Nothing's Free in the Free Zone (IC), Adventure 1: Broken Star Options

[Lobo0705]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


With a mental command, Overkill detonated the flash-bang. The resulting explosion in the near full darkness of the lakeside seemed like a small sun, and the concussive force sent both cultists near the cross flying, dropping them to the ground, while the girl screamed once and then fell unconscious, only the restraints keeping her from falling to the ground. Truck, however, was not so easily swayed, although a keen-eyed observer could detect a thin trickle of blood leaking from his ears as he shook his head to clear it.

He had little respite, however, since Jack popped up out of his spider-hole, selecting full-auto on his Colt and sending a hail of bullets downrange. Several of these found their mark as Truck was unable to avoid the attack altogether, and blood sprayed from a puncture wound in the big troll's arm.

As these events took place, Thraha materialized in the air over Truck, and Amy summoned her mystical energy in an attempt to confuse those nearest the girl. Her strength failed her, however, and although she was able to withstand the astral feedback, her spell had no effect on her enemies.

Three of the cultists were completely taken off guard by the attack, and remained frozen in place - two of them still on the ground with their hands over their ears from the flash-bang. The one with the long blonde hair, however, kept his wits about him, sprinting through the trees and out of view of Amy, Jack, and Overkill towards the parked vehicles. Truck, on the other hand, yelling mutely in defiance, moved behind the victim, putting her body in between himself and the incoming fire. His huge hand reached inside his vest, and pulled out what for the troll was a throwing knife, but looked like a small sword to the ambushers.

His sensors picking up the fleeing cultist, Grease closed his eyes and put himself into the body of his latest acquisition. He grimaced as he felt pain shoot through his legs, the damage to the drone sending an unpleasant neural feedback through the connection.

[Lobo0705]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


Ignoring the pain, Grease launched himself into the sky, the rotodrone's propellers sending the night air flying past his skin. Far below, the figure of the cultist sprinted for the cars, and Grease was quick to pursue. He could feel his forward momentum come to a stop for the briefest of seconds as the AK spat a stream of bullets toward the man below. The burst kicked up the dirt near the man's feet as he dove into a forward roll and kept running.

As Grease brought the rotodrone around to make another pass, the night was split again by the sounds of automatic weapons fire near the sacrifice site. As Amy cast another spell, crushing a few carefully prepared leaves to increase the spell's potency, Overkill cursed Truck as the heartless troll put the girl between himself and the runners. Amy's spell shot across the gap between them, and this time was able to cause one of the cultists to grasp his head in pain. Not wanting to inadvertently put the girl in any more danger than necessary, he shifted his aim slightly and found the cultist Amy had affected with her spell. A mental command, Feuer , and the AK discharged, the 7.62mm rounds ripping fist-sized-holes in the man's back as they exited. The man dropped instantly, and Overkill moved his aim to the next cultist.

Thraha was not as concerned as Overkill about the girl. He flew over toward Truck, and released a lightning bolt at the troll. Unable to avoid it, the bolt sizzled as it impacted the big metahuman, causing him to open his mouth in a soundless ululation of pain, but stood his ground. Jack, wanting to make sure that the primary target went down, continued pouring fire at Truck. This time his burst struck him in the thigh, staggering him backward. I can't believe this guy isn't down yet.


Thraha once again reared up, moving slightly to get a better angle, and again electricity flashed from spirit to troll with the brilliance of an arc-welder's torch. This time even the mighty troll could not withstand the magical strike, and he fell heavily to the ground, his body convulsing as blue sparks cascaded around him.

With Truck hitting the ground, Amy looked around for another target, and spotted the summoner of the Water Spirit, who had vanished after it completed its service. Attempting to prevent him from summoning another spirit to his aid, Amy focused her will into a physical strike, clipping the cultist on the chin and staggering him, but failing to knock him out.

[Lobo0705]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


With Amy engaging the summoner with her magic, Thraha turned its attention to the next target, and the breeze of his passing sent the waters of the lake rippling out in all directions. Another blast of lightning, and the cultist who had originally bee knocked flat by the flash-bang was lifted off of the ground by the force of strike, and then was deposited heavily on the ground again. Groaning in pain, the cultist feebly tried to crawl a little ways toward cover, barely able to move due to his injuries.

