Low-Down in Loveland, IC Thread Options

[kanislatrans]

Finishing a quick Re-con of the area surrounding "The Dive" Matto heads to the van as everyone loads up. Shooting a quick text to Grim TXTMSG:Matto@Grim:: "The top controls the action and pace.You can't survive in this business without control...Ron Jeremy" as he climbs onto the roof and settles in prone between the luggage racks, facing the front.

perception roll for re-con

[ Spoiler ]

<a href="http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2591828/">perception roll (8d6.hits(5)=5)</a>

[Aria]

Scratch paused for breath…it had been ages since she’d felt well and this wasn’t doing her any good. The ominous pall of smoke was closer but she would have to swing around the next block to come at it from the other side. She’d cut through some of the alleys and she was sure there was an abandoned building that she could use to get some height. Damn them, whoever ‘them’ was, it had been such a nice quiet night!

<<Guys, anyone got sight of the fire yet? What’s going on?>>

[BlackHat]

Grim's RV lurched forward, shaking a number of medical devices hanging from the cupboards and walls of the make-shift clinic. The RV had a lot of extra seating, but a few of the passengers were forced to stand up and hold onto a number of railings, poles, or inactive medical drones. The ride didn't get much more comfortable. The roads were in bad shape, as always, and, although the RV's off-road suspension helped, Grim was driving a little recklessly in an effort to make up for lost time. As he did, he called out over his shoulder, "There should be some medkits above the sink - like 10 or something. Start passing them around, so everybody has one when we get there."

[kanislatrans]

The rough ride bounced Matto around on the roof of the RV. He dug his StreetStomper™ combat boots under the luggage racks. His regret at not picking up some Gecko Gloves or kneepads was reinforced as the van bounced along, jarring his hez around like dice on a crap table. He shifted around, straddling the A/C housing and wrapped his left arm around the vans sensor bubble. A quick command to the Smartgun X extended the folding stock and he jammed the short gun into his shoulder. Bringing his attention to the street in front of the van he scans the semi-darkness for threats, paying extra attention to alley ways or any likely ambush points.

Clicking the button on the commlink clipped to his collar, he sends a a quick call ..MSG@ALL:"Victory belongs to the most persevering."...Napoleon Bonaparte." he adds "Let's collect some fucking heads!"



(Edited for really bad grammatical error.).

[Digital Heroin]

The cloying smell of of smoke fills the air even from Lucky's vantage point. Amidst the ghosts of a commercial strip that had been forgotten in the second Crash a two-storey motel of the old park and stay style sits aflame, its structure groaning under the heat upon its bones. From the back, the place seems deserted, and there is scant sign of distress save for the smoke which billows under every doorway.

As Grim's RV trundles along the neglected streets, potholes jarring his passengers and threatening to throw Matto from his perch, a crowd around the burning structure slows the pace to a crawl. The area is thick with onlookers awash with a mix of emotion from sorrow to scarcely contained frustration. While some people give way to the familiar white vehicle with hopeful expressions painted upon their faces, a half block from the scene is becomes all but impossible to make any forward motion. The view of the burning structure remains obscured by a derelict dollar store for all save Matto.

Those outriders on motorcycles have an easier, though still slowed, time getting through the crowd. Few who see the colors of the Dozen stand in their path, and though they need to at times take to the broken sidewalks, they are confronted with a wave of heat, and a terrible vision. As they arrive, the long-standing sign for the Motel 5, which bears the ironic marquee "hottest rates in town" is engulfed in flame with a series of pops issuing forth as the long dormant neon tubes explode from the sudden burst of heat.

The lower floor of the building is all but fully ablaze, and every window on the forward face of the motel is a gaping maw from which smoke spews, the glass having melted away. The small island of calm seems to be the far corner of the upper balcony, where several families are huddled, with children draped in tattered tattered and water soaked blankets which give off steam from the fire's heat. The gathering are clustered not even ten feet from their salvation, an unscathed set of stairs to the parking lot.

As Scratch steals her way through Low-Down's ruins, she makes good time, unopposed, and unseen.

Lucky:

[ Spoiler ]

Over the din of the crowds on the other side of the motel, and the occasional whoosh of sudden flare-ups in the fire, Lucky hears a faint pop, followed by two more. Gunfire?

