Salted Wounds [IC], a Deep Black Sea game Options

[Luckace]

[ Spoiler ]

initiative: 1d6+9 15
Raph will use one point of edge for "Seize the initiative", but I will wait with the post until evryone had the chance to act, as a faster character who also spends edge will still surpass him.
"Move to the top of the initiative order, regardless of your Initiative Score. If
multiple characters spend Edge to go frst in the
same Combat Turn, those characters go before
everybody else, in order of their Initiative Scores;
subsequently, the other players and NPCs take
their actions according to their Initiative Scores.
This move to the top of the order lasts for the entire Combat Turn (meaning multiple Initiative Passes); you return to your normal place in Initiative
order at the start of the following Combat Turn."

[Gilga]

[ Spoiler ]

Initiative: 14+2d6 20

[SquirrelDude]

[ Spoiler ]

Initiative Rd 2: 3d6+1 9

[Luckace]

Whether it was pure luck, whether he had seen the shadow spirit move through astral space or whether his "guardian angel" had alerted him was unclear - but Wraith reacted instantly, the very moment Anna's warning had left her lips:
He charged towards the van, shouting, apparently at nobody directly: "Destroy it!".

Meanwhile, the air around the "angel" seemed to crackle, as if an electric energy had been discharged, and it dematerialized with a hateful gleam in it's eyes.

Aeraziel! Protect bnc, keep her safe!

[ Spoiler ]

Action 1: Command summoned spirit to attack the shadow spirit.
Elemental attack and fear don't work astrally, right? Therefore, the summoned (unbound) spirit of air will attack the demon using astral combat:
Astral combat (summoned spirit): 12d6t5 1 ...meh.

Action 2: Command Aeraziel (his bound spirit of air) How does this "late for fight" work? Does my bound spirit arrive one turn later as well, or can it act isntantly, as it only hads to materialize, not get summoned?
His initiative is Initiative (Aeraziel): 2d6+16 21, if he's late as well, it's 11

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

The "angel" was astrally perceiving so it can act in the turn after you give the order
Though its first action will be de-materialize as a complex action followed by movement.
So the attack comes at ini 11.

and no, it didn't hit, I'm just buying a defense hit.
Also Anna's spirit will act before yours.

Since the fast ones acted, everyone else also gets their action.

Your bound spirit doesn't have to be summoned with a roll, but it has to arrive first unless you had it haning around you in the Astral the whole time. This would make it "late to the fight" as well.

[Thanee]

[ Spoiler ]

Initiative 14 - 10 = 4

[Volker]

[ Spoiler ]

Initiative: 5d6+15 34 beat that, motherfucker!
Gunnery: 15d6t5 5
It's 12P, AP-3 and a three-bullet burst.
James initiative: 4d6+8 19

No time for meatspace!
At least, bnc is not unprepared. This is exactly the scenario she had told the others of, and for which she is perfectly ready.
"protect body maxsec; leave", she sends a message to James, ordering him to protect her with his own body if need be, and get her out of the van super-fast. Which is exactly what he was built for.
Then she sends another command, this time to the van. "open doors and windows"

[Volker]

bnc was explicitly waiting for the elemental at the very point he did. I don't know how this is a surprise. If anything, the spirit should be surprised as there's no way he could see my drone waiting for it. Please reconsider.

Anyway, at the current state, the initiative goes as follows (not yet including the bound spirit whose initiative hasn't been rolled):

bnc (surprised) 24 escape, attack 14
Anna's spirit 24 (I assume that it's down to 14 as Anna can't command it earlier)
spirit of air 24
dark spirit 23 manifest 13
Anna 20 astral combat 10
James 19
Wraith 15 command spirits 5
Nova (surprised) 4

So now we should deal the spirit attacks, then it's again bnc's go to shoot the thing. James just runs for the moment.

[Jack_Spade]

Things started to happen very quickly.

Inside the van nothing seemed to happen. From bnc' flying drone she couldn't see any change on visual or infrared.

[ Spoiler ]

Pilot*2 roll to react correctly to command: 10d6t5 4

Her anthrodrone awakened to life and - according to the sensor feed, passed something that had appeared on the ultrasound sensors. With surprising agility, it began to open the side door of the van.

