olopi

OOC for this , where Bliss and Starshot scout out a place and nothing at all goes wrong! @TheAbsurdist @Supercape

Susshek System, Former Asshui Worlds System It was one hell of a mission. There had been a few reports about what the Asshui had been fleeing from, some more detailed than others, some more trustworthy. And occasionally, there were news of things happening in their former systems. But so far, all of the were word-of-mouth, and without much evidence going for them. There was ample reason to change that fact, and thus a group of refugees, supporters and a few organizations had decided to send out multiple scouts, to enter the home systems of the fleeing peoples. They had a simple mission; to document what was happening, and to get back with as much information as possible. Finding people that were both trustworthy enough, preferably with their own method of transport and not opposed to doing it wasn’t easy, a large part of the muscle available in the Sharahazad Sector, the hotbed of the crisis, lacked one of the two qualities. One of the few teams that had been sent out was that of Starshot - trusted enough and in possession of a suitable craft - and Bliss, who’d been suggested by one of the sponsors as somebody who was “trustworthy enough”, whatever that meant. So far everything had gone smooth, there hadn’t been a single encounter. But now the Xeno, Starshot’s starship, had entered the system that the two of them had been tasked with scouting. It had been a former industrial hub, not on the scale of some of the ones in known space, but large enough to be economically important. And only a few refugees had managed to make their way out, meaning there was a lot of interest in figuring out just what was going on. And in order to do that, the planet Susshek was probably the right place. Now they just had to get there …

GM Bonfire nodded. “I suppose we will have to call in some alternate backup, then. I will have to get in touch with him and see if he can work from home.” The hacker nodded slowly, looking pretty pleased. He closed his laptop before finally standing up to face the two disguised heroes face-to-face. At this point it became more apparent that he was quite large, having a few inches on both of them. “Alright, that works with us. If it’s not a local, there shouldn’t be any issues. So, from what I can tell, the only thing we need at this point are the money, and we will be ready to work our magic whenever you need us. “ With that, he extended his hand.

Jann didn’t say anything, instead opting just to nod. He went on to also take a chip and scoop up some of the spicy guac, doing his best afterwards to keep up his stoic expression. A thing that became more difficult as he remembered that he still hadn’t entirely readjusted to the flavour of food in Freedom City, one much stronger than what his home usually offered. Afterwards, he went outside, returning inside with one of the bags he’d brought with him, and placing the various cans – anything from soda to beer – on a counter, putting the stack of red cups next to them. Adding onto that was a piece of paper ripped out of his notebook, Free to Take. I have also brought stronger, ask if interested – Jann And with that, he returned back to Alex, listening into the conversation without adding much. He did not know what the two of them were talking about, but he did not have much to exchange with Corinne or Hannah at this point.

Jann carefully put Flare onto the ground, before sitting down. Standing also exerted his body, and with the state of his arms right now, his legs were more important than ever. From there, he watched. He was not one for negotiation, he would leave that part to somebody more accustomed to it. Then, she mentioned the way of delivery, and there he interjected. “Either powder or without any visible part, likely mental. Cannot say, but may have experienced it earlier. Grenades, uncertain if they are part of it or were at the same place at the same time. If mentally there will be no easy way of doing it, effect too powerful. “ “And he still has a large amount of fanatical followers. May need bigger guns than we have.”

GM “Your choice. You’re coming with us either way. “ The man, in turn, grabbed back, before ducking under Synth’s arm and rising back up, freeing himself through the application of force to the right points, and through simply abusing the limits of what a (mostly) human body could do. He stared right into Synth’s eyes, the two of them now uncomfortably close, before ripping out the knife and slashing, hitting some systems Synth knew couldn’t withstand much damage. Meanwhile, something seemed to happen beyond the forcefield. Between all the action it was hard to tell, but it had appeared that some more armoured prison guards had arrived, and were bringing some sort of cannon to deal with the forcefield. The agent who was still at a distance seemed to realize as much, as he charged forward, and grabbed what appeared to be yet another grenade from a pouch, about to throw it towards the approaching guards.

Unfortunately that just barely misses! The Agent will attack again, no Feint this time: Attack: 1d20+12 32 Oh, okay then. I'll just say +5 Damage, so a DC27 lethal this time. (This really wasn't planned!) Also, if you select the last post, you will see the following, written in white and now applying: So that'd be a DC17 Fortitude check as well, please! The other man will sprint forward, but not directly affect combat this turn! However, I'd say since it offers a situation where doing the smart thing and doing the heroic thing aren't the same, that's already worth a HP!