Scratch:

[ Spoiler ]

As Scratch rounds a broken wall, she spies a clean looking SUV parked unobtrusively in an alleyway between a gutted pawn shop and a half-fallen three story tenement building. Next to the car stands a young man in a black hoodie and jeans. He is smoking, and watching the orange glow of the fire down the block.

Matto:

[ Spoiler ]

From his unique vantage point atop Grim's RV, and through the smoky haze of the fire, Matto can make out a body slumped against the railing of the stairwell which has yet to be touched by the flames.

[Branmac]

As the RV shudders and bounces to a stop Bear grins over at Feral.
"Show time Omea! Lets rock!"
Grabbing a MedKit off the rack he bails out the back of the RV and scans the scene with his MoJo Vision to see if anything stands out.

[Red-ROM]

As Bear goes Rampaging out of the van, Micky hangs back for a minute with the squatter. He was waiting for a call, and he was in no hurry to suck smoke. He did have his internal air supply, but he was saving that for emergencies. As some of the others stormed ahead he tried to talk some more with the bearer of all this bad news,"Hey, you know anything about the other people living here? any newcommers? or high rollers?"

[Saint Sithney]

Cosimo was lost in thought. For the past few, he had been picturing the corner by the motel in his mind. He tried to picture all the possible sniper nests in the area. Where would he go? There were so many places to hide. Just toss a grenade into the intersection. Boom. The Loveland quartet. Bang. Bang. The Loveland duo.

Why the hell would someone light this fire? Who had the stones to try and make a move? Southside was a joke. He used to clobber those kids, sometimes three times in a day. Brothers were out. They'd absorb the crew if they felt they needed the turf. The Triad boys? They're desperate for new avenues of revenue. No gang likes to go from making 20k a day to making 2k. There's no real rackets here for them to take over though. Not enough money in low-down to risk vengeance by not killing everyone. Nothing to take, so why would they bother? Besides, this fire could wipe the whole block if it gets out of control. Then what?

Cosimo's Uncle Leo died in a fire. That's why Cozi got the fireproof coat. Bomb in Leo's car didn't go off right. He just burned. Full thickness. Nick the Prick said there was a pool of fat where he fell that stained the sidewalk. Never got to cave Nick's head in. Something to look forward to. First though, gotta walk into a burning building. What's that thing Matto said? "Sovereign is he who exists, as though death does not." Georges... Bataille? Yeah.

The RV's roll finally ceased with a short jerk, clearing Cosimo's head. Vasari had been flashing an error for who knows how long. Porcheria.

"Alright chums. Let's go die for the contadini."

[Propaganda]

Alex stood just in front of his bike, the matt black racing helmet dangling from his hand as he stared at the inferno. 'Something's not right here...this is way too damn big to be an accident; but who would want to torch this dive of all places?' he wondered, still contemplating the blaze. He shook his head to clear it, as his left hand strayed towards the chrome handgun on his thigh, reminding himself of its solidly reassuring weight. Joining the others by the RV he glanced at his compatriots. "Time for some thrilling heroics" he said to the others as he began trying to figure out what to do.

[Aria]

Scratch froze, melting in to the shadows of the decaying building. She stilled her breathing…he didn’t belong here, too poised, too clean. Almost unconsciously a throwing blade was in her hand, the light absorbed by the deadly matt stiletto. She couldn’t see his back so had no idea if he was wearing gang colours, nothing obvious from this side.

She gently tapped a message on the holographic keyboard at her wrist, careful to keep the light out of sight from the stranger around the corner…

<<SUV 1 block over 1 man Backup?>> now she just had to wait…

[Propaganda]

Alex felt his commlink buzz as he finished speaking. Fishing it out of a pocket, he glanced at the screen and saw the message from Scratch. He stared at the screen for a moment before taking off through the crowd towards the next block, his hand staying close to the gun on his thigh as he ran.

[Saint Sithney]

The roar of the flames was impressive even over the chattering panic of the crowd. This primal thing which consumed without pause, without concern - there was a purity even in the black columns of smoke which poured from every window. Cosimo was running along the side of the building, shoving back gawkers as he skirted the edge of the blaze, his coat secured tightly around his frame. He was trying to get to a section of the building which wasn't yet belching smoke when Scratch's message popped up on his overlay. One guy? Still here? The guy was either a moron, a tourist or a moron tourist. Any local banger should be 5 blocks away by now.

