its way to the south. It doesn't take too long to reach the intersection. Things are even quieter at night. But the old road doesn't make much noise underfoot either.

Soon the group reaches the intersection. Kenny chimes in <<The drone is still tracking the thing in the woods. It's wandering around where it is and hasn't overall moved too far.>>

Willie turns onto the side path. He moves slowly, deliberately, trying to keep an eye out for trouble from the sides.

<<The vegetation will close in as we go along this path. The more we stick to the centre of the path, the less noise we will make. Lenny, do you get any sense of the size or shape of the thing the drone is tracking? >>

The group starts moving through the path. Lenny says on the coms <<Well, the drone is heading towards it, so I think they don't know what it is yet either and are trying to figure that out. Regular cameras aren't seeing drek in the dark through the canopy. There's just patches of IR leaking through the leaves. Sometimes it looks like it might be on all fours, but other times it stretches up a bit. I've seen some scale bars in the AR, so maybe ten feet long, probably a little less. >>

A moment after he says that there's movement from the ditches on either side of the path, something under the cattails.

(OOC: You can have a perception test to get a +3 on the surprise test. I'll give you the +3 on perception for actively looking, conditions are partial lighting, and you'd need four hits. So go ahead and roll perception, surprise, and initiative. As a side note since critters don't have comlinks to coordinate, most of them actually have to roll surprise as well to not get caught looking at a bug at the wrong second, though they get the prescribed bonus).

Willie Catches a hint of something coming from both sides. It's about to get noisy, so no point in keeping to comms. "Danger. Look left."

Willie looks right with a ready weapon.

(OOC: Surprise is such a pain. I have a suspicion many GMs don't bother. Anyway with your edge burn Willie isn't surprised, and he gets to go first. But he doesn't have line of sight on everything. Also there are noises and sights, but as discussed with the group, gunfire is something else entirely, and besides being deafening and bright it's something specifically listened for that drones and sound sensors or routinely set to listen for and people notice, versus critters yelling and tearing into each other, which would presumably be a common enough sound out here. Anyway the point of all that is I believe the weapon Willie has ready is his knife.)

Willie had caught motion to his left. Glancing over he can see between the reeds a sideways face coming out of the water. It looks like an Orc, but he doesn't look good with his eyes especially wide open, teeth widely exposed in a way that would be hard with normal lips, and muck or something over his face. There's definitely a form moving underneath the Orc though, as if he was laying on top of it, something that blends well with the muck.

Two thoughts race through Willie's mind when he sees what approaches. It reminds him of a 2D video he saw in a retro bar a few years back, something about a fungus taking over people's bodies. And he realizes he might need a bigger knife in cases like this.

But he didn't survive the streets by standing still and waiting for things to chew on him. And it looks a little bit surprised to come up on him right here. He roars and charges with intent to split that weird thing from stem to gudgeon.

Willie charges the creature, plunging up to his waist in the water around the cattails (OOC: Seems appropriate to give the +2 from some odd blend of charging, higher ground, leaping, or an unexpected move (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) ) The oddly shaped thing is surprisingly nimble with spindly arms trying to fend Willie off, he still manages to land an knife blow in the exchange. Willie feels the impact up his arm as it hits the creature under the orcs head, it seems like the creature is coated in a hard green shellac or something and the knife barely gets through. Though a gargly yell from what is presumably its toothless mouth below what must be its strange looking eyes, that seem to have horizontal line going through the middle, indicate that Willie did hurt it.

As Willie pulls the knife out the create flails at Willie, its hands making contact and Willie feeling an attack on his mind, but he manages to shrug it off (OOC: I'm being a bit presumptuous there but it did get six hits on its touch attack. However it seems to have used up all its luck and got nothing on the next roll, which Willie would oppose with willpower and automatically wins. )

Two more creatures move in from the sides also reaching out to touch Willie, with water churning around with bodies
(OOC: Both are attempting to water engulf. The first has 2 hits on its touch attack, and the second of the newcomers has 3. base damage 4 stun resisted with body+half impact armor)

For reference:
Engulfed victims may not move. During the victim’s Action
Phase, the victim may attempt to escape. Make an Opposed Test.
rolling the victim’s Strength + Body against the critter’s Magic +
Body. If the victim prevails, then he has escaped and takes no more
damage from the attack.)