GM “Take a guess, Fräulein.” He was an expert, clearly. The way he spoke his words, the way he pronounced them, all with a single goal. To throw his opponent, who was already within an arm’s reach, off guard. And all it would take was Synth not being fully cautious for even the fraction of a second. And then, the attack happened. His movements revealed one thing above all else, he was highly trained. He controlled his body with ease, as his right arm shot forwards, revealing what he’d hidden before: a large knife. He didn’t play around, instead lunging directly forward, striking directly forward, even dropping his taser to the floor to cause another slight distraction. Synth couldn’t do much about it, by the time he was ready to do anything, he could already feel the knife dig into him. The other man wasn’t as direct. He seemed fairly calm, bullets hitting the forcefield behind him, as he began to speak. “We’ve had eyes on you for a long time … Dr. Nyberg, Ms. Snow or whatever else you go under right now. “ “You, and people you know. Mr. Bloom, Ms. Shaw, many others. And we have our ways of doing things.” “As parts of you should be well aware of.”

Alright! 27 - Agent 1 (with Knife) 24 - Agent 2 (with Rifle) He'll attempt to Feint as a Move Action: Feint: 1d20+9 27 And then strike in Melee: Attack: 1d20+12 13 ... of course. Synth gets a HP, and I will reroll that! Attack: 1d20+12 16 Which makes it a 26, and that hits! So that'd be a DC22 Toughness Save, And will apply a Rank 7 Fatigue Power, to trigger next turn! The second man, in the meanwhile, will try to Intimidate Synth: Intimidate: 1d20+9 18

This is something I've thought about before (like, over a year ago), and I wasn't entirely sure if it was doable in a PbP environment, but if you're going for it I'll definitely watch how it goes and possibly get involved!

Okay, I'd say that means it's time for Initiative! Initiative: 2#1d20+9 27 24

GM Swearing followed as the rifle left the man’s hands, and soon after landed on the floor just outside the forcefield, passing through without any issue. The man reacted quickly, drawing some sort of taser. His expression, already the more sinister of the two before, had now evolved to straight-up terrifying, the sort of look that didn’t communicate anything good to whoever was its target. He had turned towards Synth, hiding his right hand behind his body. He was almost certainly holding something in it and concealing it. Whatever it was, he was ready to use it, too, as he held up his other arm in front of his body, ready to both attack and defend at a moment’s notice. His companion had also turned towards Synth, just looking slightly annoyed, as if he’d been expecting it all along. He gave a quick sigh, before taking one hand off of his rifle and clicking a button somewhere on his arm. “You had to make it difficult, didn’t you?”

GM The room went fairly silent as Ak’kar spoke, only the sounds of machinery, the alarms, some treatment and gunfire in the background still present. Everybody listened, and once the captain was done, there was a moment of silence while people registered what had been said. Their expressions told enough. Some of them weren’t entirely comfortable with what was about to be done, but soon one spoke up. “You’re the Captain, we’ll follow your orders no matter what.” The others seemed to agree, and they all went to prepare what was about to come. The lights went out as most of the crew gathered around the doors, ready to push outwards once the order was given, with only a few staying behind to make sure communications would work. And then, the order was given. They pushed out, Ak’kar amongst a group of them. So far, the corridor was empty, and even around the first corner, there was nothing. But the group was on a direct path towards the quarters, so sooner or later, they would come across something…

As Jann made his way into the room the main issue seemed to already have resolved itself. A good thing, all things considered. And while his ally was interrogating, he could go and do what he’d suggested, and carry the smuggler there too. He nodded, and walked towards where Spitfire had indicated, his steps a lot slower than even before. The night was not yet over, and Jann had to preserve what strength remained. And carrying a person would only further sap it. He didn’t have any tools on him, and while kitchens were great for all sorts of tools, experience told him he would not find anything to restrain her quickly. So instead he just grabbed her, attempting to hoist her over his shoulders and then walk back.

APPROVED

Just moving indoors after her, since he can't do more than that.

She was not wrong in what she claimed. No matter what people Jann could defeat, he did not have much experience fighting proper, powered fighters. And whenever he did, it was a challenge. Of course, this time it didn’t help he was already fairly injured and unable to act the way he usually would’ve. But it also meant that he should’ve had a contingency plan ready. And he did not. She ran right by him as he was recovering from dodging the blast. He’d stumbled ever so slightly, his body getting too heavy to properly handle his movement. And the only thing he could do was to follow her, and to announce her appearance to his ally on the inside. “Incoming!”

