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Ambiance: Southerly Change

"DON'T you f'ing grab me!" retorts Nora as she swats away Shadrach's grip. Whirling back to face forward she grabs the VIP curtain and throws it open, plastic rings rattling along the metal bar at its top. She stands squarely centered in the opening as she looks within, Shadrach and Taavi flanking behind her.

Nora freezes, totally still as the scene within washes over her. The curtained lounge has overstuffed leather couches, purple and blue lights illuminating it clearly. Seated on the couch opposite the entrance, his chest bare under a black suit coat, is Petyr. He looks up, fully fleshed again, handsome, a sheen of sweat on his bare skin. "My love. You couldn't stay away." His voice is velvet. Nora's breath catches in her throat, a flush spreading up her face. Two women, not club employees by the the look of the scattered clothing, lie half-dressed and unmoving on the couches on either side of him.

...

Emile tells the others over the link, Car's cold. I don't know if he dumped it but it hasn't been driven in a while. Probably not for at least twelve hours. If Petyr's inside, he's been in there for some time...

Shadrach thinks, urgently, He's here.

Oh gods, no. Taavi thinks, broadcasting his terror at the sight of Petyr to the others. He steels himself and begins coordinating a plan with the others through their telepathic link. The edge of Taavi's raw emotions are sensed under the projected calm of determination to everyone he's connected to - the lawyer's calm mental voice in the minds of the others inspires them all to act swiftly and in unison.

The two girls on the couches look too still, their positions too uncomfortable. Like discarded toys. Shadrach focuses on Petyr's face, hoping to pierce Hell's illusion, but is dismayed to find his flushed, hale cheeks appear completely natural. The music pumps from the speakers around you: It's the mind's reputation to be ruled by the world... and it's the mind's reputation to believe what it's told...

"Master Twist," Hansel whispers to Oliver, "It's about to get very loud, I think. When it does, I've got a critical job for you. Do you think you could quietly slip through that door over there," Glancing at the beaded kitchen entrance "and find something good for .... slicing and dicing?" Oliver nods solemnly, his expression serious as he plots a route past the bar and into the kitchen alone.

Outside, Báleygr and The Heavy work together to quickly reconfigure a drone, Emile popping the hood and ripping wires out of the sports car's engine.

"Collapse the roof on Peytr," comes the plan from Taavi into everyone's minds.

...

There is a ripple in the air, and time stands still for a second or two. Nora. Petyr. Everything else slowing for the moment, waiting for the change.

Then Petyr, Shadrach, the Bartender, and Hansel all act at once.

Petyr's laconic smile curls into something more decidedly sinister as he pulls his fingers up on each hand, like he's tugging a pair of strings. The two female bodies twitch in unison. The short-haired blonde on the left rises to her feet, her head rotated too far around. She pivots her body, then with some effort straightens her head, a cold, dead stare at Nora. The ponytailed brunette on the right rolls from the couch and rises from all fours. Her top of her torn shirt is stained a muddy red-brown, a sticky pool of blood left on the leather sofa behind her. She snears, eyes also fixed on Nora.

He's in the VIP area. He ain't like to bleed out, so we crush him instead. thinks Shadrach as he snaps into motion, grabbing a chair from the adjacent table. The bartender pulls a high-tech short-barreled shotgun from under the counter, raising it to take his shot at Shadrach. Hansel's laser pistol clears leather before the bartender can aim, a searing blast going through his leather vest and shoulder (-7), causing the bartender's shot to go wide, a large metal spike careening from the barrel across the room and embedding in the far wall.

Petyr begins a rapid recitation in some foreign tongue, focused on the articulation of his words, even as he remains seated on the leather couch. Shadrach lunges across the space of the VIP, bringing down the chair in an overhead swing, glancing off of Petyr's shoulder with a weak thunk (-3), Petyr looks smug as he shrugs off the blow, continuing his recitation uninterrupted.

An otherworldly growl shakes the VIP lounge as the black velvet curtains melt into a massive canine shape, Grim launching himself through the air. The demonhound savages Petyr with its teeth (-10), causing the chanting to end with a surprised scream.

Nora lets loose a savage yell, pulling her long bowie knife from her thigh holster and rushing Petyr with it, even as the two corpse-women lurch to intercept her. She is a blur of violent motion -- the short-haired blonde punches outward, hitting Nora squarely in the chest, Nora's knife narrowly missing Petyr in the process. Nora wheels, however, and guts the short-haired blonde like a fish (-3), causing her to drop to the floor, and slashes the ponytailed brunette's abdomen as well (-3) in her violent rage.

