Charm City II [IC] Options

[sunnyside]

Lenny replies <<Well, I can't do anything to control the drone at the moment. Somebody is jumped in right now. But I can try tracing them. Shoot. I didn't think to let Angel know about what's going on. >> he starts messing around in the matrix.


(OOC: Bello has 9 boxes of physical damage and 2 of stun. I tend to let lieutenants have separate tracks. )

As Selina heals Bello, she notices that Lisa looks very relieved. Healing can be very painful.

After enough time has passed for the spell to become permanent Bello nods at Selina and says "Much better. I don't suppose either of you have any whiz tricks to fix walls? " Lisa shakes her head, though she does seem to be thinking it over.

Bello being magically tended and Abeje being too animated with other orks out on the balcony to work on, Paul could move over to the other apartment he scouted.

He sees the ork woman he's seen through the flyspy, but she's beyond help. Going forward down the hall there are four orks down in the master bedroom. The walls are just riddled with bullets from what must have been multiple drones pouring fire into the room. Two orks near the door are absolutely riddled with bullets. It looks like the other two had been trying to use a couch as cover on the north side of the room. It didn't seem to help them that much, or maybe it did as Paul notes with surprise that they still seem to be spurting blood, meaning their hearts haven't quite stopped yet.

The most marked thing about the bedroom is that it isn't configured as a bedroom at all. No bed, just chairs, couches, tables, and cabinets full of glasses and bottles of alcohol, though many are broken now. In the middle of the floor is a hole. But not the ragged ones blown by the drones. This one was deliberate and has a trap door and ladder. Or at least it used to have a ladder. It looks like there was an explosion below that broke the ladder and it looks like a few orks. Though these orks are wearing red, making them stand out from Monifa's crew, and they seem to have some of their own medics already working on their people. Monifa's crew seems still entirely primed for combat and another attack. Paul saw that these had also advanced, presumably checking out all the bedrooms and stopping around what cover they could find near the balcony, looking outward.

[Thanee]

<< @Lenny: I would say, stay hidden and learn where they are headed. That might be helpful for us later on, to figure out who these guys are. >>

When she notices how badly hurt Bello is, Selina takes some extra effort to fight off the Drain, which would cause her physical harm as well.

[ Spoiler ]

Going with Edge on the Drain roll (re-roll non-hits) then, which should hopefully cover the remaining 2 points. Barely (+2 hits).

"Sorry, no. But maybe Tubesnake has an idea. He knows the most about this kind of stuff."

<< @Tubensake: They want to fix the walls. Any ideas? >>

[Koekepan]

<<We'll talk construction later. I want to get a bead on these attackers, then save lives, then fix buildings. In that order.>>

He sends the FlySpy out through the nearest structural gap - even a leftover bullet hole would be adequate - and gets as much information as he can, while he can.

[sunnyside]

Lenny Replies back <<They'll be scanning automatically and may detect an itrusion. I'll send the Access ID, but hold on hacking in until we see if they pick up on the attempt.>>

Angel suddenly replies to the group. <<Wait what? What's going on?!?>> However a message with an Access ID gets her attention more than anything else on the channel.

Shoots a message <<Drek, they're onto me! Angel? Anybody?!?>>

Back inside (OOC: I'll give Paul credit for giving the flyspy commands before heading over to the other apartment) the Flyspy zips past Abeje and the other Orks on the balcony; they seem to be staring roughly directly down.

In the distance, probably still within range of longer weapons, are a pair of VTOLs making their way to the South. They might be trying to get over the water. If the pilot programs know where they're going and they have the fuel there isn't anything preventing them from going out of signal range and outside of city jurisdiction, if the Baltimore Police Union is even scrambling something to interact. This is a city building, but drones and choppers would probably have to start out from closer to the L.

Bello seems to have an idea and heads off to the master bedroom. A couple moments later he comes out with a stack of blankets, and, perhaps due to not finding anything else more to the purpose quickly, a box of pocket knives.

