Behind the Crown [IC], Behind the crown are shadows Options

[Koekepan]

Regardless of Blue's difficulties with labour relations vis-a-vis the fairer sex, the early morning is much what he'd expect. The sky is a silver-grey, the city is rumbling with the sounds of industry, and there are some virtual signs up advertising space for rent.

Of course, once Blue filters those down to something approximating a viable budget, the selection tanks similarly. On the other hand, if he's willing to put up with a basement studio apartment under an all-night dance club, maybe that's just what he needs.

[pbangarth]

Blue makes a note of the contact information for the dance club studio. It seems like a good fit for his lifestyle right now. He decides not to ask Betty for a side trip though. She seems very distracted and eager to be rid of him.

Oh well. He'll make contact once he gets back to Hopalong's place. Outside, of course.

[Koekepan]

Betty drives Blue back, but on their approach to the street, Blue notices a column of smoke rising - and on looking down the street, he sees a roadblock, an armoured van, and a lot of grunts motioning people away. In the distance he hears what sounds like gunfire.

Hm. This isn't quite the happy homecoming that he'd anticipated.

[pbangarth]

Blue gapes for a moment, and then decides. """Betty, please stop here. """ Once she has done so, he continues. """ The smart thing to do would be to just turn around and walk away. Ditch the burner as I do so.

"""But in there somewhere are people who helped me. This is one of those turning points in a person's life. Just had one a few days ago, and here comes another. Safer to walk away, but what kind of thing would I have protected, would I become? """

+++ What did Nietzche say? 'Any human being who does not wish to be part of the masses need only stop making things easy for himself. Let him follow his conscience'. Console yourself, boy. Isn't it smart to help those who might be coerced to help find you?+++

"""Betty, could you do one last favour for me, please? While I call in some help, could you find some kind of map of the transit tunnels in this area? I might need to find a back way in. Send the info to my burner when you have something. After that, get out of here as fast as you can. This isn't your fight."""

Blue steps out of the car, with his gear, and over to a tree, to be less obvious. He calls on the city to send him aid.

[ Spoiler ]

Summon F4 City Spirit: target 4, 5+2=7 dice:4 successes

Drain resistance, target 4(M), 4+2=6 dice: 2 successes
Don't know about Karma Pool available now.

Light Stun (1 box) ==> not much time needed to heal this with WIL 12, but it has to be resting!

A little bit woozy, he waits for anything Betty has to offer. Mentally he ticks off his inventory and counts potential adversaries.

[Koekepan]

Betty stops, and as soon as Blue exits the vehicle, turns around and drives away.

It takes a bit, but maybe she was working on it while she let the autopilot take over. Blue gets a map - not exactly super-detailed, but probably close enough for general use. He could presumably figure out which tunnel is near this area with a little work.

The city spirit shows up, in the form of a semi-automated garbage truck, and sits nearby, its hydraulics whining a little at Blue - but in a generally cooperative way. Or maybe that's just tinnitus from the summoning.

From what Blue can see, there are at least a dozen enforcers in some form of armour standing around, protecting a perimeter around half the street. Overhead, a few drones are buzzing - no, wait, there seems to be a drone firefight going on. Is that where the gunfire is?

The smoke does seem to be coming from Hopalong's safehouse.

[pbangarth]

+++ A dozen visible, maybe more? They must have a healthy regard for our capabilities. +++

Blue considers his course of action. First, he opens to the astral to see if there is any astral activity associated with the mundane forces. It would surprise him if there were not, as they know about him.

[Koekepan]

It's a little hard to be sure, but Blue seems to see a watcher, or a couple of watchers, scooting around the perimeter of the action. They look rather like puppies.

There's a big, wolfhound-like thing sitting in front of the door. It doesn't seem to be doing anything.

No magicians are in clear evidence, and presumably any that are around, are inside the building already.

He does see the telltale signatures of prepared magical formulae on the persons of a few of the goons on the perimeter - but he couldn't say what they actually were without analysis. Chances, are, something like emergency medical use spells.

[pbangarth]

Blue had thought to send the spirit in to create chaos above ground and draw outside a mage or two while he went in through the transit system to help inside. Two things changed his mind.

First, he remembered he didn't check earlier how to get in the back door. Being stuck in the transit tunnel would suck. Second, the spirits and the drone dogfight led him to believe he would be more useful out here. Fighting drones meant Carlos was still active. If Carlos, then likely Hopalong. The nature of the spirits out here was canine. If there was a Dog shaman around, they would have to be outside, possibly in the van.

