Third and final part. My thoughts and player thoughts to follow once I get those typed up.
Scene 9: Adapt and destroyHaving now been able to witness through the surveillance system Collateral's love of explosives and Revenant dodge a hail of gunfire that should have felled a tank before Lockdown took out cameras, the security spider alerts all remaining personnel not to target the skinny troll with weapon attacks and to prioritize killing the human wearing the bandolier of grenades above all other targets.
Up to this point I've had the security spider do another matrix perception test every minute in effort to spot Lockdown running silent to begin messing with the team's gear, but my dice just haven't been having it. I haven't rolled more than 3 hits on 11 dice and Lockdown hasn't rolled less than 3 on 13.
Meanwhile, the team takes the stairs briskly in a downward spiral, several hundred feet with with no opportunities for exit until they reach the bottom. The composition of the descent's architecture slowly changes from modern building to facsimile of an ancient Mayan stone temple, and the team finds themselves standing in front of a large reinforced stone door decorated with murals and hieroglyphics. It would appear that some technology has been infused with the design, as a biometric scanner for hand and eye appears to be the only means of opening the door. The door is thick reinforced stone (structure rating 19), and Cage tells the group he doesn't care for the idea of shredding the skin off of his knuckles punching the door for 8 minutes. Collateral nods, tells everyone to get back up the stairs a good 30 meters, sets two of his fragmentation grenades to wireless trigger, backs up the stairs with the team, and detonates them creating a 1 meter hole in the door [Collateral wanted to play with the making a bigger boom Engineering rules, but quickly realized there was no way for him to get away with less than 2 grenades here, so didn't bother].
As the cloud of dust and shrapnel settles, the team comes back down the stairs, ducking and entering through the 3 meter hole into the temple. The smell of blood and more murals and hieroglyphics on the stone walls greet them, as do five patients from the ward above chained to the walls. Wailing fearfully and casting fevered warnings at the team, they swiftly set to freeing the patients who flee up the stairs, but are set upon by five human men dressed in ancient mayan warrior garb, complete with painted faces, and wielding macuahuitls. I used the following stat block, largely adapted from the Marine Corps Special Operations Forces template, pg. 208.:
Leopard Guard Adepts, Professional Rating 8Attributes: B 6, A 6 (9), R 5 (
, S 5, W 6, L 3, I 4, C 4; M 8
DR 9, I 4d6+12, CM 11
Skills: Astral 4, Athletics 8, Close Combat 8 (10; axes +2), Outdoors 4, Perception 8, Stealth 7
Adept Powers (10 PP): Combat Sense 4, Improved Ability (Close Combat) 2, Improved Physical Attribute (Agility) 3, Improved Reflexes 3
Initiate Level: 2
Gear: Ceremonial bone and wood armor (as armor vest +3), commlink (device rating 6)
Weapons: Macuahuitl (combat axe) rating 1 weapon foci [Axe, DV 5P, 9/-/-/-/-]
We roll Initiative, and have the following order: LG Adepts (40 on 4d6+12, plus 12 from 4 edge), Collateral (35 on 5d6+15), Revenant (31 on 3d6+18), Cage (30 on 4d6+13), Sovereign's air spirit (26 on 2d6+16), Revenant's water spirit (24 on 2d6+14), Sovereign (22 on 3d6+12), Lockdown (21 on 3d6+9).
Wanting to make sure these guys get a chance to act before being slaughtered by grenades, I spend 1/2 their group edge for an Initiative boost. It works. Heeding the warning from the security spider, the grunts group charge down Collateral before he gets a chance to act. Macuahuitl's already readied, they spend a major action to sprint towards Collateral, as they have 16 meters of distance to cross to get to him and a minor move action will not suffice. Seeing what's coming down the pipe for his small friend, Cage spends a minor action for Intercept, and a major action to attack one of the grunts as they pass him on their way to Collateral. Cage goes for a grapple to ensure the adept doesn't make it to attack the much frailer human, automatically generating 2 edge for his attack (one for the double-joined quality, and a second for AR 21 vs. DR 9, lol). Cage palms the humans face, lifting his entire body off of the ground and squeezing his skull like an cantaloupe, and the adept is grappled and takes 7P damage [7 hits on 18 dice for close combat vs. 6 hits on 16 dice for defense; then 6 hits on 15 dice for strength (+2 for carry over hits instead of extra damage for grappling) vs. 3 hits on 5 dice for strength; finally 3 hits on 6 dice for soak vs. 10P]. The remaining 4 grunts exchange 4 of their 5 minor actions to take a second major action to attack Collateral, neither side gaining edge (AR 12 vs. DR 12). Collateral pre-edges his defense test and spends a minor action for dodge, causing the adepts to miss [10 hits on 23 dice vs. 12 hits on 27 pre-edged dice], taking 3P damage [2 hits on 5 dice soak vs. 5P].
Collateral delays.
Revenant delays.
