The pair sneak back inside to listen to the conversation in the office
sorry missed that.
Calvin Beauregard
"Madness. I thought Leroy was a goner but the men have shot one of their own. The very assassin from Smalls. Now they want to test prove 'the Trumpet'. If they raise one goon up, they want to raise them all. Undead gangsters ruling the city. It must be stopped but how?"
You know, we might need to shoot Leroy right! How about we check out some of those crates? If they want to raise a dead army, then they might be preparing to arm them. Maybe set fire to the Packard, it will bring some goons out the building and give a chance to sneak in.
Using the sound of the trumpet to give him some extra distraction, the intrepid and foolhardy reporter sneaks into the garage, squeezing by the grey truck front and along the wall to the corner crates if he can.
“We must destroy the accursed trumpet so it’s blasphemous beat cannot shatter the sanctity of the dead again!” Thurston whispers urgently to Calvin. “It’s sepulchral sounds are sacrilegious!”
The stage magician tries to calm himself, and his nervous grammatical tic of alliteration. His mind stretches to understand and accept the impossible. “I too wonder what is in the crates. Perhaps Tommy guns we can use?”
Thurston watches as the reporter sneaks into the garage. His hand fingers the stage smoke bomb in his pocket.
As the tension roils within this macabre back room zombie experiment, Thurston and Calvin quietly discuss their options, using the shouting and horn playing as a distraction to go through the scattered crates. Inside they find bottles of illegal hootch, some of the crates actually marked for delivery to the now closed Small’s Paradise. They see tire irons and screwdrivers laying around that could be used as makeshift weapons, but nothing with the firepower of a “Thompson”.
René and Charles stay put where they are near the conversation, their minds seemingly becoming used to the idea that the trumpet player somehow has the power to raise the dead up again by simply playing his shiny silver horn. While René ponders the idea of starting the building on fire from the outside, the insanity inside the back office continues.
The now animated undead form of Joey Larson stands and lurches towards Bonato, spitting blood as he attempts to throttle his old boss who just ordered him to be killed. One of the thugs throws his trench coat open and brings up an aforementioned Tommy gun, unloading it into the monster trying to kill the big Boss. A blood splattered Leroy Turner watches the bullets rip apart the zombie piece by piece, his eyes rolling in his head now as he switches songs again, going into a rousing version of “Tiger Rag”. The young man seems to giggle a little as bullets fly and the room fills up with the smell of blood and cordite.
With Joey now unmoving again, in several chunks on the floor, the gun finally empties, putting an end to the cacophony just as Calvin sets a crate lid back down, causing two bottles to clink together slightly. Thurston and Charles eyes widen at the unintended noise, and René sees all of the men in the room look towards the small door that leads to the garage.
Charles waves to hide and looks for somewhere he can hide, if he doesn't see anything right away he gets out and tries to blend in with any people nearby.
Thurston, upon hearing the rattle of a machine gun, says: “That’s it, we’re leaving. You coming?”
Fearing for his life, Thurston moves as quickly as quiet allows to the car, starts it up, reverses around, and at two blocks away watches out the rear view mirror for the others to come. If he sees a gangster with a Tommy gun, he pulls away immediately.
Being by the corner and knocking the clinking glasses, he cusses, but silently. With only a moment to flee he decides if he can to climb into the back of the large grey wagon if he can and hide inside behind any crates, seats. Somewhere dark.
If he can't do that then he will scuttle to the other corner and back out of the garage.
Sorry for the delay! Hopefully René is still with us….
Pure Adrenaline
Thurston has had enough of zombies and machine guns all together, heading straight back to the car before the cacophony of fired shots is over. He makes it to the vehicle unscathed, wondering if any of his friends were hit.
Looking to hide under the tarp covering the crates in the back of the closest truck, Calvin steps up onto the running board, causing an unintended creaking noise from the suspension of the truck and a wince from the hack reporter. Deciding escape is more prudent at this point, Calvin moves around to the front of the truck and walks away from the garage in a straight line, using the front of the truck to partially block his view.
