“That’s the reinforcements from the park,” Evelyn says over the group comm. “it’s not the car I bugged, so if you get in I’ll be following you on site alone.”

In reply to Evelyn Shepard (msg # 356):

Rob slows to a stop and smiles amiably.

"Alright, this is quiet enough for us to talk a moment, unless you plan to cram all, what, seven of us, now, into a car. It may be in happy to answer your questions, given a little in return, or it may be that you have a very public problem on your hands."

"Not to worry," the group leader says.  "We have two cars.  One of you rides with me and Micah, the other one of you rides with Daniel and Jens.  Choose quickly, or we'll choose for you."  He had started with an amiable tone himself, but it is gone by that last sentence.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 00:21, Mon 02 Aug 2021.

Lia looks at Rob, meekly pushing an errant strand of hair behind her right ear. Her conventional signal for "no way".

In reply to Director (msg # 358):

"Nope. We talk here. If you get into deciding things for us, then," Rob pauses and looks at the younger ones, "Then Jens, or is it Daniel, gets to limp home and explain to your bosses why the rest of you are bleeding out on the 10PM news."

Lia opens her mouth in an innocent o-shape and blinks silently, eyes darting between the men. She hates violence, little bourgeois Sophie van der Hout. And the more she looks like that, the less prepared they'd be, when she strikes.

The leader raises his hand to signal for everyone to stop.  He turns around and locks eyes with Rob.  "There are a lot more of us here than there are of you.  What makes you think you will walk away if you decide to challenge us now?"  As he speaks, the man who had waved from the car before takes a few steps closer to your group (still keeping a bit of a distance though), and his companion gets out of the driver's seat and stands behind the open door, watching you carefully.

In reply to Director (msg # 362):

OOC: Any reaction from the younger one?

He's shifting nervously and loosening his jacket.  Whatever he has in there he's not going for it yet, but he's trying to prepare at least.

"Is... is this a k-kidnapping?" Lia Sophie stammered, an alarmed gaze darting from one man to the other, and then taking a half-step towards the young one, as if appealing to him for protection.

And to make sure she was in range to nick his gun, before or after breaking his kneecaps.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:51, Thu 05 Aug 2021.

Evelyn would try to keep sight of this situation without drawing attention to herself, wherever that would be.



"We're here if you need us," she says over the comm.
.
OOC: is there a place to position myself in or out of the car to gain the best tactical advantage if necessary?

Galen, still at a discreet distance, draws his pistol and conceals it within a fold of his coat. At the first sign of any of these 'gentlemen' drawing a weapon he intends to make sure he fires first and. hopefully, last.

The group leader look sternly at "Sophie" and says "No, just a business conversation.  You come with us, we talk, and then you can leave.  We have no interest in keeping you longer than that."

The younger man moves closer to her and says softly "It's alright, just come along."  His hands are out of his jacket now, no weapon, and he is moving to put one arm around Lia's shoulders.  To comfort her, no doubt.

Evelyn - for now your best position would be in or next to the car, which will give you a +1 bonus to your Hit Threshold.  For bonuses on the attacking side I don't think there's anything you can do for yourself right now, but you do have access to an option called Support Move where you can maneuver one of the your friends into a good position, or one of the bad guy into a bad position, so that another player will get a bonus to attack the target (anyone with Athletics 8+ has this option).  The way it works is that you roll Athletics, probably against difficulty 4, and the margin by which you beat the roll is added as a bonus to the next attack against your chosen target, or the next attack made by a friend you were helping.  It's probably a bit premature right now, but if you want to you could start positioning yourself to do this in the very near future.

Oh, and if anyone is feeling ready to make the first move, these guys are all Hit Threshold 3+.  If you want to do anything fancier than a simple attack and you need to know how the rules will handle it, just ask.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:47, Tue 10 Aug 2021.

@director thanks for the info! Ill save the active attack, but start positioning myself.

Evelyn stepped out of the car, keeping herself positioned behind it. She waited to see if interference would become necessary.

"A business conversation under your conditions is just not equitable, therefore poor business. Here, we are, if not entirely, more even. As I said, I am happy to talk, I am not happy to go and will not do so quietly."

Lia leans into the embrace, to all appearances a scared little secretary looking for protection.

Then there's  blur of motion, and Lia is suddenly behind the man, not inside his embrace.

"Don't move," she says softly, in a completely different voice.

And there's a nine-millimeter in her hand, and against his ribs.

---

Lia Mizrahi rolled 6 using 1d6+3 with rolls of 3.  Filch (stealing the gun), spending 3 Filch points.

It turns out he didn't have a gun.  It was a combat knife that Lia snatched.  Which is still a perfectly fine thing to be poking someone with, just not a gun like she had hoped.

The young man freezes in place.  His arms are up, but he's holding them at shoulder level rather than straight up - it's the move of someone who is being cautious and recognizing that he's in a bad spot, but not the move of someone who is surrendering.

Right now there is one enemy standing about a meter behind Rob, and a little off to the side.  The two who had been walking ahead of you had already turned around and are facing Rob and Lia (and Lia's hostage), a couple meters away from you.  The fifth is a short distance behind them, also facing you, and the sixth is standing in position behind the open car door.  For a couple of seconds nobody moves, other than some furtive glances flying around between them.

And then things get violent.

