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[5e IC] Tabula Rasa, Chapter II

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Tecumseh

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« Reply #255 on: <01-14-15/1824:54> »
Doc and his Agent rapidly scan the silent devices, looking for the most threatening of the lot. Just as they finish another persona appears out of nowhere - like an agent program much like Doc's own - and the rotodrone takes off with a jumped-in rigger. Doc deduces that the persona in the Bulldog not running silently must be a decker and pounces on it accordingly. Drawing his scalpel, he rushes forward swishing the small blade ahead of him like Zorro. The other persona looks like a shadowy version of Little Red Riding Hood. Doc goes straight for the breastbone, inscribing a mark down the persona's chest like he's about to perform open-heart surgery. The persona is marked.

Sam glances back, seeing a large, irritible-looking ork leaning out the window of the Bulldog. Sam, being a gun nut, immediately recognizes the HK-227 in the man's hand. The ork looks ready to shoot but doesn't.

In the rear view mirror, Chino sees the rotodrone fly up and disappear from his cone of vision. It's somewhere above the RV now.

Inside, Katsina, Ohanzee, and Ace look on with horror as a fire spirit materializes inside the RV. It appears as a flaming imp, cackling to itself and crackling as its energy aura begins to heat the overly-carpeted interior of the wood-paneled RV...

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« Reply #256 on: <01-15-15/1235:01> »
Feeling that he's behind the curve on this as it is, Doc doesn't waste any time and goes for a mark on the persona he's assuming is the decker.  His scalpel easily scars the caduceus into the persona, though not as deeply as he would have liked.  The Agent continues to identify targets for Doc to eliminate.
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Tecumseh

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« Reply #257 on: <01-15-15/1505:07> »
In the astral, Wolf rockets out of the RV to materialize in the Bulldog. The projecting magician in the RV tears off after Wolf in hot pursuit. Wolf receives a warm welcome from the Bulldog. A heavily tattooed man draws a Ruger Super Warhawk and plants a shot square into Wolf. The spirit shakes with annoyance but the damage is more to its pride than its being.

The ork in the passenger seat of the Bulldog spins around with his HK-227, firing a short burst of explosive rounds into Wolf's back. The spirit sighs with contentment at the impromptu massage, the rounds having no effect whatsoever other than to wet Wolf's palate for the coming onslaught. The projecting magician rushes back to try to attack Wolf from the astral but that effort finds no traction. Wolf swats aside the attack and considers his many options. There are six targets within the Bulldog. In addition to the two shooters and the body of the projecting magician, there is the driver and a massive troll that looks ready to attack.

Back in the RV, another fire spirit materializes. One of the spirits remaining on the astral attacks Katsina astrally while the other goes after Ohanzee. Katsina steels her will and deflects the attack while Ohanzee barely parries the another. Chino presses a button on the dashboard of the RV, then stands and cracks his knuckles. Ace lines up a shot with his Lancer while Katsina readies her revenge on the spirits.

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« Reply #258 on: <01-15-15/1602:25> »
As the heat lashes against his back, Chino grins. It can only mean one thing, and he knows what it is. Chino sets the course and locks it into the RV's autopilot. He gets out of his seat and turns around to see a Fire Spirit.

The tattoos on his arms pulse with energy, and Chino gleefully wills energy into them. He briefly sends a message to his team:

<<@Team [Chino] I'm putting this thing on autopilot; I've got the spirit that's in the RV.>>

He realizes what he's about to do is going to look insane, but he continues to smile. He cracks his knuckles and then charges the Spirit.

Malevolence

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« Reply #259 on: <01-15-15/1650:24> »
Wolf vanishes from the RV and races toward the Bulldog - as a summoned spirit, the projecting mage poses a threat if he should choose to attempt banishing him. But even though movement is nearly instantaneous on the Astral, the heightened speed of thought allows the mage to see Wolf streak in the direction of his unconscious - and unprotected - body. Putting tow and two together, he follows.


