"I's broken der 'cryption.  Not at dey's sayin much.  Probaly time fer you two ta hit da sewers an I'll plant da bracelet."

Was Copperhead's scorpion able to get a bead on where the chip slots are on our target?  Can she see the chip?

"You guys gots gas masks?"

She digs out a pair of goggles and a respirator in case either of them is missing either.  Then she pulls out a roll of duct tape.  The drawer contains 3 more.  She uses the tape to help seal pant legs, arms to gloves, masks to face and whatever else she can.

"Da gas's contac an breathin'.  Dis ain' a chemsuit, but ya can't sneak worth drek in one' o dem.  Should buy ya a minute er two."

Caduceus accepted Copperhead's help applying the mask and duct tape, making sure he still had full range of motion and would still be able to draw his pistol from its holster if needed.  "Ugh.  I hate havin' something over my face.  Hate getting knocked out more though."  Double checking that he had everything he would need in his satchel bag, Caduceus started climbing down into the tunnel.  "See you at the rendezvous point.  Hopefully one chip richer."

When Caduceus reaches the end of the tunnel, he will check to see if he is in the warehouse's Hearth domain yet.  If so, he will conjure a spirit or two and use some services before doing anything else.  If not, he will use Stealth on the manhole cover so that they can open it without making any noise.

Copperhead positioned the shotgun-weilding crawler downstream of the manhole access to provide cover in the unlikely event someone approached from that direction and also so she would be in position when the team exited.  Then her consciousness jumped fully into the metalic scorpion.
 She'd had ample opportunity to scope out the room and had her path mapped out, keeping to the shadows and avoiding any "metal on metal" contact that might draw attention to her.

She skittered along a the maze of wooden beams supporting the roof to the corner, then crawled slowly down the wall, taking advantage of a burned-out bulb and an unpleasant stain of 'something' to help conceal her movement.  Reaching the body, she did her best to avoid the pool of blood.  The last thing she wanted was to leave tracks showing where she'd been or where she was going.  Her tail uncurled, releasing the bracelet.  A few nudges with her claws had it postitioned under a slightly raised leg.  Not the best position, but it would have to do.

Moving more easily without the weight of the bracelet, the scorpion continued to keep to the shadows as it made its way over to the manhole cover, ready to help distribute grenades before she moved into position to attack.

quote:

10:51, Today: Copperhead rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 3,2,5,3,4,2.  stealth.

Hopefully the time I've had to study the building, the fact I'm taking my time and the scorpion's signature being a 12 will make that 5 enough...

Let me know if you need any other rolls.

No, Copperhead cannot pinpoint the chip.

Caduceus is now within the 'hearth' of the warehouse. But it's the gross part of the hearth.
 You'll probably summon spiders or something.

Copperhead's scorpion crawls down the wall, trying to mix speed with stealth. It creeps around the back of the corpse. Carefully placing the bracelet, it scoots it forward into the pool of blood, under the crooked leg, then a little further. It seems the little scorpion was a little overambitious, as the corpse's leg falls over to the side, and the corpse lets out a long, wet fart. Noruas watching the monitors sees the sound wave wash over the oscillator like a tsunami, and Copperhead, while fully immersed in the morphs sensations, can be thankful it doesn't have scent detectors. A few of the gang leaders stifle snickers, and the leader shouts them down, threatening to behead any children who laugh on his big night.

One of the guards walks over to the corpse, but the scorpion is already gone, making its circuitous route to the manhole cover.

Copperheads voice comes over Noruas's comm.  "Sorry.  Din mean ta start gassin' em early."

Silly Papa Bear.  The gross part of the hearth is where snakes prefer to lurk.

Once in the hearth domain of the warehouse, Caduceus paused in the tunnel, did a quick scan of the astral to make sure they were alone, and pressed a hand against the cold wall.  He sent out subtle shamanistic feelers for any hearth spirits nearby and beckoned them to him.  "Heed my call," he whispered.  It was not a command, but a request.

