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

[Cedric Rolfsson]

01:10:15 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville - Puyallup Barrens

Carrying a bundle of the gear he'd found that Dragon might use in his little lab experiment gave Erebus time to reach inside and turn off his distate for what was to come. He hoped that the Yak solider would co-operate willingly enough once the situation became clear but he doubted it, and the information he had could make the diffence between life and death for the team. One way or another they had to have that data.

With somewhat of a start he realized that he'd already begun to think of the group of runners as his team rather than just a collection of individuals. His mentor's advise rang inside the silent places in his head.

If you find people you can trust, hold on to them boy, cause they're rare in the circles we live in.

The young elf promised himself he'd do what it took to protect the team, and with a grim determination returned to Dragon with the equipment he needed.

[banditf50]

00:31:48 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

The shaman's kind voice, combined with the sense that they were experiencing the first breather over a day, allowed Virgil to relax a bit. "Physically I'm fine, nothing a few hours of sleep won't fix. For the past 24-36 hours my magical abilities have been crippled. Each spell I have cast, and spirit called, has taken an unusual amount of concentration, while draining me much more than normal. To make matters worse, I can no longer project myself into the astral world, my spirit form seems tethered to my body."

Virgil was quite sure that the shaman would be just as confused as he . . ."I was hoping that you might be able to astrally examine me, perhaps let me know what I am up against."

[WinterRat1]

01:12:19 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville - Puyallup Barrens

Seeing the jumper cables the elf had returned with, Dragon took a look at them and pulled on them a few times, testing their strength and resiliency. Apparently satisfied, he tied them around their prisoner, further securing him. He left the alligator clips unattached, but let one dangle not so subtly near the man's groin. The other, he left out a bit, running a few feet away from the prisoner.

Dumping a collection of metal objects on a table nearby, there were only two objects there Erebus hadn't expected to see. The first wasn't that surprising, it was a long, thin metal pole. It didn't seem like much to beat someone with, but Erebus realized it probably wasn't for beating him with. No, it was probably for something much, much nastier. The second was much more unusual. With a second glance, Erebus realized he hadn't been mistaken in what he thought he saw the first time. A funnel.

Spreading the objects on the table evenly, Dragon said, "Thanks for the jumper cables. That should do." He seemed calm, just a little too calm, and if Erebus hadn't gone deep within himself to shut off certain parts of him, he was darn sure he'd be pretty unnerved right now. "Sorry to ask you to go out again, but do you think you could scrounge up a battery around here somewhere? Car sized should do it, and preferably not the one from our car."

He grins, breaking the tension in the air, until his next sentence, which brings all the previous tension flooding back, and then some. "Oh, and do you think you could ask them if they happen to have a blender anywhere in here?"

[bclements]

00:35:02 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

Doc shrugged as he looked over Virgil once again. “Not a problem. Most of these guys come in here with just a gunshot or knife in the side like your friend. Not pretty, especially when she’s half chiped out of her skull like Chevy was the other night. ” Doc said, motioning Virgil toward what looked to be a office away from the main area of the warehouse.

Walking inside, Virgil is slightly surprised by the area, obvisouly not the work of the same hand that did the free flowing grafitti in the main portion of the warehouse. The wall opposite the door is taken up with a mural of a stylized sunrise viewed through a brake of trees. With the other three walls a soft shade of green, the overall effect is of a glade in a forest. “Bear’s vision,” Doc says, noticing the shaman looking at the room. “Warded too, and out of prying eyes. Some of those guys would probably try to recruit you, or put some pressure on me if they knew you who you were. Saves time and headaches all around,” the elf said.

Gesturing over toward a stool for Virgil to sit down, and taking one from under a shelf holding some wooden figurines, he looked the other shaman over once more. “I probably don’t want to ask if you’ve been in any exotic places recently,” the Bear shaman said with a wry grin. “No surgery or anything like that as well?” Doc asked, a bit more seriously.

[banditf50]

00:39:14 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

Taking in the surrondings of the room Virgil could sense the shift in aura between the different parts of the building. This room felt, ever so slightly, like Juliette and Galina's clinic. The positive aura that healers performing their craft weave into a place over time.

"No surgery for me Doc, I'm all flesh. As for travel to exotic places, I have not seen out of this town in several years." At least if all this trouble was happening to me while I was up north, I'd still be getting a vacation..

"I have been using a lot of mana over the last few days, but that is no different than the many times that have come before."