[Cosimo@Scratch: Message. Scratch. Follows. "Squatter said two guys. Careful. Use comm's camera. Send vid."]

[Cosimo@Dozen: Message. Dozen. All. Follows. "Arsonist has wheels. Ready for pursuit?"]

Just then, Cosimo spotted the huddled families on the 2nd floor balcony.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
He tilted his head towards them.
"Over the railing!! Are you so stupid you'd burn to death before you fell a few feet!!" The helmet's front speaker squawked angrily.
"Hand! Hand me the kids! Come on dammit! Now!"

[ Spoiler ]

Leadership roll. 1 skill + 2 stat + 1 ware + 1 advantageous to NPC + 2 friendly = 7 dice
7d6.hits(5) → [5,1,5,1,1,6,5] = (4)
4 hits

[Fenris]

Jack would never forgive him if he went after the gunshots first, even if they might have been more important for finding out who set the blaze. With a chuckle, the lanky kid turned back towards his van, easily pulling himself onto the roof using the front seat for a step. From there it was a quick leap to the nearest building.

Crowd's too thick. Never make it on foot, and if those squatters were gonna run, they'd have done it. Drek.

He eyeballed the distance between his building and the next for just a moment, no real hesitation as he threw himself across the distance, eyes already on the next jump between his building and the motel's roof. Whole thing was burning on the inside, but there should be just enough room on the edge in front of that second story balcony to catch his footing and lower himself down.

Don't think too much, Lucky, he chided himself as he hung for a moment in the emptiness between buildings.

[ Spoiler ]

Roll for leaping buildings towards the burning motel above the crowds. (6d6.hits(5)=0)

That was awesome. So, back to why they call me Lucky...

Edge re-roll for jumping buildings, (6d6.hits(5)=2)

[Aria]

Scratch steadied her breathing and stepped out from behind the wall, carefully poised for flight or fight as need be. She made sure that her comm was transmitting an image of the man and the car and that the throwing knife was tight in her palm…

She feigned surprise, “Heh omae, what’s doing? Heh, can I bum a smoke?”

[BlackHat]

As the RV came to a halt (at what Grim guessed was a safe distance), he popped the glove compartment open and pulled out a trode-band, and started shooing everyone out of the sliding side-door, with his other hand. He also gestured at the cupboard (as an afterthought), which was literally spilling high-quality medkits onto the counter and into the sink, but wasn't going to make a huge fuss if people left without taking one. After a second, he slid the trode-band over his head, and plugged the other end into his cheap commlink. As he settled back into his seat, his VR control interface came online, and the four medical drones in the back of the van started to light up. The back-door to the RV slid open, and the drone racks slid out quickly depositing all four medical drones onto the ground before the whole system retracted back into the RV and the robotic chairs began to march towards the fire, scanning their cameras across the scene trying to identify those in critical need of care.

[Combat Mage]

After Feral jumped out of the car he needed a second to evaluate the situation. Then he saw the families being trapped on the balcony, surrounded by flames and smoke. Guess it's on me to get them out he thought while he channeled mana into spells.

"Hey you people on the balcony! Don't get freaked out now I'm gonna get you down! Don't fight it if you start to fly!" The last thing he needed was the targets resisting his rescue attempt.

[kanislatrans]

From atop the van Matto rose, his eyes focusing on stairwell where the prone form lay. The light from the blaze flashed on his face and the heat and smoke rolled over him. His bio-monitor registered the increase in respiration and blood pressure. He felt his heart pumping, pumping,pumping fast and hard. His ears rang and his eyes glazed over, salty tears coating the Ziess lenses on his eyes and running down his face.

He stood, Sub gun hanging at his side, staring as the gang jumped into action. Memories bounced around his head, superimposing themselves over the feed from his cyber eyes. The software in his datajack rolled a constant stream of quotes across his vision, vainly trying to find anything that would sync with what he was feeling and seeing. Finally, the letters stopped scrolling across his vision and stopped. Matto blinked his eyes and focused on the quote.

"There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry."George Armstrong Custer.
The words glowed, tinted by the red of the flames and he laughed aloud. His feet hit the tarmac even before he could register the thought to jump. Racing for the stairwell with the slumped body he keeps the smartgun tracking left and right.