Oliver ducks under the table of the thickly-muscled man in pumpjack coveralls on his way to the kitchen just as the bartender's gun blast goes wide and Petyr screams in surprise, the Grim's growl sounding through the bar. The nearly-naked stripper on top of the table looks down at the pumpjack, a glamour falling away from her face as she turns to look down hungrily at the man sitting in the chair below her. "What the F..." yells the pumpjack as he topples his chair over backwards, landing on the floor next to the wide-eyed Oliver. Yells of terror in the room reveal that the other five working girls have undergone a similar transition, their appearances now a sick parody of what they were, pale eyes and savage fangs revealed. CRACK! Apparently, a whip has appeared in the hands of one on the stage, which is now wrapped around the neck of a patron who was standing there with a fistful of money.

The greasy blonde woman is scrabbling the gather all her currency off the pooltable next to Hans. The middle-aged man at the bar's black leather duster whirls as he gets off his stool, smashing a whiskey bottle on the bar to get a sharp edge, gripping its neck. A table with three bikers up near the stage clatters as they all rise in a hurry, toppling the furniture. CLANG. At the front door, the bouncer drops a steel cage and reinforcing bar in place, blocking the exit. He turns to face the room with a grim smile.

BOOM! An explosion is heard on the roof. The windowless room goes black.

So, that escalated quickly. Actions!

OOC:

Hansel, hoping against hope, takes a quick shot at where the bartender was when the lights went out. Immediately after his second shot, he'll drop down and roll, aiming to put himself under the pool table. Once there, he will try to maintain a low profile, waiting for some lighting to come on. If he can, he'll try to grab the blonde and pull her down with him, whispering for her to stay quiet. If that's too much action, he'll just take care of himself.


Laser Pistol [1d20+3]=18+3=21 Damage [1d6+1]=1+1=2
Before mods, Just noticed I didn't bump my shoot skill bonus when I moved from L1 to L2 shooting, last round should be 8 pts and this round 3, if I connect in the darkness.

Dex check target 14 [1d20]=11
Don't know mods for darkness, but hopefully can at least get himself under the pool table.

Marullus wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:28 pm Báleygr asks the AI for options. The cube enables a surveillance display in Báleygr's visual field through its mental access to his feed. "Power generation appears to be running through a substation visible on the roof - you see the cables, there." The visual display frames a shack-like object on the roof surrounded in metal wire fencing. "A sufficient explosion would likely disrupt the power to this whole facility, and despite it being night, there's no windows. Your own eyes are unhindered by this and I believe you have several enhanced companions as well. It might prove a crucial advantage." The AI flickers, perhaps with excitement? "A sufficient explosion would collapse the whole building as well, which, with your friends outside, could resolve it even more expediently. I would be glad to recalibrate your drone into a self-destructive charge... or more than one to achieve the latter."

Báleygr Gangleri "AI, is there a way to isolate one target? Many of the group is inside, so I don't want to harm them collapsing the roof. Failing that, is there another way to prep the drones so they can harm the necromancer?"

Taavi pulls his metatool out of his jacket pocket. It's a poor weapon, but using it is better than fumbling around in the pitch darkness for something else. He wonders if Peytr and/or the zombies can see in the dark. He tries to picture Peytr's location before the lights went out. He can think of nothing to do but mentally broadcast the situation inside to the marshals outside. "In the VIP room with Peytr we're being attacked by revenants. There's commotion in the main room and the sound of violence. There was the sound of a shutter dropping at the front door. A heavy firearm was fired in the area of the bar. Consider turning the lights back on. We won't see any assailants until they're on us."

This is a somewhat revised (expanded) post. Sorry about that.

Emile heads back around to the truck, quickly shooting out one of Peytr’s car tyres first for good measure. He checks to see if the bouncer is still at the door before conferring with Báleygr:

So, do we wait here or storm the door? There weren’t any other entrances, right?

greyarea wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 7:24 pm Emile heads back around to the truck, quickly shooting out one of Peytr’s car tyres first for good measure. He checks to see if the bouncer is still at the door before conferring with Báleygr:

So, do we wait here or storm the door? There weren’t any other entrances, right?

Báleygr Gangleri

"There's a lower-rear door. I can't see well enough to storm anything - and i'm not a good shot in any case. The drones help me see, but in combat - i don't know. There is that mechanic down at the end. Too late to use Petyr's car as a battering ram."

cybersavant wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:41 amBáleygr Gangleri "AI, is there a way to isolate one target? Many of the group is inside, so I don't want to harm them collapsing the roof. Failing that, is there another way to prep the drones so they can harm the necromancer?"

