IC: A Short Victorius War, A Living in the Shadows Game Options

[bclements]

22:08:55 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets - Tacoma

Erebus's phone rings as he drives down the street. "It's Doc. Your message was pretty rushed, you need a place to stay, right?" the shaman asks, concern evident in his voice.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

22:08:55 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets - Tacoma

"Hey, Doc, thanks for the call back. What I need is an isolated spot, preferably abandoned, where me and a couple of chummers can hole up for a few hours. Utilities are optional. I've also got a couple of people who could use your services. I know you're in tight with the Princes so I thought somewhere in their turf would be appropriate. You let me know the price tag and directions and I'll be there."

Erebus wanted to keep Doc's involvement to a minimum, knowing that he was putting the shaman at risk. The less the Princes' were involved the better since that was going to cost some cred.

Still, the elf thought as he headed his bike towards Milton and his apartment there, I'd rather pay and live instead of be tight and die.

[bclements]

22:09:19 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets - Tacoma

" 'Use my services' meaning they're shot up, right? Never mind, I know the answer to that," the shaman says with a sigh. After a moments pause, he continues. "Go ahead and bring them then, I'll tell you what you owe me when I see what you've got. I've got a place off of 7, an old warehouse off of the Eatonville Highway. And loose any heat you've got on you before getting there. These guys down here are even more paranoid than usual lately. " Doc says

[Cedric Rolfsson]

22:09:19 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets- Tacoma

"Thanks Doc, we'll be there as soon as we can. I'll let my crew know that the hardware will have to stay in the car."

Erebus immediately relayed the information to Dragon including the address for Doc and the restrictions. They were moving well now, and wouldn't be too long until he got back to his place and picked up the rest of his gear. He'd grab his deck and his AK too, as well as a couple of grenades, things were getting nasty fast around here.

[banditf50]

22:09:55 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets- Tacoma

Virgil had almost convinced himself that this recent ambush was not connected to the attacks outside of Tommy Wong's or Juliette's clinic. It was more likely that the goons outside of the bar had been waiting to ambush Tenmou and Erebus as part of their involvement with Vinnie. Not to mention that they didn't seem to be as well trained and coordinated as the ambush squad from earlier today.

Discussing things with Dragon and Daedalus would help to solidify things as Virgil was sure that they had additional thoughts on the latest battle that were not obvious to him. But before he could bother to talk with his companions, another far graver concern was scratching at the back of his mind.

Juliette . . . galina . . .we were spotted at the clinic once . . .

Not even finishing his thought Virgil whips his phone from long-coat's inner pocket and immediately presses the button to speed-dial Julitte.

"Beeeeep . . . beep"

That's one. .. come on, please be OK

"Beeeeep . . . . beep"

All he can do is wait, and hope that the agonizing sound of the phone ringing will be ended by the sound of Juliette's sweet voice, mocking him for worrying so much.

[Sedna]

22:10:41 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets- Tacoma

"Beeeeep . . . beep"
"Beeeeep . . . beep"
"Beeeeep . . . beep"
"Beeeeep . . . beep"

Nervousness is starting to give way to outright panic by the time the cellphone is finally answered by Juliette -- almost a minute later. And the first words out of her mouth are: "Don't use names!" And then, deliberately keeping it light: "How is my car?"

[Shadow]

22:10:41 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets- Tacoma

The trash littered suburb that was Tacoma flashed by in the night. The few tall building there were stood out like beacons in the darkness. The putrid smell of the 'Tacoma Aroma' waifed on the cold air reminding you all where you are.

For an instant Tenmou sees the reflection of a single headlight in the night behind them. He glances at Dragon to confirm what he saw. The big samurai nods, he had seen it too.

[banditf50]

22:11:46 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets- Tacoma

"In much better condition than our last car, in fact I am riding in it as we speak. We got jumped again a short while back, no idea if it is related to our last incident. I just wanted to see if everything is OK on your end."

[Sedna]

22:13:12 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets - Tacoma

It seems a very long time before Juliette speaks again: "Depends. We still need what you're looking for. How're you doing with that?"