Wolf materializes in the vehicle following the RV and finds a warm welcome. Not unexpected - the spirit knew the fleshy occupants would attempt to defend themselves - but he does not fear the mundane weapons the prey on the material plane use. Only those that carry the title of Awakened concern the spirit. Two of the occupants open fire, their loud weapons barking their ire. The first man gets a good shot off, the bullet of a massive one handed weapon startling Wolf as it finds purchase and wounds him. It is a minor would, but the spirit has difficulty staying on task, wanting to make the fleshling pay for its efforts. The second man, an ork, uses his weapon on the spirit, a short three note staccato, and the bullets collide with Wolf's deceptively solid flank. Where they collide with his form, small blooms of fire break out. Wolf barely registers the sting.


Wolf shakes off his anger at the first human and gets back to his task - identifying the limp form of the mage and preparing to rend it open and spill its warm innards into his hungry, waiting gullet. But the body's owner shows and makes a strong effort to bat Wolf away. Wolf narrowly dodges the attack; even though the mage is no match for him in Astral Combat, Wolf had not expected him to follow so quickly and was nearly surprised.


Surveying the situation, Wolf notes another, large fleshling preparing to attack. He pays it little heed - a cursory inspection shows the aura as mundane. Eliminating the three enemies attacking him, he focuses on the remaining three auras to look for the mage's unprotected body.


Meanwhile, Ohanzee fares only slightly better as one of the remaining spirits moves to attack him. Fortunately, it is a weak spirit and Ohanzee is able to avoid the attack - barely. He notes absently that another fire spirit has materialized in the RV, making the meat world very nearly as dangerous as the Astral. He struggles with the decision to keep his Astral eyes peeled and fight a battle on two fronts, or try to force the spirits to play on his home ground? The latter option has the advantage of limiting the danger from the projecting mage should Wolf fail in his mission, and Ohanzee makes one last sweep of the Astral before making the final decision.
« Last Edit: <01-15-15/1816:07> by Malevolence »
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« Reply #260 on: <01-16-15/1613:26> »
The ride goes smoothly for a few minutes, but the feeling in Sams stomach never budges an INCH. Those spirits had my place staked out. There will be bloodshed today. There is simply no chance that with everything we've done this morning that we won't have to shoot today. He looks down regretfully at the 24/30 hovering above the rifle in his lap as they roll quietly through the mountains, waiting for the signal.

"Contact! Other side of the bridge! Down the gravel road to the left!"

As soon as the masked woman speaks, Sam sees the two vehicles and frowns. And so it begins. He double checks that his launcher is loaded with frag grenades and casually rolls the window down.

<<<@Team[Doc] Looks like we've got another icon snooping around.  I'll get us some more information.  Keep things silent or off if you can, also, feel free to slave them to my deck if you want.
Attachment: Slave_Perms.sec>>>

<<@Team [Uncle Sam] Will do.>> Sam gives the mental order through his trodes to slave all his gear to Doc's pilfered deck as he watches the two vehicles through the rearview, wondering when the fireworks would begin. Mere moments later, the smell of smoke and brimstone fills the cabin and a spirit wreathed in flame erupts from the ether inside the passenger compartment.

Before Sam can react, Chino tears himself out of the drivers seat and heads back to do battle with the spirit after putting the RV on autopilot. At least, Sam hopes he put it on autopilot. He remembers Chino mentioning how effective he was in a fight against spirits, and hopes beyond hope that it wasn't just his ego talking. No time to think about that now. That's not my job. He cooly leans his arm holding the rifle out the window, using the video feed in his goggles to line up a shot behind them, trying to decide which vehicle to fire at. If I were a summoner, which vehicle would I want to hide in? He bobs the targeting reticle back and forth between the two vehicles out of indecision.

<<@Team [Ace] We've got 2 males in the Tata Hotspur, 1 male, 1 female in the front of the Bulldog, possibly certainly more in the back.  They're decked out for trouble.>>

The bulldog it is, then.

He steadies his arm as best he can over the bouncy terrain and when he's certain he's lined up the best shot he can get, he pulls the trigger, counts to one and a half and gives the mental order to <Detonate>, hoping for the best.



