Umbrae Europae [IC] (part 3) - Mist of Nycthemeron, A third installment of the Umbrae Europae Campaing (started elsewhere) Options

[Jack_Spade]

The distance was a bit of a problem, but Rex nonetheless tried to get an aura reading on the man/elf in the middle.

Furthermore he focused, gathering power for a lightning strike to take out the drone - no more fast travel for you.

[ Spoiler ]

Assensing: 11d6t5 3

Lightning Bolt F9
Lightning Bolt: 22d6t5 8[22d6t5=5, 5, 4, 2, 6, 6, 2, 1, 3, 6, 4, 4, 1, 3, 1, 5, 2, 6, 4, 2, 6, 4]
Drain resist: 21d6t5 9
No Drain

[Haywire]

#62

Waywalker observed the newcomers for some time.
"Ok, they are clearly standing there and not doing much. Let's do this."
He tried to climb to the entrance at the first floor without getting noticed.

[ Spoiler ]

climbing the side (pilot walker): 9d6t5 5
Not being noticed: 7d6t5 1
Not being noticed (post-edge): 6d6t5 3

Sadly I got only 2 Edge remaining...
[\spoiler]

[Romain Pelisse]

Waywalker discreetly as possible approaches the west wall of the building, away from the regards of the two elfs. He jumps on the wall, and starts climbing with an incredible dexterity. While he is half way through there, sadly, his foot trips, and a piece of bricks fells on the floor.

[ Spoiler ]

Does the two elfs spot Waywalker climbing ?: 10d6t5 4

He freezes, but hears the two elfs having a brief exchange in Sperethiel and starts moving toward his position...

In the meantime on Earth...

Crouched on top of the ruins of the farm, Rex's feline form growls as a lightning bolt darts out of his mouth and strikes the unaware drone violently.

[ Spoiler ]

@Jack_Spade, please double check my crunch, but not that I've removed 2 hits as a threshold due to distance/visibility (to make it simple, and not make you reroll)
(8+9-2) => 15P, AP-9 (so no armor)
Poor, innocent Shamus drone attempt to resist: 4d6t5 2 - drone melts (thus ignoring the effect of electricity on the matrix condition monitor).

The poor four-legged device is pushed to the ground and electric arcs runs all across its body, melting numerous of its advanced electronic circuit. The poor little drone emits heart breaking, dying noise before the convulsion stops and it finally rest on the ground. However, the group surrounding it does not wait for this to happen. All the mercenaries immediately jump to cover, using the local vegetation to get out of sight, while the man in the middle, as he is being assensed by Rex, cast an invisibility spell on him.

[ Spoiler ]

Twice in two weeks one of those Shamus drone gets utterly destroyed in my game.

Before his aura disappears in the astral, Rex manages to catch a glimpse of it. The man is clearly awakened and initiate to the art of meta magic. Rex can fell the man has actually a better grasp than him on those advanced uses of magic. Not surprisingly, the man has an untouched essence, and is strangely calm given what Rex's just tossed their way.

[ Spoiler ]

In my game, I consider Sneaking rolls, Concealment and Invisibility applies to the Astral, to avoid having any attempt to discretion being blown apart by people able to see in the astral. Please roll Intuition + Logic to let me know if Rex can see through the illusion spell.

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

Resist Illusion: 15d6t5 4

Rex goes to ground himself to hide from the mage's retaliation
Sneak: 15d6t5 5 (-8 to perceive him through Concealment)

Rex contented himself with the glimpse as he quickly left the observation point to move back to the car of the intruders. Damaging it would probably prompt them to turn back to ensure they didn't lose their way out of here.

[Romain Pelisse]

Waywalker freezes as he sees one of the elf going around the corner of the building, arriving just a few meters below him. The rigger thought he has been discreet enough, but now he feared that he was going to be spot. The guard, just a meter below his feet, looks carefully left and right, and then behind him. Above him, Waywalker hold his breath. The elf, seems suddenly relieved, and turn to face the wall, before opening his trousers, and starts whistling as he relieves himself on the same wall Waywalker is on - only a few meters away from where the guard, hum, "stream", hits it...

Once he is done, the elf goes back to his original position, completely unaware of the little wood boy hanging above him. Once the guards apparently resumed his position and starts talking with his partner, Waywalker keeps climbing up, and goes through the opening leading directly to the attic. When he arrives there, he is very surprised to discover that the place has been refitted into a small museum to WW2. Well, this refitting clearly predates the Mist swallowing up the village, so all of the displays looks both old fashion, compare to the 70's standard, but also, very much out of place in the eerie location this village has become.

