IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Red-ROM]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:15, Deep inside Annex in Redmond

Jade slips the fiber optics under the dented door. The forklift on the other side clears up where the dent came from. Its parked so close to the door that Jade can only see the underside of the thing. The two metal blades where the only thing that gave her a clue what she was looking at. The room is huge and wide open. It must be the loading docks. Way off in the distance is a spinning red light, but theres no noise save for a low buzz of electricity. The next door down is still part of the same room, and another fork truck stands on the other side. At the far end of the hall, Jade finds a small room with elevator banks and a staircase. There's a smell of burnt plastic and gunpowder. Chunks of metal are scattered on the floor. The first door on the right was some kind of office space. desks and computer terminals and a coffee dispenser. The one with the blood lead to another large open space. This one much shorter, but very tall. there looked to be stairs going down right from the other side.

Outside

Ferret catches up with Professor at an abandoned bar across the street. The booths along the windows make pretty good cover, and there was the bar itself to fall back to and probably a back door from there, but the Professor hadn't had a chance to check yet.

[Sephiroth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:12, Annex sub-level

A subtle shade of amusement crept through Jovan's aura to match the change in the ghoul's aura before him. "To be the one who asks all the questions is uncustomary for a host. In any case, no doubt it is quite easy for you to impose yourself upon strangers when they are your prey and you want to toy with your food. But things work a little differently when it's another predator of equal or greater power. You know that, ghoul. But one of us will have to relent to avoid an impasse, hmm? I suppose introductions are in order, then."

Jovan briefly glanced over the room, doing a bit of calculation in his head. Once he had come to a satisfactory answer, he positioned himself closer to the ghouls and dogs, at the position he had calculated as the safest distance to them while still close enough to the roof to fly up out of sight. He and the elemental hovered several meters above the floor in front of where the ghoul stood. "Better? Good. You can call me Giovanni. What shall I call you, ghoul? And what is Jonathan to you?"

He thought silently to the elemental, Be ready to kill them if it proves necessary.

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Deep inside Annex in Redmond

Zo sends an update to his position and puts a Crimson Crush Logo on the map. In one arm he has the AK-97 slung, in the other he has a grenade. He watches for any sign of movement from where Jade went in.

<I am here, waitin for da ferals.> At a very low level, Jet Black's remake of a 20th century classic Fire on High, plays. The music erriely reflecting his own mood at the moment. I hope I don' slot out like on bad BTL like last time..."

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Deep inside Annex in Redmond


<<OK guys I have found the way down. I'll head down in a few moments, I'm just looking to see if there is another way out of this room>>

Having notified the others, Jade Tiger stalks through the room checking it over, and working out exit routes, then heads down the stairs

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, outside Annex in Redmond

When Ferret joins Professor in the bar, Professor welcomes him. "Nice to have someone else out here! Oswald's toys are patrolling somewhere above us, but they don't provide much comfort. We have these booths to hole up in. Some good cover here. The bar behind us is a good retreat if necessary. While you take up a position here, I'll check for a back door. I seem to recall someone lecturing me about 'exit strategies'."

He ducks back behind the bar and looks in the back room for an exit.

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, outside Annex in Redmond

Ferret takes Professor's place, covering the Annex with his gun and according to the datastreams in his AR, also the blimp's rifle.

"With Ozwald's air support, we're safer out here than in there. I'd feel a lot safer in my van but this looks good for now. Still, an 'exit strategy' is definitely a good idea."

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Deep inside Annex in Redmond


<<Glad you are back in one piece Ferret. It's spooky as hell down here. I'm <ARO map with position marked on it> here, any suggestions from your hacking which way to go? >>

Jade Tiger continues down the stairs, noting the smell of blood, and following the spoor of the ghouls

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Outside Annex in Redmond

Ferret feels a little calmer, now that he is no longer in 'ghoul central'. He ponders the AROs of the team members against Oz's maps.

Pity I can't see where Jovan's astral form is.

<<Sorry Jade, but Oz's maps don't show any internal layouts. Best I can guess from the where you are, heading this way {direction ARO} will take you towards where Joe spotted the ghouls.>>

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Lusty Wife Bar and Grill, outside Annex in Redmond

Professor wanders behind the bar towards the doorway to the back. He is caught by the sight of something wonderful!

"Holy shit! Ferret! There's two bottles of 30 year old single malt scotch back here. If the radiation hasn't gotten to it, this could be a sweet side reward. I'll take them, one for each of us."

Unfortunately, they are small bottles, but with some cloths from the bar wrapped around them, they fit into his jumpsuit pockets. He continues his investigation.