He approaches the body carefully,looking for wires or signs of a booby trap..

[Red-ROM]

Once outside the van, Micky snapped out the cigarette again. He lead the squatter to the curb by the old dollor store and got on his comm. It looked like Scratch had a suspect in sight, and Grimm probably had his hands full.<<Micky@Grimm: Anything I can do to help Doc?>>

[Fenris]

Barely catching himself on the edge, he turned the almost slip into a somewhat graceful looking lowering move, dropping down onto the balcony next to the cluster of frightened people. He arrived just in time to see some of the frightened civilans, shaken into movement by Cosimo's authoritative voice, begin to shuffle children and elder members towards the balcony. He saw Feral below, concentrating, and waved a hand to get the street mage's attention.

"Adults!" he shouted. "Start with the adults! We can get the kids down."

He began to push and cajole, encouraging those left to follow the small group already in action and begin lowing the children down to Cosimo in the parking lot.

[BlackHat]

Grim's drone began to march toward the area where the people were being rescued and lowered to the ground. Grim expected some minor burns and smoke inhalation that he trusted the drone pilot's medical expert systems to be able to take care of automatically, so, in VR, he "jumped" into one of the drones, and its external speaker crackled to life with the sound of his voice. It swiveled towards the nearest already rescued man, and asked, "Is anyone still inside?" While he waited for the meat-speed response, he quickly sent a message back to Micky: <<Grimm@Micky: If you have a medkit from the back, we've probably got more injuries than I have drones. Otherwise, we need to make sure the nearby buildings are safe, and start sorting out who need our attention, and who came for the show.>>

[Digital Heroin]

Bear

The Astral, usually sedate in the sparesly populated region of Low Down, is alive with activity. The mob of squatters create a pool of auras that fluidly writhes as they shuffle about in place, with waves of panic rolling along the surface with each explosion of neon or gas from the fire. There is a concentrated ball of fear on the balcony where the panicked crowd gather. The slumped figure on the stairs has an aura as well, though his is faded, as he barely clings to life.

Scratch

The kid standing by the SUV turns on one work-booted heel with a grunt, and rounds on Scratch as she approaches him. As he draws closer, she will spot the subgun resting on the dashboard of the SUV, within easy reach through the open driver's side window. While the ganger postures up, taking a drag off of his coffin nail, several details become evident. The kid cannot be more than seventeen years old, but he carries himself with a swagger and warriness that speaks of being blooded. There is a hard look to his eyes, and even though he is not overly concerned with the new arrival, his posture is ready to react if needed, and he has left the hand closest to the SUV, and consequentally his weapon, free. Also, while it seems he has taken care to eschew any manner of gangland dress, instead wearing brand free generic work clothing, there is a tattoo visible on the side of his neck - the gothic lettered SSA of the Southside Assassins.

`What you doin' here, girl?` His voice bears the bravado one might expect from one of the Assassins' street toughs. `Doncha know there's a party out there on the street?`

Alex

The press of the crowd is relentless, growing more concentrated the further from the fire Alex gets. Still, the crowd is largely comprised of squatters from the immediate area, and the squatters know the colors of the Dozen when they seem them. Anyone who does not react and try to clear a path is good order does not put up much of a fight when they see the elf's gun. Even with a compliant crowd, the press turns to molasses even as the SUV that Scratch had marked for the gang comes into sight. While Alex shoulders his way through the last few feet of the crowd the distinct sound of gunfire, now much closer and thus clearer over the din of the crowd, alights his ears. A look up to the building that the SUV is parked beside allows him to spot a figure a the third storey window, braced against the frame with an assault rifle at the ready.

Cosimo, Lucky, Feral, Matto
For those moving towards the fire, or rather the oasis of calm where the huddled families wait impotently, things are easier. Even with the ebb and flow of a fluid mob, no one is being pushed nearer to the fire than they want to go, which leaves the area within a stone's throw of the motel itself relatively clear. Bolstered by Cosimo's rallying orders, several of the male squatters on the upper walkway shift and stand. They huddle to offer words of encouragement to their own families, and take up the smallest of their children first. Keen to spend the last moments of their life selflessly heroic, they que up to lean and shorten the drop to Cosimo's waiting arms as much they can. The first of Grim's orderly drones arrives shortly after the first child is dropped, as do a few other brave souls who are inspired to lend a hand. While the huddled masses do not hear Feral's call above the din of fire and fear, Cosimo's rallying call has caused plenty of them to stand, affording the teen mojo-man a nice line of sight on would be levitation targets.

