[IP] Panzerknacker Options

[SquirrelDude]

"I'll try to stall it. Activate your chem-seals."

Slobber threw a gas grenade storing Neuro-Stun X into the stairwell. It landed exactly where he intended it, and began spewing the toxin into the air.

[ Spoiler ]

Throwing Gas Grenade: 9d6t5 3
Grenade Scatter: 1d6-3 -2 No Scatter

Grenade contains NeuroStun X
Vector: Contact, Inhalation
Speed: 1 Combat Turn
Penetration: -2
Power 15
Effect: Disorientation, Stun Damage
Inert after 1 minute

[Gilga]

Anna asked her spirit to protect her team and used her spell defense to shield them from harm. If they had time, she would help bnc to move Schmidt to the loo and place him close to a wall - hoping that he'll survive what is to come.

[Volker]

"Sure can. Out of the room, everyone. Anna, stay off and focus on Lavadora. Krestov, pick up Johnson carefully."
bnc quickly configures Schmitt's biomonitor to send her a warning signal if he gets unstable, checks the explosives and their positions - on the one hand to make sure they are in the deadlist position possible, on the other hand to be able to identify them in the matrix once she breaks visual contact. Then she retreats.

[Jack_Spade]

The grenade had the desired effect of delaying their opponent: Slobber noticed the invisible presence leaving his radius of perception hastily as the grenade flew. The reaction speed was frighteningly fast - as was the movement speed.

[SquirrelDude]

"I've bought us 50 seconds. Use it."

Slobber looked through his bag. Frag me. I forgot my tripod. He pulled out two Flash-Bang Grenades, and with his chem-seal active, placed them near the bottom of the stairs and activated their wireless links.

"Anna. put two HE Grenades there as well. Activate their wireless link."

He tossed Krestov his sensor array with ultrasound.

"Turn that on. Might help. Get ready to help me pin that thing at the bottom of the stairs with suppressing fire. I'll give a signal when it starts moving."

"bnc, put marks on those grenades. As soon as we start shooting, blow 'em."

Slobber reloaded his rifle with more Ex-Explosive.

"When this is over, I don't want to find out that any of you were using Gel or factory-standard ammo. Give it the good stuff"

[Jack_Spade]

The 50 seconds turned out to be rather short: From above a small ball of blue light dropped down the stairs, bouncing merrily until it came to rest on the ground. It's icy aura made the escaping gas condense into dropletts where it came close and both Slobber and bnc had the distinct impression that this thing would detonate any second.

[SquirrelDude]

"Frag!" Slob rolled his eyes and the double meaning.

"GRENADE! CLEAR OUT"

Slobber ran out of the room, closed the door as he exited to shield the team from some of the blast, and tried to get to the cover of the corner next to the door to the main foyer.

[ Spoiler ]

Slob's intended location

[Gilga]

If Anna notices the danger in time, she would use the levitate spell to shut the door near the stairs to prevent the grenade from getting too close to her and the to the team. Regardless, she would run to safety with the rest as quick as she can possibly get. Aiming to maximize the distance from the grenade and the number of walls between them, she would not stop running until there is a BOOM.

[ Spoiler ]

Not sure how big is the bank and how far she can run - but having no aspiration of a heroine. She'll just run to that point until it blows up.
https://imgur.com/ifCggDf

[Volker]

"Marked!", bnc confirmed, "Give me the signal. Can't see the bastard!
Oh, sh- it's a magic elemental grenade."
Casting a last look over to Krestov, who hopefully picks Gerhardt up with care, bnc gives tail and rushes after Slobbertooth, but then flees into the staff room, hoping to have a few moments to work on something.

The bank might appear invincible: A foundation with 1 m thick plastcrete walls, a time locked, half meter thick titanium steel save door with tungsten hardening, a military grade drone/agent controlling the buildings defenses, an eight-man guard squad on duty at all times with relieve no more than 5 minutes away...", she remembers Schmitt's description of the place.
The defence system must still be online! Also, there should be some of the security drones left. This might be our one chance!