Anna felt the pain of the sudden summoning rocking her body, still she staid conscious to give the spirit a command.
She couldn't see what was happening on the astral due to the van blocking her sight, but the emphatic connection to her spirit made it clear that the cephalopod had indeed begun to materialize inside the car and was in the process of stretching it's tentacles for bnc.

Her spirit unleashed a furious strike against the dual natured creature, which almost vanquished it, as if in desperation the creature extended one of it's pseudopods at bnc.
A second spirit appeared in the astral and tried to hit the

[ Spoiler ]

Astral Defense: 6d6t5 0 [6d6t5=2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]
Bwahahaha. Critical clitch
10DV + 2 from spontaneously upgrading it to a vitals shot
Soak: 5d6t5 2
Spirit takes 10 DV

Next action: The spirit beginns to essence drain. Draining a point of Essence takes an Extended Charisma + Magic (10 – target’s Essence, 1 minute) Test. So no need to roll yet

Ini 11: Wrath's spirit appears, hitting the shadow spirit as well:
Defense: Defense: 2d6t5 1
The attack misses.

bnc fires at the van, using effectively a blind shot: -6 and you have to contend with the wind -6 (but reduced to -3 through smart link) which combines according to the chart on p.175 core to a -10 mod (but since the individual factors are summed to a lower mod, we'll take that)
So [15d6t5=1, 5, 4, 1, 5, 1, 4, 1, 3, 6, 1, 3, 5, 1, 6]
becomes: [6d6t5=1, 5, 4, 1, 5, 1,]
Spirit can't see the attack comming and gets no defense, but still has superior cover, rolls 1 dice after burst Defense: 1d6t5 0
14DV AP-3

The van has 18 Armor, after AP it's at 15 - shot is blocked completely

Meanwhile, bnc tried to vaguely guess where her attacker was and fired with her drone at the van. The high powered rifle hit, but couldn't penetrate the armored vehicle.
Eliza's voice came online again: <<The van is under attack, starting evasive maneuvers.>>
The motor awakened to life and the van started to roll away.

[Gilga]

The pain of the summoning was overwhelming, but the spirit was dispatched. She texted >> Spirit in van- open doors, windows. Need line of sight! If Eliza complied, she hoped for a line of sight to the evil spirit. Perhaps her or Wraith could snipe it somehow.

[Luckace]

[ Spoiler ]

I rolled the bound spirit in my "charge for the van"-post as well (that's the one called Aeraziel), rolled for 21 -> 11 initiative. here's the roll again: Initiative (Aeraziel): 2d6+16 21
So I do believe it would act before Nova does, but then again it hardlly matters as such things in a fight can often get chaotic and things happen at the same time.

EDIT: Sorry, can do that only next round. It will try to engulf the demon: Bound Spirit engulf attack: 12d6t5 6
If succesfull, demon has to resist 12P (AP-6) and is in the spirit's grasp.

BUT: Wraith casts two lightning-bolts (reckless spellcasting) at the spirit. 2x F6 Lightning bolts (reckless): 2#13d6t5 3 6
Sadly, I had totally forgotten about the reckless spellcasting+3drain rules when I entered the roll, so that way too high force was a bit nuts.
Drain: 2#12d6t5 4 4 another 2 damage taken, putting him at 5/11 (counting the one stun damage from the museum was recoveredRecovering drain damage (3h): 3#9d6t5 4 5 3.

Yet another spirit materialized: The close to the cephalopd seemed to be filled with electrical energy, as an angelic figure with eyes like a purple dawn's sky appeared between the demon and bnc.
Slowly taking shape, it seemed to get ready to wrap it's wings around the cephalopod.

In the meanwhile, Wraith was standing only a few metres from the van with the shadow spirit in his sight. He raised his hand with the crucifix, shouting "Vade retro, satana!"
From his hand, a glowing arc of lightning emanated and dashed towards the shadowy spirit.