[bclements]

00:41:27 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

“Just checking. You never know when something will cause more than a little unforeseen damage,” Doc said. “Now, just relax for a moment. This won’t hurt a bit…” he continued, taking a deep breath and looking intently at Virgil

Hmm…not very relaxed Doc thought to himself, mentally cataloguing the other shaman’s brightly shimmering aura. Lots of stress lately. Shooting? Something like that recently. recognizing the patterns in Virgil’s aura that matched the ones from some of the gangers he’d treated. Disregarding a few other patterns that really didn’t have much to do with his examination, he almost finished before another pattern came into shape. What the hell is that? he thought, seeing the slowly shifting pattern. It seemed so faint before, but now the dark ribbon stood out plain as a rosebush out here. Where did that come from?.

The shaman’s eyes suddenly pop back into focus on Virgil. “Bad news,” Doc said. “Are you sure that you haven’t been anywhere recently? Any other symptoms than what you already described?” the Bear shaman said, voice now not so calm as worried

[banditf50]

00:43:42 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

"Honest Doc, I have not been anywhere outside of the Sprawl lately. I also have not been in any of the toxic areas of this city for several months." Now Virgil was aware of a similar tone of worry seeping into his own voice. Though he was not an expert in awakened diseases, Virgil knew enough about parabiology to know that the things that could sap a mage's power were nasty.

"You know Doc, I can only think of a one or two events leading up to my symptoms that were unusual."

Leaning in a bit closer to his fellow shaman, Virgil took a graver tone. "Looking around this place I believe that I can tell a lot about your character and your path, in fact the friends of mine that I admire the most have chosen a similar one. . . "

Bear is loyal and a trusted healer, not unlike Galina and Juliette, plus he is running is own clinic in the same area that I know may be on the verge of a disease outbreak. How can I not tell him what I have seen? We're all on the same side . . . are we not?

"Some chums of mine operate a street-clinic on the other side of Puyallup, mostly serving the homeless and victims of sprawl violence. I spend a lot of time over there. Two days ago I discovered a street-girl suffering from an affliction that no one at the clinic could identify, she bled-out shortly after I rushed her in. We still have no idea she had caught, but there are more cases popping up. Shortly after my contact with her, I developed these symptoms."

Virgil could see that he just laid a lot out into the open, evident by the complete lack of color in Doc's cheeks.

"Whether or not that can help you treat me, you should know that you may start seeing patients afflicted with the disease that I just described. You should also know that you have allies against it."

[bclements]

00:45:27 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

Doc took what the other shaman had to say, growing as Virgil noticed defiantly more pale. “Bled out, you say? Just on the other side of here?” he said, getting an affermitive nod from Virgil. The Bear shaman seemed to go a bit paler than before.

“Did she touch you? Did some of the blood get in an open wound or something? I’m not trying to alarm you or anything, but most of the things that cause what you say happened to this girl aren’t the kind of things you get over.” Doc said, now leaning forward.

“And,” he continued, voice now almost a whisper, “if those guys out there find out that you’ve got something that made a little girl liquefy before your eyes, they might just kill you to keep them from getting it.”

[banditf50]

00:49:22 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

"The paitent did not start showing those severe symptoms until after I had gotten her to the clinic, so the doctors there were confident that I was not exposed. To be on the safe side they put me through a decon routine right afterwards . . . everyone is getting deconed around that place."

Keeping his voice low like Doc was, Virgil tried to be as helpful as possible. "I just wanted you to know that if any cases pop up in this area, you should let my friends at the other clinic know. If this becomes anything short of an isolated incident or poisioning, anyone providing medical care will need to be informed."

Virgil took his pad and pen out of the inner pocket of his long coat and scribbled down the main LTG number of the clinic. "Here is the number, if you tell them that you spoke with Virgil it should help you get on the line with the right people."

"So Doc, what did you see in my aura . . .you've made me more worried than I already was."

[bclements]

00:53:45 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

Doc took the card with a slightly shaking hand, digesting what the other shaman said for a minute before speaking. "I'll do that," he said, voice more controlled, less at ease than before he'd scanned Virgil's aura.

"I'm worried about a few things though," the shaman said, becoming slighly more relaxed in talking. "One, I don't know what it is that you have, but whatever it is is affecting your use of magic. That's worrisome enough by itself. Secondly, and more importantly, there aren't a great number of things that make someone die in the way you describe, I can't think of a single one that comes from anywhere around here, and they're usually pretty hard to get. Children are usually very resistant to things that will kill an adult, and for one to die so violently in such a way isn't common, even out here."

"So, you want my opinion?" Doc continued, smiling nervously. "You need help, the sooner the better. I'm close with Bear, but I know when he and I can't do anything. If you want me to, I can get in touch with some people that I know. Regardless, I'll need to call your friends and compare some notes."

[banditf50]

00:56:51 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

"I'd be very grateful if you can get me in touch with someone who can give me some answers about my condition. I cant' escape the feeling that things will only get worse for me the longer I go without help."

