IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:57 PM, Near Annex, Redmond

Zo whispering to Jade. "Why wait? I can just throw da dwarf over my shoders an hoof it to the next bit of cover."

<@Team>Tiger tail? Heard it is delicious. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:57 PM, Annex in Redmond


Jade quickly scans her usual list of put down lines

• "Sorry, but after meeting you I'm thinking of becoming a lesbian."
• "OK Mister, how many times do I have to flush before you go away?"
• "See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil."
• "Just out of curiosity, are your parents siblings?"

None of them seems appropriate. She quite liked Zo's attitude in general. Instead she pointedly ignored the comment and...

"Ok. Lets go. Keep your hands on your gun."

With that she threw the dwarf over her shoulder and hoofed it to the next bit of cover

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:57 PM, Near Annex, Redmond

Zo followed Jade as they moved closer to the Annex, keeping his gun ready should the drone return.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:58 PM, In the Tunnel

Jovan thought about the situation for a moment. There! An idea went through his disjointed mind. A simple idea, but effective if done properly. He switched his attention to the spirit as he began to move backwards down the tunnel again. "Such impatience. You can assist me in this situation. 'Serve' is not the appropriate word. Come, this way. Direct confrontation against these ghouls is useless and crude. Best to exploit their physical limitations in their own physical plane than to fight them upfront." He began leading the pack of hungry ghouls down the tunnel, towards the fork in the path.

Phoenix Mall in Redmond, Near the Overturned Truck

The hazy floating eyeball had been surprisingly silent for several minutes as Jovan continued to deal with the ghoul pack. Suddenly it broke the reverie of silence. "The basement of the tower, where that shootout took place. What did Ferret find there that was still working? The security drones, are they still functional? And the door, does it have any sort of electronic locking mechanism wired to the building node?"

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:58 PM, Near Annex, Redmond

Ferret's meat body twitches as one of the lightning bolts fries the command code in his digital paw.

//Access denied /Firewall interrupt / Account anomalies ://

Frag...

He doesn't finish the thought. Instead he's moving. Moving at the speed of thought. Dropping to all fours he scuttles between troll Valkyrie's legs, slashing with one claw at her achilles tendon in a desperate and likely vain attempt to slow the agent down.

I just hope that axe is a vanilla attack programa and not Black IC.

He cuts sharply left into the nearest alley between the compressed data stacks. Twin beams of light flare from his rodent eyes as he scans for the security drone's icon.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:58 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"I'm surprised I recall anything about that meeting. Seems like it was a year ago after all this mess."

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:58 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"Yeah. 'What a difference a day makes' the old song says. Listen, Sandy. We know of your rigger, your magician, the young hacker we haven't found yet, and you. Is there anybody else we should watch out for? Most everyone and everything we meet in this place seems to be out to eat us, and our trigger fingers are getting twitchy."

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:58 PM, Annex in Redmond

<<[Jade Tiger] Not wanting to chase you guys or anything, but are you heading here <embedded ARO> and if so what is your ETA. This looks like Ghoul Central, and a bit of support would be good. While we are at it, has Jovan reported back? A report from an astral scout would be useful>>

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

Professor holds a hand to his ear, in an archaic demonstration that a message is coming through. <<@Jade Tiger: Yeah, we're finishing up here. Heading out momentarily.>>

"Listen, Sandy. Our buddies are having some ghoul fun down by the Annex. We're going to have to head down there. You alright to tag along, or you need to rest here some more? Either way, we have to move."

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"Are you out of your mind? You want to wade further into this hell? I can point and click at targets just fine from here. If anything, I'd be happy to lock myself into this nice armored truck and run my bots from the security of two solid inches of plastisteel. Sandy can wait with me if she's still too weak to try and run for it, but I'll be fucked if you think I'm walking into that warehouse until it's cleared."

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"Do you think we're safer here, just the two of us?"

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

Looking around, Sandy asked half to herself,"Did you guys come on foot?"

In the Matrix

Ferret's Icon gnawed at the Valkyrie's leg, but the firewall was really hampering any damage he tried to inflict. The Large troll woman swung the ax down on the tiny rodent with a blast of bad code. Ferret was already reaching out to find the Drone before he gets crashed. His security access still got him what he was looking for. He popped open a window with a list of drones, crossed with the location, it popped up the rail drone. It's status reported that it was out of ammo. He barely had time to absorb the information before the electric Amazon shot lightning from her eyes.

In the tunnel

The ghouls had started following Jovan with intensity, but a harsh sound stopped them in their tracks. A high pitched whistle filled the ghouls with a mix of fear and urgency. They began to run back the other way. The whole group, dogs and all began to head through the large doors at the other end.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"Never seen a zombie pick a lock. Besides, the truck is out of doors. They come by, and I'll start popping their heads like balloons. But, yeah, we came in on foot for a ways. Word is this place is littered with booby traps, and, not knowing where they were had the more cautious of us on edge. The less cautious one drove her recently stolen motorcycle into some kind of evil dog thing. It might not be totally scrapped. Should be nearby."