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Malevolence

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« Reply #261 on: <01-16-15/1718:10> »
As much as he wants to, Ohanzee can't abandon his allies fighting in the Astral. So he steels himself, and fully engages the spirit. With a mental swipe that would have embarrassed even a novice mage, he luckily manages to connect with the spirit. And even more luckily, the spirit practically walks into it - as much as walking is a possibility in the Astral. It howls in pain as Ohanzee's strike severely wounds it. The dwarf allows himself a brief elation at the turn of events, but just as quickly begins worrying about when this new run of good luck will end.


"Contact on the Astral, too. Four spirits and a projecting mage, including the two materialized spirits." he shouts. He's dimly aware that everyone is already in motion. So much for avoiding a fight, he thinks with a twinge of sorrow.
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Malevolence

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« Reply #262 on: <01-18-15/1516:27> »
Behind him erupts a loud "whump!", followed shortly by a feeling not unlike standing too near to a heated oven with the door open. The RV rocks gently, then settles for a moment. Then it begins to swerve wildly, pulls strongly to the right and actually slides sideways for a few moments before the battle between friction and momentum resolves itself, and the vehicle lists dangerously to the left. Ohanzee barely has time to register an Oh, this is not good before gravity takes over, and the RV tips over completely, sliding on its side for a few seconds before coming to an abrupt halt.


Better a tree than the cliff. He takes quick stock of his situation. Well now, this seems familiar. At least I'm not upside down this time. The restraints bit heavily into his chest and gut, but the more concerning pain comes from his head and neck. Whiplash was a certainty, and there was a sharp pain in the back of his head that he was sure would leave a mark, if it wasn't already bleeding.


The spirit he was fighting paused for a moment, perhaps confused by the odd shifting of the gray shapes it perceived the real world as, but it quickly adjusted and continued its previous actions. The crash had not harmed it, of course, and Ohanzee's precarious position would surely limit his defensive options. He steeled himself for the worst, even while hoping that his friends fared at least as well as he did.
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Tecumseh

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« Reply #263 on: <01-19-15/0242:57> »
Sam is a big troll with a big gun, which he hopes is the solution the big problem that's hot on his tail. The RV will never outrun the Bulldog and the Tata, at least under normal conditions. Sam rolls down the passenger window with an idea about how to make the pursuers think twice. Or, if he can't get them to reconsider, then at least slow them down a bit.

He sticks his arm out the window with the Ares Alpha is one of his huge hands. The weapon's internal smartlink camera feeds an image to Sam's goggles, displaying a reticle that hovers over the Bulldog's windshield. This is a difficult position, one not suited for pinpoint accuracy, but Sam has the double-advantage of an area-effect weapon that makes precision unnecessary and some of the finest muscle control that money can buy. He doesn't even have to squeeze the trigger; a mental command sent through his trodes is enough to lob a grenade straight for the Bulldog. An instant later, he gives the mental command to >Detonate<.

The Bulldog sees what is coming and swings wildly to the left, but is constrained by the guardrail. The frag grenade detonates, showering the right half of the Bulldog with a dispersion of small projectiles. The ork in the passenger seat arches his back as he is peppered with hot fragments. The right-side windows shatter, raking the passengers with tumbling metal and pieces of glass. The tires burst but don't go completely. Despite the ice and narrow road, the Bulldog driver retains control.

Retaliation comes swiftly. A combat mage in the trailing Tata responds with a fireball aimed at Sam's arm. Sam sees it coming through his smartlink camera and has the good sense to pull his arm inside and use it - and his flame-retardant jacket - to cover his face as he leans away. There's a blast of light and flame, the intense heat doing nothing to the troll, shielded as he is by the door and Katsina's counterspelling. The RV's tires are another matter. The front-right tire gives out instantaneously, sending the rim to the roadway in a shower of sparks. The RV's autopilot isn't up to the challenge and responds disastrously. The RV lurches to the right, pulled by the additional friction of the rim, until it veers off the road and begins slamming into the thin trees lining the shoulder. The trees give way easily but the shoulder is lower than the road itself. Ohanzee's eyes go wide as the RV leans further, further, until it finally flips on its side.