Before he can start digging for a clue - which is going to be quite difficult, not speaking neither french, nor German, he hears a noise, and thus goes to cover behind a nearby vitrine exposing some memorabilia from the Nazi military. Hidden being it he can not see anything, but he can definitely hears that someone has entering the room, mumbling something, and moving slowly through it...

In the meantime on Earth...

Crouching behind part of the wall to remains discreet, Rex, still using his astral perception, sees a new aura, appearing nearby the position of the awakened. If he had to guess, he would say that his opponent just invoked a Kami...

[Haywire]

#63

Waywalker would've stopped breathing, if he didn't remember that a drone does not need to. Founding quickly his way into the building, he was very surprised to found a museum.
But someone (something?) was there with him, so he hid himself and pointed the sensor array of the drone to get a glimpse of what was doing the noise.

[ Spoiler ]

electronic warfare (perception): 21d6t5 8 (limit 4)
[\spoiler]

[Romain Pelisse]

Very carefully Waywalker bends slightly and turn his head to look over the corner of the desk he is hiding behind. Fortunately for him the newcomer is clearly not paying attention to his surroundings. The man, or rather the creature is rather strange. He looks like a human white male, in his late fifties, but have a very magnetic glow, and is very good looking. However, despite the lack of metahumans feature - such as pointy ears, the man clearly feels "alien". Maybe it is the white gloves on his hand ? The rest of his outfits is a simple black suit, that seems to be coming from an other century and is covered with dust. But the white gloves are for sure sticking out.

The man, still unaware of the rigger presence, gets closer to a desk covered with paperwork, still mumbling to himself and, without at the chair, starts looking with interest to the papers, doing some shuffling. After a few instant, he even put out a monocle from his pocket and starting bending to study closely what appears to be some paperwork from the occupation. Waywalker got the feeling the man is spending his days here doing some sort of research...

[Jack_Spade]

'I need to draw them away from their target and our van.' Rex didn't let the additional danger through the Kami deter him.
He had reached the car and sent a short lightning strike at the left front wheel, turning the run flat tire into slag, while the super heated air caused a satisfying bang that the crew certainly had heard.

As quickly as he had come, he moved away from Waywalker's hidden van, leaving an obvious track before moving carefully again, vanishing into the tall vegetation, making sure that the living plants provided cover for his aura.

[ Spoiler ]

Targeting the tire of an unmoving car with an F8 Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt: 18d6t5 7
Drain resist: 21d6t5 4
No Drain

[Haywire]

#64

"I hope he's going to get ut of my way pretty fast, or at least he's too focused on the books to notice me..."
Waywalker waited a little for the man to be completely focused and then tried to sneak behind him to look for the book.

[ Spoiler ]

sneaking around: 7d6t5 2
[\spoiler]

[Romain Pelisse]

Waywalker moves inside the small museum to look at all the items in display. He managed, he thinks, to do it rather discreetly, but still, he quickly realizes he is coming up empty. He was hoping for the book, Rituel of Haute Magie, to be somehow in display, but none of the item looks closer to any kind of books from the XIXth century. There is a lot of memorabilia from WW2, from medals, to insignia of all kinds, followed by paperwork, both in German and French. As he stopped to check on the weird old man, he is suddenly startled. So old man, still bend on the desktop, starts talking to him.

"Tell me, little fellow made of wood, did you find what you are looking for ?"

As Waywalker froze, the old man turns around and look at him, grinning weirdly, like a evil sorcerer of a kid fairy tales.

"Oh, what a cute little thing you are. I wonder who carved you, you are very elegantly designed. But please, tell me what you are looking for here. I would like to be a bad host and miss all my duty as guardian of this alien place..."


In the meantime, on Earth...

As the group he targeted is still crouching in defense posture, Rex left the remnants of the farm and ran toward their van - hidden by high vegetation and other rocks. As the vehicle comes within his eyesight, he stops and fires an bolt that strike one of the wheel and melt it immediately. But before he can anything else, the air suddenly gets colder and a gush of air seems to be sucked, just in front of him. Rex knows that phenomenon all but too well - Mana is bleeding from the astral.

Barely a microsecond after that, a huge plants rise from the ground and faces him, with an aggressive stands and awful stench of mud and grass.

[ Spoiler ]

A plant spirit just manifested in front of Rex, please rolls initiative

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

Ini Ini: 26+5d6 41

Lightning Bolt to the face for the plant:
Lightning Bolt F10: 22d6t5 9
Drain resist: 21d6t5 7
No Drain

Rex avoids being startled... much. As the forma of his previous spell was still fresh in his mind, he just opened the same pathway again, this time a bit wider and aimed at the newly formed spirit.