[Thanee]

When the action started, Nova saw the drone opening the side door to the van. Great, so she didn't have to do it. She moved the few meters over and hopped inside, cursing slightly at Eliza, who just started the van, which was about the worst idea ever at that point.

<< James already opened the side door. >>

Seeing the strange form of what could only be the dark spirit everyone was talking about, Nova aimed carefully, as to not hit bnc or anything important inside the van for that matter, then fired her rifle at the spirit.

[ Spoiler ]

Being about 10m away from the van, it is within walking distance (18m) now.

Shoot at spirit (with 1 action to aim for +1 dice) 7 hits (damage is 13P AP -8; gun is silenced)

I don't know, if there are any modifiers involved, so just deduct them from the back?

[Jack_Spade]

When the blinding glare of the lightning bolt stopped burning in everone's eyes and the overloaded sensors could see again, there was nothing left of the invisible spirit on the mundane or on the astral. The interior of the van was singed and a pervasive stench of ozon hung in the air for a second before the howling wind carried it away. The smooth finish of the van now had some pretty ugly dents as well and Anna felt a heavy nosebleed trickle down her face.

bnc's body still lay there and Eliza had stopped the car again. After the deafening sound of the shots, the ringing in everyone's ears also subsided.
The relative silence was broken by Eliza:
<<Please don't do that again. bnc, next time you might consider switching to AR to get out of harms way. Shooting at your own position was very dangerous. Not to mention you dented my baby.
And you others: I wasn't kidding when I said "don't get separated". This is a place where over a million people have been buried through the last 300 years. There is bound to be some kind of influence here.>>

[Volker]

If no further dangers can be seen either in meat or matrix space:

"Sorry I got a dent in your car when I tried to save my life. Won't happen again. And no, switching to AR would have cost me more time than commanding my drone which is, by the way, a lot faster and sturdier than I am.

Okay, Nova, Sharkboy, tell me again that it was paranoid that I wanted one or two of you to stay behind with me in the van in case the spirit would appear in the van and try to kill me. I may be a young drug addict with emotional issues but next time, please listen to me in tactical situations. Same goes for Anna, second time this day.

In our former party, as a decker and the one responsible for intelligence, I did the coordination while it was Anna's call to decide in case of any magical regards and our fighter's in military ones. I would strongly ask you to handle it similarly in this group. If you act like this in a more dangerous situation, reckless running off might just get all of us killed."

She inhales deeply and does something which is quite difficult for her. She says: "Please"

Then she sends James back inside, has him seat bnc back into her cushion and take up stance next to her again. Next she orders the drone back into the van to refill the spent ammunition, goes AR and manually refills it.

[Thanee]

"Hey, I was right there, wasn't I?" Nova said winking.

[Gilga]

Anna wiped her nose and said... >>bnc.... I am glad that you are safe, this is the most important thing.

Before we continue talking, get yourself to AR. This entire combat was unnecessary, I was alone with this thing and it did not attack me, it attacked you. It attacked you out of all of us because you were in VR, It dashed for your limb body - like a dog would run toward a piece of steak.

It is a big cemetery, there may be more spirits like this, and this combat has completely drained me. I cannot risk summoning or casting more spells as I might go unconscious. Spirit summoning, that you suggest so lightly is dangerous, usually, it goes well but sometimes we pay direly for it. So next time, nobody projects, nobody goes in AR and all of us go to the safehouse as a single group.

Despite her promise not to use magic, she used the pain relief spell on herself, then an improved willpower, followed by an attempt to improve the pain relief. She was happy with the results as they moved her from barely standing to uncomfortable. The pain relief spells were so high force that her entire body visibly glowed with faint white healing energy as she applied it.

[ Spoiler ]

Pain release: 12d6t5 3
drain: 11d6t5 4

Improve willpower: 13d6t5 5
Willpower increased by 4 (so now Anna has 2 boxes of stun damage she can take). She has a total of 9 stun damage and 13 boxes. She takes -2 to all actions due to wounds.
drain: 11d6t5 4
no drain.

She used the improved willpower, to try and improve the pain relief:
Pain relief: 13d6t5 4
drain: 15d6t5 6
This is much better, she can be under only one pain relief, but negating 4 damage would put her only at -1 wound penalty.