Going full-VR again, bnc slips into the cyberspace to look for any remnants of the security system to be found.

[ Spoiler ]

Matrix Perception: 15d6t5 8
I'm not sure whether the cap is my data rating (which I can raise to 6) or my Mental Limit, which is 8, IIRC. Anyhow, if there's something to be found, I should know it.

[Jack_Spade]

No sooner had the team cleared the room, the elemental grenade exploded, turning the whole corridor into a fridge and shattering the stairs like brittle glas as well as the closed door separating the team from the stairwell corridor.
Krestov had taken Schmitt back to the front room, cradling the man like a child in his huge arms - which made him unavailable for combat.

Anna's spirit had gone into the astral to escape the elemental attack but was still trapped between the wards. With mounting horror she felt as an invisible foe swept down into the spirit's cell and obliterated it with a single swipe of astral power.
The last thought that she received from it was "Dualnatured"
On the plus side, this had bought them another few seconds - time enough for bnc to work her personal kind of magic: Finding a port in the staff room and establishing a direct connection with the defense system.

It didn't take her more than the 10th of a second to recognize the system: A single, very sophisticated Pilot Program, enhanced through an additional Agent Program.
To her surprise it talked to her directly: <<You are not recognized as an authorized user - please present credentials or use Override.>>

Anna, still reeling from the loss of yet another spirit received a different message:
<<Stay away from the doors. I'm coming for you and I have only one shot to get this right.>>

[Gilga]

Her stomach ached, she felt as if a piece of herself was again shredded... Yet she summoned again - a Man's spirit to help them. Whatever that thing was, they needed some magical help. She ordered the spirit vocally so that the rest would know it is there. "Thank you for helping, protect us with your stunbolt spell. Damage to the opponent, but keep it away from you if you can. It is too powerful." She said "lost the spirit, dual-natured opponent. Let me protect you with magic." If the man did not resist, she touched his back and cast the improve intuition spell.

She relayed the message and texted >> Kynos is getting in... likely opening a way for us out of here. If we can get out, we run away. . To Kynos she texted a thumbs up emoji.

[ Spoiler ]

Summon F5 man.
Summon F5 (Man): 11d6t5 2
resist F5: 5d6t5 1
drain: 14d6t5 10


Force 6.
Improve Intuition: 13d6t5 1
Drain: 14d6t5 8
No way, she'll try again...

Improve Intuition: 13d6t5 4 + 4 intuition
Drain: 14d6t5 8 - no drain.
Force is 6.

[Volker]

[ Spoiler ]

God is merciful for once (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Hacking on the Fly: 3#20d6t5 5 6 7
Opposed roll: 3#14d6t5 3 4 4

Isn't that charming? Looking forward to work with you, bithead.
For an instant, bnc pondered upon the idea to ask Anna to toss her the SOK, but then decided against it. It would distract Anna from the fight with the blood mage und she herself would have to go off and online again. If you're a burglar with a key, that's good. But if you need one, you're not a burglar.
bnc hastily crafted a fake authentication, virtual fingers running madly. Then she says, keeping her voice calm, "Please recheck authentication."

[SquirrelDude]

"Run away, right"

Slobber looked towards where the spirit should be, checked his senses, and fired some shots at it. It's gonna love me. Instead of trying to aim at the thing, Slobber decided to try and stall it some more. Hopefully giving the rest of the team some time to kill it.

Krestov, I would appreciate your gun here"

[ Spoiler ]

Good a time to remind everyone as any, Slob has to make a willpower check to leave a fight because of Wolf. One of the reasons why he gave Anna a smoke grenade and flashpak.


Suppressive Fire: 18d6t5 6
Damage Code 13 -3AP
40 rounds remaining.

[Jack_Spade]

Krestov had taken Schmitt with him behind the bank counter, while the suppressive fire prevented direct approach from the corridor.