[pbangarth]

During his attempts at first aid, Bongo notices Bello's collection of materials. "Good idea, Bello. A blanket over a flying drone is as good as a net, as well as helping the injured be comfortable."

Willie pipes up. "You people have anything long range? I could take down one of those things with a sniper rifle."

Bongo puts two and two together. "Selina, your spirit could catch those drones through the astral. Is there anything she could do to bring them down?"

[Thanee]

<< If we want to bring them down, I can try that. Outside of this astral mess here, I am a little more capable. But I would need someone to watch my body, while I am gone. >>

[pbangarth]

Willie is about to answer crudely, and bites his tongue (figuratively, of course). Huh. Self correction. What a new sensation. Instead, he replies,<< I'll keep an eye on you. Go get'em.>> He moves to be beside Selina.

[Thanee]

<< It will be as if I am sleeping, or like a hacker in virtual space, I guess. Don't move my body around, I need to find my way back here. Thank you! >>

Selina makes sure, she has the proper direction the drones are flying towards, and sits down in a room, that seems safe enough for the time being, leaning against a sturdy wall, before projecting into the astral.

She takes a peek outside and zips off quickly, when it looks clear. She does not want to agitate the other spirit that is guarding the place. On her way towards the drones, she calls one of her bound spirits to her side. And once she is in an area without background count, she will also summon another spirit.

[sunnyside]

Willie tears off to get back to Selina, sparing Monifa's crew the awkward silence from nobody wanting to give up their rifle, despite him perhaps having a case where Monifa would order them to (OOC: he might roll to pick up on that subtle social queue).

Things are getting a little crowded with Bongo working with the fallen back the way they came, so Willie tears off the other way, his feet again ringing on the thin metal to get back to Selina. As he gets closer, he sees that Bello is wasting no time putting the blankets up over the holes, maybe preventing drones from flying through, but definitely blocking the sight lines from the maintenance tower cameras. Willie, having now completed a full circuit of the 100th floor promenade, brushes aside the makeshift blanket, held in place with the pocketknives Bello is shoving into place.


It's been a very short time, but VTOLs can move. It doesn't take long before they start using the buildings to the South for a measure of cover as they seem to race for Pigtown. The flyspy can't come close to keeping up, but Paul thinks he has their bearing.

Selina nestles in near the rest of her crew by the freezers, which so far has proven a pretty safe space despite bullets and grenades, and slides into the astral.

As she starts to fly past the astral forms of Abeje and the two other Orks that ran in, the Astral outside gives her pause.

It's changed she'd looked it over carefully before. All the way around the sides of the building the taint of the background count had been fairly uniform, not perfectly, but like the mist of coming off a jar full of dry ice. Now there are a bunch of disturbances further out, a bit more like the bursts from flak in a WWII movie. She suspects there was a lot of action in the astral, which might explain why the spirit that attacked the helicopter didn't seem to take out any of these drones. While she doesn't perceive any threats, her field of view is fairly limited as she's still back in the astral shadows of the building. There's also quite the view from the 100th floor. There's the general clutter of the astral from the city and all the buildings and teeming thousands of people, plus some astral forms moving back and forth in the distance, which isn't atypical. There might be more of both out staring at the moment, since there was quite the commotion in the physical world, and perhaps also the astral. For all Selina knows one of those rubberneckers isn't just a rubbernecker, someone could be hiding in the clutter, or hovering a few feet above the window.

(OOC: If Bongo wants he can roll again to stabilize the Ork he's having a hard time with.)

[Thanee]

Proceeding a bit more carefully, keeping in the shadows of buildings while heading into the direction the drones have taken and that Paul thinks they are going, Selina calls her other bound spirit to her side, just in case, and keeps a look out for any astral forms protecting the drones, if she manages to catch up to them.

[pbangarth]

Bongo sees that his attempt on the current wounded ganger had not gone well. The medkit doesn't need restocking yet, so he gives the wounded man another try.