When he attracted a particularly creepy little bugger, he said to it, "Okay buddy, we've got lots to do.  There is a tiny little drone upstairs with with some aura of ownership similar to that one."  He pointed to Copperhead's drone that was nearby. "I need you to Guard that drone upstairs as well as myself and White Duck here.  Conceal the three of us too.  Once that's done, I want you to Search for any other astral beings up there and let me know what's what.  Stay safe though.  Lastly, if anyone spots us Confuse the people up there and keep them confused.  As many as you can."

When the spirit went off to follow its instructions, Caduceus immediately went about conjuring another.  He only had one instruction for this one at the moment.  "Attack anyone who attacks me, or orders an attack against me.  Okay?"

Finally, if no surprises popped up, Caduceus went about casting a Stealth spell on their manhole cover so that they would be able to open it in silence.  His spell took a little more oomph than anticipated though, and Caduceus' muscles started to ache a little

First Spirit (Force 3)
09:30, Today: Caduceus rolled 7 successes using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,5,5,5,5,5,5,5.  Conjure Hearth Spirit.
7 services.  Using one each for Guard, Conceal, and Search.  Using 4 for Confusion, triggered if they are spotted.

09:31, Today: Caduceus rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,1,(6+2)8,4,5,1.  Drain Test.
3 successes knocks light stun down to no stun.

Second Spirit (Force 3)
09:46, Today: Caduceus rolled 3 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,(6+3)9,4,2,3,1.  Conjure Hearth Spirit.
3 services.  One used for bodyguard purposes.

09:47, Today: Caduceus rolled 4 successes using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 1,5,(6+3)9,2,3,2,5,1.  Drain Test.
He's good.

Stealth Spell (Force 4)
10:02, Today: Caduceus rolled 6 successes using 9d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5,(6+4)10,1,4,4,3,(6+3)9,5,3.  Force 4 Stealth Spell.

10:05, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 9d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,2,1,1,3,2,2,3,2.  Drain Test.
Only 2 Successes means his medium stun is still light stun.  Bummer.

Crane has another smoke as he tapes his clothes shut, then pulls his respirator over his face. He'd been wearing an old school samurai mempo for quite some time now, yet never really put use to it aside from hiding his features, from what the rest of the group had seen. He flipped a hidden switch, then spoke out in a filtered voice.

"Underground these things are a necessity. Good thing I'm already prepped. Not a fan of the post-apocalyptic look." he grins. One can still see the upturn in his sharp cheekbones.

"Though I do hate ruining these shoes." He draws in another breath, expelling vapor from the nostrils of the mask. Gotta get that nicotine somehow.

Caduceus's spirit appears as an over-large spider, spindly and leggy, with an oversized abdomen made of a crumpled tin can. It regards Caduceus coolly then, considering his request, chitters and skitters away.

The stealth spell goes off without issue. From this side, most of the astral glow is hidden from view of any watchful mages. That isn't a guarantee it isn't seen, but it certainly helps.

With that, Caduceus can unscrew the bolts from the inside keeping the cover in place. It's difficult work; frequently the screw threads are so jammed with rust and gunk they refuse to move. But it's an unusual pleasure to be able to immediately see what is causing you issues. Soon enough, they're clear, and with an oomph, the cover can pop (silently) from its space. Caduceus has a clear view of the ceiling above, and a pile of boxes nearby. The great Khan's speech is muffled by the Stealth spell, but Caduceus has a pretty good idea of where he is.

White Duck, feel free to kick off the action.

Copperhead flicked a mental switch and the cobbled-together wristband came to life, silently broadcasting the declining vital-signs of a bleeding-out executive.  The rigger crossed her fingers that the data was realistic enough (or that the dreck-hole's account was expensive enough) that DocWagon would bother sending one of their fast-response craft out to the Barrens.

"Bracelet's triggered.  Hopef'ly da medics is gonna be on der way.  Gimme da firs gas grenade an I'll go plant it."

The black plastic and metal scorpion moved close to the open hole, tail uncurled and ready to accept it's first payload.  She hoped the pair would be careful to not prick themselves on the tail's exposed needle.  Dragging an unconscious teammate through the cramped tunnel would not be fun for whoever managed to remain awake.