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Deep inside Annex in Redmond


<<Hey that's not fair. I'm risking my sweet ass down here and you are raiding the pole dancing bars and stealing the booze. Save some for me!>>

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Inside Annex in Redmond

<@Team>Any word from Jovie?-----What this about there bein some Booze?

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Lusty Wife Bar and Grill, outside Annex in Redmond

<<OK, OK! We'll all share in the liquid gold when this is over.>>

[Red-ROM]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Annex sub-level
The large ghoul walked slowly toward Jovan's new position, the white dog followed close at his heel. He leaned the rifle he carried against a rack of tools and then pulled a very large knife from a holster strapped to his leg. The instrument glowed with magics quite powerful, and the glow of his smile increased,"Johnathan is an errand boy you pesky little flies. I am Archer, and I have seen many a great predator my friend. In fact, I have quite the collection. So don't think you can flit about near the ceiling and intimidate me."Archer closes in, another dog moves to join him.

Annex, ground level

Jade moves through the door to find herself in a large tunnel. The bottom of the stairs lead to a street heading underground, and two large bay doors to her right lead back outside. There's a door to the left at the bottom of the stairs and another rail drone whirring along the opposite wall, under a row of windows near the ceiling. It fires its empty machine gun with a click-click-click-click that echoes through the cavernous room. Fresh tire tracks still glow with heat in thermal vision, and on the astral are trace glows of vermin and blood. There's another echo coming up faintly from below. a final scream of a man being devoured.

[Sephiroth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Annex sub-level

Jovan's astral form rippled with small waves of laughter, even as his mind grew hyperaware of growing danger - a curious combination indeed, and certainly somewhat alien compared to the thought processes of a normal human. "Very well, Archer. I can respect that. I ask because a little bird whispered in my ear today that some business our dear Johnathan was taking care of had a peculiar connection to some business affairs of my own. A strange set of circumstances, really. I was hoping to speak with him about it."

Jovan paused for a moment. "But if Johnathan is your 'errand boy,' then I suppose that would make you the person to speak with, would it not? That would be perfectly fine with me, although that knife of yours is not exactly appropriate for such pleasantries. Peace, Archer. We can save the violence and murder for our next meals, can we not?"

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Deep inside Annex in Redmond

<<Found them! Hey I love your handiwork Ferret <ARO image of drone>.

Right I want to consider a minor change of plan. There is a door and some windows to the outside <Camera feed>, can you get into position to lay the trap outside this door? Dragging the ghouls this short distance looks a damn sight safer than pulling them all the way through these buildings. I'm thinking it will be easier to get out through these windows.

Oz. Any chance you can ID these windows from outside, and be ready to sniper them for me? If they are armor plated I don't want an unpleasant surprise as I jump at them>>

Jade Tiger made sure that she was outside the line of sight of the drone, then started to feed the fibre from the mage goggles so that she could see below.

[Saint Sithney]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14 AM, Inside the Flipped Van

<<@team: Sure thing. It'll take me a minute to bring the blimp into position. I'm trying to keep it at extreme range. Your plan is the windows? If you want I can just shoot them out now. Breaking glass shouldn't matter since you're drawing them in anyway. How about we run this as a classic flanking maneuver? You draw them out through one exit, I obliterate them, and ZO comes in from the side to cut off their retreat and lead them into the second ambush by the bar? Way I figure it, they wouldn't commit their whole force to one action, if they've got any brains in their heads, so we've got to think of this as multiple units we need to engage. Unit 1 is the brute squad. Should be a significant number of both zombies and dogs. Unit 2 is the talent. That'll be a couple of the ghouls with guns and a couple more dogs. Maybe a wall of 4-5 zombies that can still take direction. They won't chase you outside, but they'll have to follow to keep an eye on unit 1. Unit 3 is the brains. Brains don't move toward trouble. Brains waits and runs away. Hopefully Jovan will take care of the brains.>>

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Deep inside Annex in Redmond

<<That's a mean moody and magnificent plan. Would help to communicate with Jovan when we ready to kick off. Let me know when you are all in position and we can start the party.

Now lets see what's at the end of this scope >>

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Inside Annex in Redmond

<@Team>Jade I'll be up to you inna nanosecond. I'll be right dere with ya, and den we can split-up. I'm guessin dat is da bay doors we saw from da outside.

[Sephiroth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:13, Annex sub-level

While Archer and Jovan engaged in their tense standoff, a voice whispered in Jovan's mind. It was Zayne's voice, memorized and sent via his mental link to the watcher he had sent to find the assassin.