[ Spoiler ]

First Aid Tests: LOG 4 + First Aid 1 + Medkit 6 = second test (-2)= 9 dice : 3 hits

This time the man's vitals seem to stabilize. "Good." Bongo looks to see if anyone else nearby can use help.

[Koekepan]

Paul records the flightpath, instructs the FlySpy to land on the Range Rover so that it can be a passive viewer from its roof, and then gets up to work on saving people. He's no master surgeon, but he sure can stop bleeding holes quickly.

[sunnyside]

Selina has to fly rather blind. She can't just pop into the earth and advance, as it resists passage, but she can zip low along streets and through buildings. Fortunately for her, this doesn't appear to be the kind of neighborhood where doing that leads you to smack into wards or spirits on guard duty. Eventually, she pokes her head through a roof to look around. While auras become vibrant in the astral, drones don't, and while in the astral you can't actually check paint jobs and the like.

Still, there can only be so many of these things around and it hasn't been twelve seconds since the Eyespy saw them start using buildings for cover. She spots what looks like the right kind of shadow flying in the right sort of direction. Just one, though, and without an obvious escort.

(OOC: I'm tracking drone time a bit more, but Paul could make a triage and stabilization tests for the two behind the couch in the other apartment that don't seem entirely dead mentioned earlier).

Bongo finds another pair have shown up with medkits now, which might well have been too late for the two Bongo worked on. The two Bongo worked on are stable, but still in really bad shape, just not the dying in a matter of seconds shape. There are another half dozen in the area with varying levels of injury, a couple of them are even standing, but leaking blood.

[Thanee]

Attacking the drone, if she cannot be certain it is the right one, does not seem like the greatest of ideas. Therefore, Selina settles with following it for now. Maybe that will give them some input into who is behind the attacks.

[pbangarth]

Bongo moves to another injured person, the one that looks in the worst shape among those he can see, and does what he can.

[ Spoiler ]

First Aid Tests: LOG 4 + First Aid 1 + Medkit 6 = 11 dice : 3 hits

[pbangarth]

Willie stands beside Selina's slumped body and marvels at the trust she displays. In Willie's past, dropping your guard like that was suicide. What's more, she is placing her trust in him, the jumped up street thug. Here, in the midst of all this mayhem, a feeling blooms deep in his chest, rising through his throat to his eyes. He has to blink. No one has ever depended on him the way these teammates do.

Damned if he will betray that trust. Ever.

[sunnyside]

Since Lenny has been hacking in AR he's been able to at least mostly listen in to everything going on around him, even though he's been pretty distracted. But now he yells out "Drek. Hacking in AR, SUCKS! I can't even spoof the thing with the stupid rigger jumped in. "

He looks over at Selina. "Guess it's team nap time. Hope Angel catches the new access code and I get back in and show them what I can do when I'm not moving like...meaty molasses. "

Lenny doesn't have time to straighten out his similes and he then slumps down against a wall, near, but not touching, Selina. As he starts doing matrix actions he thinks to the group. <<It'd be easier to just screw up the drone and crash it. We're screwing around while trying to get a trace going they don't notice. They could drop the thing too anytime.>>

As Bongo works on the downed Ork he does what he can and what the medkit tells him to do, at least its well equipped. Soon the wounds are all plugged and patched, with some synthetic drugs and meds added. But his breathing still isn't good. But Bongo is pretty sure they'll get better on their own at this point, after a very long rest.

Down below the trapdoor Paul can hear someone exclaim "Fucking 100th floor. Bringing their drek down here. They best pay for this. "

[Koekepan]

Paul's ears perk up, and settles himself more conveniently while working so as to maximise his chances of picking up any more angry rantings. He doesn't bother recording anything, but the political lie of the land might be very valuable to pick apart with the team once the bleeding has stopped.