The magical shootout was going to be out here. +++ It looks like they don't know I'm here. Time to disabuse them of that error. +++

::: Trucker, it's time to clear the streets! Conceal me first, and then drive the guards on the streets away. Get rid of them any way you like. Then see what damage you can do to the van and anyone inside. Have fun, big guy! :::

With the concealment on him, Blue decides to deal with the wolfhound.

[ Spoiler ]

F5 Stunbolt (Deadly damage) at the astral dog at the door. I don't know the WIL of the spirit, so I will list all the dice here. I know the TN is +1 because of the 1 box of stun damage.

Sorcery 5 + spell pool 5 = 10 dice : 5, 6, 4, 6, 4, 2, 2, 5, 6, 6
Oh, forgot Owl!!! 2 more dice: 6,6 So, 6,6,6,6,6,6,5,5,4,4,2,2. Yeah. That should hurt. And draw some attention!

Drain target 2+1 (1 box of stun damage)=3(Deadly), WIL 12 + 2 Owl +2 spell pool = 16 dice: 11 successes No Drain.

With any semblance of surprise over, in ensuing combat turns 2 spell pool dice will be allocated to spell defense until further notice.

[Koekepan]

Blue's spell travels straight out like the fist of an angry troll, and catches the waiting wolfhoud spirit in the heart. It slumps, and fades. Not even a whimper.

Blue's view of the garbage truck seems to shift - and he realises that it is materialising. The puppy-watchers bark at it for a moment, then scoot away at spirit-speed.

As Blue glances back at the material world, he sees the garbage truck making for the goons with its grabber-claws reaching for them. They wail and sprint away at their best speed, while the spirit-truck upturns a bulldog van and shoves it down the street with an agonising scrape of metal and glass on the road surface. One goon stands his ground and pours a magazine of bullets into the spirit, but he might as well have been urinating on its wheels. Moments later, he turns tail and flees with the rest. Another van tips up, and the garbage truck keeps shoving them down the road while goons pound frantically on house doors and windows, trying to escape the street.

About this time, a goon comes out of Hopalong's safehouse, with a slumped figure over his shoulder. Blue can't see much, but judging by the size and the hair, it might be Cindy. He stops, drops her, and backpedals rapidly. The door slams, and Blue can see Cindy, and a pool of red spreading onto the concrete steps where she lies.

[pbangarth]

The sight of Cindy's slumped form on the steps raises Blue's ire. Pain in the ass that she was, she didn't deserve this. +++ If you didn't want her, then just leave her. Not this. +++

No immediate threat presents itself, so Blue considers the drones. +++ If that is Carlos controlling those, then he has a window out of the Faraday cage. Maybe I can contact him. +++

He fires up the burner, keeping an eye out for the inevitable. It's not like they don't know he's here, now. <<< Carlos. You there? Blue here, stirring things up outside. Cindy looks dead. How about the rest of you? >>>

[Koekepan]

It takes agonising minutes, waiting for a response. Or perhaps it was seconds, but it felt like minutes. The spirit trashes both vans comprehensively, while the goons break windows and kick in doors and race into houses. From these covered positions they open fire on the spirit - to no substantial effect whatsoever - while it engages in lurid truck-on-van pornography and overhead a drone dogfight continues.

Someone dashes into the doorway of the safehouse, and possibly shouts while waving something at the spirit. This distracts the spirit, when a response comes in from Carlos:

<<<Frag her. Went rogue. Sold us out. Bugging out. Detonation pending.>>>

While Blue digests this epic narrative, there's a barely-muffled *C*R*U*M*P* from up the street. Bits of roofing tile and glass start to shower from the sky, and dirty orange flames burst from a hole in what used to be the roof of the safehouse.

Whoever's in there is having a very bad day.

[pbangarth]

Blue messages Carlos. <<<Tell me where we can meet up.>>>

He would dearly love to get into the burned house to get a piece of it to try to keep Madel going. ( Yes, Madel is how he has started thinking of the gnarly Hearth spirit of the place. ) But the people in the windows shooting are a real problem. All it would take is one to break through the Concealment and Blue would be a yellow little duck in a shooting gallery. Ding ding ding, Yessir, goon number seven wins the cupie doll!

There might be a better way.

::: Hey, trucker. Looks like you are having a good time. Sorry to interrupt, but please dig into the burning house and bring me a piece of the furnace that heats it. Especially good would be part of the burner mechanism. After that you are home free, big guy. :::

While the spirit completes that last task, Blue works on clearing the astral signature of his spell. This could take a while.

