Shadowrun Play-By-Post Community

TIME STAMP wrote: //Location: Downtown Puyallup/Seattle Metroplex/UCAS
//Time: <1152:30/2075-01-18> Combat ACTIVE, Round 1 Shrike & Arthur roll initiative (Note: Arthur can keep the second shot roll if desired, it has not been used yet.)
//Weather: <Heavy Overcast, Light Snow, 1C, Wind N 8kph, feels like -6C>
//Air Quality: <Monthly Average: Moderate (Yellow), Precipitation pH 2.6>

Situational Awareness wrote:

• Exterior:
  • Factory parking lot: two pairs of "chipheads" approaching trailers, the intention appears to be unhooking the trailers, Shrike and Stygge are in position here
  • City streets: large tractors (as in the tractor in a tractor-trailer rig) are approaching the trailers, but are currently in the street
  • Trucks: two trucks were approaching the entry to the parking lot/loading bay, but are slowing to a stop still on the street
• Interior:
  • Office Elevator shaft: Bushwack and Wraith are currently breaching the elevator.
  • Hidden basement: four of five Tir operators are visible, all unconscious. The fifth and Mulpa are no where to be seen from this vantage
  • Cell: in the hidden basement are a series of cells, the bomb knocked out the locks, some of them have been pushed open. Approximately 150m from elevator to cell area. The fifth Tir operative and Mulpa are in the cell room. Bomb/EMP fragments are in the hall by the fire door.
  • Factory: suspect five Tir operatives in this building as well.
• Trailers:
  • Trailer 1: riddled with bullet holes and other damage, full of yelling and other signs of conflict. The other is not active.
  • Trailer 2: no sign of movement inside

INSIDE OF A SUSPICIOUS SCONE FACTORY WITH DANGER WRITTEN ALL OVER IT OR IN THE DARK
Interior Scone Factory Secret Sub-Basement:

Wraith concludes her inspection of Mulpa with full confidence in her analysis and zero understanding of why he's out. Mulpa is physically fine. His heart rate and breather are typical for someone who is sedated. There are no signs of damage anywhere she can see. No blood from eyes, nose or ears to indicate anything internal. He seems in reasonable shape for an unconscious person. Magic is the likely culprit, but Wraith has no way of determining that for sure.

The elf commandos are more or less all on their feet when Death Otter gets spicy with them. The guy who spoke before said to her tiredly, "The troll is a pro, child. Go ask him about our deal. But we were not her for you, we were instructed to bring back any prisoners. Alive. I do not know why that order was given, it is irrelevant now. We are leaving." They head towards the elevator and he says, "Don't worry, we will handle throwing the people responsible into a mountain of shit."

The elves are taking one of the two ways out from this basement: the elevator or the mysterious stair with a dead body on it.


OUTSIDE OF A SUSPICIOUS SCONE FACTORY WITH DANGER WRITTEN ALL OVER IT
General Area of Scone Factory

Interior of Semi-Trailer


Before Shrike's attention was drawn back towards the pyscho borg, he did a quick analysis of the bullet strikes. Gel rounds, by all indications, had impacted the wall right next to him. Looking around the area, and given his knowledge of tactics and weapons, there seemed a few good possibilities for a potential sniper's nest. There are three buildings across the parking lot and road that would provide good vantage points for a shooter. But, conjecture maybe, if a shooter was good enough to put two shots together like that, they would not chose an obvious location. Something a little more difficult. Scanning further afield, there is one spot that catches his eye.

Over two blocks south, a nine or ten story building stands above the five and six story buildings closest to the scone factory. It's top floors have good line of sight to the target area -- the area where Shrike is standing. The potentially attractive part of the location is that two of the mid floors are under construction. There is scaffolding hanging along the exterior. The windows and exterior walls are all punched out and covered with plastic sheeting. Covered poorly in fact, there are many loose corners whipping around in the wind and rips and tears big enough for someone to step through. It's a cluttered environment from the outside, but would let a shooter remain concealed if they were tucked back up inside.

But with its scream, the borg reclaims everyone's attention. As it lumbers towards the end of the trailer, Shrike ducks down and rolls out of sight. He hears the borgs heavy steps as it approaches the doorway. The end of the trailer starts to deform, something strong is trying to make the opening between the wall and the trailer bigger. The twisting metal screeches under the strain. Shrike sees a blue taloned hand pry back the edge of the container, possibly enough for the monster to jump out. The container shifts as the weight is transferred. Then there's the SNAP of a bullet impact.