Though answers alone are not a cure.

"You should get in touch with my friends. I just hope that we can avoid a mass panic throughout the barrens. The death of one girl could lead to many more if people panic." Virgil tried to keep his voice confident, if anything to keep his own spirits up.

"So what is your advice now Doc, is there anything that I can do now?"

[bclements]

00:59:02 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

“My advice?” Doc says, still smiling nervously. “My advice would be to get into bed, after being checked out by an immunologist at Mitsuhama’s clinic downtown.”

“For something more practical,” the elf continued, now not smiling and more earnestly “I’d probably restrict your use of magic, if at all possible. You’re not going to get better by pushing yourself as well, either mentally or physically. It’s disturbing that these symptoms have come up, but they might not be related to anything at all. Or they might be. In things like this, not knowing is worse than knowing.”

Taking a deep breath, the elf finished “I’ll get in touch with your friends. If they’re in this area, you’re right that I’m probably going to start seeing it, and I need to learn about it. I’ll make some calls, maybe turn up someone else that can help you.”

[Tiredronin]

01:02:13 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

Daedalus tries to let his mind relax a bit as he wanders about the warehouse, silently nodding to the few gang members around.

What day is it now? Monday? he mentally walks through the surreal events of the past 48 hours, and reeling over the massive number of objectives to accomplish, Daedalus suddenly recalls his last conversation with PJ and its abrupt end.

Frag, what was that, 6 hours ago? I hope she's ok. Hmmm 1 am. If she is ok she's probably sleeping and would not appreciate an interruption, and if not... no she is too sharp and resourceful to get into any trouble she can't get out of. She'll be alright. I'll call her in the morning.

And continuing resist the urge to call and convince himself about the competence of his dear friend (as well as her wrath at being awakened) he makes his way back to the car.

Not really sure where to crash, he shrugs and stretches out in the back seat of the car. He shifts into the Captain's Chair to order Talos to squat on the roof for a while to conserve fuel and orders to be alerted when any vehicles or groups of more than 3 people approach within 20 yards of the warehouse. With this, and hoping he isn't alerted every few minutes, Daedalus finally lets his mind drift off.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

01:14:05 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

This sounds like this is going to hurt; a lot.

Shrugging his shoulders Erebus heads back out into the main part of the warehouse and catches the eye of the first ganger he can find.

"Hoi chummer, would you be willing to run a little errand for me?" Erebus pulled out his clip of hardcopy corp scrip and peeled off :nuyen: 100.

"I need a working car battery, quick as you can, but not the one from either my bike or the car we came in. Since we're also going to be here for a little while how about you grab a couple of pizzas and some drinks and bring them back? Enough for your friends too." He peeled another :nuyen: 100 out of his clip and offered them to the ganger.

[bclements]

01:15:37 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

The young, spike haired ganger took the couple-hundered nuyen, looking back and forth at the plasticized notes and Erebus "Sure thing chummer. Battery, pizza's, and beer. I think we can handle that. We'll be back here before the pizza's get cold"

Turning away with a wolfish grin on his face, he calls out to a group of other gangers huddled by an electric heater in a corner. "Hoi, Tomer. Wake up, we got a bit of money to earn." After a few more shouts, another elf gets up sullenly from the warmth of the heater, razorblade cut hair the same color as his scuffed synthleather jacket. Both dissappeared out of the warehouse quickly after Erebus's new friend flashed the cash.

[Shadowrunner13]

01:15:23 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Tenmou had tried to get some rest, but the deep-seated pain in his body would rouse him whenever he moved the slightest bit.

Grimacing, he reached for his cellphone and stabbed the speed dial button to call Zeyda. He wasn't surprised when his fixer didn't answer and he ended up in a message box.

"Hey Zeyda, it's Tenmou. Listen, I'm still in the midst of the job, but I've been tagged pretty bad. One of my compatriots had a mage check me out, but my wounds were too much to be healed magically. If you know of a street doc in Puyallup, or one that'll come here, I'm sending you the address of where I am. Let me know if you can help and I'll warn the others that a doc will be coming. Thanks, Zeyda."

Tenmou encrypted his message and sent it off to the fixer and collapsed back into the makeshift cot. He closed his eyes and thought of Mioko as he tried to block out the pain.

[bclements]

01:18:47 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

While trying and failing to find some comfort on the hard woven plastic cot, Temnou's phone buzzed with an incoming call. Wincing with an onburst of pain as he reached for it, he checked the incoming ID. Zedya's incoming ID.

"Hoi there," the fixer said. "How bad are you hurt? Can you move?" he said, tired and to the point but carrying some feeling as well.