As Willie struggles in the water three more of the creatures emerge from the south in the ditch on the other side of the road. They don't move so nimbly, at least not outside of the water as they shamble up out of the ditch and over the road. If Willie had stayed shooting in the middle of the road they'd have reached him, but his charge in the opposite direction leaves him out of reach.

First Lenny and then Flatline finally get their wits about them. Things are a murky watery mess where Willie is, but aside from running the three from the other side are exposed targets.

Lenny takes aim and manages to shoot the nearest critter, he barely hits it, but the shock from the wires courses through the muck all over the creature and it falls onto the ground screeching and convulsing as it is shocked.

The streaks of strong mana course from the otherwise invisible flatline to the next in line. It also goes down but isn't out either.

(OOC: Back to Willie as we unravel the surprise related delayed actions and get to the normal 2nd initiative pass)

The squiggly ooglie-booglies are after Willie! He fends off the touches as well as he can. Drek he hates such things. Give him a troll tank to kill any day.



While he considers ducking out of the water, he finishes off (!?) the thing he already hit once. Surely, he thinks to himself, these things are slower than I am and I can do something useful before they attack again.

(OOC: I rolled some counter dice and you came out the same. But remember that you get a -1 on defense rolls for every previous defense since your last action. So you'd be rolling 13 and then 12 dice against the engulf attacks).

(OOC: Shoot my computer is glitching out so I'll make this fast. The upshot is that Willie manages a more solid hit this time, and drives the creature under the water, though he can still feel it thrashing down there. Willie has the 3rd initative pass all to himself.)

Hah! It looks like the swamp things are focused on Willie. Fools. He's the hardest target of the team. As much as he is ... unnerved? disgusted? creeped out? ... by such creatures, he assesses the situation with a tactician's eye. His visceral desire to get the hell away from these things is controlled by years of experience in deadly situations.

And he hates to lose.

The three of them were outnumbered 2 to 1 when conflict broke out, but now three of the creatures are down (if not out) so the active numbers are even. It took Willie two strikes with his knife to put one out of commission and Lenny and Flatline have taken one out each. Excellent!

Willie stays in the water. Let them focus on him in their preferred environment while Lenny and Flatline pick them off one by one.

He strikes with his knife at one of the other creatures near him. "Blast the ones I'm not fighting!"

The next creature doesn't do nearly as good a job of blocking as his compatriot Willie is able to get through its defense and under the shell of sorts they have on their back, making for a much more rewarding feeling of a dagger driving deep into important stuff. Though folks always seem harder to really finish off than you'd like, between the pain and a body check from Willie this one also drops down into the water.

(OOC: Here's where wired reflexes are really nice. We're onto the next turn, but Willie goes again, having the highest initiative in the first pass. )

Yeah, now we're talkin'. One under water and one more to go right next to Willie. He takes a stab at the last one standing in the water.

The last one standing next to Willie also doesn't seem to great in hand to hand. Willie struggles a bit in the water and cattails and doesn't land such a solid blow, but wrenching the weapon while in the creature still gets that strange scream like warbling noise and it also falls over the in water.

If Willie glances up he can see Lenny (OOC: Who really wanted a hit and used edge after only getting one hit on his first aimed shot attempt) hit the last standing creature on land. This creature also drops convulsing from the effects of the taser.

Flatline and Lenny are still invisible...however there are now two wires leading from the point Lenny is firing on the creatures from, creating a convenient arrow pointing at Lenny effect even the critters can't miss. Anyway they know something over there attacked them. They don't seem to have an idea of Flatline or don't care as they engage in some sort of spit attack while still on the ground at Lenny.

One big glob sails off into the distance, however two go invisible and Lenny can be heard screaming over the coms, though perhaps oddly not very much out loud.

The three in the water around Willie also don't seem to be prioritizing getting up, and are trying to use their powers from where they are.