Matto is given a clearer path than anyone else that evening. There is something about a large ork with a rather bright mowhawk that inspires people to get out of the way. Skirting the building is a risky proposition, but it allows him a clean line of sight to the body that is slumped upon the stairs. First glance, from distance, makes it quite clear what happened to the guy was no accident, and reveals just why the people were cowering on the balcony around the corner: the guy's chest has a rather large bullet hole in it. As Matto draws closer, with thoughts of booby traps in mind, he notices something else about the body. It is not actually a body. While only half of the man's chest is moving, there is the distinct rise and fall of labored, shallow breathing from the fallen man.

After a madcap set of scrambling leaps, and a rush across a rooftop where the roofing tar is boiling away in some places, Lucky gets to the untouched side of the motel. As he drops down onto the balcony amidst the shifting mass of people he is witness to two things. First is the third child to be lowered and dropped into Cosimo's waiting arms, and the second, and easily far more troubling, is when the man who had just let go of the infant girl is slammed by the force of a bullet to the shoulder, and goes staggering backwards, almost tripping down the stairs before settling against a wall. The mass of people who had been helping to get the children together emerge into panicked cries, and shy back from the railing again.

Grim, Mickey
While the fire is still raging, the closest squatters to it have a new distraction in the form of a familiar vehicle, and familiar faces coming out of it. Those that were injured and are still mobile start to flock to the mobile clinic, while several start to call out for attention from the orderly drones that start to filter amongst them. While Mickey pulls aside their messenger, two small children come running up to the pair, evidentaly having been seperated from their poppa when he went to go get help. The squatter that Grim's jumped in drone asks about anyone inside of the building takes a moment to overcome the surreal sight of a drone amongst a barrens fire scene, and he shakes his head.

`Got everyone out we could, 'cept those that're up on the balcony.` He seems distressed, which is only natural. `Couldn't do nothin' to help them.`

[Red-ROM]

Micky turns his head slightly to avoid blowing coke laced smoke in the kids faces, but he watches them like a hawk. Kids in the barrens are the best pick pockets you'll ever meet. He addresses them in the warmest and friendliest voice he can,"Hey, are you two busy right now? This man is lost. I'm trying to get all the lost people to meet up here on this sidewalk. Do you think you can keep him company while I find some more lost people?"
Micky covertly snaps a picture of the kids with the commlink in his hand and sends a text to Grimm
<<@Grimm: I'm starting a kiddie lost and found by the van, I'm gonna start trying to sort this crowd as best I can>>

[kanislatrans]

Upon seeing the bullet wound,Matto Instinctively drops prone and blasts a shout to all. "SNIPER!"through the comlink . From the ground, he digs into his combat vest and pulls out the meager medical supplies he carries. Ripping the steri-wrap from his only trauma patch with his teeth as he pulls a tampon and a tube of Mercy-one™ antibiotic gel from the recycled plastic zipper bag. Sticking the tampon between his teeth,he belly crawls forward,watching the surrounding buildings for the sniper.
"He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious. -Sun Tzu-' he mumbles into the comlink as he moves towards the wounded victim.

[Propaganda]

'Oh HELL' Alex thought as he saw the figure above him. Knowing that any hesitation would most likely result in getting shot, he decided to continue running straight for the SUV below the unknown gunman, hoping that they were too distracted to get a clean shot before he got into cover.

[Fenris]

That's freakin' awesome. thought Lucky, immediately spinning to try and track the shot back to it's source. Pro's would bail, but a pro wouldn't have been waiting to taking a pot shot at the random street vic, so chances were he'd be sitting in his hole, lining up more shots. If he could just spot him...

[ Spoiler ]

Perception roll for the sniper (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
[Perception 2]+[Intuition 3]+[Enhanced Perception 2]+[Vision Enhancement 3] (10d6.hits(5)=4)
Also have Vision Mag, so distance in the urban environment shouldn't be a problem.

If I do spot the sniper, I'll also want a distance and direction to his building. Don't have those gas-powered grappling hook launchers and retractors for nothing, dammit!