[Shadowrunner13]

01:18:48 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

"I can move, if I have to," Tenmou said with a half hearted shrug. "As for how bad I'm hurt..." Tenmou angled the picture phone down to show Zeyda the punctures left from the bullets. "I've felt better."

Bringing the phone back to his face, he said, "It seems that many in the Asian underworld want a piece of us tonight. It might be safer for someone to come here, rather than any of us risking further exposure."

[bclements]

01:19:22 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Zedya whistles softly as Temnou pans the camara over the entrance holes from the gunshots.

"I've got a guy that's pretty good. Problem is that he knows that he's good. Never had any complaints about his work though." the fixer said as Temnou's phone buzzed with an incoming text message.

"I just sent his number over. You need any other backup or anything?"

[Cedric Rolfsson]

01:16:08 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Erebus wandered into the small make shift trauma ward that Doc had created in the warehouse looking for the shaman. He found the man just disconnecting from a call.

"Hoi chum, I need a little help. My friend is trying to find out some information concerning who has been shooting at us all night, and the fellow who we believe to have that information doesn't seem all that willing to share it. We're hoping to encourage him to help us out. Do you have a blender around here, or something close?"

Erebus paused for a second, as an idea occurred to him.

"Unless maybe you've got something in your medicine bag that will help us get the information we need. Either chemically or magically. Either way we'd be grateful for the service."

Erebus wanted the healer to know that he'd be willing to pay for whatever help the Doc could come up with. If he could get the data without all the mess and blood, so much the better. It'd be quicker and more reliable.

[bclements]

01:20:23 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

“A blender? I don’t think you’re going to scare anyone with a blender unless you’re going to try to make a margarita with that snow out there,” Doc said, shaking his head and walking over to a cabinet on the wall of the room.

Rummaging around for a moment, he eventually pulled out a large wand with a flat attachment at one end. Flicking it on to check the battery charge, the instrument made a whirring sound, and as he flipped it around Erebus could see a sharp blade moving rapidly back-and-forth under the flat edge of it.

“Cheese slicer from hell,” Doc said, teetering between smiling at his own joke and feeling disgusted with handing the dermatome over. “This thing’ll peal skin down to the bone if you want it to. Scares ‘em right good.”

Switching off the device and handing it over to the elf, Doc went on in a lower voice. “Two things: keep the screaming to a minimum. I don’t want those guys out there to get jumpy. Second; clean up when you’re done,” he said, handing over the instrument.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

01:20:37 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Erebus sighed and accepted the rather mundane looking device. It felt a lot heavier in his hand than its actual weight. He looked again at Doc.

"I was actually hoping that you had some kind of truth serum or something in your medicine cabinet, either that or you could do your hocus-pocus thing and get the answers we need from this guy." He made sure to keep his voice calm and level, interested but not that interested.

"I can find very little mercy in me for this idiot, since his way of trying to whack us involved launching a missile into a crowded bar. Sort of Satan's greeting card and let the bystanders fall where they may. Still, torture is inherently unreliable, and we really need this fragger's data. I was hoping we'd have a better way to get it than to peel this guy out of his skin one inch at a time."

[bclements]

01:22:05 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

“Unfortunatly, I’ve never had much need for a Mind Probe spell. Given from what I know of Bear, I doubt he’d be too pleased. Not exactly his style, ya know? And its not like I’d have much use of it here,” Doc said, shaking his head and folding his arms.

“As for truth serum, I think you’ve seen too many sims. Most of the time it doesn’t work right, and the stuff that does is so pricy that you don’t want to use it unless its worth it. I don’t have any here anyway. If you really want it, I can make some phone calls. Not going to be cheap or get here quick, but I can get it for you if you want to wave around that kind of nuyen.”

“And it’s not like you have to use the thing. I’d prefer that you find another way, but sometimes that isn’t an option,” Doc said, holding out his arms in a ‘What can you do?’ motion. “If this chummer is a real hard-hoop like you say, he might just take everything with him,”

[Cedric Rolfsson]

01:22:08 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Erebus silenced the unhappy voice in his head and returned Doc's shrug.

"I guess we do what we can then."

With that he turned and wandered back off to where Dragon waited.

[Shadowrunner13]

01:19:23 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

"This'll do for now. Thanks Zeyda."

Tenmou disconnected the call and stored the number in his phone's memory. Bracing himself against the pain, he got up from the cot and made his way out to his compatriots. He wouldn't involve outside parties without consulting those that were already neck deep in this crap.

He looked around the warehouse and saw the Asian tied up with cables, tools arrayed nearby and Erebus looking rather displeased about the whole situation.

What the frag is going on here now? Tenmou wondered.