Suddenly a whine could be heard from behind that closed in and became rapidly louder. Glas and steel exploded around the team as the locked front entrance was rammed through with their own Rover's back. The elemental wall danced across the car's exterior but the isolated and armored chassis held and formed an effective tunnel through the barrier.
The backdoor flew open and a tall man in a full body armor in the style of Knight Errant entered the room, holding an Ares Alpha. The man turned to Anna and called: "This is your ticket to leave. Get out."

[Gilga]

Anna declared with her most authoritative and loud voice tone. "Team, meat Kynos... Kynos Team. Krestov, go first with Schmidt, bnc! you are right after them. I and Slob follow -while firing on that monster. Go, NOW!"

She assumed that Kynos was a bit surprised, or perhaps unwilling to play the hero so she briefly looked at him, and then said.
Did I mention that you get an equal share out of a 3 million euro objective? - We just need to stay alive and keep Mr. Schmidt breathing... You need a new job and I need a new SIN! Oh and, thank you for coming to save me... I will never forget it!"

Not seeing bnc in the room she yelled harder "bnc!!! Time to go!" and then texted with a quick thought >> Sweetie... where are you? Horror filled her guts as she was torn by her desire to GTFO - and the horror that bnc might find herself alone with that murderous psychopath.

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos just grunted: "Fantastic, but I don't work for dead men - and that category will soon include all of us if Zola gets a clear shot while he channels one of his spirits. Not to mention he popped Psyche before he came in here."
With that, Kynos began to support Slobber's suppressive fire, allowing the other runner to reload.

[Gilga]

"Krestov! Get Schmidt out now! ... Slob, Kynos - I think that bnc is in the other room. She'll need some distraction. Kynos did you see our mind controlled mage outside? Perhaps I can even our odds by freeing him. "

[Jack_Spade]

"Knocked him out as soon as he did your rigger in. Careful, it's a bit slippery in the cockpit...

DOWN!"

The warning came just before another blue white glowing elemental grenade bounced from the hall wall and came to rest only a few meters from the team.

[SquirrelDude]

[ Spoiler ]

Test to Avoid Fight (3): 7d6t5 2 Slobber is seeing this through to the grissly end.

"I don't leave until it's dead and bnc is out of here. Wolf would abandon me if I abandoned a friend."

"Anna, make me invisible. Just trust me."

Upon seeing grenade Slobber simply uttered, "Oh fuck off you Azzie drekhead," and ran forward. past the magic grenade. He slipped through the door to the staff room, closing it behind him. He did his best to push bnc to the northeast corner covering her from the blast as best as he could.

"You owe me, netfet ."

[ Spoiler ]

Slob has 32m movement per round right now, so he should have the movement to cover this

[Gilga]

Anna was confused with maintaining two spells and sustaining the massive pain she was in. She did surprisingly well with the invisibility spell despite the circumstances and then run away as fast as she could, to take cover.
The spirit had its standing order but Anna informally thought to her spirit. "Please, Mendy distract him! Be safe."

[ Spoiler ]

The spirit was asked to protect them."[/color]

[Jack_Spade]

Slobber had barely shoved bnc into the corner of the staff room, when outside the grenade exploded. A wave of utter cold washed across him, but didn't seem to cause any damage.
Krestov had taken Schmitt out of line of sight.

Anna had a really bad moment as she realized what her command would do to the spirit: True to it's directive, it had broken through one of the barriers and thrown it's materialized body across the grenade, absorbing most of it's fatal power - and consequently got disrupted immediately.

Slobber noticed the invisible man floating across the floor towards the main room.

Slobber could see the mercenary stepp into view inside the main hall. The elemental blast didn't seem to have affected him, but he had obviously no idea that Zola had just got line of sight on him...

[SquirrelDude]

"Get those drones up fast, slitch." And with that Slobber ran out of the door.

All he had to do now was roll past a giant spirit, drop it and Zola, and then pop up like a heavily armed jack n the box. Slob did a diving forward roll past the the first invisible presence, pulling the grenade pin as he did so. Zola knew he was coming, but was probably expecting a gun or a sword, but hopefully not another gas grenade. Slob let the grenade drop from his hand, its gas spewing out and hopefully cutting off Zola from his abomination. He shuffled forward and with lightning speed raised his rifle from the sling and fired at what he thought was Zola's presence.

