OOC: This is a placeholder for Oak's new thread, GMed by Tadeusz.  :)
This message was last updated by the GM at 04:01, Mon 31 Aug 2015.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 1):

Grapes and bananas discuss the meaning of Free Will at a counter in Waffle House while the cook is not looking, but then the door opens and a harsh, but soft voice asks.....

"Who's he?"
"How de snot di I dow? Look like a flash do I?"

The air smells of burning wood and a bright ozone tang.  Fires crackle in the distance. Along with that you hear thunder in the distance, and shorter thundercracks nearby.
"He's gotta be valuable. Wakey-wakey. Hit him with da juice."

And suddenly an acrid odor hits your nose, and your heart is racing, and you're ready to bounce to your feet.  Your eyes fly open, and you see two short beings armed with some sort of rifles and grenades.

One looks like a Possum of sorts, and the other a Norwegian Rat.  They're both dirty.  And you see flashes of light shine off the broken walls of nearby apartment houses followed by cracks.

"Move your tail, Man. Or the 19th are going to roast you for supper. Us two." Says the Possum.

:: Dearest LORD, please guard and guide me now, I pray... ::

:: Ring, are you online?  Please acknowledge.  If so, begin monitoring and recording.  Summarize contents of any available transmissions. ::

"OK.  Which way?"

I get up, and start moving in the direction indicated.

As I do so, I attempt to look at them via Sight, then attempt to read the surface thoughts of the Possum...
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:23, Mon 31 Aug 2015.

::Online. High level encryptions. Burst transmissions.;;

They drag you back to your hands and knees.

"Stay down." Says the Possum.  They lead you through little valleys of broken concrete, past singed tree saplings.

Must be a scientist.  Only one of Them would be so clueless.  Big choc-choc to bring back.

In the Sight, you both see 'guns' and computer chips for each one.

As we make our way, I gently stretch out my thought sensing, attempting to passively detect any nearby thought sources and the surface thoughts behind them.  If someone is lurking in ambush, it wouldn't hurt to get some advanced warning...

OOC: Did I detect any discernible response to my prayer?

Somewhere nearby you detect a cold, predatory but intelligent mind.  It feels...not quite human. Its aware of you as you're making a lot more noise than Rat or Possum, even if they are two feet tall.

You pass a large battle tank minus it turret.

No, you did not feel anything from that prayer.

:: Ring.  Can you tune the Kinetic Field to dampen the noise I am making as I move? Can you detect any lifeforms nearby?  If so, what are their nature, direction, and range?  ::

I attempt to follow up on the detected mind to determine probable intent (impending ambush, mere observation, etc).  Any location information (direction, range) would also be useful.

And I use my Kung Fu training and my Panda Samurai training to attempt to move more silently...

::Theoretically possible. Do you wish me to try?::

Impending ambush, and you feel the mind more deeply. There is anger, and sadness, despair and fear, and hate, but except for anger, all that is weak.  Of hope or love there is nothing.

You start stalking, and Rat nods at you with approval as you slip down a set of concrete chunk covered stairs.

And at the bottom of the steps, about to turn a corner to the left into what might be a subway station, suddenly Possum lunges back.  And a flash of light, and a thunderclap, and tiles from your right explode and hit the side of your face.

"AP scout." Possum says, and Rat shivers as it grinds its teeth together.  "No, Rat, no berserk." Possum orders.

:: Ring.  Initiate healing.  Do not attempt noise dampening at this time. ::

"Are you two OK?"

I continue monitoring the thoughts of the ambushing mind, seeking more information about it, from current intent to wider general knowledge it has about daily life...

You heal from the minor cuts and bruises.

The term high-functioning sociopath comes to mind when you touch the mind.  It calls itself 'advanced', 'gengineered', 'effective', 'realistic', and 'one of the Autumn People', and a 'veteran scout and bounty taker'.

The idea of higher status giving orders is there, but in a peculiar form to an American.  Despite being a member of an armed force 'horde' it can go where it wills.  'Success at various missions yields bounty'.  It thinks of warfare as 4GW.

Its armed with a lasrifle with a thirty second recharge time, and a smart bullet pistol, and a knife, and various short term bioagents.

It thinks of itself as it.

I continue to follow the various threads of thought, monitoring if and when it is preparing to attack again (is this the same mind that just ambushed us?), and trying to get more insight into this world and the various factions involved in the current conflict...

Its not thinking as such.  Its in a 'no mind' state waiting for someone to stick their head around the corner so it can bake them with its lasrifle.  It settles deeper into this trance, and you find yourself locked out.

I gently stretch out my thought sensing again, attempting to passively detect any other nearby thought sources and the surface thoughts behind them.  If someone else is lurking in ambush, it wouldn't hurt to get some advanced warning...

You hear with your normal ears a low crunching noise getting closer.  Other than that, nothing.

I silently gesture to my companions, holding up a hand, then putting my hand to my ear as if listening, then pointing in the direction of the low crunching noise...

They nod, look at each other, and make some hand signals. The Possum pulls out a small device that wriggles like a spastic snake.  The rest of you move back.

A hand sized tracked 'drone' rolls around the corner, explodes.  The Possum and the Rat are already charging straight down the stairs into the dust cloud.  The Rat is chattering his teeth, and is first.

:: Ring.  Raise shields.  ::

I charge after them...

Awkwardly you charge through the dust cloud, over shattered steps leading down, and around the corner.  Clearing the dust, a laser blast flashes by your face, penetrating the Kinetic Field with ease.

Possum is ten feet in front of you, and Rat is thirty.

A hundred feet up ahead you see a low pile of rocks on the side of the subway station, and behind it a wrecked subway car. But fornow, someone is laying down on the pile of stone,and firing....

:: Ring.  As soon as you have a clear shot, hit the rock pile with the hostile laser with a maximum strength Kinetic TK Pulse.  Avoid my two allies now charging the laser.  ::

With a prayer, I activate my lightsaber as I run at an evasive zigzagging angle forward to get a clear shot, attmpting to use my training to deflect any incoming laser bolts...
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:47, Wed 02 Sept 2015.

A bolt hits the Rat and he flips head over heels before going down.  You think you might have a shot with the TK, but the Ring doesn't fire.  You stumble a bit as you zig, and then snap your lightsaber, and deflect a shot into the ceiling.

A wild laser shot by the Possum knocks tiles loose from the ceiling, and then TK...the Autumn Person slides back.  It aims at you, but then the gun overheats, and it tosses the gun aside.  And as you come up with Possum still a few paces in the lead, and the Autumn Person reaching for a holstered pistol...

It is thin, flat-chested, jacketed despite the weather being fine, and it has enormous eyes with huge pupils in them that might looking charming, but for the near total flat affect in them, and the snarling, pointed teeth which seem uncconnected to it.