[banditf50]

22:13:32 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets - Tacoma

A bit confused as to why Juliette seems so odd on the phone he considers his next phrase carefully: "Fine thus far, I just wanted to be sure that you were safe . . . . and I wanted to ask you . . . do you remember what my brother does for a living?"

[Sedna]

22:14:58 Sunday, January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets - Tacoma

Again the lengthy pause. "Yes, it is me," she says finally, quietly. "I know he's crossed over. So would anyone who knows you. But Vi' -- we're supposed to be laying low, here -- and we're running out of time." A very short pause, this time. "So why are you calling me anyway?"

[banditf50]

22:14:11 Sunday, January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets - Tacoma

He had thought he was being clever in trying to ensure that he was talking to Juliette, now Virgil just felt sheepish. "I just called because we were ambushed again and it seemed possible that your location might have been threatened again. I just wanted to make sure that you were all safe."

[Cedric Rolfsson]

22:20:15 Sunday january 7, 2063 - Steets of Milton - Tacoma

Erebus watched carefully for anything amiss in the area as they approached his apartment, hoping that everything remained quiet. He re-dialed Dragon's number as they turned the corner onto the street his apartment building was located on. He couldn't see the building from here, they still had several blocks to travel, but now it was simply a straight shot without any further turns.

"Hoi, Dragon, my apartment building is just up this street on the left, there is an underground parking area where we can park that's discreet. At least there it would be hard to be observed. There is only one entrance though."

He knew the big samurai would understand all the tactical implications of taking the parking lot. It would get them off the streets and out of sight, almost impossible to be spotted without giving any observer away, but it would also mean they could be trapped in there too and have to flee on foot through the building. On the whole he would prefer to park inside and rely on the drones to provide a timely warning of trouble, but he still wasn't sure how much the other runners would trust him not to lead them into a set-up.

Either way he had to get back to his apartment to pick up his cyberdeck, he also wanted to grab his AK and ammo with as rough as things had gotten on this drek eating run.

[WinterRat1]

22:11:00 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton – Tacoma

As he catches Tenmou’s eye and notes they had both observed the same thing, Dragon says, “Daedalus. We might have someone following behind us. One headlight, back in the distance. Can you get a drone up there and check it out?”

22:20:29 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton – Tacoma

They sit in silence for a few minutes while Daedalus goes back to check, at least in theory. Meanwhile, replying to Erebus’s call, Dragon answers, ”Hold on. We might have someone trailing along behind us. I’ve got Daedalus in the sky right now to check it out, but until then, we might want to wait on heading back to your apartment. Maybe we should cruise past it first, or even split up? How long will it take you to grab your stuff?”

[Cedric Rolfsson]

22:20:30 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton - Tacoma

He refused to look back or make any indication to whomever might be following them.

"It'll take me maybe six minutes inside the doss, plus travel time to the apartment, maybe 10 minutes total from the time I get out of the saddle. If you want to split up that's fine with me, I'll stop and see if I can ID the trailer then run grab my gear. Or we can all move into the doss in force and see if who ever is following is stupid enough to try us on for size."

Erebus tried hard to think his way through the problem, work the angles to find whatever edge he could. He had his bike, and his Yamaha in the parking lot, they could put another rider out as a skirmisher, someone who might not be connected to this crew immediately. Plus, if he could lay his hands on the AK and the Neurostun grenades in his apartment he'd have more available firepower to play with in case of trouble.

[Shadow]

Now that he was looking for it Erebus could see the one eyed vehicle following a few hundred meters back. It could be a harmless local, out for a midnight drive in gang infested streets....

[Tiredronin]

22:20:30 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton - Tacoma

Daedalus glanced over the rooftops to see the car he, Dragon and the others are traveling in and spots the car he mentioned. He then changed the course Talos had been cruising at to hover over the street.

"I'm on it Dragon. We may want to see about taking a couple extra turns, just to make sure that this guy is following us. Man, this is like Aztlan, the action never stops. We may need to seriously reconsider this whole operation."

[Shadow]

Talos eagle eyes spye the oncoming headlight with robotic efficiency. The information is than relayed through the radio signal that leashes Talos to Daedalus.

