[MaxKojote]

Joel frowned at the path Matt took before shaking his head. Really? If there are spirits, they'll catch up to us easily. Once we get into the sewer though things should be easier... He jogged after Jade and Matt. Got to keep him out of trouble though. He noted the dwarf separating from the group. Hope he'll be alright...

[Gustovness]

Leroy facepalmed.

As he realized that he needed the guy who just lost his shit to show him the way out, he decided against separating from the group after all.

He double backed and dropped into a dead sprint to catch up with the rest of the group.  The sight of a black dwarf attempting to run so hard was almost as strange a sight as all the death that surrounded everyone.

[Ren]

Act II

Unlikely encounters

[Ren]

Moving among the dead wasn’t easier, even if you did it for the second time. The missing noises of human activity were a constant buzz in your heads, you knew there was no sound but you heard it still. The eerie voices of the still-working ads counter-balanced this, creating an uneasy, alarmed feeling for all of you.

The drone went ahead to scout the route you planned to take. No warning sign came, it didn’t notice any movement. You, on the other hand, did.

As you went through an intersection you noticed a group of people, some of them leaning over the bodies, obviously looking for something. They were close, about 25 meters from the intersection, and you suspected that the chaotic background noise and the lack of speech caused both groups not to notice the other.

There were five people in the corridor, a big, burly ork and four humans. All wore sturdy boots, black cargo pants, and black synthleather jackets, its sleeves painted grey. All had respirators on, and carried black or grey backpacks. A second of stunned silence petrified both sides, as the ork and one of the humans watched you walk into the intersection, then both drew pistols, the human yelled ”OY!” and the ork bellowed ”Whodafuq yo are, gringo?” Their voices were strangely muted through their respirators, the ork’s still carried.

[Csjarrat]

Fuck! Just keep calm Matt, no sudden moves
On seeing the pistols come up and level at him, Matt began to back away, desperately trying to figure out if these were the good guys or bad guys. Matt had a little lead on the others, and could hear them puffing and panting up the corridor towards him. hopefully they would realise something was up:
Matt moves his arms up into the surrender positon, his arms above his head, his taser still in hand, but saying nothing.
The lack of any formal introduction was suspicious, surely the police or medics would have said who they were?
[spoiler]looking for official insignia, badges, anything that would give away who these guys belonged to:
int 3, percep (4), coprocessor 2, active 3, -1 wound (11d6.hits(5)=5)[/spoiler]

[farothel]

"I can ask you the same thing, gringo," Jade said, her own warhawk still in her hand, "but let's be polite, right.  We're just shoppers and workers of this monstrosity.  And you?"
She looked at them, trying to find out who they were.  She also checked in AR to see if they had arrows with badges or something like that.  She didn't point her warhawk at them, but she kept it visible to make sure they knew that this could change in an instant.

[spoiler]
intuition 4 + perception 3 + active 3 + vision enhancers 2 =12 (12d6.hits(5)=4)
[/spoiler]

[MaxKojote]

Joel slowed to a stop when he saw the five metahumans come into sight. His eyes darted over them, suspiciously as he  looked for any crests on their jackets that might identify if they were from somewhere like the CDC. His hands went up slowly into the  air in a position of surrender.

Who the bloody hell are they? If they're not the CDC, this could quickly become unpleasant... I really need to get out of this area. I can't help out much if combat breaks  out.

[spoiler]Perception (4) + Intuition (5) + Perceptive (1) + Actively Looking (3) + Vision Enhancement (3) - Wounds (1) (15d6.hits(5)=5)[/spoiler]

[Ren]

Your senses were already keyed up, so it wasn’t hard to realize that all members of the group wore armored jackets and were strapped, carrying similar, large pistols, two of which still pointed your way. Their attire was a uniform of sorts, but you were sure it was neither CDC nor any official sort. It was the uniform of the streets, of belonging, but it lacked anything fancy like AROs or official IDs. They looked like gangers. And the ork made it clear soon enough where they belonged.

”We be Granitez and eat politez for breakfast. And yo be shopperz no more than us. So why don’ yo spit out truth for second time, pendejo?” His stature showed menace and his voice was intended to support that, but the respirator made his attempt less effective. The humans in the back stood up from their stooping positions, but aside from the two guns you already saw, no others were drawn.
[spoiler=test please]Roll Judge Intentions please. Also, anyone may roll an INT + Seattle Street Gangs or similar skill test when hearing the gang name.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Spanish] pendejo = idiot[/spoiler]

[Gustovness]

Leroy, who was furthest back behind the group after having to play catch up and trying hardest to keep the pace of the rest of the group with his short and stubby legs, put his hands down on his knees trying to catch his breath while taking in the scene that was rapidly unfolding before him.

[spoiler]
Judge Intentions
INT 4 + CHR 2 - Wounded 1 = 5 (5d6.hits(5)=3)

3 Hits!

Not bad![/spoiler]

Leroy cocked an eyebrow up at the sound of the gang's name.

Granitez, eh?

[spoiler]
Area Knowledge: Seattle

INT 4 + Area Knowledge: Seattle 2 - Wounded 1 = 5 (5d6.hits(5)=1)

1 Hit!

Glitch!

