IC: The Search for the Spirit Mask of Timbuktu, In-character thread for the game Options

[Fenris]

Another gunman cries out, digging the shuriken out of his shoulder and cursing as his shots fly wide of their mark.

[HeySparky]

Charlotte whistles low as the two trolls scoop up their charges and leap out of view through the ragged hole they'd torn into the wall. Wow. Glad we didn't end up on the wrong side of Deray. The rattle of automatic gunfire ends in a flare of pain. Charlotte screams a short yelp of pain. It's not a pretty sound. She hisses, sucking wind over clenched teeth as she tries to maintain her grip on the table, like it's doing something.

<< I'm hit. >> Her voice on the team comms is tight, terse.

Without waiting for Dakota's tongue lashing to get the frag out she drops the table and half-staggers, half-backs out of the hole, arm clenched tightly to her side.

Oh... the truck skids as it slows momentarily, a bunch of hard-eyed men in the back...great. Just fragging great. Well, it's what I get for not hiring local help.

Damnit.

I should pay better attention.

I KNEW I was missing something. All smug, smoking my hooka and making my bulletins. She gritted her teeth and made for the van. It's open side door looked like the welcoming arms of the mother she'd never known.

[Cirio]

Cirio gives a low whistle as he uncovers the number of active links in their assailant's PAN. It's definitely time to leave.

Continuing the slow drumming roll of his fingers on the steering wheel, Cirio's thoughts briefly make contact with one of the drones hovering in the sky above him.

It's time to neutralize at least part of their enemy's advantage.

Edit: Mentally responding to Yi he says: "It's getting hot out here. I'll see what I can do about that."

[Buddha72]

Yi moves quickly, darting from side to side through the maze of tables. Twisting during the sprint she flings two more poisoned shurikens, hoping to make contact with the gunmen that spilled into the doorway. She struggles to suppress the urge to kill every last one of them, especially after seeing Charlotte clipped.

"Keep me informed of the situation outside."

[Fenris]

Cries echo from behind the moving masked figure as one of the gunmen in the doorway drops his gun, scrabbling at the jagged star of metal embedded in his thigh.

[Cirio]

The smoke grenade lazily spins into the alley before exploding with a *thump* into curling, impenetrable white smoke. Cirio disconnects from the Drone, allowing it to resume its normal programming.

To Yi: "Our friends have a truck on the other side of the bar. If we want to get away easy, then it's time to go now."

He feathers the accelerator, moving the Roadmaster out of the alley.

[Fenris]

In the interior of the bar, more bodies topple over as the toxins coursing through their system takes affect, stiffening muscles and freezing normal nervous system reactions.

In the alleyway, the truck at the other end of the alleyway jerks into movement, shouts and the occasional shot accompanying it as the group moves around the building, stymied by the smoke.

A small scrap of plastic comes fluttering to the ground at Yi's feet, looking suspiciously like an antidote patch. Charlotte is scrawled across it in hasty but elegant letters.

[Buddha72]

Placing one hand on the ground and swinging her feet up over her head, Yi grabs the patch with her free hand as the cartwheel finishes. She runs forward and places the antidote squarely on Charlotte's neck.

"Head's up, the ammo these thugs are using might be dusted with an extra. Anyone else been hit?

Looking and seeing the smoke at the end of the alleyway, she smiles seeing her trust in Cirio was not misplaced.

"Can I get a smoke grenade into the club?"

[Fenris]

The smoke grenade fizzles and flashes in a burst of jury-rigged chemical reactions as Dakota tosses the container, already streaming smoke, behind her into the bar.

As the group moves towards the van, a satellite image appears in the upper right hand corners of their vision, the map tinged with a cluster of small red dots in the bar, and a group of them making their way around the building as quickly as possible.

[BishopMcQ]

Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me...

Mickey dips, dives, ducks and dodges as he runs at full throttle for the van. Why was it backing up? The van was getting further away? Probably to keep from being shot...good plan.

Continuing the mantra in his head, the mage pushes his body to its outer limits as he tries to get to the safety of the van and armored steel.

[Whizbang]

Running, running, running.... so far, so good. So far the enemy had been too busy with the others to hit him. And smoke... he coughed a bit before breaking past the billowing smoke. That should hinder them yet more. Now was when he might wish that his magic was geared more towards physical threats than magical threats. But oh well. If it had been an elemental bearing down on them, he'd be happy the way things were. He'd settle for just booking it to the van.

[Fenris]

Behind the exiting group, shouts and gunfire fills the small bar as smoke billows out of the hole. The cry and curse of men fumbling around the tables and chairs while unable to see punctuates the sporadic gunfire that punches holes in the walls.

Around the building, somewhat distant, the screech of tires and revving of the engine follows the tiny indicators on the gps map as the truck hurtles around the building as fast as the driver can make it go.

[Buddha72]

With a smile as the smoke billows into and out of the building, Yi steps into the van taking cover from any possible arcs of fire from outside now. She quickly looks over the AR overlay, making mental notes of the pockets of hostiles and their movements.

"What's our exit strategy at this point?"

[Cirio]

Cirio calmly scans the net for real-time traffic feeds, his foot on the accelerator, waiting for Jeff to enter the van.

"Airport, unless we have another means to leave. Charlotte, do you have a contact there?"

[BishopMcQ]

"Did we get the info from Deray? Where do we head from there?"

Mickey takes two deep breaths, lowering his stress levels forcefully. Now that the van was sealed they could leave the mad gunmen behind.