Cage exchanges his 4 remaining minor actions for a second major to damage opponent in a grapple. He gains no edge, having already maxed out for the turn on his first action, but crushes the adept's skull into a chunky mess, killing him. [9 hits on 23 dice (close combat + strength rather than agility vs. opponent you have already grappled vs. 4 hits on 13 dice (strength + reaction + adept combat sense - 4 for the grappled opponent...; 2 hits on 6 dice for soak vs. 15P].
Sovereign's air spirit uses a minor action to move 10 meters from one of the adepts on Collateral, and a major action for elemental attack. The spirit misses [5 hits on 15 dice for attack. vs 6 hits on 16 dice for defense].
Revenant's water spirit does the exact same, also missing [4 hits on 13 dice for attack vs. 7 hits on 16 dice for defense].
Sovereign uses a minor action to moves 10 meters away from the adepts, and a major action to cast control thoughts on one of the adepts. He goes for broke, attempting to make the adept turn on his allies (for which I award him 1 edge, but he cannot make use of it at present), but still manages to succeed [6 hits on 14 dice for spellcasting vs. 2 hits and 3 hits on 9 dice for two WIL + LOG resistance tests for the thought being too far outside the norm]. He buys his 4 drain.
Lockdown uses a minor action to move 10 meters away from the adepts, and a major action to open up on one of them with burst fire. Neither side gains edge (AR 9 vs. DR 9), and Lockdown hits for 6P [6 hits on 17 dice for attack vs. 5 hits on 16 dice for defense; 2 hits on 6 dice for soak vs. 8P].
Collateral undelays, using a minor action to move 10 meters away from the adepts, and a major action for, you guessed it, a grenade on the perfectly clustered mass. Neither side gains edge [AR 9 vs. DR 9], and Collateral obviously hits and obliterates the four remaining (whom have no remaining actions to even hit the dirt with). [6 hits on 20 dice for throwing, 8 on 2d6 for scatter +2 which is just enough for on target; none of them roll the 5 hits needed on 6 dice for soak to survive the 16P].
Cage also has no remaining actions to help mitigate the incoming close range 8P, so spends 4 edge to pre-edge his soak roll, taking only 1P [7 hits on 16 pre-edged dice for soak]. The remainder of Collateral, Lockdown, Revenant, Sovereign, and both friendly spirits all hit the dirt for 6P. Collateral takes 3P [3 hits on 5 dice for soak], Lockdown takes 2P [4 hits on 10 dice for soak], Revenant takes 2P [4 hits on 13 dice for soak], Sovereign takes 4P [2 hits on 5 dice for soak], and neither spirit takes damage due to immunity to normal weapons.
Dusting themselves off while Collateral apologizes profusely, Revenant and Sovereign begin healing up the shrapnel damage on the team. Cage is healed for 1 after essence sink soaking hits, Collateral is healed for 1 after essence sink soaking hits, Lockdown for 2 after essence sink soaking hits, and Revenant and Sovereign fully healed. All drain is successfully bought. This leaves Cage and Collateral with 2P damage, and Lockdown with 1P to this point.
Scene 10: Raise your hand if you are a filthy blood mage
As the team delves further into the temple they come across thick stone reinforced blast doors, sealed with wards, with murals of nightmare creatures and mayan hieroglyphics labeling them. The feelings of loss and dread begins to become palpable for the team, who resolve to leave those doors alone unless absolutely necessary. At the end of the corridor, a final ward bars progress down the hallway, at the end of which they see flickering torchlight and hear a single voice chanting. A quick assensing roll from Sovereign informs him that the ward's magic is equal to his own. Cage, Collateral, and Lockdown all cross the ward with ease. With a shrug, Revenant and Sovereign each instruct one of their spirits to bring the barrier down, which they easily accomplish, after which they hurry through before it reforms. The moment the barrier collapses, the chanting down the hall stops, and the team prepares to face the blood mage beyond.
As the hall comes to end in a circular 8 meter room, the torchlight grows from flickering to illuminating. A pillar of skulls with hieroglyphics etched in them, stained with dried blood, stands towards the back of the room. In front of it is a man in a white physician's coat, wearing an elaborate ceremonial mask of beads, bones, feathers, stones, and blood. The team has a brief exchange with him, in which it becomes it is Dr. Ruiz, and he has lost his mind and turned himself over to "the old masters from the dark realms". This place is monument to their inevitability, and he works to hasten their arrival so that all may feel the certainty and comfort of their oblivion. The team's heard enough. Dr. Ruiz has the following stats:
Dr. Lorenzo Ruiz, Pawn of HorrorsAttributes: B 6 (10), A 3, R 5 (9), S 3, W 6 (10), L 6 (10), I 6 (10), C 4 (
; M 9, E 5
DR 14, I 5d6+19, CM 13/13
Skills: Astral 7, Athletics 4, Biotech 6, Close Combat 3, Con 6, Conjuring 8 (water [blood] +2), Firearms 3, Influence 7 (Intimidation +2), Perception 7, Spellcasting 9 (combat +3, illusion +2), Stealth 6
Spells: Blast, Clout, Combat Sense, Confusion, Heal, Increase Attributes, Increase Reflexes, Manaball, Manabolt, Shape Stone, Stunball, Stunbolt
Initiate Level: 5
Metamagics: Centering, flexible signature, masking, quickening, shielding
Gear: Centering foci (rating 4; ancient mayan mask), commlink (device rating 6)
Weapons: Ritual knife rating 1 weapon foci [Combat Knife, DV 3P, 8/2/-/-/-]
A few dice rolls later says we go in this order: Dr. Ruiz (39 on 5d6+19), Collateral (39 on 5d6+15 plus 3 from 1 edge), Cage (37 on 4d6+13 plus 6 from 2 edge), Revenant (30 on 3d6+18), Dr. Ruiz's force 8 blood spirit (24 on 2d6 +18), Sovereign's air spirit (22 on 2d6+16), Sovereign (22 on 3d6+12), Revenant's water spirit (20 on 2d6+14), Lockdown (19 on 3d6+9).