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:58 PM, Annex in Redmond

<@Ferret>Jade is moving your meat bod. Don't be suprised if you wake up looking at her ass.....
Have fun. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

Ever the egoist, Jovan's thoughts did not sound pleased with being ignored as they came in through the floating eyeball while the ghouls ran after him elsewhere. "Doth thou have no ears? Doth thou understandeth telepathy not? I have an entire pack of mindless things eager to consume me, and you two are sitting here in idle chatter! I say aga-"

Suddenly, his voice halted as something must have caught his attention. Nothing came from Jovan for several seconds, so the watcher decided to explain. "Master is confused!" it said cheerfully.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, In the Tunnel

What is this new development? Jovan was taken a bit off guard. He had begun to think that his chances of finding the ghoul Jonathan in this place were vanishingly slim, that the man had left his entourage in Redmond to attend to whatever conspiring business he had with their metal-eyed employer. But perhaps not. Perhaps it would be possible to hunt him down here in Redmond. Of course, the existence of the possible trainer that had blown that whistle did not necessarily imply that it was Jonathan himself. With these thoughts going through his mind, he drifted forward towards the twin doors at the end of the tunnel. We must move out of line of their Sight for the moment, elemental. Behind the door. He moved into the gap between the open left-hand door and the tunnel wall, and quietly manifested into the physical world to try to listen in on what was happening beyond the doorway.

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

The troll valkyrie shrugs off his attack as he expected. He never had been good at cybercombat. His eyebeams highlight the drone's icon and data flows.

//Ammunition:0//

<<No ammo! The drone has no ammo! Squeeee....>>

Let it not be black IC. Let it not be black IC. he chants to himself. Out, out, out!

//Command:logoff//

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

Oswald sighed and opened up the vocal comm channel for Jovan's benefit. <<Hey Ferret. Joe wants to know if there's any automated systems in the the tower basement. Guns, security doors, whatever. I think he may be tits deep in angry ghouls and looking for a way to take care of them.>> Oswald turns to the floating eyeball. "If all you want is to see the ghoulies dead, just show them the sky. Soon as that happens, I'll kill the whole lot of them."

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Annex in Redmond

Jade Tiger focus's for a moment, then summons a simple watcher. "Find Jovan, tell him where we are, and that we are prepared to deal with the Ghouls. We can help lure them outside, and provide support if needed. Return to me with any message that he may have"

<<[Jade Tiger] I'm sending a watcher with this message too, but if you can tell Jovan where we are, and that we are prepared to deal with the Ghouls, then we can help pull them outside>>

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Annex in Redmond

Zo talks in almost a whisper trying to keep his voice low. "Jade, do you da mojo to know how many pasties are in da place? So we knowz what we up against, and if dey are gun carry'n type? Dat an tossin grenades around corners is allota fun."

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Annex in Redmond

Jade Tiger whispers in reply"Unfortunately not. From the smell of them, there are quite a few. I have thoughtforms that can scout, but they take around 10 mins, and I suspect we don't have that long. I can however toss grenades around corners, fly, melee, break things and I have a few respectable area spells. If you stay so that I cannot see you, then you will be mostly safe from them."

"The problem with astral scouting as opposed to mojo is that the ghouls will see the thoughtforms and chase them. If you want, I could get one to lure some this way... It would be quite nice if we are the ambushers instead of the ambushees"

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"Yeah, on foot seemed to be the better idea at the time. I honestly don't like the idea that we are so spread out. Were either of you astrally capable, I would try to head out and check the motorcycle. At least I can try to figure out where it is. If you have any location information, Oswald, let me know."

Professor gets as high as he can on some lampposts and triangulates from his position to locate where he thinks the bike is.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:59 PM, Annex in Redmond


<@ Team>Could somebody get ahold of Joe? What da frag is he up ta anyway? I'd think he'd be done with da scoutin by now. Haz he contacted ya Oz or Prof? Anny of ya fraggers comming to joing the ferret, tiger and orcs <oh my!>. I could start singing follow the yellow brick road but I don't think it would help.

[Red-ROM]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:00 AM, Annex in Redmond

The Thunder in Ferret's ears faded like the sound in headphones as you take them off. He's in one piece, though his icon was nearly cut in half. Zo and Jade look like they're ready to make a move, and the drone on the rail ahead has just turned the corner.
The warehouse is long. The parking lot in front of them is barely large enough to hold the trucks that would back up to the doors. The building is two stories tall. and most of the bay doors don't reach the ground. There's a set of stairs leading to a door to the right of that, followed by two bay doors that start at ground level.
The thought form Jade summoned takes off in search of Jovan.
Just outside the bay doors in the tunnel, Jovan tries to see what's going down. The next room is a huge space with large racks going from floor to ceiling on either side of a wide space. In this space is parked a row of large trucks. The ghouls are making their way passed these tractor trailers as a glowing ball of ether slides up beside the mage and conveys the weretiger's message.

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:00 AM, Annex in Redmond

Ferret rubs his temples. Fortunately the troll agent was only running a standard attack program, but he could still feel the axe as it had bit into his digital body and his headware was a mess. He kills his attack prog with a thought, booting up his medic program in its place. It would take it a while to clean up his system but nothing seemed really fragged.

"Okay, I'm back in my meat body. The drone is out of ammo but this system has taken a dislike to me so I can't help there unless we get to the main server inside. Any sign of the trucks or the ghouls?"