[Haywire]

#65

Waywalker was very puzzled by the old man. And froze in place when he talked.
"He does not seem hostile...however, better be cautious."
"I apologize for my presence here, as I did not introduce myself. My name is Waywalker; with who do I have the pleasure to talk to?"

[ Spoiler ]

Etiquette: 7d6t5 3
[\spoiler]

[Romain Pelisse]

The weird looking Fae responds immediately to Waywalker interrogation with a large smile and joins his hands together - which make the rigger noticed again his pristine white gloves.

"Ah, good Sir, it's a delight to meet with you. My name is... irrelevant. People generally calls me the Professor. I've been here so long and called like that so long, that I am not even sure what my actual name can be! I'm quite happy to make your acquaintance Sir Waywalker... Oh, Waywalker... Such a metaphoric name... Can I intrude and dare ask you where are you from and how did you inherits such a potent name ? Just hearing the sound of it rings of adventure and perilous trips. Oh, I'm forgetting all my duty as a host! You surely want a tea ? You must be parched!"

Without waiting for Waywalker to responds, the old man turns to his desk and use a match to light a candle beneath an old tea pot...

In the meantime on Earth...

[ Spoiler ]

Spirit's init: Plant spirit init: 16+3d6 26
Plant spirit tries to dodge incoming lightning bolt: 16d6t5 4 - remains 5 hits for Rex, so damage amounts to 14P.

It's a indirect spell so I assume (maybe wrongly) that the Spirit's Immunity to Normal Weapon applies despite the magical origin of the strike. As 14 is above its armor (16à - AP (9), removing half of the armor value as net hits leaves 6P to soak:

Spirit soaks damage: 19d6t5 7

Spirit soaks all damage!

That's seems harsh, so I'm going to applies RAW and say that it is not protected from spell by his Immunity, which means it takes 7P.

(for simplicity sake, I ignore the effect of electricity)

Barely manifested in the physical the large plant spirit is half teared apart by the powerful lightning bolt - but it does not fallback, and, despite all the burning pieces falling around him, it jumps on Rex, trying to pin him down to the ground.

[ Spoiler ]

Plant's spirit tries to engulf Rex: Plant spirit tries to engulf Rex: 15d6t5 7

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

A spell is practically the definition of a magic weapon (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) And even if not, a F10 Indirect spell has -10 AP, leaving the pesci spirit with only 6 armor and 3 automatic soak

Oh, and I'd ask you to please consider the effects of electricity, as it reduces both ini (-5) and dp (-1) on all actions and defense tests of my attacker (that's why I went for lightning instead of fire in the first place)
Also, it's an F10 Spell, so base damage is 10+ net successes

Since it otherwise survives, I'll have to dodge:
I'll go for full defense:
Defense: 38d6t5 15 [38d6t5=3, 3, 3, 6, 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 5, 4, 6, 5, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 6, 5, 5, 5, 2, 1, 1, 2, 5, 5, 3, 5, 2, 6, 2]

The next action is - predictably - another lightning bolt:
F10 Lightning Bolt: 22d6t5 7[22d6t5=3, 4, 6, 1, 2, 4, 5, 4, 5, 1, 6, 1, 5, 2, 5, 2, 2, 4, 6, 1, 3, 3]
Drain resist: 21d6t5 5
No Drain

That hit won't increase the penalties, but increases the duration into next round

Rex wasn't in the mood for hugs - confident in his preternatural force of personality he easily dodged the plant and unleashed another lightning strike at the impertinent Kami.

[Haywire]

#66

"I remember something about the inhabitants of the magic world...Always be polite."
Waywalker tried to smile at the words of the Professor.
"You are doing me a great honor, which I am not sure to deserve. I am from the Sixth World, outside the Mist. I have been in quite some perilous trips that earned my that name, for my ability to walk through various enviroments safely. I would love to accept the tea, but in this current form I cannot eat or drink. Please do as I had accepted.
May I ask you what do you guard here? It is indeed an interesting place."

[ Spoiler ]

Etiquette: 7d6t5 0
D'oh! Post Edge (1 remaining):
Etiquette: 7d6t5 1
[\spoiler]

[Romain Pelisse]

Bring him a tea nevertheless the Professor offers a seat, at a table nearby, to Waywalker, before joining him and replies to him:

"Oh, "guarding" you said ? Oh, I'm certainly not guarding this place... Hum. I guess the gentlemen downstairs might be guarding it - in some way... Or not ? But, me, no, I'm not guarding anything. I'm exploring, investigating... I am researching this fabulous place. The stories hidden in those archive have been keeping me busy for decades and will for the years to come. Such strange tales of despair and woe are in those document. So many strange tools and strange collections of items. It is really, really intriguing."

