Torley will be zip-cuffed and gagged with duct tape before leaving the apartment. The two seniors are also removed once the man is recognized as the elder Uzochi.

Inside the building, Silence also tries and fails to make headway against the spirit"s winds. "Can't you banish that thing?"

Outside the spirit offers no more targets as it becomes engrossed the battle of the two air elementals.

Well, this is another fine mess you've got yourself in, isn't it? Torley considers his options, and sees few at the moment. Of course, therefore, his spirits are high and his adrenaline rush is awesome. As well as he can under the current constraints, he lets on an attitude of ... bemused resignation. As if these poor sods will have to learn the hard way.

He almost pities them.

The courtyard was complete chaos, but the defenders had finally gotten their shit together and are taking cover, firing at Bullet Storm from around corners and from second story windows. Four of them are anyway, the others are a bit distracted by the elementals.

attacks: 8#10d6t5 4 3 2 3 4 3 4 4

(OOC: wide burst negatin cover bonuses)

"I can give it a try," Sammy said, concentrating and trying to disconnect the spirit from its summoner. That should get it out of here.

The guards were finally getting their hoops in gear, but it was only volume of fire that gave them any success.

The newly free spirit rages as it's grip on the material plane is successfully attacked by unseen forces, then it truns it's attention to the other spirit, trading heavy blows.

(OOC: Player additional actions now)

Thankfully his armor held, and bruising was his only injury. O'Connor returned fire at the guard that tagged him.

Smug as he is, Torley does recognize the extremity of his situation. That realization triggers his recollection that he can speak to his team even with a gag over his mouth. Activating his commlink via the sub-vocal microphone, he messages the team.

<Torley here. Sounds like you are having fun in the compound. Guard members have me bound and gagged and taking me to their central location. I'll see what drek I can stir up. >

She knew something had happened, but it was not enough, so she gathered more magic power and tried again.
"Go away already, you annoying twit."

Courtyard

The ork who wounded Con manages to duck back out of sight as the hail of bullets passes through the space where his face was a split second earlier. (defense: 10d6t5 6)

(W)Rec(ked) Room

The child's free spirit tenaciously maintains its grip on reality,(Banishing resist: 6d6t5 2) in spite of the looming threat of the military's support spirit who finally reaches it through the windstorm.

The walk down the stairs and to the Guard unit feels like an eternity. Torley lets on as if he has it all in control. But, how much can he reveal in an attempt to convince the Guards that he is on their side?

It is a conundrum.

The two air spirits start slugging it out like street fighters, and while the effects are still dramatic, the F5 level winds keeping the shadowrunners locked in place are no longer present. As soon as the winds abate, Silence grabs Starlet and starts moving down the hall to the Uzochi's office.

With a single round left in the chamber, O'Connor reloaded his rifle. He then dropped another smoke grenade on his position. He commed Lil' Homie to get an update on how the engagement outside the walls was progressing.

Leaving the two spirits to fight each other, Sammy concentrated on keeping her spells up and followed Silence to the office.

"The soldiers and the orc defenders are shooting at each other but it looks like the soldiers are going to try and breach the wall of the building. Uzochi and his mercenaries are working their way around while the Area Boys cover the back entrance." Lil Homie reported.

As the smoke billowed around him, Bullet Storm could hear others taking the same opportunity as him. Suddenly, an ebony head popped up in his face, "Watcha doin? You can't shoot nobody with all this smoke! I should get rid of it for you!"

-------------------------------------------

Silence reaches the office door and opens it, ducking inside with Starlet. In the office you can see the old safe with the ward glowing brightly on the astral. "I will have to drop my magic to work on the safe, cover me."

O'Connor did not squawk in surprise at the imp's intrusion of his personal space. Anyone who said otherwise was a filthy liar. He shook his head at the spirit's offered "help." He motioned towards the main building, "I'm gonna use it to get to the building. Stick with me so that you can point out anyone that extra deserves to be shot, and any friends of yours that don't deserve it."