[Fenris]

As the last of the team members piles into the van-like SUV, the truck screeches around the far corner of the bar into view, barely making the turn, one man in the back spilling out as the others shout point.

[Cirio]

At almost the exact same moment, the Roadmaster smoothly accelerates forward, the amount of force exerted on the sand by the tires precisely calculated to be the maximum without any inefficient slip. The two drones adjust their tilt slightly, to keep station above the vehicle.

[Buddha72]

Yi quickly sits and straps herself in just in case the ride got a little rough. Looking around the vehicle, she feels the smile building up behind her mask seeing everyone safe and accounted for.

[Whizbang]

Finally...they had all made it to the van. Looking over the others, he realized that Charlotte had been hit, and an anti-toxin patch had been applied. "Anyone want to try mundane methods before I take the magical route?" he asked. He wanted to help his friend, but knew that if he acted first, it would render mundane methods ineffective.

[Fenris]

The van accelerates quickly, weaving through several turns and down the crowded streets. The town was backwoods and small enough that most people still walked or rode bikes, lining the streets with a constant flow of pedestrian traffic.

After each turn, the following truck drops farther and farther behind, despite the gunning engine and the abupt jerks of the wheel the driver was using to corner.

[HeySparky]

Charlotte is pale and her breathing shallow. She keeps her arm clamped hard to her side and tries not to scratch at the itchy adhesive of the patch. Damn, damn. The driver weaves in and out of traffic, threading through the throngs with wreckless headlong rush of the truly competent.

Though Charlotte's assessment of the driver's skill is less than appreciative at the moment... she's nauseous. It could be the toxin. Or the antidote. The moments after getting shot are weird and echoing in her head... at once very close and all happening at the same time and then suddenly distant, removed. And close again.

She can see and sense worry from the others in their auras which are diving and twisting weirdly.

She squeezes her eyes shut. "Contacts? Of course," she smiles against the pain, tusks, "Code blue called in our driver here and should have already alerted our 'travel agent' that we needed to leave. Soonest."

A crease appears on her brow, "Though I would expected confirmation by now. Or at least acknowledgement of receipt of the Code Blue." She brings up the AR displays on her imagelinked contacts. Hope there's no trouble...

Charlotte's commlink chimes at her right on cue. "They're waiting for us at the hangar." She hisses and hitches herself up to a dubiously more comfortable position. "These are the coordinates." She links the location to Cirio.

[Fenris]

Cirio gives the equivilant of a verbal nod as the SUV smoothly takes a corner much, much faster then it should have been able to. The truck skids and flails behind, rounding the corner in a much less graceful fashion.

As the men in the back of the truck open up, the SUV begins to pull away as both vehicles leave the village and switch onto a rough unpaved round that snaked through the jungle. Rounds rattle off of the armored windows and back door as stray rounds from the automatic fire find their mark.

Recklessly careening off trees and bouncing over ruts in the road, the truck steadily gains, rounds clattering off the SUV as the men in the truck continue to spray.

[Blitz]

:: As soon as the chase begins, Dakota leans over the rear seats and fishes out the medkit stored in one of the rucksacks. Hauling it over next to Charlotte, she unceremoniously rips the fabric of her shirt and takes a look at the wound. Despite her gruff nature, she treats the area gently before flipping on the medkit. ::

"Hold still..this is gonna sting..."

:: After inputing the condition of the injuring into the onboard system, she uses the information relayed to augment her own instincts on the best way to treat the wound. Luckily, the bullet made a clean exit and there was little need to extract it. Working as carefully as she can despite the radical shifting of the SUV, she tries to patch up their spokesperson as best as she can. ::

"Ciro...try NOT to hit every blasted rut in the road."

:: She didn't mean to be critical, he was the best damn driver she'd worked with, but the continual jolting was only irritating her on top of her anger at the meet turning violent. As she works, she shifts her complaints to quiet muttering. ::

"Why can't things ever be easy..."

[Whizbang]

Watching Dakota apply first aid to the injured Charlotte, Jeff realized that he probably should get around to taking some courses. Magical healing didn't solve everything. But now wasn't the time, and once Dakota was done, he took his turn. Placing a hand gently on the bandaged area, he hummed softly to himself as he released the healing energies into the injured woman. "Better?" he asked as he sat back.

[Fenris]

The SUV bounced around a sharp corner probably designed to be traveled mostly by carts and horses. Behind, a screech and the shout of a dozen or so men was abruptly cut off as the truck tumbled off the road and impacted in a tree. Upon contact, the sound of a series of fully automatic guns firing echoes out of the trees, probably someone tossed around by the impact, and a WHUMP rocks the SUV slightly as the truck explodes into flames.

Twisting turns and thick vegetation quickly swallow up the wreckage, leaving the group driving along in idyllic jungle. A few more hours on the road and the jungle recedes to reveal and small airport at the edge of a larger city. Cirio pulls the SUV onto the tarmac and up near a small Fed Boeing Commuter, a tilt winged aircraft, bearing the Atlantis Foundation logo. Standing next to the loading ramp is a trim dressed older man. Iago handles the routine, day to day operations of your contacts between your group and the foundation.

Slim and dapper, even at his older age, he merely arches an eyebrow as he brushes white gloved fingers lightly across a dent in the side of the vehicle left by a recent bullet. He sniffs, and moves to enter the vehicle as the group piles onboard.

"Meals will be served as soon as we reach cruising altitude. Master Cirio, will you be handling lift off today, or will the auto-Pilot be handling take-off?" The prim English accent never fails to set one in the idea of a proper butler.