Caduceus Helped to hand out the grenades, being careful to stay quiet and out of sight as much as possible.  He was turning the grenades on as he handed them out so that any extras would not go off in their pockets if they had to detonate them early.  He was careful of the scorpion's needle too, but was also counting on his spirit's guarding capabilities to help protect him from any unfortunate mishaps.  In between handing out grenades, Caduceus checked and rechecked to make sure all his tape was still in place.  They were about to jump out into a warzone and he did not want to die because of something as minor as a misplaced piece of tape.  But again, he had to trust in his spirit's ability to protect them from avoidable accidents.

Despite his actions, Caduceus was certainly reluctant to put himself into such a dangerous situation as this.  A snake shaman usually likes to stay in the shadows where it is safer.  But there comes a time when a snake just has to strike.  And when that time comes, best to make that strike as quick and deadly as possible.

Copperhead's scorpion crawled carefully with each grenade payload.  With the aid of the spirit, her rubber traction pads didn't even make a squeak the odd time they slipped against the floor.  She started with the smoke, concussion and neurstun grenades to be planted near the body guards.  It was tempting to put them on the rafters, but there was no way to stop them from rolling off and she didn't want to risk the possibility of being stuck by unpealing the adhesive.  So she settled for a dark corner filled with old rags.  The thermal smoke grenade might ignite the rags, but seeing as chaos was her objective, that wasn't a bad thing.

Once those were in position, she moved the HE grenade deep under the pile of shells before placing the neurostun behind a crate on the far side of the table.  She wanted the table to be well saturated, but to keep the gas far enough away from the sewer entrance that anyone providing covering fire from there would be unaffected.  Finally she returned for the last grenade - a concussion variant that she hoped to plant directly under the leader's table.

"Noruas, holler when ya see Doc Wag'n on der way"

quote:

09:53, Today: Copperhead rolled 8 using 6d6 with the Shadowrun, Open Test with rolls of 4, 6+2, 4, 2, 2, 4.  Stealth - sneak and hide grenades.

So 8 + 12 + 3 means they probably don't notice me... :)

quote:

09:55, Today: Copperhead rolled 2 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,2,(6+5)11,3,1.  Demolitions - where to place grenades.

Hopefully that lets me put the grenades where they're most likely to have the desired effect on their targets - and no/minimal effect on us.


Papa: Is everyone standing around the table?  Does anyone have good line-of sight to under the table or would I be pretty concealed there?  Can I get under the table without much risk of being detected?

Caduceus/White Duck: did you guys opt to take the briefcase or did you leave it in the van?

Noruas continuously checks the digital HUD radar for activity.

Caduceus didn't bring it.  Maybe White Duck did.

The bracelet activates. Noruas back in the car can see it. But he also notices something else--the communications network in the area is decrepit and completely overwhelmed. With the amount of traffic flowing through, even emergency calls may have problems dialing out.

Meanwhile, the little scorpion positions the first two grenades. The third one is the highest risk--once under the table is one thing, but getting there involves running underneath or between the top soldiers Seattle gangland has without being seen. When that drone makes a break for it, that may be the 'do or die' moment.

I was positioning more than 2 grenades - 3 by the guards, 1 amongst the warheads and a neurostun near the table.

Copperhead looked at the tight grouping of legs around the table and reconsidered.  She didn't want to lose the element of surprise.  Besides, it looked like a platinum DocWagon contract wasn't all it was cracked up to be and she had a bit more time than she'd expected.

She positioned a second thermal smoke grenade beside the Neurostun grenade she'd already placed near the table.  That would help make he gas cloud visible and would add to the chaos.  Then she positioned a stun grenade on either side of the table, as close as she could while still remaining concealed.  The two of them together should have about the same impact as one directly underneath.

If I can position them both within 16 feet of the table, they should add together.

Then she positioned herself at the concealed starting point of her 'run' to the back of Khan's leg.  "Any sign o' DocWag'n?"

My top speed is 1m/sec.  So, assuming that each grenade is about 30 meters of distance on average (keeping mind that the bodyguards are further away than the leaders, allowing for keeping to the shadows and moving by the most concealed path possible), we're looking at at least a minute per grenade.  I've done 8 grenades, so we're looking at probably 10 minutes since triggering the bracelet given time to load and unload and get ready for my final run.  If there's no sign of a vehicle en-route in that amount of time, I've got to assume we're not going to be getting one.

