IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:25:04 am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

"Ferret, get some first aid in on Prof first. He took a hit from da spirit. Was dat a toxic spirit of some kind? And who iz dis german guy?"

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:26 am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

"I already did the First Aid thing down below. I don't think any more can be done right now, except maybe by some magical healing. Big Daddy here needs to get to someone who can heal him of the HMHVV before it turns him. Not much time left. We get him there and he will tell us how to get the trucks going again.

"The German is that guy Jovan is hunting. Some guy in a top hat if I recall correctly, who had been seen talking with our steel-eyed lady by ... Amber. He is mixed in this affair in a way we haven't discovered yet. Maybe if Big Daddy here can get coherent, he could fill us in on some details."

[Sephiroth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:26 am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Jovan spoke unhurriedly, with his air elemental materializing as an ethereal, whirling silhouette of air currents to act as his physical voice. The spirit, on the other hand, gave off an air of impatience with being in the warehouse, almost to the point of vehemence.

"'Celerity is never more admired than by the negligent.' Our time may be limited, but reckless and unguided haste will only burn it up more quickly. We require a plan of action. This Mad Hatter German is apparently aware of our location now, which suggests that he is in some sort of alliance with Archer. How else could he have known that we are here, when only a few minutes have gone by since Archer fled?

"Long Legs, the rest of your team was disabled by dear Charles, our little Mad Hatter. I will call him that instead of his first name, if you don't mind, as he seems to be quite a Lewis Carroll fan and it appears to be a fitting name anyway. They were hit with a barrier spell outside the Crosstown mall after you had retreated. Your fire support woman, Sandy, was able to escape into the mall, where we found her near death less than an hour ago. We have found no signs of the hacker child, and it is a strong possibility that he has become food for Archer's ghouls. Now, we need to know how much time you have left before the virus takes hold of your system. We do not have wireless signal out here, so if you have a wired line to the outside world, give us access to that and we will make the necessary arrangements with the Bear Society. Professor, if you could take care of that call, that would be excellent. Questioning Long Legs can come later. Ferret, I would recommend that you give Professor some medical attention at the moment. ZO, you should probably check the rest of the trucks for traps and disarm them - check with Long Legs on the traps first. Where is Oswald?"

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:26 am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

"Yes, Ferret, I could use a little help, myself. If you bring the machine over here, I can help you apply the sensors and interpret the instructions. Big Daddy, how do we get in contact with the healer you seek?"

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:26 am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Ferret notes the look of concern on Prof's face as he sets down his rather dated and shabby-looking medkit. He gratefully accepts the more modern one that the burnt dwarf offers instead.

"Guess I should really think of updating mine," he mumbles as he begins treating the Prof's injuries. After a few moments of initial hesistation as he queasily examines the extent of the injuries, his manner visibly changes as he becomes focused on the task at hand. At one point, he even 'tsks' aloud when the Prof isn't quick enough to follow his instructions. In a surprisingly short amount of time, the grubby dwarf deftly cleans, treats and dresses his companion's wounds.

"There we go! Might not look pretty, but you should be as good as new in a couple of days."

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:27am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Seeing the condition of BDLL, Zo looks at him as if looking at a dead man. BDLL, you better hoop dat trog heritage works in your favor.

"Hey trog, ya mind tellin us where da cpu's are an save us da trouble of lookin for dem? Or do you wann wait any longer till we get ya out of here."

<@Team> We should grab the trucks and drop them off. Moving this amount of gear is tough. I have some contacts that could probably move it, but that would take a while, and 10K each of cred and a happy Johnson is better dan goin dat route. As to da vipers comms, Ferret do ya know how we could offload dem?>

"Jovie, I wuz gettin to it." Zo smiles pulling out the monofiliment chainsaw. "Ferret, my choice is dis" revs the chainsaw up "or ya can pop the maglock"

<@Oz> Yeah its safe--for now. Prof got singed, but the da queen lost her head .