He commed Starlet, "Lil' Homie's spotted the Army about to make a wall breach. I'm moving to delay them. How long until you're done?" While delaying the Army was the goal, there was only the vaguest of plans. Hopefully he could draw the guards towards the breach. A quick rope-a-dope had served well against these factions before.

He switched his comm back over to Lil' Homie, "I need to know exactly where that breach is being set up." He began moving towards the main building hoping he could skirt around the battling spirits.

Torley tries to get a gauge of the soldiers out here and the level of their spirit/elan. "They seem to be taking a long time to get me sequestered. What's going on in their little heads?" He's always on the lookout for a potential angle.

"You can't go, I gotta stay by the kitchen, and this is most excitement I've seen since Meesh puked on the steps! You aren't getting past those windbags anyway!"

The imp was right about that, even with the damage the two spirits took up most of the doorway in their tussle, he can see that much from the edge of the cloud he created.

O'Connor saw the truth of the imp's words, he wasn't getting in through the door. He checked if any ground floor windows could provide egress. His brow scrunched in confusion at the imp, "Stay by the kitchen? Are you chained to this spot?"

"NO! I'm not chained to this spot, of course i am not CHAINED to this spot; I am stuck here, yeah, but not chained here, do you see any chains?" the imp replied increduously.

O'Connor's eye twitched, he wasn't one for pedantic tirades. He shrugged helplessly at the imp, "Alright, your stuck, bound, or whatever. You seem like a fun little chaos gremlin. I'd like to set you free. But unless you got a quick and dirty solution to the problem, I can't help you. I ain't a spellslinger or spirit wrangler. I'm a gunman in serious need of getting into the main building." He returned to his search for a way around the spirits.

Sammy will simply stay on watch, also keeping an eye on Silent. If there was any betrayal, it would be now.
"We're in, getting the stuff now," she subvocalised to the rest of the team.

COURTYARD

"Do you know what a REE-SIP-EE is?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUILDING

Silence kneels up against the safe, his ear to the metal, turning the dial slowly. Starlet, checking the astral, notes the ward's activation.

O'Connor was more than a little confusion. He really hoped that the imp was actually going somewhere with this, and not setting up a prank. He didn't really know anything about how spirit drek worked, and hadn't ever heard the word recipe in relation to it. He tilted his head to convey his confusion, "Recipe? What, I gotta bake you a birthday cake or something?"

"No, REE-SIP-EE. I am supposed to find it in the kitchen, but I have no idea what it is, Its a secret, so no one ever talks about it."

Lacking a viable way into the building, O'Connor updated Starlet, "Don't got a way in. You're on your own with the breach team." He turned back to the imp, "Alright, let's hit the kitchen and find your ree-sip-ee." He gave suppressive fire as he made for his new destination.

"Copy that," Sammy said, making sure her weapon was ready, keeping an eye on Silent and on the door. Those guys would take a while to get here and the defenders would also try to stop them, which is what you got when you entered guns blazing instead of by stealth as they had done.

The gunfire and smoke had Bullet Storm a little mixed up, when the little spirit waved him towards the door of the building he was taking cover by, he didn't realize that it was the kitchen for the compound. He closed the door and just managd to dive away from it as a refridgerator dropped to block it.

The little guy was back in his face again, clearly excited, "ree-sip-ee, Ree-Sip-Ee, REE-SIP-EE!!! You know where it is? You know WHAT it is?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

After so much chaos Starlet is having trouble standing still, the African ork is working is working the safe diligently and she can hear the gunfire being exchanged over the howl of the winds. This "breach team" is troubling, where are the soldiers going to come in? How are they coming in?

O'Connor tried to push the little imp out of his personal space, "It's instruction on how to prepare food. Cooks can be extremely protective of their secret ree-sip-ees. Search for any books or writing."

There was little she could do at the moment but to wait until Silent had done his thing. Keeping the invisibility up, she looked around to see the soldiers coming and be able to react.