Charles uses the noise to his advantage, ducking down beside the workbench closest to the office door. Keeping his head low, he watches as a pair of giant thugs, both wearing trench coats and carrying machine guns, hurriedly exit the office and walk through the garage. When they spot Calvin hustling down the driveway towards the road, they shout back towards the office. “Hey boss! I think someone was snooping around in here! He’s gettin away! You want we should take em out?”
René sees all the men in the room rush for the door, everyone except for Leroy, that is. The crazed looking jazz player stands up from his chair and looks around longingly at the carnage in the room, staring intently at the pile of red mush that used to be Joey Larsen. Then he looks to the window René is peering through, giving the man a silent but rather deranged looking smile.
Rene crosses eyes with Leroy. He looks if there's anyone else in the room to make sure it is safe and wave Leroy to come over and escape by the window.
Failing in his attempt to sneak in the garage he prudently hightails it out. He will head for the group, safety in numbers after all.
Entering the car he shares what he thinks, "Mobsters. Killing one assassin to test prove Leroy and his trumpet can raise the dead. They intend on raising their own deceased crew back up to new life."
So, I don't think a rescue of Leroy possible here unless the mobsters split up into various vehicles. The Packard has some flat tyres, we could target that in some way?
Charles waits in hiding, glad none of the mobsters have turned around to head back into the office again yet, as they would surely spot the big security man crouched between the workbenches. He counts as all 4 men exit the room into the garage, but he doesn't spot Leroy, assuming he must still be inside. Then he hears Bonato tell his henchmen to open fire on the escaping intruder. (If you chose to move, I would take a Stealth roll with your next actions, please.)
Calvin hears the thugs behind him ask the big boss if they should try to stop him from escaping. Once he hears their guns popping off again, and hears bullets whizzing past him, he gets his answer as he sprints towards Thurston in the car a block or so away. (I will need a Dodge roll from Calvin to see if he escapes unscathed. I would take a Drive Auto roll from Thurston if he wants to try to help by maneuvering the car. [or flee])
Leroy looks Rene directly in the eye through the dirty back window. The jazz man still looks completely crazed, with a strange smirk on his face, but there is a hint of recognition in his sad eye as he walks to the window and fiddles with the latch to spring it open. At the moment, the gang members all appear to have exited the office room, then Rene hears more gunfire at the front of the building. (I will make a Stealth roll for Leroy, who appears willing to try to escape the room. If you wish to aid in the escape, you could also give me a Stealth roll, or any other roll you deem appropriate for your next action.)
Charles tries to sneak into the office and follow Leroy out the window. If he is noticed he will switch from stealth to speed and just run for it, going through the office wherever he can.
OGRE MAGE wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 2:37 pm(I would take a Drive Auto roll from Thurston if he wants to try to help by maneuvering the car. [or flee])
Thurston has the car idling two blocks away facing away from the garage, to facilitate the fastest get-away. I don't realistically think one could maneuver a car quickly enough to block gun fire coming at Calvin running in Thurston's direction. Calvin would reach the car before then, if not hit.
In the rear-view mirror Thurston sees Calvin running towards the car, gangsters shooting at him. The magician tosses a stage smoke bomb behind the oncoming Calvin, hoping the smoke will cover Calvin and the car.
I don't know the timing of this, if the smoke helps in modifying the gangsters rolls.
Can Calvin push his luck or something to do another Dodge roll? I'm not familiar with the 7e mechanics.
Grognardsw wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:17 amI don't know the timing of this, if the smoke helps in modifying the gangsters rolls.
Can Calvin push his luck or something to do another Dodge roll? I'm not familiar with the 7e mechanics.
I like your smoke bomb idea much better.
Bluetongue does have some in-game options he could try.