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:27am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

"Ferret, you are one miracle worker. I feel way better. I'll have to remember that combination of ointments you and the medkit cooked up. It works like a charm.

"So, Big Daddy, let's see if we can get a hold of that healer, OK?"

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:27am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

While Ferret's smile is concealed by the respirator, there is a happy twinkle in his eyes.

He shrugs, "It was nothing really, the medkit did most of the work. I just followed the instructions."

Huh... No! Zo, wait! Big Daddy can you tell the crazy ork over there what the codes for the truck's maglocks are before he starts cutting the doors off with that chainsaw."

[Saint Sithney]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:27am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Oz responded <@ZO: So, Prof needs medical attention? And who's the queen? Should I be concerned?>

As Professor walked over to the convulsing Troll to hand him some towels to cough in, BDLL looked at him like he was crazy. However, he stilled himself as best he could and gingerly took the towel before slamming it to his mouth to cover a new fit of coughing. The fit lasted through most of Jovan's explanation of the situation, and occasionally the big Troll nodded or made conversational noises, but it kept him from commenting much besides. Once the coughing subsided, he responded. "Don't know how long I have. Shoulda turned by now already based on what that piece of drek Archer was saying. Guess I'm fighting it off better than most. Probably better than your friend will, coming near me with those open wounds.." He began coughing again, violently. "I could call the Bears myself if... Well, ghost-damn. I'm getting a Matrix signal in Cross Town.. Must be a dangerously big antenna hidden around here somewhere. Simplifies things though. You got a cred stick with 2 grand, and you got your trucks. Them comms too. Don't know any booby traps on the vehicles. Never intended to open them."

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:27am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Professor thinks for a moment. The singeing would have cleaned everything living off of me. I didn't touch him or anything else infectious since Ferret fixed me. I should be alright.

"Well, if I need the same kind of help, I'll know who to call, based on what you've just told me, Big Daddy. Here. Here's a credstick, set to transfer 2000 nuyen. Give the Bear Society a call." Professor proffers his own credstick with somewhat more than 2000 nuyen on it.

[Saint Sithney]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Long Legs slotted the stick into a jack on his wrist and stared away for a moment. "Iz don't mean nothing by it 'cept to be careful. Mebbe like to pay you back for this sometime, and don't wanna owe my life to a ghoul." Lumbering over to an old computer terminal, he jacks in, seconds later pulling out a data chip and setting it on the desk along with the credstick. "Got the vehicle pilot systems on here. The comms and computers are hidden in a false bottom drawer in my electronics shop." A massive arm swing indicated the direction you entered from as his body lurched again toward another destination. "Red tool cabinet. Fourth drawer down." He finally came to a rest leaning against an old delivery van. "Also dropped my area map on there. Shamblers already set off most of my booby traps, but it should show sewer entrances if you're looking to chase Archer still."

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:27am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

<@Oz>Judging by da lack of a corpse, an da fire it toasted Prof with I'd say da queen was a fire sprit ov some kind. Ferret patched prof up so we're all good to go.

"BDLL if ya need a place ta hole up after gettin meds, stay an Crush territory. I can vouch fer ya."

An if ya still go pasty on us I can put ya out of yer misery free of charge.

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, September 12, 2071, 12:27am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Ferret scoops up the chip and slots it into his datajack. He scans it carefully before browsing through the files.

"I'll go get the hardware and install it. Then maybe we can get out of here. Big Daddy needs a doc and we're not geting paid to hunt ghouls."

Nor do I want to end up as one.

"And this place is toxic enough without going prowling through the sewers. Hey Big Daddy, you up to rigging the trucks? I don't have a lot of experience with 18-wheelers and still need to pick up my own van on the way out."

More like none at all! he thinks to himself as he goes to find the truck's comms and computers.

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Professor watches Ferret go into action. "No problem. Who knows, we may find occasion to help each other later. Though I have to say your choice of what to do with the trucks leaves a little to be desired. You may want to figure out what to do about your soured relationship with the fat man in the white suit. He wasn't too pleased about the loss of the trucks and was willing to pay us extra for some bounty hunting. We're not into wet work, ourselves, though, and refused that bonus."