The driver is young, perhaps 16, with close croped hair except for one brain in front. He is dressed in monk like robes and doesn't apear to be armed.

[Tiredronin]

22:20:50 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton - Tacoma

Daedalus made sure to keep Talos reasonably out of sight as he scrutinized the rider.

"It's a teenager on a motorcycle, dressed like a monk, single braid of hair. Is there a monastery around here or something? He appears unarmed, physically anyway. Maybe we can just pull over at some random place and see what he does."

He glanced briefly into Icarus's cameras flying high above the street to note the general street traffic following them, ahead of them, and anywhere else in the vicinity.

[Shadow]

22:25:50 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton - Tacoma

Its late, your in a less than savery part of town, the streets are nearly deserted.

[Sedna]

22:17:15 Sunday, January 7, 2063 - Tacoma City Streets - Tacoma

Again, after the pause: "We've not been ambushed again. We're trying to keep it that way, so I'm going to have to keep this brief. Just -- be careful?" And with that the line disconnected.

[Tiredronin]

22:30:45 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton - Tacoma

While driving, Dragon spoke through his radio, "Tenmou, you should be able to hear this through your com on this frequency. Daedalus, when we get there, camp out the alleys, we gotta give Erebus some time to get up and get back. Only one entrance so we need to keep it clear."

"Beautiful, how much you wanna bet we DON'T get Juilette's car back to her in one piece." Daedalus replied as he prepared to move his drones into position while keeping Talos' watchful eye on the monk behind them.

[Shadowrunner13]

22:30:45 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton - Tacoma

Tenmou was briefly startled when Dragon's voice was relayed through his transducer, but quickly recovered.

"Read you loud and clear, Dragon. Glad to know you're capable of silent communication. Where do you need me?"

[WinterRat1]

22:31:15 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Streets of Milton – Tacoma

”Since when do we ever return anything in one piece? This is getting to be a bad, not to mention potentially expensive habit,” Dragon muttered sourly.

After gathering all available data and forming a plan in his mind, Dragon continued, “All right, here’s the plan.”

Speaking aloud for the benefit of those in the car while he transmitted to Erebus, he said, “Erebus, park your bike in the parking garage and run up to get your stuff. Tenmou, you and I will go down to the parking garage itself and hold the entrance, as well as to back up Erebus when he comes back down or in case trouble’s already waiting for us. Daedalus, keep the outside clear and keep us informed of what’s going on outside. Virgil, if you can’t do magic stuff and there’s no one to talk to, you’re worthless.”

They all cracked a smile, even if it was a serious issue. Without Virgil, their magical backup was exactly zero, and that was never good. They needed him back and functioning at full capacity, because it was pretty obvious their enemies weren’t skimping on the heavy artillery.

“Thanks,” Virgil answered dryly. “I suppose you’ll want me to run around on the street screaming and waving my arms to draw their fire?”

Grinning at him in the rearview mirror, Dragon answered, “Well since you volunteered…I was going to tell you to drive, but if you want to be our decoy, who am I to say no?”

Getting serious again, he said, “All right, we’re here. In and out as quickly as possible and then on to get to this hideout Erebus mentioned. Let’s go.”

Pulling up in front of the parking garage just as Erebus sped down into it, Dragon quickly got out of the car, immediately looping the Franchi Spas around his shoulder and hiding it as best he could under his coat, while Tenmou did the same thing with his SMG on the other side of the car. Meanwhile, Virgil moved to the front seat and drove down the street into a nearby alley for concealment.

Jogging down into the parking garage and taking up positions on the opposite side of the entrance, the two of them got there just in time to see Erebus hop off his bike and start running up the stairs. Taking cover and keeping a close watch on the street, there was nothing left to do but wait…

[Tiredronin]

22:33:24 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Concealed in a nearby alley – Tacoma

"You know Virgil, you could always use my SMG. Not the same as drilling a hole in some guys head with your will, but it'll do in a pinch." Daedalus offered from the back seat.

He moved Talos into an alley accross the street from the parking garage, then jumped into Icarus far above the street to keep a broad perspective on anyone entering the area.

Then he recalling that he had never actually seen Virgil fire a gun, he added, "... or you could just drive and tell me when to come back and where to shoot."