Sam sees the ground rushing toward him; he has a close-up view of the RV grinding through the snow and soft earth. Inside, everything tumbles. The obelisk falls, shattering its crate. The stove that Ace had pulled away from the wall slams to the ride side of the RV, now the floor, and threatens to roll forward before its square shape stops it just short of Ace himself. The Natelys are thrown rudely from the bed; Doc's limp form tumbles out of the couch on the left and somehow lands comfortably against the back of the dinette booth on the right. Katsina faceplants, her ballistic mask taking the worst of it, and grabs her sword before it can skewer Chino or Ohanzee. Chino tumbles and lands hard on his back. In a daze, Katsina looks around for Ace but only sees the fire spirits bobbing in place, unaffected by the sudden directional change of gravity.

Ohanzee bangs the back of his head but thanks his foresight to buckle in. Sam rages against the situation, taking out his frustration on the airbag that had the effrontery to go off in his face. His head spins. The only way out now is through the driver's side door 3 meters above him, or the emergency escape hatch in the roof. Outside, the rotodrone buzzes while the Bulldog and the Tata slam on their brakes.

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« Reply #264 on: <01-19-15/1127:58> »
Ace lines up a shot he feels very good about, but the fire spirit doges the laser with a preternatural ease that gives Ace pause.  Swift little bastard.  I won't make the same mistake twice.  Ace is lining up a reply when he sees a flash of fire near Sam.  Oh, drek.  The RV sinks, then begins to flip.  Without any way to anchor himself, Ace tucks the Lancer against his chest, and tucks as he rolls forward, trying to keep as much space between himself and the oven he had previously moved as possible.  Luckily, he's able to avoid being smashed by it.  Unfortunately, Ace hits the passenger side wall hard, snapping his head backward.  Yep, that'll take a second before his cyber-eyes re-calibrate. 

This is not good, he thinks as the RV skids to a stop.
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« Reply #265 on: <01-19-15/2137:19> »
As Chino starts sprinting towards the spirit, the world goes sideways. And not like high on BTLs sideways, but literally sideways. It only takes Chino a second to realize what happened. God damn it! The fragging autopilot crashed the car! Chino notices that his leg is smashed into one of the seats. Snarling in anger, he wrenches it free. The spirit was still floating in the middle of the RV; the insolent bastard refused to obey gravity. Chino feels his rage start to bubble, he clenches his hands as he feels power pulse through them, and he pulls himself to his feet.

He looked at the spirit again, and it started lighting things on fire. Without thinking, Chino ignores the pain going through his body and breaks into a run towards it.

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« Reply #266 on: <01-20-15/0148:18> »
The RV finally grinds to a halt. In the Matrix, Doc is vaguely aware that the RV is no longer on the road. Classic, Chino! But the Ford-Canada Buffalo comes with off-road suspension as a standard feature, so no reason to worry. Instead, Doc turns his attention the decker in the black cloak. The decker's agent paints over the mark left by Doc, erasing it. The decker's persona, in turn, wraps its dark cloak tightly around it, as if Doc were a cold breeze that could be warded off. Doc laughs at the notion, and lunges forward with an aggressive thrust of his scalpel.

It was a trap! Instead of soft code, Doc's fist punches a brick wall. He grabs his wrist as it twists and aches. He feels his grip weaken on his scalpel and he knows that his deck has been damaged too. He looks to his agent for a bit of good news.

<<Agent Message: Silent Device Details>>
<<Device ID: RENRAKU SENSEI>>
<<Device Rating: 3>>
<<Device Firewall: 3>>
<<Last Matrix Action: RUN SILENT>>


None of that was terribly compelling in and of itself, but Doc does wonder why none of the devices running silently seem to be slaved to their decker's Firewall. No time to linger on the question now though.



In the Bulldog, the ork in the passenger seat pops a cyberspur. Wolf, preparing for his feast, barely even registers the threat. When the strike comes, Wolf regrets his lack of attention. The blow is powerful and deep, the blade twisting sharply within Wolf's physical essence. The wound is not trivial but the damage is done. Wolf plunges forward, his powerful jaws clamping on the mage's warm, buttery-soft neck. The man behind the mage yells and tries to fire into Wolf but to no avail. The shot goes wide, leaving Wolf to his feast. The magician returns to his body with a bloody cough and a gurgle.