Amy lashed out again with her magic, and this time the strike left the summoner with a bloody nose as his head snapped back from the impact. The strain of channeling this much power was starting to show, however, as the spell left her with a sudden searing pain in her forehead.

Overkill, having dropped his previous target, shifted his AK incrementally to the right, acquiring and then dispatching the summoner in one smooth motion, the cultist's cries drowned out by the sound of the weapons fire.

Seeing his chance with the enemies down, Jack vaulted up out of his spider hole, and began running across the beach and into the water. The murky lake water filled his boots instantly, and sloshed around mid-calf height, slowing his progress, but it was faster than following the shoreline, whose path meandered far out to the east. Jack didn't like being exposed, but the situation seemed to be well in hand. Now, if only Grease can tag the last one before he gets to the car...

At that moment, Grease had banked to his right, reaching out with the drone's sensors to gain a better aim on the fleeing target. Despite the man's jinking left and right, Grease could feel the sensors locking on tight, and felt confident that his next burst would put him down. Using the drone's speakers, a grating, robotic voice boomed out above the man, "Freeze or it'll be the last thing you do!"

This seemed to cause the cultist to redouble his efforts, as his legs pumped even faster, hurtling himself across the open to the waiting Americar. As if it were conscious, the engine roared to life, and the door opened, giving him the glimpse of freedom, if he could only avoid the drone's weapons...

[Lobo0705]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


Grease's rotodrone quickly spun around, ratcheting up the hail of lead being spewed in the cultists direction. The assault rifle put a burst right between the cultist's shoulder blades as he ran away, the ballistic lining of his suit the only thing that kept him standing and stumbling toward the car.

Things did not look good for him, however, as Thraha delivered another titanic blast of energy into the last remaining cultist at the sacrifice site, his eyes literally cooking and exploding out of his head from the heat. At Amy's mental command, "Quick! Stop the one running away! And try to keep that one alive.", the spirit began to fly through the air, gaining rapidly on the fleeing human below it.

With no remaining targets, Overkill clicked the safety back into place on his AK, and opened an AR window, sending out his consciousness through the Matrix, his winged form swooping over toward the cars until he found what he was looking for, the icon for the Americar parked on the road.

Jack, climbing out of the water, his breathing quicker and his heart rate elevated, emerging onto the sacrifice site and heading toward the girl on the cross. She was dressed in a plain white robe, her long blonde hair loose around her shoulders. Apart from some singed hair and some blood leaking from nose and ears from the flash-bang, she appeared unharmed.

Meanwhile, the spirit chased down the hapless cultist, and fell upon him, the man disappearing inside the swirling winds. When the spirit rose again a second later, the cultist collapsed to the earth, unmoving.

[Chrome Head]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

When the spirit lets Amy know that the combat is over, she immediately gives him another command. "I need you to fly around and look for other people or machines coming our way. I trust you to determine whether they are likely to see us and whether they would be a threat. If you think so, alert me and give me all the details about the situation. Do your best to remain unseen."

She started jogging towards the crosses and the rest of the group, all the while erasing the few magical signatures from the spells she had cast. Panting a little, she messages the team. <<@Team [Amy's voice] I'm coming over right now. Is anybody hurt?>>

[Jack VII]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

His boots squelching as he stepped onto firm ground, Jack took in the devastation around him. Me encanta cuando un plan viene junto, he thought to himself as he slung his SMG across his back. Reaching into one of the cargo pockets on his pants, the ork pulled out his medkit and started to check on the supine and prone forms of the cultists around him.

The ork briefly wondered about his small skill in first aid. Outside of his inexplicable business knowledge, it was one of the few skills he possessed that wasn't delivered to him via chip. Setting up a quick triage, the ork quickly ignored a few of the men who had met their end at the wrong end of a bolt of lightning. One of the guys even had his eyes melted out of his face, like in that trid remake of the old Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. After checking over the bodies, the ork sent a message to the team, partially in response to Amy's question, as he moved over to the girl.