Hakim Naifeh kept tabs on whatever criminal activity was happening around the cities. It was a bit of a strange thing for a programmer to do, but of course, in this case, it was related to his part-time (more so recently due to an increase in workload) job of being a scholar of the magical arts and occasional crimefighter. And for the first time in a while, one of his colleagues from that job popped up in the news. It was nothing major, a small-time heist. But it meant something was going on again. EC didn’t get nearly as much attention as Freedom City, which, all things considered, was probably a good thing. But perhaps it was time to catch up with some of said colleagues. His entrance was the same as usual, an inky black portal appearing and him stepping through. Considering the only people currently at the scene were the two heroes he trusted most, he didn’t go for any theatrics or for keeping up his persona. Instead, he just casually walked over and sat down. Salmon was speaking about something that seemed to be important, and Hakim just managed to catch the last few words. “Hey all. Any big ne- Oh yeah, that’s certainly something.”

Sense Motive: 1d20+8 22 Just passes! He will respond with trying to Grapple her! Attack: 1d20+13 32 That's probably enough, so: Grapple: 1d20+20 23

She proved to be a formidable opponent. She could certainly take a hit, and even now she was still conscious enough to figure out ways of deception. It was a well-execute manoeuvre, that much Jann had to admit. But, at the last moment, she told of her true intention. A slight twitch in her trigger finger, and her not fully committing to her kick. And even then, she was late in her tell, so Jann could only just barely crouch downwards and dodge the shot. Clearly, his current course of action wasn’t working. She could take some punishment, while he couldn’t. He’d have to continue to whittle her down while attempting to dodge her attacks, or he could attempt something more risky, but potentially more effective, and close the remaining distance. From his current position, almost on all fours, that seemed doable. In one swift motion he rose upwards, batting away his opponent’s arm, and grabbing onto her shoulder. Perhaps he could work her from here, if his body let him continue for long enough…

Opposed Strength: 1d20+4 10 Yeah, disarmed without any problem!

While the man that had done most the talking so far continued to exchange fire with the two guards by the monorail station, the other aimed down his weapon, directly towards the security checkpoint that was standing between them and the elevators. He managed to hit this time, one of the guards falling backwards. By now two automated turrets had appeared on the walls, and about 7 guards had streamed out, some taking cover inside the checkpoint, some behind boxes and specifically designed cover that surrounded the checkpoint. Some were already returning fire, many with pistols, a few with rifles of their own. The same as on the other side, the bullets just bounced off of the force-field. He replied, also yelling out. [“This is what is safest for you!”]. Synth could see him about to pull the trigger, the one attached to the grenade launcher that was part of the rifle.

Okay, let's try that one again, what's the chances of rolling that low twice in a row? Stun 7 ( Extra: linked to Damage ) + Damage 0 ( Feat: Mighty, Precise; Extra: Linked to Stun ) Attack: 1d20+13 22

She was not particularly fast with her draw. Not compared to some people Jann had fought before. Not compared to some he’d seen fight. So by the time she’d pulled it, he was already prepared to dodge. Even if it turned out that he only needed to sidestep, her natural aim was already off target. Either way, this gave Jann a chance to attack again. He’d discovered a new limit of his body, his arm would not be of much use. But she hadn’t realized that yet. He took a wide swing, with some wind-up, moving his arms in what capacity was still possible. It was an obvious attack, and a slow one at that. But that was what he was counting on. She could dodge, or block. Either way, he would have enough momentum to carry through, spin around, and turn it into a proper high-kick. And that one she wouldn’t be able to just ignore…

They all offered him food. Lots and lots of good food, something he could not pass up on. Then he remembered back to not too long ago. The pain, the weakness. All because he had gotten careless, a lesson to how weak he’d gotten from just one year. His master knew how to leave an impact. Before, Jann had known nothing else. It had been why Claremont had been difficult for him. With a rare show of emotion (something even people who spent a lot of time around Jann only caught happening once every few weeks), he frowned, before declining. “Appreciate these offerings, but will have to decline. “ He, as always, made sure to write it down too. He commented on Alex’s previous statement, having now returned to his stoic expression. “No news simply means the ones making them can keep quiet.” And with that, he wandered off, back towards where he’d originally arrived. “Will bring something. “ On the way there, he took a quick detour, moving over towards Corinne and Hannah. If she offered him food it was different. She had been clear in her intentions, and she had no need to rely on subterfuge. “Greetings, Hannah.” Then, he turned his attention towards Corinne. “You have mentioned spicy guac. Wish to test my fortitude against it, should that be possible. “