I have a specialization in downtown for this knowledge test but I wasn't sure what area the gang operated out of so I left it out.

[/spoiler]

[Csjarrat]

[spoiler]judge intentions with wound mod (5d6.hits(5)=2)
int 3, seattle area knowledge 3, wound -1 (5d6.hits(5)=2)[/spoiler]
Granitez? these guys looting already?
Look, we're survivors of whatever the fuck just happened here, we're trying to find a way out because the emergency doors won't open. We didn't see you, didn't hear you, alright? We'll be on our way now then...

[MaxKojote]

[spoiler=Judge Intentions]Intuition (5) + Charisma (3) - Wounds (1) (7d6.hits(5)=2)[/spoiler]

Joel narrowed his eyes. They didn't look like people who had any business here. Perhaps they were linked to who was responsible? Either way, they were starting to look hostile. He dropped the idea of summoning a spirit into this area, the domain would be harmful to it. He'd just have to bite the bullet and do the fighting himself. Hopefully Miko could handle the greatest portion of the combat, but Wolf wouldn't accept him backing down if it became necessary  to fight.

He blinked his vision over to the Astral, fighting off the revulsion of the taint within  it as he began examining the auras of the five gang members.

[spoiler=Assensing]Unarmed human 1:  Intuition (5) + Assensing (4) + Perceptive (1) - Wounds(1) - Astral Visibility (2) (7d6.hits(5)=5) Holy crap.

Unarmed human 2: Intuition (5) + Assensing (4) + Perceptive (1) - Wounds(1) - Astral Visibility (2) (7d6.hits(5)=5) Again. Holy crap.

Unarmed human 3: Intuition (5) + Assensing (4) + Perceptive (1) - Wounds(1) - Astral Visibility (2) (7d6.hits(5)=2) Okay a bit more normal now.

Ork: Intuition (5) + Assensing (4) + Perceptive (1) - Wounds(1) - Astral Visibility (2) (7d6.hits(5)=4) Good grief.

Human with gun: Intuition (5) + Assensing (4) + Perceptive (1) - Wounds(1) - Astral Visibility (2) (7d6.hits(5)=5) And holy crap again. [/spoilers]

[farothel]

[spoiler]
charisma 3 + intuition 4 =7 (7d6.hits(5)=2)

I have criminal (Seattle mafia) as knowledge skill.  I'm not sure if it applies, but if so, here it is (otherwise just disregard).  If this one doesn't apply, and prostitution networks applies, use the same roll (it's the same dicepool)
intuition 4 + seatle crime 2 =6 (6d6.hits(5)=2)

@Max: holy crap indeed. 
[/spoiler]

4 humies and an ork, Jade thought as she looked at them again.  Well, the humies wouldn't be much of a problem.  They tended to go squish when hit by a troll fist.  But the ork was something else and she had the feeling she would be quite on her own in a fight.  Better wait a bit.  Luckily she had been working and she had her armour on.  That would at least stop part of the impact.

[Ren]

--Joel--
As you opened your other eyes, you had to swallow to avert the feeling of being immersed in something thick and oily and... simply put, disgusting. The denizens of the astral milled around just as you remembered, but as they got a whiff of you appearing, they slowly but surely started to converge on you. You still had more than enough time to get a good lok at the five in front of you. There was some link between those people, and you got the feel that the humans defer to the ork. They were all shaken a bit, but the iron shackles of being unwilling to be the first to turn tail and show weakness tied them together. They were all jumpy, and a hazy look of some common activity tied them together above anything else: they were under the effects of some drug, tainting their aura with angry red stripes of adrenaline. They were on the verge of jumping, only waiting for some trigger, probably the ork's words, to draw. They all got minimal or no augmentations, the ork was the exception, who got some artificial muscles grafted to his basically impressive build. You also felt uncertainty in the ork, some internal struggle going on while he exchanged words with the others.

--Leroy--
You didn't really understand, how small fry like these could operate in Bellevue. Word was this was rather the area for bigwigs like the Mob or the Yaks. Something must be in the background. Other than this, you could turn up nothing from the recesses of your memory on the Granitez.

--all--
All of you could see that the group acted as one, showing deference to the ork talking to you. You also suspected fingers itching for the trigger, you had to be very careful in handling the situation for it not to escalate.
One of the humans in the back cut in. "Oy, Javier, they could just be another group of..."
"Shut it, Gabe, yo talk when i sayz so." The ork interjects angrily, turning his head his way for a moment, in a very unprofessional way...

[Csjarrat]

[spoiler]charisma + negotiation: Burn one point of edge for critical success[/spoiler]

[Gustovness]

Leroy was out of his element when it came to the gangers and he knew it.  He decided to keep his trap shut for once and let the shadier members of his new "team" lead in this dance.  He was, however, ready to take off running at a moment's notice.

Some fucked up fate it'd have to be to survive this disaster just to get gunned down by these assholes afterwards...

He clutched at his med kit's handle tightly, the beginnings of the fight or flight reflex beginning to take hold of his body.