Galen abandons all pretense of sneaking and strides up to the man at the car making no effort to conceal himself. Once he's within six feet he levels his gun squarely at the guy's forehead, coughing once to announce his presence if he still hasn't clocked and speaking loudly,
"Call your mates off sunshine and tell your pal there to give the taser to the nice lady or we're going to have to make a real mess of your upholstery."

He keeps one eye on the wider fight and the other alert for any sign of this driver being fool enough to rush him.

OOC: Not sure how to handle it mechanically? Intimidation spend - happy to burn some points there.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:51, Thu 19 Aug 2021.

Galen - sure, spending 1 Intimidation should do the job.

Rob - unarmed attack is -2 damage, not -4, so you did a lot better there than you thought :)

Lia gets the enemy leader with a surprise strike that doesn't do serious damage but does create the opening she needs to try to disarm him.  He keeps a good grip on it, and so far neither of them is able to wrest it from the other.

Rob brushes aside the man he was fighting with before and goes for the one with the cuffs.  He gives him a couple of distracting kicks and then a hard punch in the face.  Only then does he notice Evelyn standing behind the guy, holding a gun in his back.  Their target raises his hands in surrender while blood flows from his nose.  That seems good, until the one Rob had ignored comes up behind to get him in a choke hold.  Evelyn saw him coming though, and the look on her face was enough for Rob to start moving just in the nick of time.  The hold is weak, and instead of a choke the man just pulls back hard while Rob wriggles out of it (1 damage).

Staring down the barrel of Galen's gun, the man at the car raises his hands as well and shouts, in Dutch, "Yu- uh, Jens, it's time to back away now, they've got guns..."  His voice is slow and shaky, not the kind of thing that's easy to notice when one is in the middle of a brawl.  The guy who had surrendered to Evelyn nods, and the one who had attacked Rob moves his hands off of him and cautiously takes a couple of steps back.  However, "Jens" or whatever his name really is continues struggling with Lia.  To make matters worse, the other two guys (Lia's "bowling pins") had already been focused on fighting back, and the driver's nervous voice is not enough to dissuade them just yet.  The one with the brass knuckles misses the head shot he was going for but still gets a good hit on Lia's shoulder (2 damage), while the other manages to get one cuff on Lia's wrist and starts pulling (no damage, but +1 difficulty if you continue to fight for the stun gun).


Leader spends 3 HtH, which gives him an auto-success to hold onto the weapon

Knuckles rolled 7 using 1d6+1.  punch Lia.
  Knuckles rolled 2 using 1d6-1.  damage.

Young Guy rolled 7 using 1d6+2.  grapple Lia.

Bad Guy (who doesn't have a better nickname, and I already called him Bad Guy last round) rolled 3 using 1d6+2.  attacking Rob.
  Bad Guy rolled -1 using 1d6-2.  damage.

All of you can act now

In reply to Director (msg # 382):

Identifying the leader, Rob does his best to ignore the fly bothering him and goes for a low kick to help Lia out.

22:45, Today: Rob Zwartnacht rolled 6 using 1d6 ((6)).

22:47, Today: Rob Zwartnacht rolled -1 using 1d6-2 ((1)).

(Rob still has no pool so he wasn't trying anything fancy. Rolled well on the attack not do much on the damage.)

Lia grunts as something hard and heavy hits her shoulder, but she doesn't let go. Her peripheral vision tells her Rob is helping, and she catches Galen wielding a gun by the corner of her eye. Not the moment to give up or run; she rolls with the punch, changes her balance and pulls on the stunner...

---

Today: Lia Mizrahi rolled 3 using 1d6+1.  Hand to Hand, using up my last point.

---

...but she's distracted, and her pull is too weak.

Galen sighs the sigh of a man who really wanted to try and do this the easy way but the universe seems determined to frustrate.

Guessing Jens is the boss and that he is also the man currently grappling with Lia Galen turns slightly from the hapless driver, quickly draws a bead and puts a bullet into Jens' leg. Hopefully brute force will succeed where 'negotiation' failed.

OOC:
21:31, Today: Galen Ives rolled 5 using 1d6+4.  Shooting (Spend 4).
Which I think hits (just) on a called shot to a limb so:
21:33, Today: Galen Ives rolled 7 using 1d6+1.  Damage.
Hmm...might be a touch high...

I never actually said I was attaching a suppressor so not sure if you would say it's on or not. Wouldn't change the action either way so I'll let you decide on what works best for the drama! :)

Evelyn orders the surrendered man onto the ground. If he complies, she moves on to assess the situation further.

The others grappling with the leader, Evelyn makes a run for one of Lia’s bowling pins and aims a kick at the man’s knee.

 22:43, Today: Evelyn Shepard rolled 3 using 1d6.
 I’d like to spend one of athletics or hand to hand to boost to four as well (whichever is more appropriate)
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Fri 27 Aug 2021.

14:01, Today: Evelyn Shepard rolled -1 using 1d6-2.

wow first time I've rolled a negative in a game I think haha! Oh well

Going for the guy with the cuffs.

Rob and Evelyn move in to help Lia, who is struggling.  She loses her grip on the stun gun, catches the flash of triumph in her opponent's eyes, but then before he can do anything else a shot rings out and he drops, bleeding badly from his thigh.

The guy at the car might have done something heroic when Galen turned away from him, but he shrinks back reflexively at the sound of shooting so close to him.

Similarly, the two that Rob and Evelyn had been dealing with a moment ago might have had a pretty good opportunity just now, but once they see their leader get shot they back off instead.