With the on-the-fly nature of the time available and limited components, the best Báleygr and The Heavy can come up with is programming an overload into the processor of a drone for a small, localized explosion. It wouldn't be much more effective than a good hit with a heavy weapon and would destroy the drone, but it would be something.

The roof of the bar appears to be single-story, so at you think you could create an access point into the dark room with a single explosion, then allowing other drones to the interior. The drones do have flashlights (as well as regular and low-light cameras), if you wish to use them to undo the darkness.

jemmus wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 6:51 pm Taavi pulls his metatool out of his jacket pocket. It's a poor weapon, but using it is better than fumbling around in the pitch darkness for something else. He wonders if Peytr and/or the zombies can see in the dark. He tries to picture Peytr's location before the lights went out. He can think of nothing to do but mentally broadcast the situation inside to the marshals outside. "In the VIP room with Peytr we're being attacked by revenants. There's commotion in the main room and the sound of violence. There was the sound of a shutter dropping at the front door. A heavy firearm was fired in the area of the bar. Consider turning the lights back on. We won't see any assailants until they're on us."

Everyone gets a clear visual of the spatial arrangements, including Petyr on the couch, two undead women (one felled by Nora), and of Nora and Shadrach attacking Petyr just before the lights went out.

greyarea wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 7:24 pmHe checks to see if the bouncer is still at the door before conferring with Báleygr:
So, do we wait here or storm the door? There weren’t any other entrances, right?

Emile sees the front door is closed and the bouncer isn't visible. He has confirmation through the mental link that the bouncer dropped reinforced steel over the front door, locking everyone in (and out).

The mechanic bays down at the other end of the strip mall are now black gaps with the power outage, presumably allowing ingress to the interior, and Balygyr has highlighted that there's bay doors one floor down on the rear of the building. No other entrances known unless you make them.

Just answering the info-gathering posts... still looking for actions for everyone but Hansel.

Taavi moves toward Nora's last-seen position. He telepaths to the marshals, "Moving toward Nora. She's the one under immediate attack, so far. I'll assist if I can, but all I have for a weapon is a metatool."

Emile runs around the building to the lower rear door, attempting to gain entrance there

Báleygr Gangleri starts the struck. "AI, probable location of the room beyond the bar, where Petyr is, from the outside. Also, analysis on the thickness of the outside wall." Báleygr sends one drone to where the AI estimates and one in front, so he can see where to drive.


will try to line up the truck , positioning it backwards to slam through the wall and into the undead

Shadrach continues his assault on the necromancer, trusting to Nora to deal with the other woman.

Melee Attack: [1d20+1]=19+1=20
Knife damage: [1d4+1]=1+1=2, Shock 1/AC 15
Grim's Attack: [1d20+1]=3+1=4, damage [1d10]=1

Ambiance: Problem The nearly-naked stripper on top of the table looks down at the pumpjack, a glamour falling away from her face as she turns to look down hungrily at the man sitting in the chair below her. "What the F..." yells the pumpjack as he topples his chair over backwards, landing on the floor next to the wide-eyed Oliver. Yells of terror in the room reveal that the other five working girls have undergone a similar transition, their appearances now a sick parody of what they were, pale eyes and savage fangs revealed. CRACK! Apparently, a whip has appeared in the hands of one on the stage, which is now wrapped around the neck of a patron who was standing there with a fistful of money. CLANG. At the front door, the bouncer drops a steel cage and reinforcing bar in place, blocking the exit. He turns to face the room with a grim smile.

BOOM! An explosion is heard on the roof. The windowless room goes black.

...

Taavi pulls out his metatool, hoping to use it as a serviceable weapon. The prospect is dubious, but it does at least provide a faint illumination to his most immediate surroundings. He pushes his thoughts through the mental link to the others. "In the VIP room with Peytr we're being attacked by revenants. There's commotion in the main room and the sound of violence. There was the sound of a shutter dropping at the front door. A heavy firearm was fired in the area of the bar. Consider turning the lights back on. We won't see any assailants until they're on us... "Moving toward Nora. She's the one under immediate attack, so far. I'll assist if I can, but all I have for a weapon is a metatool."