[Saint Sithney]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Oswald slowly emerged from the Rover and joined in the conversation as he made his way over to where the others were standing. "Trucks shouldn't be a problem once we put their brains back in. Autopilot can play follow the leader easy enough. I wanna assume that the computers were out being scrubbed so they don't go broadcasting 'I AM A STOLEN ARES VEHICLE' at everything in creation. I guess I could double check that."

BDLL chimed in, "That's why this place is Wifi free.. usually. Stolen cars like to call for help. Dead zone is the only place you can chop."

By this point Oswald had shuffled most the way toward the eastern tunnel, but he stopped and turned around to move toward Ferret. "Mmm hmm. Mmm hmm." Oz nodded. "That's why I just chop people. Providing medical attention doesn't draw as much police attention. Speaking of which." He started looking Ferret over. "I thought someone said you got burnt Professor? You look unkempt, but not.. Oh! Heka! Sorry, I got confused again. Hard to recognize someone when their face is only waist-high." He wandered over to Professor and started scrutinizing him this time. "Syn-graft looks good. No leakage, no bubbles and no deep tissue damage. Stuff's actually better than skin. You might even miss it once it flakes off in a few weeks. Don't believe there's anything I could do to help you. Now where's the infected- Oh Jesus! You are a monstrosity! Damn! Errr.. well.." He sort of examines the Troll from a car's length away. "Uhhh, the bad news is you're not out of the woods yet, but the good news is, if you turn, I don't think you'll have to look far to find someone willing to shoot you."

With that done, Oswald turned and started back toward the east tunnel entrance. "I'll be back with the computers. We should be ready to roll by then. After all, when your enemy knows where you are, don't be there."

After Oz was gone for a second, BDLL looked at the crew quizzically. "Where'd you dig up that old fossil? Ya know, nevermind. That is not something I want to know. I just want to see if I can get right." He turns to Zo. "Crushers got my respect, but I'm going to sit this out with the Sidhe. Being a meta has its advantages with the tribes at least. Just gotta drive myself to the border." BDLL opened up the rear doors of the delivery truck and sat down in the back of it. "You tell the Fat Man that if his number two woulda listened to me about the German, none of this would have happened." He laid back now on to the van's floor where he apparently had a mat for the purpose. "Wake me when you're leaving. I'll get you past da traps."

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Professor accompanies Big Daddy to the van, keeping a safe distance. "Enjoy your nap. Once we get moving, I'd like to hear what you can tell us about the German. We may.. well, we probably will run afoul of him ourselves, if events so far are any indication."

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse


"Also BDLL, ya got more dan us and dis big fat white guy after ya. Da Vipers from what I unnerstan are gunnin for ya cause of some commlinks. Is dat deal related wit da german?"

[Sephiroth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse
"You tell the Fat Man that if his number two woulda listened to me about the German, none of this would have happened."

Hmm. Interesting. That suggests that Ms. Johnson was already in alliance with the man before Long Legs' team was hired for their job. Perhaps it is Archer who is the mutual associate of which they spoke at dinner.

"ZO, let him sleep for now. We can hear about the Vipers once we are on the move. Right now, we need to disarm those trucks. While you are doing that, try to examine the traps and judge to the best of your ability how long they have been in place. For example, if a weapon is taped to the inside or underside of a truck, check the tape for peeling at the edges, where the adhesive may have dried and lost its ability to stick. Have Professor help you if you need him. I want to know whether they are fresh enough to have been put in place while Archer was holed up here, or whether they are older than that."

"My elemental and I will go now to scout the rest of the building and the surrounding area for anything of note. I will return shortly." The spirit dematerialized, its figure dissipating like sand blown away by strong winds.

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Ferret scoots after the Oswald, catching up to the old astronaut and overtaking him. He seems eager to get the trucks running and leave. Or maybe its just the opportunity to fiddle with the truck's comm systems. He scans the workshop looking for red tool cabinet and then checks it for any obvious booby-traps before opening it to recover the truck's computer systems.