That leaves two more, Lia's bowling pins.  The younger one lets go of the handcuffs and responds to Evelyn's kick with a flurry of punches, landing a good shot in her face (3 damage) before the older one grabs his shoulder and says says in Russian "Come on, out of here!"  They both start moving in different directions, the older one turning and running and the younger one backing away cautiously, but not having turned around yet.

A bit after the fight started, civilians had started gathering nearby (though still at a safe distance) to see what was going on.  The other thing that happens when Galen pulls the trigger is that they start screaming and scattering.

Young Guy rolled 9 using 1d6+3.  attacking Evelyn. - that's a nat 6 and beat her Hit Threshold by 5 or more, so critical hit.
  Young Guy rolled 2,1 using d6-2,d6-2.  damage.

The leader is alive but down, and everyone else is trying to leave, although some are still closer than others.  Police will be here before long.  What are you doing?

In reply to Director (msg # 388):

Rob drops to a knee and begins treating the leaders wound. He surreptitiously pockets the man's phone while he does so.


"If you can explain the gun I can handle talking to the cops. Might even be someone I've worked with. We'll go with mostly the truth, attempted kidnapping. Maybe I can even talk them into running these guys background for us."


00:07, Today: Rob Zwartnacht rolled 5 using 1d6+2 ((3)).

ooc, I figure Galen can use Cover if he's got nothing else.

Evelyn reels back with the power of the shot to her face. Her work generally being in the more watching and waiting area of espionage, as the sharp pain hits it occurs to her that’s its been a good while since she took a real knock in the head. She catches herself with a hand on a parking lot guide-bar. The throbbing in her head is quickly numbed by adrenaline and she lunges after the pausing younger man. With the sound of Robs voice, she knows the team is attempting to work towards a semi-peaceful resolution, and aims only to restrain her opponent long enough for the boss to call them to a halt.



17:46, Today: Evelyn Shepard rolled 4 using 1d6+2.  Restrain enemy , plus two hand to hand.

Saved in the nick of time by Galen shooting Stun Gun Dude in the leg, Lia tries to regain the initiative, moving fast.

Handcuff rattling in her wrist, she crouches to retrieve the stunner as it falls from the wounded man's hand and rushes the car, trying to stun the man at the wheel before he can drive away.

---

Sorry everyone, I didn't notice I was the only one left, apologies for holding up the action. Master, I'm not sure if this is Athletics, Hand to Hand...?

Galen swings the gun back to 'car guy' and then waves the barrel in the general direction of elsewhere, "Run, and leave the keys."

Assuming the man doesn't run for the hills Galen won't shoot again but will try and get his arm in the car door to stop the man driving off until Lia arrives with the stun gun. If he does do as the nice man with the gun is asking him then Galen will jump behind the wheel ready to drive off when anyone who wants to come along is inside the vehicle.

Car guy does indeed follow Galen's instructions.  The car is yours.

Evelyn manages to get a good hold on the young guy, but he's still struggling to get out.  It would take a slight amount of effort to ensure that he stays.

No sign of police yet, but you know it won't be much longer.  Odds of driving off before they get here are pretty slim, though maybe not zero.

Lia - picking up the stun gun and then moving to the car is as much action as you get for one round, so no need to roll or spend right now.

About the young guy - I'm going to kind of handwave this rather than tracking Health to the bitter end.  A simple expenditure of 1 more HtH would lock him in; however, I see that Evelyn is tapped out, so this would require someone else to help.  I will also accept a successful attack roll (from anyone) with no spend if you want.  If Lia wants to just zap him that will work too.

In reply to Director (msg # 393):

what's the condition of the leader and did Rob successfully filch the phone?

Happy to oblige, and almost tenderly, Lia zaps the young cub and bundles him into the car.

"Let's get out of here, find somewhere quiet to ask a few polite questions."

Galen assists Lia in shoving their captive into the vehicle and then slides into the drivers seat of the now vacated vehicle, ready to hit the gas when anyone who is coming has hopped in.

Evelyn holds tight on her captive and begins backing them both towards the car. She's not yet sure if she intends to take him with them, examining the situation as she goes.

In reply to Evelyn Shepard (msg # 397):

Rob finishes stabilizing the leader and jumps in the car. "Quickest route to somewherewe can ditch this car?"

Lia thinks about it as she straps in in the rear seat.

"We can do this fast or slow. Slow, we find a very quiet place and clean up the car. Fast, we find somewhere out of sight and torch it. Prints and DNA all over the place."

Movement in the crowd suggests that someone is headed your direction, presumably law enforcement.  You've got 10-15 seconds to finalize your exit plan.

Seeing that they already had a hostage and the group consensus seemed to be splitting, Evelyn pushed away the man she was holding and began to move back out of the lot.
"I say slow," she said. "Fast is messy. I'll take the car we came in."

She jogged to the car and hopped in,

In reply to Evelyn Shepard (msg # 401):

I want to be clear that Rob did not drag the leader into the car. I was assuming the young one would be easier to break and if the leader is collared, we can get more info from the cops whether they give it voluntarily or not.

Oh gotcha thanks for telling me! Lia and Galen got one of the guys I think but I wasn't sure if we also had the leader.

Do we think a second captive would be more help or hindrance?

"Slow works for me, less attention when we leave the immediate area"

OOC: I reckon one captive is probably enough. "We have ways of making you talk" and all that!

Galen and Lia get their captive into the bad guys' car and drive off as fast as they can without attracting more attention.  Meanwhile, Evelyn and Rob go back to the car that you guys brought and head out a different way.  In the rearview mirror you can see several cops gathering around the leader or talking into their radios.

But at least you've made it out, and now just need to find a place to reconvene...