<<@Team [JustJack] These guys are... Looks like they're all KIA over here or, if not, they're going to be DOA pretty soon. I'm going to check on the girl now. We need to move quickly, there are probably things out here that might be attracted to the sounds of gunfire>>

He followed that up with a quick individual message to Amy
<<@Amy [JustJack] Hey, can you grab my Assault Rifle from my hole on your way over here? I'd appreciate it, chica. Good work with your spirit, it made all the difference>>

Reaching the girl, Jack glanced around and positioned himself so that the front of his body was out of view from his comrades and popped the handblade from his left hand. None of them had ever seen it and he didn't really feel like answering questions to which even he didn't know the answer. Working quickly, he severed the bonds, re-sheathed his handblade, and laid the girl out on the ground before getting to work reviving her.

He sent a final message to Overkill.
<<@Overkill [JustJack] Good work amigo! Can you deactivate the other grenade so we can recover it?>>

[Chrome Head]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

<<@Jack [Amy] Sure thing, chico.>> Amy makes a detour as instructed, to get Jack's things.

[DrZaius]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

The cram he dropped just a few minutes starting to kick in, Grease whoops loudly, climbing out of his spiderhole.

An ambush that worked!

He taps out a few commands to his drones as he hustles over to the cultist he was shooting at.

<<@Fly-Spy: Keep patrolling, keep an eye out for any creatures or vehicles approaching us.>>
<<@Bumble: Fly up to 50 meters and circle around us. Coordinate with the Fly-Spy to determine if there any hostiles nearby. Alert me if you see anything.>>

Getting to the Cultist he shot, Grease grimaces. His body was lying unnaturally, with several bullet holes clearly marked on the back of his clothing, revealing the life-saving armor he wore underneath.

Better you than me..

Flipping it over, he gets a look at his face for the first time up close.

It'd be a mercy to end it now.

<<@Jack [Grease subvocal]: Can you come check on this guy when you get a moment? I want to be able to talk to one of them, and this guy seems like our winner. Also, If you wanted to put a stake in Truck's heart I wouldn't think less of you.>>

[Jack VII]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack responded quickly while he worked.

<<@Grease [JustJack] Yeah, I'll head over there once I get done checking out the girl. Truck's still alive at the moment, but I don't think that situation is going to last much longer. Hombre took more punishment than a tank...>>

[Chrome Head]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

After a quick jog, Amy reaches the site and drops Jack's assault rifle on the ground. She sees that the girl is still alive and well, probably just concussed from the grenade blast. "This ambush was a great success. Good plan, Jack." The ork only nods back at her, concentrated on examining the girl.

Having nothing better to do, Amy knew what had to be done. Someone's gotta do it. She crouched over the dead men and started going through their pockets. They were clearly dead and she could see first hand what her own spirit had accomplished. Thraha really was good at combat. The bodies were not cold yet, but it was still a bit upsetting to search dead bodies. After some time she managed to recover commlinks, which she dumped into a pile, reagents of a kind she wasn't accustomed to but she figured she could still use them, and the sacrificial knife which glowed in the astral.

[Jack VII]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Content with his diagnosis that the girl was going to survive the experience with a hell of a headache from the FlashBang, Jack picked the unconscious girl up and walked over to the nearest tree. Propping her up, he removed his armored jacket, wrapped the girl in it, and rested her against a tree. He took off his biomonitor and attached it to her arm, syncing the device to his AR feed so that he knew if there were any changes in her condition while he helped the others with examining the scene.

Seeing Overkill nearly finished wading through the lake, Jack said to Amy, "I'm going to go meet up with Grease and check out the last of them to see if he's still alive. As far as those bodies, I think we should ask a spirit to make them disappear, like what that shaman did to those Yaks in the park we went and dug up." Pointing to Truck and the summoner, the ork continued, "Keep an eye on those two. They've still got pulses and I've seen way too many horror trids to know not to count the bad guys out until they're dead. The girl will be okay. I've got a biomonitor attached to her and it should give me an idea if she starts waking up. Last thing we need to do is chase her through the woods. When she comes around, it might be best if you spoke to her first, given the situation."

"...and good work. Very professional." Jack said to both of them as he picked up his rifle and left the clearing headed in Grease's direction.