The VIP has the sharp iron scent of too much blood, mingled with sweat and body odor. Shadrach hears the low growl of Grim at his lower left, the shuffle of feet as Petyr dodges. Petyr's voice chants fell syllables in a dead language once more - Shadrach has him. He brings around the wooden chair he still holds in his hands again, thunking hard against the necromancer. (-5) With audible effort, Petyr pushes through the pain, finishing his infernal recitation. Shadrach feels all the muscles in his body clench, the words recited by Petyr thumping in them like too much bass, his own body revolting against his mind's control. Shadrach summons the prayers of his church, focusing a moment to resist - for one horrible moment, his body clenched in a war with itself. Then it is gone. His body abruptly relaxes as the sacrilegious scorn of the Order of Saint Chrysostom overcomes the magic wielded against him.

In the faint blue light of his metatool, Taavi sees the blur of motion as Nora's monomolecular longknife glints, slashing with a savage fury. Stabbing violently into the chest of the ponytailed brunette she rips sideways down her ribs, dropping the woman to the ground (-3) before she lets out a primal scream and lunges past Shadrach at Peytr! "How dare you! How DARE you!" she sputters in rage, her knife stabbing wildly at him over and over, one slice leaving an unbleeding gash across his cheek (-3).

...

A flash of red light illuminates the room for one split moment as a burst comes from Hansel's pistol, aimed at the bar. The red beam zips across the room and sizzles into the bartender's flesh as he emits a startled grunt. As he grabs the greasy blonde woman by the hand and dives under the pool table, Hansel processes what he saw in the room: a picture frozen by a flash bulb, a single frame in the gristly movie unfolding in the darkness around him. A naked woman with a monstrous face, her form now dripping with blood, stands atop a table with the limp body of a male biker held aloft with one hand. Another deformed woman on the stage, her high heel pressed into the chest of a man, the whip in her hand around his neck and choking him to death. Oliver crawling under the bar, right next to the bartender.

Crunch. Hansel feels the spatter of slate shards and splinters showering him as the Bartender's spike thrower shatters the pool table, the metal projectile embedded into the floor within arm's reach.

There is the muffled roar of a high-torq antigrav engine, then a crash. Chunks of plywood and splinters of glass clatter on top of the pool table and the floor around Hansel and the greasy blonde woman as they hide beneath it. Glowing red tail lights flank the flatbed which now juts through the wall, a large hole knocked through where old plateglass windows had been boarded over on the old strip mall storefront. A white floodlight clicks on as a floating drone appears at the top of the hole, shining inward to illumiante the bar's interior. In the floodlight, you see two bouncers with shotguns step through the curtain and onto the stage at the far end of the room. "Successfully breached," comes the smooth tones of Heavy, the blue cube. "Where should we detonate the explosive charge?"

...

Around the back of the mall, Emile comes down the sloping access road at a run, the whir of the drone above easily identifying the double-bay doors that he's looking for - the rear exit to the lower level. Six-gun in his hand, he shoots the lock, the metal around it shredding into strips, and pushes the door upwards to the ceiling. His cybernetic optics quickly adjust to the darkness within, the bays plunged into the same darkness as the club above. He hears the screams and blasts of gunfire through the ceiling above his head. Immediately in front of him five groundcycles are parked... in a flash of memory, he remembers them, parked outside the Saloon back in Prudence. There's a half-wall on either side to the two flanking garage bays and at the rear are a pair of doors and flanking wide windows, offices within. Four women passing from the right bay to the left stop as the door opens, each of them half-crouching in a feral stance as their buxom appearance falls away into monstrous parody as they see the gunslinger silhouetted against the open sky behind him. For clarity:

• Emile and a drone are alone in the lower level, but connected by earbuds, and telepathic link.
• Balygyr now backed the truck through the wall just behind where Hansel hides under a pool table and a drone has a floodlight on in the hole.
• Balygyr is using his Move to simultaneously monitor all three drones (the third outside near the mechanic bay currently) but can take an action. He can direct the drones in each scene.
• Taavi, Shadrach, and Nora are with Petyr in the VIP, both revenants are down.
• Foes: Emile has four of the monstrous women on the lower level. There are five monstrous women in the main bar, plus the bartender, door bouncer, and two shotgun-wielding bouncers on the main stage. (And Petyr in the VIP.)

Emile skids to a halt, takes aim and fires at one of the monster-women.

Emile Initiative [1d8+2]=4+2=6
SunShooter [1d20+4]=3+4=7 Damage: [2d6+3]=10+3=13 Range: 50m Magazine: Unlimited

Hansel, startled by the sudden restoration of the light, continues rolling out from under the pool table after whispering Stay Still! to the woman, he takes a snap-shot at the bartender, but sudden restoration of light, along with the continuous rolling has spoiled his aim.