"So you want to know more about the fat man, huh? Not sure how much help I can be in that department, chummer. Let's see, where to start... well, I ran into him doing some business in Japan recently, over in Okinawa. He had an entourage with him then like he does now, although I think that woman wasn't part of it at the time. He gave me her commcode number, that was how I was able to get you that spot. A professional woman, yeah, but didn't seem to like hands-on kinds of work, you know? You can thank me later, by the way. Johnathan, yeah, I've heard of the guy. Back around late June, I think, he was going around looking for feral ghouls to help. Said there was some place he'd found out in the Barrens that was nice for ghouls like that. I figured there were lots of details he wasn't mentioning, but I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. Sorry, I'm a cleaner, not some private eye. Not sure why he would be back recruiting again, though. Might be something to look into. You can send me however much you want for that."



Inside the Flipped Van

The watcher serving as company for Oswald spoke again as it channeled its master's thoughts. They sounded tense, concerned, and on edge. "Head ghoul has an enchanted knife. Very strong magic in it. We need to be very careful here. If this ghoul has a focus, than I believe he must also be gifted with the Talent. Can't tell what kind of manifestation. Could be an adept. He may attack me soon. Wait for my signal, I am trying to reason with him."

[Saint Sithney]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14 AM, Inside the Flipped Van

"Had to figure something was up, magic-wise, with all these dogs about. He tries anything, you should pull back and look to cut him off. We're planning to draw them out and whittle their numbers away. Eventually they should catch on that they're gonna be overpowered and try to flee. You should be ready to ambush them from the astral at that point. Teach them some manners."

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14 AM, Inside Annex in Redmond

Zo runs to where Jade went. After catching up with her he looks around to see if there is a good set up position.

"I'll set up her usin da door for cover. I'll fire down da stairs there an toss a couple of grendes. Den I'll run back to da security station. Ambush dem again, toss another grenade an den fall back to da bar."

[Red-ROM]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Deep inside Annex in Redmond

The dogs bristled with adrenaline, but Archer was calm and calculating,"Very well wizard. Lets chat. Although I can assume you are not alone, and your playmates are making their way down here in the flesh."His volume raised a little as he made himself clear to his compatriots that they had incoming. The ghoulish ork made his way to the back of the bus to watch the rear.
Archer made less of a show with his knife, as he tried to be more civil,"So, what business affairs do you speak of, that bring you to the dark side of nowhere?"

Jade's goggles scope out the room at the foot of the stairs as ZO catches up with her. It appears to be some sort of workshop. There are tool benches and cables all over. The Tunnel ahead curves sharply to the left wrapping back under the rest of the building. Oswald's blimp hovers silently into place, picking up his two team members through the small row of windows atop the warehouse.

Aside from the liquor, Professor found the exit through the kitchen into an alley out back. It was a small comfort in the calm before the storm.

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Lusty Wife Bar and Grill, outside Annex in Redmond

Professor checks the back door's handle and locking mechanism. He notes that, typically, the door can be opened easily from the inside, but not the outside. Excellent. He sets a chair beside the door, inside; a chair that will reach the outside handle and provide impediment for pursuers if the team has to exit via the back.

He returns to the front windows and takes a booth beside the one Ferret occupies. <<Hey kids, the bar looks good. Front windows as first line of defense, the bar as a fall-back, and the back door is secure and accessible from the bar. Ferret and I are set up here and ready for the party.>> Yet again, he marvels at how much has changed since he first stepped into the shadows.

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Deep inside Annex in Redmond

<<OK this is what I can see below <Image link>. I'm going to head to the workshop area, and see what I can from there.

Zo, I wouldn't be surprised if many of the ghouls had no shoes. Can you look around and see if you can find a way to get broken glass all over the floor here? Don't worry about making noise.

Any word from Jovan?>>

Jade heads cautiously down to the tunnel entrance, checking for ghoul spoor as she goes.

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:14, Lusty Wife Bar and Grill, outside Annex in Redmond

<<Be careful down there, people!>>

Ferret glances over at the Prof as he returns. He has the thousand yard stare of someone using AR.

"Well the bad news is that Oz is driving the blimp directly, so it's not slaved to my smartlink any longer. The good news is he has moved it up to support Jade and Zo, so we are now officially the second line of defence. I've got the feeds from both the blimp and Jade's mage goggles up on my AR so I can track whats going on if or more likely when all hell does break loose. Nothing yet from Jovan, so I'm assuming no news is good news."

With that the scrawny dwarf falls silent. He checks the progress of his medic program, deleting some corrupted media files and testing some of his other progs to pass the time.

His mind wanders back to some of the drug runs he had been on with his orc buddy, Throgg. Waiting for the deal to go down always was the hardest part.