Sorry folks, looks like the Doc Wagon is gonna be late to the party, if at all they decide to show up.  I suggest we either wait a little longer for the call to get through properly, or we improvise from here on out.  Your call, guys.

Noruas scrambles to reboot one of the cellular circuits, dumping enough connections for the bracelet to get through. It's a bit of a struggle, but soon Noruas sees the throughput drop, reset, and the gradual rise of traffic again. Noruas isn't tracking the calls, but there's enough space (and no 404s) that it seems reasonable the bracelet dialed out the GPS information.

Copperhead scoots the concussion grenade right next to the leader's chair. As the drone moves, there's loud crashing from the table overhead, and a few cans fall to the ground nearby. Then shouting and laughing. One of the gangers calls out for a joyboy break. There's more laughing and taunting. The ganger calls again, and one of the guards heads out through the front door, closing it behind him.

Everyone has one more post before grenades start blasting (and hopefully, DocWagon arrives).

Lucky guard... :>

This meeting ain't lastin' much longer

Ok gennlemen.  Da meetin's lookin ta break up.  Dunno if da Wagons gonna join da party er not.  But we bes get tings started.  Noruas, be ready ta blow when I spring ma tail.
  Y'all ready?

Copperhead angled the LoneStar drone into a dive, taking it close to 900 meters before adjusting her jets to conserve momentum as she maneuvered it back into a high-speed upward swoop.  This was *so* much better than her meat body.  She'd heard of magic shape-shifters who could assume the form of birds, but those birds didn't pack a 50 caliber.

As her final preparation, she then swapped her consciousness into the tiny scorpion.  Its senses weren't nearly as sharp, but she could feel the dust on the floor and see the leather covering the leg that was her target.  A faint crease told her where the top of the boot was.  And people rarely armored their calves.

Her rubber-footed claws skittered softly as she maneuvered into striking position, making sure the man's leg was between her and the grenade.  It may only have been a concussion munition, but those still threw a bit of shrapnel and the pressure wave at this range would have been enough to toss her across the room.  As final preparation, she turned down her audio feeds.  The things were dreckin' loud too.

Their plan was a pretty good one.  Now it was time to find out how the universe would decide to frag with it. . .

"Oh yeah. Ain't too worried about Docwagon myself. I mean, all these folks willingly chose to show up here and live the thug life. Though, they might argue that the thug life chose *them*..." he looks to Cadeuces to see if he gets it, but it was unlikely Mr. Snakey here was into 90's hip-hop. This doesn't stop the absurd, expectant grin on his face before he latched the mempo on.

"Anyway, good to go."

Caduceus nodded in agreement to White Duck's statement, completely oblivious to the fact that he was referencing anything at all.  The shaman checked that his personal grenades and spell foci were all in their proper places one last time, then gave Duck a thumbs up.  "All good here too," he said over the coms.

Then he called his second spirit to his side once again.  Whispering, he said to it, "It's about to get hot, buddy.  Prepare yourself."

After hearing the last 'OK' from the rest of the team, Noruas primes the grenades and lets them blow right as Copperhead gives the signal.

Fire in the hole.

The dwarf quickly switches to the aerial drone's gunnery system and takes aim at the metal-roof/windows of the warehouse.  (I'm unsure as to the position of the drone.  If it's right above the warehouse, I'm shooting through the roof.  If its NOT above the warehouse and swerving by it, then the windows are the obvious choice.)

The drone is right above the warehouse heading straight up as that gives you the best range while making you the hardest to hit by everyone else.

Time slows as the scorpion skittered forward, reaching upward with its claws to grab onto Khan's pantleg.  It used the momentum of its forward motion to lift it's body, pivoting about the claws as the tail uncurled and hypodermic needle extended, plunging easily into the back of the man's leg and pumping narcojet directly into his femoral artery.  Then she hung on for dear life as the shockwave of the nearby stun grenade went off less than a meter away.