"Paper? Books? What are those?" the imp looked at Con like he had grown three heads. He heard the goons outside starting to take random shots into his hot smoke, but it should still hold for a bit. There was nothing useful in the first cabinet he searched.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Precious seconds tick by as Starlet tries to stay ready if anything comes through the door. Finally the soft clicking she hears behind her is replaced by a loud thunk as Silence breathes a quietly exuberant "Got it!" which is the last thing she hears as the wall at the end of the hall is breached by a shaped charge of plastic explosive.

Starlet is 5 meters from the blast, behind two interior walls which I believe gives her a total of 12 additional points of armor vs a 25S attack.

Happy 4th

O'Connor returned the imp's incredulous stare and began searching around for examples to explain.

Con finds a clipboard with a piece of hardcopy on the floor at his feet that must have fallen off the fridge when it got knock over. He shows it to the little spirit, who takes it and looks at it, turns it upside down, looks at it again. "Is this paper, book or REE-CEE-PEE?" Con can't read the language, but it looks like it might be a shopping list.

Torley grows very concerned about his teammates when he hears the explosion. He is accustomed to such noises and surprises, but he pretends otherwise. At the sound of the explosion he screams as loudly as he can with the muffling the guards applied, and tries to dive under a nearby cart or stall. Who knows? It might work.

O'Connor indicated the shopping list, "That's a piece of paper. Books are papers that are bound together. Ree-cee-pees will be writing in books." O'Connor tried not to worry about the explosion just yet. The guards inside the building would be busy soon, and hopefully those in the courtyard would engage the spirits. If he kept out of sight for a bit longer, he might have a path to Starlet or out of the compound, as needed. So, for now, he continued his little side quest of helping the little imp. He turned to said imp, "We never exchanged greetings. I'm known as Con, what should I call you?"

Torley gets slammed into an APC when he tries to dive away from the soldiers who are moving him and the other two prisoners. "Keep fragging around, and we will zipcuff your feet and roll you to the commander."

------------------------------------------------

In the kitchen, the little imp looks really confused, trying to understand the foreign concepts the shadowrunner is exposing him to, then he is really confused when the runner introduces himself, "Uh,...well around here they call me 'obere ekwensu oji'" he shrugs in response.

O'Connor started searching again to find more examples to teach the spirit. He also commed Lil' Homie to get an update on the situation and a translation on the imp's moniker.

Lil Homie reports that while the smoke at the entrance to the courtyard has disapated, the fighting has kept anyone from crossing the street. The explosion suprised everyone, but with no one to engage the shooters are concentrating on the main building and trying to work around the air elementals. He also tell Con that the words translate to 'Little Black Demon'.

Torley nods enthusiastically when the commander is mentioned. As clearly as he can mouth through the gag, he says, "Good! Maybe I can talk to somebody with the wit and the authority to fix your mistake. "

Sammy was pushed back by the blast. She quickly came around and while bleeding, she called on her magic to heal, feeling her wounds close and the pain subside a bit.
"I think you best move as quickly as possible," she said to Silent, "they're going to come in quickly."

Drawing on her magic again, she called forth a spirit of fire to provide some distraction.

O'Connor was fast becoming frustrated with his mostly fruitless search and began ransacking the place. He asked the spirit, "Little Black Demon, you find anything promising yet? That name's a mouth full. Need to think up a nickname, unless you got any other shorter names or monikers you prefer."

LBD presents him with a book, but Con quickly determines that it is a ledger of some kind, rows of numbers and some words he even understood that were foodstuff. Who keeps a paper ledger anymore?

--------------------------------------------------------

Starlet is able to keep it together, even though her ears are still ringing from the blast, and even heals some of the damage she just took. While she is summoning a spirit from the local AEther Silence pokes his head up from behind the desk that the blast moved over his position. He holds up the idol, an ugly squat looking thing Starlet remembers from the tour of Adegoke's collection. After showing it to her he tucks it away in his clothes then looks toward the door where, with her hearing returning, she can hear assult rifle fire being exchanged right outside. "How the frag are we getting out of here?" he says, wiping away blood streaming from his nose. (It appears broken)

---------------------------------------------------------

Torley and the two elderly prisoners are pushed into a diner about two blocks away from the compound, the three of them are forced to a wall and made to sit on the floor as others rush around setting up equipment.