Laser Pistol [1d20+3]=3+3=6 Damage [1d6+2]=3+2=5

There is the muffled roar of a high-torq antigrav engine, then a crash. Chunks of plywood and splinters of glass clatter on top of the pool table and the floor around Hansel and the greasy blonde woman as they hide beneath it. Glowing red tail lights flank the flatbed which now juts through the wall, a large hole knocked through where old plateglass windows had been boarded over on the old strip mall storefront. A white floodlight clicks on as a floating drone appears at the top of the hole, shining inward to illumiante the bar's interior. In the floodlight, you see two bouncers with shotguns step through the curtain and onto the stage at the far end of the room. "Successfully breached," comes the smooth tones of Heavy, the blue cube. "Where should we detonate the explosive charge?"

Báleygr Gangleri "Deploy the charges near Petyr. " Mentally he communicates, Emile, get out of there now. AI, analyze the situation and provide recommendations.

Taavi thinks to the marshals, Everyone out of the VIP room! He grabs Nora's arm and hisses into her ear, Get away from Peytr! The room is about to explode! He runs back into the main room, pulling Nora along with him.

(NPCing Shadrach)

Ambiance: Take 'Em Down

At the Lower Rear Door... Four women passing from the right bay to the left stop as the door opens, each of them half-crouching in a feral stance as their buxom appearance falls away into monstrous parody as they see the gunslinger silhouetted against the open sky behind him. The drone drops lower, hovering just behind Emile's shoulder, and shines a spotlight into the vehicle bay. Emile, get out of there now, comes Balygyr's thoughts to the group, the others not clear why the urgency in his voice. Emile skids to a halt, takes aim and fires coolly at the left-most of the monstrous women before him, his massive six-gun thundering loudly. The shot, however, goes wide and shatters the plate glass window behind her.

The women hiss and rush at him, broken tequila bottles with jagged glass edges materializing in their hands. He backs up a half step as he dodges, trying to keep at bay, one lands a solid hit and gashing his forearm (-2), the other three merely grazing him as he struggles against their numbers (-1, -1, -1 shock damage).

Inside the Bar... The flood light from the first drone comes on as it swings into the room. Grim snaps his jaws at Petyr's leg, missing. Shadrach pivots towards the sound of chanting and swings the chair again - his aim is off as Petyr tries to duck, just getting clipped by the corner of the seat (-2 shock damage), but it is enough to throw off his chanting. Petyr stammers and loses his train of thought, a moment of panic in his eyes as Shadrach looks down upon him.

"...die you bastard!" seethes Nora and plunges her monoblade longknife down through the necromancer's clavicle (-8, critical hit). His arm goes limp and a look of shock appears on his face.

Taavi thinks to the marshals, Everyone out of the VIP room! He grabs Nora's arm and hisses into her ear, Get away from Peytr! The room is about to explode! He runs back into the main room, pulling Nora along with him. The two thugs standing on the stage decide the three of you are the real troublemakers and point their shotguns. Heavy buckshot rips into Taavi (-9) and Nora (-7) as you emerge from the VIP.

Hansel, startled by the sudden restoration of the light, continues rolling out from under the pool table after whispering, "Stay Still!" to the woman. The greasy blonde woman obliges, staying in hiding. He takes a snap-shot at the bartender, but the laser pulse shatters some bottles on the shelf behind the man. The bartender points and fires again as well - another massive steel spike smashes into the pool table, sending slivers of slate and felt over the two of them. The blonde peeks up and looks through the massive hole now blown through the table, its structural integrity as cover deeply questionable.

A second airborne drone divebombs through the opening past the truck, careens across the bar, and crashes into the VIP just as Taavi pulls Nora out by the arm, Shadrach and Grim following.... BOOM! The drone explodes in the curtained VIP area of the bar.


Taavi and Shadrach each need a Physical Save, on a failure, take -9hp from the explosion as you flee.

OOC:

Emile takes the drone's advice and makes a fighting retreat, looking to put as much space between himself and these things as possible.

Emile Initiative [1d8+2]=1+2=3
SunShooter [1d20+4]=3+4=7 Damage: [2d6+3]=5+3=8 Range: 50m Magazine: Unlimited

Not sure what I needed to roll, if anything, for a fighting retreat. I gather that whatever I needed to roll was higher than what I actually did.