Dr. Ruiz opens with a major action to cast confusion, turning it into an area of effect spell with a 12 meter radius for +6 drain (the rest of the team is 10 meters behind Cage and Revenant]. Both Revenant and Sovereign take a counterspell major action for boosted defense in response. Sovereign uses 12 reagents to increase the radius of the effect to 12 meters. Revenant's 2 meter radius defense boot provides 4 defense dice against spells [4 hits on 12 dice] and Sovereign's 12 meter radius defense boost provides 5 dice against spells [5 hits on 12 dice]. Dr. Ruiz spell succeeds [8 hits on 20 dice for spellcasting], and his 29 drain dice easily buy the 6 drain. Cage, who benefits from both boosted defense's radius, is effected, gaining the Confused (3) status [5 hits on 15 dice vs. 8 hits]. Revenant, whom also benefits from both, is uneffected [8 hits on 20 dice vs. 8 hits]. Collateral is effected, gaining the Confused (4) status [4 hits on 14 dice vs. 8 hits]. Lockdown is uneffected [8 hits on 21 dice vs. 8 hits], and Sovereign gets obliterated, gaining the Confused (6) status [2!? hits on 16 dice].
Dr. Ruiz spends a second major action for full defense, and his final minor action to move 10 meters beside the trolls.
Cage takes the opportunity to spend a minor action for intercept and a major action to attempt to grapple Ruiz. Cage gains 2 edge (double-jointed and AR 21 vs. DR 14), but misses [5 hits on 15 dice for grapple vs. 8 hits on 29 dice for defense].
Collateral spends a minor action to move 10 meters further away from the trolls and ruiz, yells "I love you guys and I'm sorry but this needs to happen!", and throws a grenade as a major action. Cage spends a minor action to avoid incoming, making it 3 meters away from the ground zero explosion into close range and falling prone [3 hits on 9 dice after confusion and ground zero dodge penalty]. Reveant knows he has no prayer of avoiding incoming, and just spends a minor to hit the dirt. Lockdown, Sovereign, and the team's spirit all hit the dirt with minor actions. Revenant and Ruiz gain edge from the attack (AR 10 vs. DR 14 and 18], Collateral makes his attack roll, his grenade hitting Ruiz in the face before detonating [5 hits on 16 dice for throwing after confusion, 7 scatter on 2d6 + 2 near range bonus = direct hit]. Ruiz takes 9P [7 hits on 15 pre-edged soak dice. vs. 16P], Cage takes 5P [5 hits on 12 dice for soak], Revenant takes 9P [5 hits on 13 dice for soak], Lockdown takes 2P [4 hits on 10 dice for soak vs. 6P], Sovereign takes 3P [3 hits on 5 dice for soak vs. 6P], and all three of the spirits are immune to the 6P because grenades aren't magical.
He then spends a second major action to continue singing the song of his people, this time putting the grenade 2 meters behind Ruiz, reasoning that should finish him off and spare Cage and Revenant some damage. Revenant and Ruiz both gain another point of edge. Cage never misses [5 hits on 16 dice for throwing with confused status, 6 on 2d6 scatter +2 near range bonus = lol autowin]. Ruiz explodes in a shower of gore, taking another 8P [4 hits on 10 dice for soak vs. 12P]. Revenant faces down another 10P, taking 4 of it [6 hits on 13 dice after edge turning a 4 into a 5 vs. 10P]. Cage takes no damage [6 hits on 12 dice for soak vs. 6P], Lockdown takes 3P [3 hits on 10 dice for soak vs. 6P], Sovereign takes 4P [2 hits on 5 dice for soak vs. 6P], and the three spirits again unharmed.
The blood spirit vanishing with it's summoner's demise, the team spends a minute healing up, nowhere near to full this time (the rolls don't matter, the fighting is over). After spending a bit more time ransacking Ruiz's lab, they find his journal and Lockdown downloads his data from his commlink, clearly implicating him in Nora's death, and far, far worse.
The team returns to a grateful Jonathan, gets paid, and got their first glimpse at world's old threat, neither gone nor forgotten.