The paper ledger was certainly odd, and it made O'Connor think the ledger had a greater significance than seen at first glance. He stared at it pensively, *If the recipe, the fabled ree-sip-ee, is important enough to send a spirit, then maybe its also important enough to be coded. [Sigh] puzzles are not my strong suit. There's also the actual mission to get back to.*

He pointed at LBD and gestured wildly at the room, "Ransack it, and hand me any scrap of paper and/or writing you find. We need to speed this up. I really should be getting back to my actual job soon."

Who knows what is being set up here, but Torley feels useless, worse than useless, with his mouth taped over. He wants to just rip it off and Voice these mugs out of his hair. And they are all running around being good little busy bees. Now is the time!

But if he can wait a bit, he might be able to get through to the commander of the Guards. That would be the best bet, wouldn't it?

But it is so boring to be just sitting here!



OK, OK, Sammy my boy, let's be smart about this. You're only gonna get one shot, so bide your time. It wouldn't hurt, though, to have your hands free so you can rip off the gag when you need to.

Torley as carefully as possible tries to work his hands free, but keeping them so they look still restrained.

"The backdoor," Sammy said, "we're still invisible. Of course, bullets or explosions don't really care for that, so we'll have to be careful. But those guys can't be everywhere and I still have some tricks up my sleeve should there be a need. Close the safe again and if you can lock it quickly, do so. That will give us some extra time while they try to open it, or they just take it and don't know the thing is missing."
She called up the map of the compound, what they had, and tried to figure out what the quickest way out with the least amount of soldiers was.

LBD immediately heads to a back corner where Con sees him start pulling out drawers out of a desk and flinging them around, on the desk he can also see a well worn book with a colorful cover, it appears to have English on it.

-------------------------------------------

Torley is brought to a small diner a block or two from the compound, the room is being readied for a command center. Torley and the old couple are shoved to their behinds at one edge of the room, with a soldier standing over them, rifle at the ready. Seconds later, before the face can begin to work on his bindings any further, two obviously older and high ranking soldiers walk in the building, with a familiar elf woman accompanying them.

When Jane see Torley cuffed and gagged she stops and turns to the lead soldier, "Oh for frags sake Commander, release my operative this minute! You told me he surrendered! Your boss is going to hear about this, I assure you, I hope you like peeling roots!"

The Commander looks somewhat perturbed but rallies well "He is probably the reason our attack on the compound was compromised, that is the only answer for the lack of discipline! I will have him uncuffed, but if he says a word to anyone but you he will be shot." he nods at the soldier guarding you who stands Torley up and begins to release his hands.

-------------------------------------------------------

Back in the compound the options are not looking great for the orks of the team. The closest best way out is the hole blown through the wall that almost killed them, but the hallway is filling with combatants exchanging fire. As her spirit comes into being on the astral, what is left of the door to the office is shoved open by a soldier who quickly scans the room before using the doorway for cover and shooting back up the hallway in the direction they came in to the office from.

Torley has mixed emotions about this turn of events. Yes, Jane's arrival makes things a lot safer. But now he can't claim to have dealt with the situation himself. No. Mommy saved him.

Nevertheless, he takes care to look directly at and talk just to Jane once the tape comes off his mouth. "Thanks, Jane. You come at a good time. Though, seriously, a few more minutes and I would have had things under control. " He gives a big grin at that.

"I actually tried to help these guys stay out of trouble, but they just ... wouldn't ... listen." The grin widens.

O'Connor went over to the desk to inspect the book. He also sent calls out to the team for status updates

Sammy moved her vision to the astral to 'talk' to the spirit without being overheard by the soldier, while keeping up the invisibility. And standing still also meant she wouldn't making any noise, or at least no noise that would go above the sound of combat.

"Please burn the two groups fighting outside, the soldiers and the Igbo guys," she asked. She gave a mental picture of both groups fighting outside. Having a spirit show up that started to throw fireballs and stuff around would hopefully give them enough of a distraction to get away. She also gave the aura signature of all their group members and asked not to touch those.