(OOC: Despite wound modifiers they actually do surprisingly well compared to last time, though last time they didn't all have friends in melee bonuses. First four hits on engulf. Second 5 hits on engulf. Third 5 hits on a touch attack, if successful Willie rolls willpower against 3 hits, any remaining net hits drop Willie's reaction. )

With the creatures underwater and behind the cattails, Flatline doesn't have LOS on what's going on with Willie, who seems to have been doing very well, possibly unlike Lenny.

Flatline sends a surge of power at the closest creature, it gives a little shudder and goes still. The other two turn their strange multi layered eyes toward all the flashy light. Not quite as clear a target as Lenny made though, and unlike Lenny, Flatline is now on the move.

(OOC: After all that it's the Willie show, with actions in the 2nd pass, 3rd pass, and top of the 3rd combat turn unless his initiative drops to 9 which doesn't seem likely if even possible. You get a +3 for melee combat against prone opponents, but I'll also give a -1 modifier for trying to fight under the water. Still a net +2)

Willie is miffed that the damn things are still attacking him, even after he hit them. He's not used to that. Of course, that would be remembering his SMG skills. He parries the three (!) attacks from the creatures under the water.



Willie's blade whirls in a blur and blocks two of the three attacks. The third slips through, and he feels a momentary dizziness, but shakes it off. Now, "It's clobberin' time!" ™

Stabbing furiously in the murk as fast as his insane reflexes allow him is satisfying as his knife certainly hitting something down there. He isn't quite sure how well it's working until in the dark he doesn't see some many hands reaching out for him, except the one he expected (OOC: It manages a surprising but likely insufficient 3 hits)

On the coms Lenny at least stops normal screaming over his subvocal link and instead screams a more coherent <<I can't dreking move! What's happening!>>

Flatline doesn't reply as he has problems of his own. Balls of spit hurtle at his position, low to the ground. He gives out a "oof!" as dust kicks up from him hitting the ground. However he isn't as silent as Lenny and the sounds of high force casting can be heard and in a flash the next closest creature drops its head to the ground. Just leaving one staring at Flatlines position. <<Foot's stuck! >>

(OOC: 3rd pass to Willie and top of the 4th turn)

There seems to be something still moving in the water with Willie, so he slashes at it. The boys are looking a little troubled by the things up on the dry path, and he needs to get up there to finish things. That sticky spit thing is weird. Wasn't that thing by the docks doing something like that, too?





If anything is still moving in the water, Willie continues there, otherwise he charges the one still standing on land. he doesn't roar any more. This is serious, silent killing now.

The water churns under the engulf attempt but Willie powers through and stabs and the creature underneath. He's pretty sure that arm isn't attached anymore and it doesn't seem so lively so Willie charges out of the ditch. The bottom of the ditch isn't nearly as muddy as it could be, but it's still slow going getting out. Luckily for Willie the creature had traveled most of the distance itself to get at the one visible member of the party before being engaged by Flatline and Lenny.

However his splooshing approach wasn't so stealthy and the creature isn't taken by surprise, managing to swat away the knife with its partially armored arm.

The spitting has been working well for it so far, so it tries to hork a point blank loogie at Willie (OOC: Though with the attacker in melee combat penalty, and a wound modifier. Still, a surprising five hits).

Lenny continues to struggle without effect.

Flatline seems to be able to still move his arms as he sends another surge of mana towards the creature, causing it's strange eyes to roll back and the creature to flop onto the ground, rolling onto its front to show an array of small animal and fish bones poking out of the green shellac on its back.

(OOC: If Willie does get hit go ahead and make a few strength + Body rolls the creatures are down, so this is more about seeing how long it takes Willie to break free. Same rolls to try and help out Lenny and Flatline FYI.)

Willie has seen what that spit can do, and he wants no part of it. He dodges as if his life depends on it.



The goober whizzes by his left shoulder. Always a bit of a shit, Willie says to the other two, who are still invisible, "I don't see what the problem is. You just duck and weave and the spit misses you."

He sets to feeling his way to his teammates and pulling them free of the swamp glue.