[Always Overkill]

Garrett "Overkill" Dramen
Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:00 PM, August 1st, 2075


Drave surveyed the carnage of the scene, the bodies of the cultists lying bloody and burnt on the shoreline in stark contrast to the otherwise tranquil setting. He grimaced as the smell of charred human flesh assaulted his senses, and reminded him of the incendiary bombings conducted on Berlin during the Siege. At least none of our people got hurt, Drave thought to himself as he headed up to Amy and Jack on the shore.

Hearing Jack's request, Drave pulled up his AR display and disarmed it with a mental command.

<<@Team[Overkill]: Gut Gemacht Mein Kameraden, now lets gather some intel and the survivors.>>

Right as he was sending the message to the team, he saw Amy had beat him to the punch and was already gathering the commlinks off the cultists bodies. Kluges Mädchen he thought to himself with a grin, then went to check on the girl they rescued. Seeing that Jack had things well in hand, he then went over to Truck's dying form. With the extent of his wounds, it was questionable whether they would even be able save his life if they wanted to. One thing was for sure, they couldn't just leave him here like this.

Drave then looked back at Jack with the rescued victim, giving him a grim look. They both knew what had to be done. "Jack, why don't you take the girl and go check out that man Grease is with? Patch him up as best you can; he is no good to us dead. Amy and I will finish checking out the bodies here."

[Chrome Head]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Even though the fight was over, Amy didn't feel safe out there. "I'm not sure I want to call off Thraha just yet. He's doing surveillance around our position and that makes me feel a lot safer about taking our time to clean things out around here. But what I could do is summon another spirit to bury them at the bottom of the lake as we're leaving."

"Overkill, you might want to check the commlinks real quick to make sure they're not transmitting anything."

[Lobo0705]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

As Grease knelt down over still form of the cultist, patting him down, finding a cheap commlink tucked in his pocket. as he continued his pat down, the recumbent figure sprang up, fangs bared, lunging for Grease's throat.

Grease yelled and fell over backwards, batting ineffectually at the vampire's outstretched arms, the hideous strength hidden beneath the layers of his expensive custom suit.

Unable to hold off his attacker, his eyes widened in horror as the vampire's mouth reached inexorably for his throat...

[DrZaius]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Scrambling back on his ass scooting by his feet at an impressive rate, Grease finally managed to clear his Ingram X and start unloading into the monster as it menaced over him, it's unnatural limbs stretched outwards. His eyes go wider as the bullets pass harmlessly through the form, still walking towards him without blinking. The creature is completely silent, the only sound in the woods is now the steady "THMP THMP THMP" of his machinegun firing with a suppressor on.

No frakking way! I told them!!

Sending a mental command to his drone, Grease called out, "Help! Christ, help!"

<<@Bumble: ENGAGE!!>>

[Chrome Head]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy reacts with great speed, running as fast as she can towards Grease. I need to protect him.

<<@Team [Amy's subvocal] What's going on Grease? What are you shooting at?>>

[DrZaius]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

His gun clicking empty with no perceived effect, Grease manages to flip over onto all fours and scramble like a feral creature back towards his spider hole. Furtive glances back as he trips, scrambles, and rolls forward show the creature still advancing, a menacing grin starting to form.

Eventually reaching the hole, Grease gets in and pulls the top down.

This is my home. my home. my home.

"You can't come in! You can't come in!"

His heart beat nearly bursting through his ears, he finally manages to reply to Amy.

<<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: The FRAKKING VAMPIRE!! He's not down; he got right back up!!>>

[Jack VII]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Vampire?!? Drek... Jack thought to himself as he received Grease's report. Bringing the Colt up to his shoulder and sighting down the iron sights, the ork moved toward the rigger's last known position and mentally accessed the AR feed showing the camera view from Grease's drone. The ork paused.

<<@Team [JustJack] Uh, amigo? Is this a new threat? I'm looking at the camera feed and the hombre who was running for the car is still on the ground...>>

He knew that life and death situations could sometimes cause hallucinations and, given Grease's apparent history with drugs, the ork wouldn't be surprised if it were a contributing factor.

[Chrome Head]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:02 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy is taken aback by the scene, not sure what to make of it. She's on high alert, looking around for threats, in the physical and astral. But there's just nothing. What the heck?