He examines the boards as he moves back towards the trucks, mainly out of interest than looking for anything in particular. He waves the boards in the air as he returns to the loading bay.

"Let me just get these installed and we can get the frag out of here. I'll hack them on the way to disable any alarms they might be broadcasting. Might be an idea to contact the Johnson as soon as we have a matrix connection, so we can offload them before someone else comes looking for them."

Wth that, he clambers into the nearest truck and begins reinstalling the systems.

[pbangarth]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Professor chuckles at the imperious instructions from Jovan. "Heh. We have our orders, troops. I'll look around the trucks to see what I can see."

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

<@Prof>I'd geek him for tryin ta boss me around--but bein all spirity and such its kinda like shootin a devil rat. Makes ya feel better, but doesn't accomplish much.


"An, no I'm not goin ta let it rest. BDLL, what do ya know about da vipers? An did you trap da trailers or did the ghouls do that? and are they all trapped da same if ya did?"

<@ferret)Are the locks off? Judging by da way the first trap was set I should prbably cut a hole on the bottom of da truck near da door, but far enough back to give me just enough space ta see whats dere and disable it.

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Ferret's head pops up from under the dashboard of the first truck.

<@Zo: Oops, I forgot. Just use the chainsaw same as the first one. I'm sure Oz can fix something up until we hand them over. I don't want to be driving around in a booby-trapped vehicle or have the Johnson blow himself up when he opens them to check the contents. Generally not good for biz to geek your employer, even by accident.>>

With that long speech, he ducks back under the dashboard to finish connecting up the computer and comms systems. After a few moments of deft fiddling with connectors, the truck's icon in appears in his mind. He sets his scan program running to check the node just in case there are any more surprises waiting for them.

"Okay that's number one installed. Scanning it now. I'll get the second one up and running then we can get the frag out of here."

[Warlordtheft]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

"Ferret, can ya reprogram da ID to say "I'm not stolen an carryin a truck load of guns" ta something more innocuous like dis truck is deliverin "electronics an I'm from Wuxing deliverin goods to da docks?"

Zo looks at the sick convulsing form of BDLL waiting for a response to his questions. Poor bastard.

[Notsoevildm]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

From under the dashboard of the second truck, comes a mumbled response.

"Working on it. I need to get the systems up and running before I can edit them. Don't worry they'll be squeaky clean by the time we pick up a matrix connection."

I hope!

[Saint Sithney]

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:28am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

"Oh hell. The Vipers. I was talking to those guys when I got ghoul-rushed. The comms in the false-bottom drawer were planning to go to them. Never finalized anything with them, so I don't know why they'd be after me. Buncha pushy assholes for sure. Got this 'code of honor' that reminds me of a damn cult. I'll worry about them once I figure out if the Bears can help me. Feel free to take the comms. I owe you guys my life, or near enough."

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:30am, BDLL's Cross-town Warehouse

Ferret opened the drawer and pulled out a handful of electronics tools, handing them over to Oz who unceremoniously dropped them on the floor. Feeling around inside the drawer for a moment, he found a catch which released the drawers false bottom, allowing him to lift it up. Inside were three vehicle computers and four commlinks marked with the Battle Buddy brand. Battle Buddy Basic links, to be exact. Low end military, but still better than anything in the private sector. Scooping them up and stashing them away, he proceeded back to the Garage where he and Oz quickly installed the empty vehicle computers, flashing them with the new Pilot programs BDLL had provided.

Meanwhile, Zo had been busy with the chainsaw again, slicing off the restraining bolts from the second container. Once again, he opened the doors a crack and saw the wire start to go taught inside. Reaching an arm in, he unhooked the loop from the inside of the door and collected the grenades attached. The tape inside looked pretty foul. Definitely not Ares work. The bits of water damage made it seem more like something the Ghouls would have carried through a sewer.