Finishing his tea, the Professor takes a small pause before going on:

"And you my little friend, what brings YOU, here. Are you also on a quest for knowledge or is there something more ... sinister" (he asks with an amused grin) - "bringing you, here ? Tell me. Tell me everything, my little boy made of wood!"

And in the meantime on Earth...

[ Spoiler ]

@Jack_Spade I'm winging it, but I'm pretty sure you managed to destroy the plant spirit with the second bolt, and I'm too tired today to check the crunch (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Partially stunned by the effect of the first bolt, the plant spirit freezes for a micro-second - it is enough time to allow Rex to cast a second bolt right into the manifested spirit. The monster plant thing then immediately collapse and disintegrate, returning back to the astral realm it had been invoked from. Rex is safe now, but he knows the group, barely hundreds meters south to his position are now aware of his position. The chaotic vegetation, along with a couple of trees and ruins blocks the line of sight, but this may not stop the group to attack him soon...

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

No problem, if you want I can take care of rolling for the opposition as well


Stealth: 15d6t5 7

Rex didn't hang around. With the speed of super powered cheetah he ran through the underbrush, before finding a particularly large tree to climb where he could get a better view of the opposition.
He didn't want to genuinely hurt these people - not without knowing who they were and what their aim was.

[Haywire]

#67

Waywalker was somewhat reassured by the words of the Professor.
"As I said before, I am from another world outside the Mist, and I am here looking for a specific book, that from the information I have is hidden in this building."

[Romain Pelisse]

Still in his lion's form, Rex sneaks away quickly from the scene, and found a large tree, big enough to supports him, some hundreds meters south to the position of the opposition's vehicle. Quickly, he spot the group emerging back for the fields. The mercs are arriving first, just on the spot where he fought the plant spirit, just minutes ago, looking desperately for a trail to pick. The soldiers losing time here is exactly what Rex wants, but he is worried to not see the awakened leader comes out too... But then, he suddenly appears, or rather his astral form manifests - and immediately points toward his position!

[ Spoiler ]

@Jack_Spade, I'm again waving the rolls, but I don't think it would have been very difficult for the mage to astral track you from the signature of your spells - let me know if I'm wrong about that!

In the meantime, in an Other World...

As Waywalker mentions the books, the Professor stats smiling but does not comment. As the rigger finishes his sentence, the old man keeps grinning, and turning his tea, creating an awkward silence, that he finally breaks by saying:

"Ahhh... I know which book you are looking for... I know it so well, actually. It is mentions in several documents here. Some in this hard and cryptic you call German, I think. Other in French - neither an easy one this language. None of those fools, back in the last century on your planet understood what happened to the book and where he ended up... But I am far more smarted than most of them. This is a riddle, I've cracked a while back now..."

He stops, smiling with blatant pride. Waywalker being an experienced Shadowrunner has no issue understanding why the old man stopped speaking. No need for etiquette or to analyze body behavior to figure out where this discussion is headed. The Professor has something he wants. So now, the question is, what is Waywalker ready to do to get it...

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

Alright, now that that is cleared up, new plan:

I spend a point of edge to break limit and cast a F10 Mana Barrier (Astral) around the mage, preventing him from getting back to his body
Mana Barrier: 24d6h5 9 [24d6h5=5, 2, 1, 5, 5, 1, 4, 1, 1, 5, 1, 5, [6, 1], [6, 6, 1], 1, 4, 3, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, [6, 4], 3]
Drain resist: 21d6h5 6
Taking one Physical damage
Finally, I spend 1 point of Karma to quicken it

'Well, snitches get stiches'.
Opening the floodgates of power inside him, Rex sets an astral barrier around the mage. The mana burns him and he feels his own blood drip from his nose. For good measure he sets the barrier to be self sustaining.
Using an openly visible ARO he communicates a message to the mercenaries:

<<Your boss is in a magic prison. If he doesn't return to his body within a few hours, he'll die. If you don't want this to happen, you better stand down.>>

[Haywire]

#68

"Sixth World or other World, it boils down to the same: negotiation."
Waywalker smiled as much as the drone body permitted him. He had no intention to play a game of back and forth with the Professor, so he went straight to the point.
"A riddle, do you say? Very interesting! And what would you want to give me the book?"