Inside the RV, one of the fire spirits begins skipping about, spreading flames as it goes. The malicious little imp sits on the remains of the crate that held the obelisk. The splinters burst into flame at once, turning into kindling instantly. The imp cackles as its cousin triggers a series of unfortunate events. Katsina, flat on her face, looks up just in time for the cupboards to disgorge their contents on her head. A china plate smashes her ballistic mask; she looks away reflexively, leaving the back of her head vulnerable to a cascade of dishes and glassware. They shatter on her head and she starts to bleed.

Chino, meanwhile, finds himself in a puddle of Taéngelé, a distilled hard liquor made of honey and anise usually favored by elves and the overly rich. The fire spirit touches the other end of the puddle, sending a river of fire in Chino's direction. He manages to stand before the flames reach his face, but they lick his boots and his ankles. He notices that his jumpsuit is on fire. He can't feel it for now but he knows that the fire is just going to keep traveling up his alcohol-infused clothing until he can stop it.

As the RV comes to its final resting place, the roto-drone races the front. It hover in front of the windshield like an fat bumblebee, then spits a short burst through the windshield at Sam. The windshield shatters easily and Sam, on his side and constrained by the dashboard and the deployed airbag, is helpless to dodge. The bullets rip through the airbag and into Sam. He involuntarily coughs at the impact but feels nothing more. He's certain that he's been hit but his damage compensators have negated the pain. In a rage, tries to stand before an invisible force takes his feet out from underneath him. Sam brings up his XM30 and hammers on the trigger, sending a long burst through every vital point of the drone. It disintegrates in an instant, then explodes in a shower of metal debris. Somewhere, a rigger's brain does the same.

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« Reply #267 on: <01-20-15/0230:00> »
Frustrated by the opposing agent painting over his mark, Doc doubles his effort to try and stay a step ahead of the other decker... And falls for the classic maneuver.  As he goes to inscribe his marks again, he drags his scalpel along a hardened firewall, sending streaks of pain back up his arm.  In his frustration he snarls to his own agent, <<<@agent[Doc] Protect the deck!  Keep it clean of any marks.
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« Reply #268 on: <01-20-15/1315:28> »
Ace looks up to see the fire spirit skip past him gleefully, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.  In the background, he sees Chino's clothes catch fire, and it appears as though he's been covered in some sort of viscous fluid.  Shit, shit, shit! Ace curses to himself.  He looks up at the sink, now at the top of the RV, and an idea strikes him.

Ace leaps to his feet, and activates his hydraulic jacks in one fluid motion, catapulting himself to the sink, where Ace uses one swipe of his cyber spurs to separate the sink faucet from its housing, sending water spraying the interior of the Buffalo.  Upon landing, Ace crouches low, and searches for the rifle the crew had taken from the poachers.
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Malevolence

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« Reply #269 on: <01-20-15/1704:39> »
After a quick look around the metal conveyance Wolf had found himself in, he locates the unconscious body of the projecting mage.


You've left your meat suit unattended, fleshling Wolf thinks to himself gleefully. As he prepares to attack, he feels a sharp pain throughout his being. That pesky ork again, this time with a more substantial blow. Wolf is momentarily impressed that the mundane had the honor to drop his noisemaker and use a more elegant weapon, but Wolf's rage quickly replaces that.

Insolent speck! I will end you!


Wolf almost breaks off his attack on the mage to teach the ork not to interfere with a spirit the likes of Wolf, but his rational "mind" cautions him. The mage is still the bigger threat, and so long as you waste your efforts fruitlessly attacking me, you are not attacking those I am honor bound to protect.


He snarls, using the primal gesture to focus and overcome the spidering disruption of his form, and his ears perk as he increases his awareness of the other potential threats in the enclosed space - he'll not make the same mistake twice. He rewards his self control with a soft morsel of flesh from the mage, followed by the warm spray of blood as the mage's tissue yields to Wolf's powerful claws. The man behind the mage screams in anger and shoots at Wolf with his weapon, but Wolf ducks his head and hunches his body to dodge the blast, causing it to go wide. His teeth were still sunk in to the throat of the mage and the shift pulls the mage forward into a doubled over slump. The mage's astral form screams out and returns to the limp body. With a gurgle, the mage's body begins to stir.


Squirm, little one. It'll make the kill that much sweeter.
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