To Lenny he adds: <<Better than a tortoise, chummer. Or did you wanna go running after the drones yourself?>>

[sunnyside]

After not very many seconds, suddenly Lenny's shoot open and he gasps. "Oh geez that sucks. Ow Ow Ow." He pulls his helmet off and seems like he might get sick, but he seems to get it together and waves at anyone around. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I was just in cold sim. And I KICKED THAT ICs ASS! I was giving their spider a touch time too. I think they shut down the whole node. "

He pauses a moment "Angel says she's fine, nobody detected her, they disconnected her too."

He thinks a moment "Maybe that means they crashed the drone? Well, more of them were piling in, they could have given the pilot a destination and shut down all connections. Or maybe they landed the thing and went for a reboot? "

He seems to gather himself and switches to matrix communication with the team <<Angel managed a trace, and she thinks between something funky she did with her stealth program and me distracting everybody in the node that they weren't aware. Tracing doesn't give an exact location though, like a room number. We'd really be able to spoof any of their drones that are still around. And we know what building they're in. If they don't permanently scramble their Access IDs we'll find them if they pop up again. >>


Down by the trapdoor. Paul can overhear some general bellyaching along with "They don't make this right. We can make it right yeah?" He gets some grunts in accent.

Paul is also noticing that the orks generally don't try and hide where they are as they move. They have a certain stompy and vocal way, so maybe they have no idea he's there down below. Or maybe they want the orks in the apartment out on the balcony to hear...or they don't care.

[pbangarth]

Bongo catches wind of the disturbance down below. Like they need a local gang to be making trouble at this point, right? He moves over to beside Tubesnake and stands ready. No knives. Just ready to talk down the troublemakers.

[Thanee]

Selina stays on the drone for the time being. Not entirely certain, it is the right one, she follows it astrally, hoping to figure out where it is headed.

[sunnyside]

(OOC: A shout out for Paul for sharing things on comms. Part of the reason I have coms as one of the requirements is player's don't do well being out of the loop. Simplifies who could hear what from where as well. One Bongo moves he'd be with Paul in the master bedroom turned living room with trap door in one apartment, while Lenny and Selina are lying on the ground next to Willie and presumably Paul's ground traveling drones...and some thawing corpses from just before all this. Paul would have a chance for tried and stabilization rolls before Bongo would get there.)

Watching the drone, Selina notices that it alters its path somewhat but still cuts across the Patapsco river, its path leads it to a cemetery. Selina can't read the signs, but she'd recognize it, and could look it up on a map from her meat body. (OOC: Mount cavalry cemetery)

From above, the area looks pretty empty, overgrown with trees and vegetation. The drone comes to a halt over a patch of trees, or what were trees before vines choked them out. With its engines powered down the drone drops, getting caught up in the branches and vines. dangling in the air a good twenty feet from the ground.

The area doesn't seem to have much activity, but is still a place of meaning and has a blend of background counts, but mostly one as nature attempts to reclaim the land.

(OOC: Sorry, just a short reply, I need to get to bed).

[pbangarth]

Bongo tries to hear what might be being said down below.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception test: Perception (hearing) 9 + INT 5 = 14 dice: 3 hits

[sunnyside]

There's some general grumbling, then one of the orks below adds. "They act like they're the shit and protect this whole thing, but it's just that shit rolls downhill onto us. I bet they pissed someone off, and instead of squaring up their guys just jump down here like a bitch. If we're doing the protecting, we oughta be in charge. "

In the room with the freezers, Lenny messages the group. <<Angel and I can see what we can find in the building we traced their wireless to. Think they're uptown or downtown types? Anyway much as I don't want another wave of drones coming, getting the real payday means finding Brewster's missing runner. The only lead for that was on a floor nowhere near all this. But we might be able to cook something up. Like Tubesnake is the only one who got codes for missing gear off those guys. We could probably search up where it actually went, or say it's linked to something suspicious, where we want to go. I guess pick something you could reasonably talk through and we can make it seem true. >>