<<@Team [Amy's voice] I can't see anything either. What is it Grease? Are you okay?>>

[Always Overkill]

Garrett "Overkill" Dramen
Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:03 PM, August 1st, 2075

Hearing the panic in Grease's voice and the sound of his suppressed submachine gun rapidly emptying its magazine, Drave pulled his AK back up to his shoulder and checked the feeds from the drones on overwatch. Sure enough, the cultist that bolted for the cars was still on the ground, just as Jack said. Knowing firsthand the vast array of psychological trauma that being in combat could inflict, Drave knew he had to calm him down.

<<@Grease[Overkill]: Don't worry, Mein Freund, Jack and Amy are on there way to your position. For now, I need you to calm down, take a breath, and assess your situation. We do not have a visual of the hostile from the drones on overwatch, can you give us its position?>>

[DrZaius]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:03 PM, August 1st, 2075

Where?! Are they blind?!

Barely mustering the courage to poke his head out, his eyes darting furtively, Grease replies, <<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: It's right... Where did it go?>>

All Grease can see is the body of the cultist his drone took down, apparently unconscious. Both his Fly-Spy and Rotodrone remain in their holding patterns, picking up nothing unusual. In FACT, his Rotodrone would have fired, had there been something; he had given it the order. His mind racing, it comes to the only logical conclusion: someone was messing with him.

Crawling out of his hole and dusting off the seat of his pants, Grease walks causually back to the group.

"Ha-Ha Amy, very funny. Your little light show scared the drek out of me. In the future, I'd appreciate if you kept your little antics to yourself."

[Jack VII]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:03 PM, August 1st, 2075

While Jack was pretty sure Grease was hallucinating, he didn't lower his weapon as he arrived in the area near the vehicle. Approaching the body of the cultist, he leaned down and poked it with the end of his Colt M23. Once he was confident the man wasn't going to jump and sink fangs in his throat, the ork set his AR down and pulled out his medkit to diagnose the man's condition.

<<@Team [JustJack] Checking this guy out. Let's figure out what we're going to do with this guy, Truck, the summoner, the girl, the body on the cross, and these vehicles. We need to be gone in 5-10 minutes.>>

[DrZaius]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:03 PM, August 1st, 2075

Regaining his composure somewhat, Grease addressed the group as if he hadn't just ran with his tail between his legs from an imagined nightmare.

<<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: Truck has no value to us, let's make sure he's down. If that guy you're checking out is still alive we should take him with us. The girl too, obviously. Overkill, let's see if we can hot-wire one of their cars and drive it out of here; I think that one is running.>>

Grease paused, thinking over his next comment carefully.

<<@Team [Grease's subvocal]: I don't like to say it, but as for the other body it would do us a lot of good to leave things as they are. We just created a bunch of bodies and it's not likely anyone is going to come out here looking for them. If we wanted we could try to recover what we could, but then we're still transporting a body through the free zone, which is never good. That said, I'll do what you guys want; I'm not going to claim any moral high ground here.>>

[Jack VII]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:05 PM, August 1st, 2075

As Jack finally managed to draw a pulse from the prone form, he responded to Grease's last comment.

<<@Team [JustJack] I agree. I don't think we can cart the woman's body around. With that said, if Amy could ask for her spirit to get rid of the bodies, we could possibly ask it to bury her somewhere and mark the grave so it could be relocated if needed. Either way, we should probably try to secure a tissue sample for Mr. J so he can inform any next of kin>>

[Chrome Head]

Sacrifice Site, Upper Derby Lake, 11:05 PM, August 1st, 2075

The crisis that their team's rigger went through was just one more weirdness to add to the list from Grease. He had used drugs before, had shown paranoia, which isn't all that bad but can be excessive at times, and now seemingly had hallucinations on top of it all. Amy didn't feel like it was important to address his mild insanity right away and just let it go when he blamed her for what he did. I'm not sure I want to be on another job with this guy.

Moving on, Amy double checked that she wasn't leaving any signature behind, just in case. Having nothing better to do she came over to Jack and tried to assist him.

<<@Team [Amy] I can ask a spirit to bury all of them, but that would mean that I release Thraha for the night. He's currently doing surveillance for us and he'll be a huge help in case there's more fighting to come. I'm all for giving people a decent final resting place, but not at the cost of our security. I agree with Grease, I think we can leave the bodies behind and nature will take care of them.>>