[ Spoiler ]

Force 5 spell needs 5 successes total, each attempt takes Force 5 X 3 second combat round = 15 seconds

1) Sorcery 5 + Owl 2 = 7 dice, target 5 (Force) + 1 (stun damage) =6 : 2 successes
Resist Drain 5 + 1 =6(L) 12 + 2 = 14 dice : 0 successes 1 more box of Stun damage, total 2 now

2) 7 dice, target 6: 2 successes
resist Drain 14 dice, target 6(L): 1 success WHAT THE FUCK! 1 more box damage, 3 boxes for M stun Damage, now +2 to target

3) 7 dice, target 7: 1 success total of 5 reached now
resist Drain 14 dice, target 7(L): 3 successes no more Drain.

3 attempts= 45 seconds

After nearly a minute of headache inducing concentration, Blue waits behind the tree for Trucker to return, hoping no reinforcements arrive in the meantime. He prepares for the possibility that he will have to send the spirit home before he gets a piece of the house.

[Koekepan]

The garbage truck winks out of the material plane, and then ... winks out completely.

Apparently the hearth domain is still active, regardless of how harmed it might be, and asking the city spirit to cross into it was just too much.

Oh well, at least Blue's behind a nice tree.

[pbangarth]

A second or two after Trucker winks out, a smile comes across Blue's face. ::: Sorry for the shock, Trucker, but you just told me something good. If the house's domain is strong enough to zap you, then for now it's strong enough to hold on to Madel. I'll be back, old girl, when it's safe for me to do so. :::

Of course neither of them could ... hear ... him, but Blue was mostly talking to himself, anyway. He turned and slunk off into the night, heading for the nearest entrance to the underground transit system Betty's map showed. Hopefully to find Carlos and Hopalong (maybe Chuck too?) And hopefully some rest to get rid of that wicked headache. A tree here, a parked car there. Keep those prying eyes off.

+++ How the hell did I not resist the Drain of that? It should have been a slam-dunk. Well, "That which does not kill us ..." +++

[Koekepan]

Blue's clothing has the advantage that it's appropriate for the climate, so he doesn't get any more discomfited than he did on his stroll to find Petsonal Petsonalities' facility. This time he has the additional comfort that the screaming and bleeding is mostly behind him, and perhaps that some of the breeze is soothing to his headache even if the gunfire is not.

How on earth is that drone firefight not over yet? It may have intensified, even. Either way, Blue trudges down the steps to the underground transit system with the distant du-du-du-du-du of automatic weaponry in the background, softened by the echoes of the city's angles and corners. A bored-looking rentacop supervises the station, which isn't entirely deserted as early commuters filter in. There is a maintenance walkway down the tunnel, but it's past a door marked STAFF ONLY, and it's a cinch that there's some kind of alarm on it.

Around the commuters are viewscreens, and there is a talking head overlaid on an enhanced newsdrone view of what looks like the firefight, but it isn't clearly informative. There is a view of a DocWagon team extracting someone. Cindy? Maybe. Goons? Likely.

A readout shows a five minute delay in transit bus arrival times. Nobody seems surprised, nor particularly distressed.

[pbangarth]

Blue finds a comfortable (?) seat off by itself, with a view of his surroundings, and settles in, looking just like any number of bored commuters do every day of their mundane lives. Nope, no one hunting this man. No need to pay him any attention at all. He sinks a bit deeper into a still, quiet space. Let the headache abate as he waits for whoever survived the house explosion.

[ Spoiler ]

Heal stun damage, M level, target 2 + 2 = 4, WIL 12 = 12 dice : 7 successes
60 minutes/ 7 = ~8 minutes per box

{I don't think he gets an easier target once the first box is healed}

As he waits for the pain to go away, Blue considers an interesting change in him. He never used to name the spirits he summoned. Or care much about them. But Trucker, and more clearly Madel, have brought up actual feelings in him. Suspecting the blown up house will be demolished, he really means to take a stab at finding a new home for Madel. He has very little idea how that will happen.

Maybe Mary Margaret will know something. Or Henry. After the headache goes. After the group rejoins. After there is a safe place to make a call.

All this while he has a job to do as well. And a place to stay to find. And a triple A corp to evade. Life is certainly more ... interesting now. Nietzche's observation comes to mind again. Yeah, certainly not part of the masses now!

[Koekepan]

Blue's burner chirrups at him while he's waiting for blessed relief.

<<<Splitting. Hoppy bailed already. Chuck bit it in the boom. Ditching this burner. You should too. If I see you again, I owe you a drink. Stay alive, chummer.>>>

A little cryptic, perhaps, but presumably he's distracted with whatever heavy firefight is going on. Or maybe he already dropped out of that? Blue can't hear anything outside the tunnel, with the noise of passing vehicles and people commuting.