Prepared for the blast, she quickly released her claws and dropped to the floor before running to the table leg and climbing to the top, hiding as well as she could before moving her consciousness over to the briefcase.  Her voice rang out on the ganger's encrypted channel.

RAID!! 'SA TRAP!!

quote:

21:56, Today: Copperhead rolled 5 successes using 12d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5,2,2,4,4,2,2,5,1,3,5,2.  Scorpion attack.

Seeing as that's a surprise attack, I don't think he gets to dodge.  Presume the TN is 4.  So that should stage the injection damage up to 8D before the benefit of any armor.  It takes effect at the end of the combat turn - not sure if that's the end of the surprise turn or the following one.  If we go with what happens in the the movies, it should be the end of the surprise turn, but Shadowrun's often more realistic than that.

Everyone will also be resisting between 12 and 10M stun depending on how far away they are from the grenade.  (Not sure if I can stage that up in terms of skill at where I put it or not - or what I'd roll)

At the end of the next round, everyone exposed by inhalation or contact will need to resist 6S stun from the gas grenades and will also suffer a +2 penalty due to disorientation.  (Again, not sure if I can stage that up or not).  Caduceus and White Duck will be outside the cloud initially.  Hopefully their jury-rigged chemsuits will minimize the impact of their exposure when they have to enter - the target should only be a couple of meters in.

The smoke will add +4 to normal & low-light vision and +6/+8 to thermal vision (natural/electronic).  And the spirit's confusion power may affect some too.

My first action was to skitter up the chair leg.  Second is to transfer consciousness to the briefcase.  Final action will likely be to send a command to the vehicle to turn on the jammer unless there's a target of opportunity who comes through the smoke (and the briefcase has been moved to a position where she can actually hit them)

Copperhead, knowing the fuse is burning, goes for attack. Her scorpion scuttles up to Cooperman/Khan and strikes. The needle easily passes through the fine wool pants he's wearing; a hold-back from a previous life it seems. The entire load is injected. Cooperman kicks out, knocking the little drone upside down and sliding across the floor, as he shouts and curses.

A breath later the grenades go off as Noruas pulls the (remote) trigger. The concussion grenade detonates immediately and hard enough the table lifts off the ground a few inches, knocking all the pieces and cans of beer to the ground. At the far end of the table, two grenades hissed as they released their charge. In a moment, between those two and the third closer to the manhole cover, the entire area was filling with thick, hot smoke. Copperhead assumes the second gas grenade also discharged, although it's impossible to tell from her viewpoint (or from the manhole cover).

(The HE grenade is still waiting to be detonated.)

White Duck can see the smoke rolling out. As it hasn't spread enough yet to provide significant concealment, I assume he holds his action.

Cooperman stumbles away from the table. "Kill them! There's someone under the table! Kill them all!" With that, he turns and runs towards the equipment stash in the back corner. The leaders grab for their weapons; handguns and beating rods mostly. One of them flips the table and begins firing at the drone. A second joins in, and rounds punch into the cement floor. Even upside down, Copperhead is able to kick off the ground, making the drone at least a difficult target to hit.

Copperhead shifts over to the suitcase. Hopefully the scorpion doesn't get blasted while uncontrolled. Of course, Copperhead begins her shouting as she does, adding to the panic.

Noruas shifts over to the drone and begins firing. Everyone hears the 'pop' of the ceiling developing a new hole, then a second. While Noruas is firing blind, pulling off the data he has available, he's still smart (or lucky) enough that the rounds set one of the guards hoping for cover.

Pausing here--Caduceus has a chance to go, and White Duck can go twice. Smoke has caused minimal concealment at this stage and the gas is still dissipating. Cooperman is moving away from you, and some of the guards are joining him to provide cover.

If you post your actions for the next round as well, I can resolve everything in one go. Of course, if the environment changes radically, I'll pause for you to respond.

Copperhead and Noruas each also have one more action.

Everyone is shouting, and the radios are blowing up. After these, and bodyguard actions, smoke effects will be at full, everyone gets to deal with gas if they're in the area, combat pools for everyone refreshes--that mostly affects the bad guys.