All of you beat the bad guys on initiative - you can see that they are moving, but you are able to move just that little bit faster.  Everyone gets to accomplish "one action" on your turn, although it's not clear at all where the boundaries are on that.  So with the general philosophy of "do what they do in spy movies" in mind, I will say for now that at the very least this can include a little bit of footwork that is part of another overall action, and that you can draw a weapon and use it in the same turn if your Shooting or Weapons rating (as appropriate) is 8 or higher.  I can probably be convinced to allow other things too on a case by case basis.

In reply to Director (msg # 372):

Not my kind of party, but you do what you must.

Rob feints towards the nearest guy in front of him then turns and grabs the one behind him, dragging him between himself and the others and locking up his right arm.

13:21, Today: Rob Zwartnacht rolled 6 using 1d6+1 ((5)). Spent my 1 hand to hand point...

18:43, Today: Rob Zwartnacht rolled 2 using 1d6-2 ((4)).
This message was last edited by the player at 01:44, Fri 13 Aug 2021.

Keeping low Galen circles around the burgeoning fight and in behind the man sheltering behind the open car door, intending to get as close as possible to him without being noticed before he strikes.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:10, Sat 14 Aug 2021.

Lia's situational awareness was screaming TOO MANY TARGETS at her, had been for a while. Individually, she took probably take most of them - all at the same time, well, that was going to be a bit trickier.

So she waited a fraction of a second for the young one to shift his weight to the other foot, as she knew he would when he felt the steel in his ribs, and then stepped in, kicking the foot from under him and pushing his body forwards. That sent him spinning, pulled by his own intertia, towards the second-closest thug.

They both fell into each other's arms, hitting the side of the car and ending on the floor. Damage minimal, probably, but the point wasn't to incapacitate them (that would have taken too much time), but to take them out of the fray for a few crucial seconds - for the others to take aim, for Rob to act, for her to find a real weapon...

---

Spending 5 points of Hand to Hand: 3 to activate Throw, and +2.
18:21, Today: Lia Mizrahi rolled 7 using 1d6+2.  Hand to Hand +2.


18:26, Today: Lia Mizrahi rolled -1 using 1d6-2.  Damage for the not so young one.

18:26, Today: Lia Mizrahi rolled 0 using 1d6-2.  Damage for the young one.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:28, Fri 13 Aug 2021.

Evelyn stays low and attempts to make her way closer to the nearest opponent to the car she was using as cover, ideally without being noticed.

My character sheet mentions that one of my cherries is a combat support move to be explained when the time comes. Thought it might be useful now so I’d love to get the low down :)

Rob gets a decent arm lock on the guy closest to him, and for a moment you see him wince.  He then tries to escape with a kick to Rob's knee.  It hurts, at least enough to loosen Rob's grip if not release it completely.

Lia's attempt at human bowling works about as well as planned.  Both of the men she knocked down are able to pick themselves up again though.  The young guy is cursing angrily (in Russian, it turns out) and pulls a pair of handcuffs from his belt or back pocket or wherever they were stored.  The other guy pulls out brass knuckles, puts them on his right hand, and prepares to wade back into the melee.

The leader of the group pulls out a small device that you're pretty sure is a stun gun, then moves quickly to close the gap with Lia, though he's not quick enough to strike just yet.

The fifth guy pulls out handcuffs and maneuvers around to Rob.

The sixth, the one at the car door, leans in to turn the engine on but keeps his eyes on the fight.

Galen manages to get within 5-6 meters of the bad guys' car.  He is confident that he will be spotted if he gets any closer, and maybe even if he doesn't, but he has a chance to act first.

Evelyn sneaks out from her own cover and determines that it would be about equal distance to get to the guy still at the car, or the guy who had moved from the car and is currently advancing toward Rob.  Neither of them has noticed her yet but probably will at any moment.

NPC bad guy rolled 5 using 1d6+2.  escape from Rob.
  NPC bad guy, rolled 1 using 1d6-2.  damage.

All PCs can act now.

Evelyn makes a run for the other man headed for Rob. If she can, she'll  maneuver behind him fast enough to press her gun to the guy's back. Between the stun gun and the handcuffs, it was pretty clear they didn't need to play nice with these guys.


16:47, Today: Evelyn Shepard rolled 8 using 1d6+3.  athletics.

Lia's focus moved from the two human pins to the big bad guy coming in with a taser. No good.

She made a beeline for him, feinting left and moving right, reading his posture, knowing he'd go for a straight strike with the stunner. And then, classic krav maga - sidestep out of it, a palm strike to his neck using his own linear impulse against him...

---

Martial Arts: refresh +3 Hand to Hand. New total of 7/8.

---

...the other hand making a grab for the stunner while he was still reeling from the hit...

---

Today: Lia Mizrahi rolled 7 using 1d6+4.  Using 4 HtH to grab the stunner...

Difficulty was 6 so I guess I manage to grab his weapon hand? I'm down to 3/8...

---

... But there was still some fight in him, and they both struggle for the weapon...

---

Today: Lia Mizrahi rolled 8 using 1d6+2.  Using 2 for the Difficulty 4 wrestle for the stunner..

And I might have overused my HtH because I was worried about failing the roll. I'm down to 1/8, hope he fails...
This message was last edited by the player at 11:48, Thu 19 Aug 2021.

In reply to Lia Mizrahi (msg # 379):

Rob sizes up the man coming for him with cuffs and snaps some low kicks to get his attention them punches him in the face.

12:37, Today: Rob Zwartnacht rolled 5 using 1d6 ((5)).

I think I roll 1d6-4 for damage, adjust as appropriate:
12:40, Today: Rob Zwartnacht rolled 2 using 1d6-4 ((6)).