She pulled out a paper towel to wipe the blood from her nose and limped toward Wraith. "Some impressive mojo, and dramatic. Christian magic I presume... If you want I can use the pain relief spell on you as well."

[SquirrelDude]

"I understand that we're on a time table here, but can someone have a look at Anna and Wraith before they fall unconscious when trying to levitate a cup off a table?"

[Gilga]

Anna replied "I am fine, the spirit summoning took nearly all I had, but I am tougher than I look, and can suppress most of the pain, and push my body a lot... and I am not a combat mage anyhow. I fight with pistols."

[Volker]

[ Spoiler ]

sorry that should of course have been "goes AR and manually refills it. I edited the post accordingly."

bnc grins despite herself but doesn't answer to Nova, before she switches the interface mode, then stirs. She stands and stretches as best as she can and sighs. She still keeps talking on the team channel - a somewhat awkward experience, as her lips don't move while she talks.

"What are you talking about? Do you believe the spirit could have guessed that I was in VR? What do you learn in college? If it can feel my state of activity, it would have sensed I'm wide awake. If it could sense my essence, that wouldn't have been different in AR mode either. Astrally, it can't have perceived me, as I was inside the van's shell. How should it have gotten aware of my limp body? It just made a good guess to check whether someone was left inside the van, and got lucky. And what the frag makes you all assume that I'd be faster in meat-space? I threw tons of nuyens and time at this drone to do a better job at moving than my actual body. Going AR would have crippled me, no more.

Anyway, are you saying that you're too exhausted to proceed? In that case, we must leave and return tomorrow. What about you, Wraith? Can and do you want to go on?"

[Gilga]

Anna said on the team channel "I don't understand it but I think it sensed that you were in VR, I'll explain. When I first encountered it. I was projecting, and the thing started racing in the direction I came from. I felt like it went for my body and quickly returned, not before I slow it down with my magic. Then, I was in my body, along with it, and it completely ignored me and chose you.
I think that it is the kind that drains essence or consume metahumans in a similar manner - because I do not know why it would risk so much to murder you, it behaved a bit like a hungry animal. I may not remember this thing from magical threats course, but I am observant. If you want a riddle: I have one... How did the spirit even know that you were in the car? The car blocks astral sight. "

[SquirrelDude]

Sharkboy ran his hands over his ballistic mask in frustration. He'd seen what happens when exhausted people try to put on a match. They get reckless, can't pull their weight, and the person they're working with gets hurt.

"Ms. Black. I wasn't really suggesting that you and Wraith get checked out. I'm telling you that we can't keep searching until we ensure our mages aren't going to be incapacitated by a stray gel round hitting you in the shoulder.

"bnc, do you have any alternative theories as to why a spirit would go straight for you rather than one of the two with the least essence or the two mages?

[Gilga]

She asked "What are you suggesting Mr. Shark?"

[SquirrelDude]

Sharkboy stopped using comms and instead yelled over the cemetery at the obtuse mage, "Bakayarou! Are your comm's fried or are you fucking deaf? For the third damn time. Go have get yourself checked out by Nova or whoever else has the doc box and knows how to use it.

"And don't say drek about feeling okay. Injured people don't know how badly they're hurt."

[Gilga]

Anna shrugged "Drain is tricky, the only cure is rest." She went to the van, cursing quietly.

[Luckace]

Wraith didn't say much. He was obviously quite exhausted, but apart from that, he seemed fine.
"Pain relief? I don't know how taxing that is, but I think we should conserve our strength.
I'm... Well, not fine, but I can go on. Just... Got a bit too greedy. As long as I don't have to do anything too hard, I'm good to go. I just need some rest when we're done here. ", he replied to the question of his well-being.
[coor="FF0000"] " Nova, I take it you got some proper medications in that bag of yours? I'll take any help I can get." [/color]

Towards Anna: "Yeah, sometimes it all seems fruitless, but then on other occasions, it seems like a miracle.
Wait...", he seems surprised as she heads for the van.
"where are you going? We still have to search the hideout!"