He could use up luck points to alter his roll on a one-to-one basis, decreasing his roll to the required number to succeed. (in this case, if he used up all of his 65 points on the Dodge roll, he would be completely out of Luck points and still not reach the desired success, but in a case like that, I would give him one less wound or something like that)
Or, he could "Push" his failed roll by rolling a second Dodge attempt, but a second failure would result in something pretty bad happening.
Even with the aid of the smoke bomb, he will need to try one of those options in this case to avoid certain doom.
Despite his name proclaiming a beautiful vista, it certainly doesn't look good for the intrepid, foolhardy reporter. With bullets dodging by his feet he has to think fast and loose and while he cannot make his legs go faster, he can blubber words as fast as a typewriter.
Not sure pushing dodge or his luck to alter those rolls as he flees will do anything, but if he can stop running and 'surrender' while blabbing some fast talk regarding the shooting of Pete Manusco.
I am assuming it makes no sense for Rene to sneak into the building and that he is better helping peoples out of the window but if it would help to go inside, Rene will try.
Rene quietly opens the window to help Leroy escape. While doing so, he also looks around the room for any alcohol bottle. He'll grab any bottle that he can reach from the window or if Rene see alcohol further away
On seeing Charles sneak into the room, Rene wave at him, points at the bottles and whispers "Bring the booze". Rene will also help Charles through the window.
If there's alcohol, Rene will quickly smell it to judge its strength, if strong enough, he'll rip a piece of his shirt and stuff in inside the bottle ready to be lit.
Despite his larger size, Charles is able to sneak out from his hiding spot in the garage without notice, quickly entering the back office while the mobsters are distracted by the fleeing Calvin. The back room is void of life except for Leroy, who Rene is currently helping escape out one of the windows. Charles sees the gore and blood splattered throughout the room before noticing the pile of red pulp that was once Joey Larson laying on the floor. When Leroy and his horn are safely outside, Rene pokes his head back into the window to tell Charlie to grab some of the ubiquitous booze bottles from the nearby bar. As soon as the still giggling Leroy's feet hit the ground, the young man takes off running in a crazed stupor, heading around the building behind the garage and out towards the river in the opposite direction of the shooting out front. Again, please feel free to add any rolls that you think might make sense with your next actions.
Thurston sees Calvin running for his life towards the car. He also sees the pair of trenchcoated goons with Tommy guns firing at him as he flees the dangerous scene. Leaving the car where it is, the stage magician hops outside and readies one of his smoke bombs as Calvin is hit by the first bullet. The hack reporter feels the sting of one of the dozens of rounds currently whizzing through the air at him as the bullet grazes his shoulder, leaving a bleeding wound that runs down his arm inside his jacket. 2 damage By the time Thurston tosses his prop, Calvin is hit a second time, this bullet ripping through his thigh and causing him to flop down onto the ground. 6 damage He spins over as the cloud of smoke suddenly appears, shouting out his terms for surrender.
Thurston cant believe his eyes when the smoke clears enough to spot the hack reporter stopping his escape to talk with the mobsters instead, thinking that the men will surely spot him next too. To his amazement, Bonato puts his hand up to stop the shooters momentarily. "Hold on boys! Did that dead son of a bitch just say something about the mayor and Manusco's books?" They walk closer with their guns trained on the nearly disabled Calvin who's leg is now bleeding badly. Bonato motions his goons towards Thurston and the running car but his comments are directed towards the whimpering Calvin still lying on the ground. "Not quite dead yet, eh? Well don't worry if ya bleed out. I gotta guy for that." Thinking about his own words for a moment, Bonato looks to the third man that followed them outside. "Get back inside to check on our jazz man. It seems we got more than one larcenist out here, we better make sure there weren't any others hiding inside."
The mob boss walks directly up to the struggling Calvin and pulls out a pistol before aiming it directly at his head. "Ya got 10 seconds ta explain what ya was doing here before I make a dead zombie otta ya. And this better be good!"
Thurston sees the armed thugs heading in his direction now and then thinks he hears the feint sound of sirens on the afternoon breeze.