Flatline is leaving the illusion magic in place. Seemed like it took a fair bit of effort to cast it, and he's been slinging a few spells since then. That makes Willies job a little harder, but not much. The taser lines still point to Lenny. Willie can't see the situation very well, but he can quickly tell Lenny's feet are stuck to the road by the goo, which has become quite hard. Even with Willies strength it takes a couple tries to break it loose. It didn't help that Lenny gave a muffled scream when Willie started feeling around him, but flatline quickly and quietly relayed over comes <<Lenny be quite and relax, it's just Willie. They're all down.>>

At least once broken the goo seems brittle instead of making a continual sticky mess. Reaching further up Wilie figures out why he's mostly been hearing Lenny over the coms, his hands and helmet are stuck to the road by a second goo blob. After a little effort Willie cracks this one as well.

Lenny says over coms <<Thanks. But I got a couple of them myself! Did either of you see. I totally took them out! Wait. I could have suffocated!>> Willie can hear the adrenaline and emotional shock in his voice. But he sounds fine. Flatline doesn't mention having to finish off the ones Lenny shocked.

He does whisper out loud "Over here." And throws up some dust for Willie to find him. Once he find it, Willie manages to crack the blob on his first try. And he can hear flatline getting up. Flatline switches back over to subvocals to say <<I think I'm OK. That stuff was sticky but not acid or anything. I could go for a nice lemonade and a rest right now, but I don't need any medical aid. How about the two of you? >>

Lenny replies back <<Uh. I could have suffocated but. But I'm fine. Yeah I'm fine. I'll get back on watching the drone. Uh. It's still looking out in the woods. I don't think it heard the ruckus. >>

After freeing his partners in crime, Willie surveys the damage. <<I collected some feathers from the firebirds, in hopes of being able to sell them or something. But, I have no idea what to collect from these things. Or even what they are. Hmmm. Maybe I'll keep a piece of the hardened glue and a chunk of a shell to use later if I can find somebody who knows about these things. >>

Willie proceeds to collect some samples. << I figure we're a couple of hundred meters from the end of the trail. We've come this far, might as well go the rest of the way and maybe get something Brewster will pay for.>>

Flatline just stares at him for a moment <<You're fine? You don't need any healing? It looked there were a bunch of them there and the water was frothing like you were in a blender and you're fine? You sure you aren't in shock? I don't need you dropping over the next hill.>>

With the fight over the world is pretty quiet again. He can make out the steps of he thinks Lenny, and the shallow breathing of the stunned creatures he's going past. After a few beats Lenny replies << I guess you could take a trophy. I don't see people using this stuff for decor. They're pretty gross, especially with the skeletons and stuff stuck on their backs. I guess mages use all sorts of things. This stuff look useful to you flatline? >>

Flatline replies <<Well, I don't know every mages practice. But I don't think I could use bits of these things.>>

Seeing as the conversation continues in the Matrix, Willie keeps to the trend. <<Yeah, I can't do the Matrix drek or the mage's ooglie-booglie, but I can hold my own in a fight. That's why we're such a good team, right?>> he grins a toothy grin in the twilight.

As they progress, Willie takes the point again. <<I sure hope there is something at the end of this trail that will interest Brewster. Hate to have gone through all of that for nothing. >>

Flatline speaks into the Coms. << Ok, let's put Lenny in the middle to monitor the drone and because he can't see me. I'll take up the rear. So you say when you've started following.>>

After Willie goes a short distance he hears Lenny say <<Ok, on the path>> then a couple moments later Flatline ads <<Alright, I'm moving as well. Stay sharp everybody>>

The night is pretty quiet as the group moves along

Eventually you come to the location of the last two fights. The grass is still pretty messed up, and you can vaguely make out the disruption made by Willie and the others heading off into the woods. Looks like the third time is the charm as nothing seems to be in the area. Now. A little further up just over the crest of the hill is a shovel lying in the grass. Maybe hastily thrown and not recovered after the incident. Or at least dropped about that time. It wouldn't take long for the grass to curve around the shovel, reaching for the sunlight.

The path seems much like it was before heading further in, it's just that the trees here are getting taller and you're farther from the path opening, so it's getting darker. Light from stars and moon still manages to twinkle through here and there, so there aren't all that many patches of full dark going forward. Being in the center of the old access road means that the worn down footpath has the best illumination.

Willie activates his eyelight system so he can get a better look into the dark patches as they pass them. Damned if he is going to give these things an easy hide.