[ Spoiler ]

Slobber Next Round Initative: 4d6+17 33 (thanks for the +4 intuition bump Anna)

We have the initiative to spare, so Slob uses a bit of it to dodge if the if spirit takes a swing at him.

Initiative 33->28
Reaction 5(8 ) + Intuition 5(9) + Gymnastics 6
Preemptive Defense Test w/Dodge: 23d6t5 9 Forgot something +4d6 from Combat Reflexes Sense: 4d6t5 2 11 Defense Hits

Free Action Quick-draw to fire the rifle (thank you rapid draw).
Quick Draw (Reaction + Automatics) (2): 16d6t5 3
Spend 1 point of edge to push the limit for extra dice and rerolls. 1 point remaining.
FA Burst Yamaha Raiden: 21d6h5 5 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohplease.gif)

5 Hits. -5 To dodge. Damage Code 13P+Net Hits -3AP

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

Zola defense:
Defense: 13d6t5 3
Soak: 17d6t5 6
That's 9 P damage and knock down.
Zola loses ini and drops to 17 and 7

Zola can't use his action to cast his spell on Kynos, since Slobber cut of line of sight (very well played)

That also gives Kynos a chance to use a blind shot at where the bullets impacted:

Blindshot: FA Burst: 11d6t5 5
12 P AP-6 Dodge -9:
Defense: 6d6t5 3
14 P
Soak: 14d6t5 4
10 P for a total of 19 P
Channeled spirit gets disrupted, bound spirit breaks free, Zola is beyond overflow.

Victory!

With a dash that could only be called a "mad run" Slobber took the field, homing in on what he thought of as Zola. The suddenly blossoming smoke cut of line of sight between him and Kynos, preventing the blood mage from dominating the tall elf's mind. Slobber's salvo hit true: The sound of the rifle shots was muffled by the silence spell around Zola, but the impacts where nonetheless clear. Still Slobber saw through his motion sense that the figure still was moving and very likely targeting him with some mind mojo...
Until another salvo from the other side of the smoke barrier rained down on the prone form.

And just like that it was over. The spells around Zola vanished, revealing that the once handsome man had been nearly bysected by the two combined salvos.
Only now the team realized that the alert had gone of - likely when the car had smashed through the front doors of the building. But at least the electric barrier had gone with Zola.
Kynos stepped through the smoke and nodded at Slobber: "Damn fine work - without you drawing his blood I'd never have had a chance to get a bead on him. Shit. Looks like I'll have to leave for Europe now. You don't mind if I borrow a ride with you to get from this Island? I'm not particularly keen to explain myself to council police."

[SquirrelDude]

The doctor and Anna can figure out to pay their new pet sociopath

"Thanks tinman. I don't have the energy to argue with you about who gets a ride right now. Just help us get all this drek in the truck.

"Special K, get the doctor stable and safe in the truck and give a sitrep on the rest of the team.
"Anna, don't tax yourself more than you have to. Just figure out how much loot we have left
"bnc, clear the gas out of this place before it kills someone, and then see if any of the guards are alive and try to stabilize them.

"I'm going to pick up my fragging grenades and make sure the Jaguar is missing his head." Slobber carefully moved back down to the vault to figure out what the hell was left after all the smoke and bullets had cleared the area.

[Gilga]

It was all too quick for Anna, she was shaken, mad and confused for losing yet another spirit. By the time she reacted the combat was over, they won. Won the day but far from safe, they were still in a bank with an alarm on - and help was on the way. She looked at the downed mage with a bit of awe and disgust... "Asshole!"... She did not plan to steal anything, but she was a thief at heart and Zola was the most powerful mage she encountered. Despite herself, she astrally percieved and scanned the dead body for magical items or foci. She could never afford these - and Zola did not need them anymore...

"Grab some things if you must, but let's go out NOW... we get paid for destroying the horror beacon and Zola left a trail of dead bodies... Let's not get caught with our hand in the cookie jar."