[pbangarth]

Blue pondered the loss of life and property since he ditched Mitsuhama. Was his freedom worth it all? It took only a moment for him to decide that the losses were a result of the AAA's lust for control and winning, not his break for freedom. Seeing as they lost a lot of valuable assets in this last debacle, he could only hope that some accountant somewhere would decide to cut losses and let the shaman go.

Yeah.

He ditched the burner, removing any traces of his calls, removing the SIM chip, whatever he could do. Burner into a garbage can, SIM chip crushed under his heel. He grabbed the first transport available to take him to a Stuffer Shack for a new burner, and then to the nightclub he saw earlier to arrange a place to stay. Get some rest, clear the head, plan the next move.

[Koekepan]

Blue made it to the nightclub substantially unmolested (not counting the sloppy drunk woman who wanted to assure him that she's not racist against dwarves, all her dwarf boyfriends have been great, and she loved the sex every time) and disembarked not three blocks from it. It presents itself as a dive, but its clientele is definitely well heeled. Interbay, but close enough to the bright lights of downtown that all sorts of naughty boys and girls will come from their jobs, or from their parents' boring homes, to stomp and gyrate for a while.

It's named BrainLaser. It has a glowing TriD sign of a woman with jacks in her skull, from which shoot lasers. Classy.

But more to the point, they have a basement apartment.

The bouncer takes a minute to understand what Blue is talking about, but then realises that they found a lunatic who actually had an interest in the apartment, so not long after that, Blue's in a relatively quiet office in the back, talking to the manager. This worthy is a lean elf woman, whose personal decor is somewhere between up to the minute, and ten minutes ago. Cutting edge enough to showcase her business, far enough not to threaten the egos of the clientele who come for the courting dance.

She's friendly, businesslike, and makes it clear: it's a furnished studio apartment, it's soundproofed up to a point, but no power on earth can block out the monstrous bass noise from upstairs, there's a sanitary facility, a 'trix hookup, power is included in the rent. Don't do anything illegal or destructive, and there won't be a problem. The ceiling is 6 feet exactly, so frankly they've had trouble renting it, but at least that won't be a problem for Blue.

[pbangarth]

It sounds idyllic to Blue. Noisy at night when he is up anyway, and probably out, at least in the short term, and hopefully relatively quiet during the daytime.

""" I would like to take a look at it before I commit, and am interested in your rental terms. Also, what are the hours of operation, hours when the music is playing? """

[Koekepan]

"""Three hundred a month, with first, last and security in advance. We turn on the sound at 4:30PM, and admit customers at 5:30."""

She leads Blue outside the building, and down a separate staircase. It actually isn't bad, if one can ignore the THUMPTHUMPTHUMP from above. She, of course, has to lean over to fit in, but the ceiling height is fine for Blue.

The outfit isn't really spartan, but it isn't luxurious. Water and electricity are unrationed, 'trix access too is based off the club's accounts, so there's no problem there. No bathtub, but there is a shower stall, and a kitchenette. There are hefty locks on the door, the windows are high and narrow, and the furnishings mostly look free of obvious vermin. A bed. Two chairs. A dresser. A closet.

Paradise in the city.

[pbangarth]

""" Sounds reasonable. """ Blue pulls out the credstick. """A couple more questions. When does the music shut off, and where can I do laundry? """

[Koekepan]

The manager flops down into a chair to save her neck and back, and crosses her legs. Nice legs, if you like them elf-shaped. """We send the last customers out at 6AM, and drop the music down ten decibels then. Music off at more or less 6:30AM because the crew are cleaning up and closing. If you work nights, this should be perfect for you. The windows here are all triple glazing, plus the sound absorption reduces ambient traffic noise a lot. It's pretty quiet in here during the days. Laundry - well, if you have one of those little dorm washers, you can use that. Alternatively, there are two robolaundries within three blocks. If you don't like one, there's always the other."""

[pbangarth]

""" Night shift is my preference. Your place here is fine. Let's make the deposits and I'll settle in. """ Once the money is transferred, Blue continues, """ As an aside, you ever have trouble upstairs? Anything I need to be cautious of? """

[Koekepan]

"""Touch wood, never except the occasional drunk or fistfight - same as any club, really - and my security takes care of it pretty quickly. Worst ever was three orks trying to yank a girl away from her boyfriend. They were kicked out and banned, but that was three years ago. Nothing that worries me at all, and I'm here every night."""

She takes payment, and hands Blue a couple of keys: one physical, one maglock. They open the door.