[Romain Pelisse]

The Professor seems saw surprise by Waywalker comment that he cannot hold a short laugh:

"Ah, people at the Court told me how.... straightforward you people from the Sixth World are." - he goes on, imitating to the perfection a CAS deep South accent "ain't no beatin' aroun' the bush with ya', neh!".

Slowly putting his cup back on the table, the Professor seems to gather his thoughts for a moment, before going on:

"Well, first of all, little fellow, I don't want to set the wrong kind of expectation. The book is not here. It is most likely back on your realm. During my research I came around some encrypted document of the Third Reich. I managed to decipher them and I know they move the document before the fall of their tremendous empire."

The admiration for the Third Reich in the Fae voice is obvious, and makes Waywalker a bit uncomfortable.

"I know enough to help locate it. I'm willing to trade this information indeed. Assuming you are willing to help with a little ... situation of mine. I assumed you saw, and went around those guards outside. Those are here on the account of my sponsor, Lady Darkbane. While I'm very grateful of their presence, I must confess their presence also deprive me for some much needed, let's say, privacy. I can not really move away from here without them... noticing, and most likely reporting it back to their lady."

The Professor paused again, to let the information sinks in into Waywalker mind, and take a sip of tea:

"Do you think you may be able to distract them, and draw them away from here, for a little while ? If you can, I will be very grateful and I will then give you the information I have on the book you are searching..."

[Haywire]

#69

Waywalker relaxed now that a negotiation was ongoing.
"I hope I was not impolite, Professor. However, what kind of distraction do you want? Would they be willing to speak with me? If I could, would that be enough? Or do you want them physically away from here? And for how much time? I ask all these question just to provide to you your ..."privacy", as you said."

[Romain Pelisse]

The Professor grins keeps growing. He is very much delighted - or at least, it seems so, of the way the discussion is moving forward.

"Oh, don't be embarrassment, for the way of your people. You, creature of the Sixth World, as you call it, have far more... shorter lifespan than us, Fae. You need to be far more efficient at your business dealing. To be honest, it is quite refreshing.

The Professor stops - mostly for dramatic effect.

"So, to answer your questions as my requirements for privacy. I don't that much time to ... attend to my private matters. But I do need the two guards to be a bit away from the the building, and they need to be distracted long enough for me to sneak out. I think something around 5 to 10 minutes should be enough. Of course, if you manage to keep them busy longer - all the better."

Before Waywalker can answer anything, the Fae turns back to his desk and grab a weird looking device. It looks like a weird mix of an old fashion talkie-walkie, but one that would have been designed during the steam age. The casing is made of wood and there is a tiny chimney along the antennae !

"Don't be distraught by the appearances of those devices. Like you, I guess, they have been quite modified when they reached our realm. However, they are fully functional. I would let you know when I am, hum, quite literally 'out of the woods'. I will also tell you what I know about the book using this ...speaking machine."

Handing over the strange contraption, he concludes - imitating perfectly, this time, a North American accent:

"Do we have a deal, friend ?"

In the meantime on Earth...

When the mage returns to the Astral he has the nasty surprise of finding himself surrounded by an Astral Barrier erected by Rex! It took a few instant for him to recover from the surprise, before he starts try to escape it.

[ Spoiler ]

@Jack_Spade refresh one edge for this very creative idea!

Now, let's see if the Mage can get out of your mana barrier (forcing through - p.316):

Mage tries to break through a barrier: 14d6t5 6

Barrier resists: 20d6t5 7

There is no mechanical "duration" for trying to force through, but I'm just going to say that it fails for some time and you can move to your next "move" for now...

While the asrally projected mage rages against the Mana barrier, the mercs - four in total, are still on their way toward Rex's position, moving carefully in diamond's formation.

[Jack_Spade]

'Yey, I've got their attention. Now, how do I stop them from making me kill them? Oh right, I'm a mage.'

<<Seriously? You want to continue with that after I imprisoned your mage?>>

Rex changed position again, leaving the message behind. Sneaking away and establishing line of sight to one of the mercs was the next step.
That done, he used the same trick he had used on the herb collectors: 'Fly, you fool'

[ Spoiler ]

Sneak: Sneak: 15d6t5 5 + Concealment

Levitate F9
Levitate: 22d6t5 8 [22d6t5=5, 2, 3, 5, 6, 4, 2, 2, 5, 3, 4, 2, 2, 5, 5, 2, 3, 5, 2, 5, 1, 4]
Drain Resist:
Drain resist: 21d6t5 10
No Drain

The merc may try to resist being levitated with a STR+BOD counter roll.

<<Stand down, or I'll drop him.>>