The bullet must have surprised the cyborg monster, but not killed it outright. It landed on the ground in a crouch. It's head was a thing of nightmare at this point. The armor piercing bullet had penetrated the armor and deflected, coming out behind the "ear" leaving a big tearing hole. Fluids were gushing out. Nothing looked like blood or brains though, and it was washing away the gore from the 'borg's victims. It shivered for a moment then slowly started its way toward Shrike's position.

TWO BLOCKS AWAY FROM A SCONE FACTORY
Stygge's bluff works...more or less. The truck driver opens up the passenger door and gives her an odd look, then a shrug. He says, "You must be new, they ain't give you and physical key?" He produces a square chunk of black plastic with a single plastic prong. "You don't have one?" He starts to climb into the truck, motioning to a device on the console that has a receptacle just the right size and shape for the key.

If he is allowed to slot it in place, the alarms stop and Stygge can "feel" control of the truck return. She just now has a passenger.


SEVERAL HUNDRED METERS AWAY INSIDE AN ANONYMOUS BUILDING WITH GOOD SIGHTLINE TO A TRAILER SITTING OUTSIDE OF A SCONE FACTORY
The wind wasn't strong, but it stirred up the air inside the vacant floor where Arthur was hiding. And that made it feel cold, freezing cold. His position was reasonably comfortable, it was just cold and damp, the special Seattle kind of cold that isn't that cold but will give you hypothermia anyway.

For a moment before the scream, the "soldier guy" looks almost directly at Arthur's position. Then everything started moving again. The elf rolls out of sight. The trailer shakes with movement. He can see the ends of metallic fingers reaching from inside the trailer. Heartbeats that feel an hour apart pass by. Finally though, a target.

SNAP. The bullet struck home!

But why didn't the monster go down? Fluids gushed from the entry and exit wounds. Headshots normally work. Its face and body and hands are covered in blood.

The target leaps from the trailer and lands in a crouch. It is facing the trailer and its head lolls to the side in a really disturbing way. The fluids from the "wound" are washing away the blood. Someone else's blood.

Center of mass? Heart? Sure, where would that be?

---

INFO:
What the frag are you going to do now?

Arthur watched the massive cyborg soak a "parting" headshot. That is: part of it here, part of it there, and part of it waaaaay over there staining the wall! Without his cheek pressed firmly to the stock, Arthur's jaw would surely have dropped open in a most unprofessional display of astonishment. As it was, his nose continued to run freely and snot dribbled like cold gravy over the expensive adjustable cheekrest unnoticed.

Arthur looked closely at the anthroform in thermal imaging hoping to find a weak point his rifle could exploit. Perhaps a power source running warm or the reservoir for that gushing fluid showing cold and partially empty? Maybe some dude was in an armored nutrient bath...Naw, thet's stoopid talk. He mentally chided himself. That wasn't real.

In the meantime, he needed to slow down the engagement before one of the two Bad Things on his contract happened. 1) Extra bodies like his new friend "Dirtside" over there or 2) the target "rabbiting". Neither of these Bad Things meant a good payday and might mean getting fired.

He began to sing a little song to steady his nerves that went like this:
"Heeeeead, Shoulders(bang), Knees and Toes(bang). Knees and Toes(bang)..."

The tune cheered him up wonderfully despite his runny nose, cold digits, and needing to pee so bad it hurt.

IP#2 = 11
Observe in Detail(Hotspots or fluid filled containers) Perception 10d6; flare comp, thermographic, vision magnification

SA, Called Shot: Knee(Right)
13d6>4=3, 12P ap-5, DV limit: 1
 • Stunned (Composure (2) Test or –10 Init),
 • Knockdown (Str + Agi (DV+3=15) or fall prone),
 • Slowed (Walk+Run halved, no Sprint Tests),
 • Winded (no Complex Actions for Turns = original DV)

IP#3 = 01
SA, Called Shot: Shoulder(Left)
15d6>4=5, 12P ap-5, DV Limit: 3,
 • Stunned (Bod + Wil(1) Test or target –5 Init),
 • One-Armed Bandit (no actions w/ arm for Combat Turns = DV; –6 dice until arm is healed),
 • Weak Side (–2 dice all melee Defense tests while their arm is ineffective)

SA, Called Shot: Shoulder(Right)
15d6>4= 3, 12P ap-5, DV Limit: 3,
 • Stunned,
 • One-Armed Bandit,
 • Weak Side

Muppet Man wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:18 am Over two blocks south, a nine or ten story building stands above the five and six story buildings closest to the scone factory. It's top floors have good line of sight to the target area -- the area where Shrike is standing. The potentially attractive part of the location is that two of the mid floors are under construction. There is scaffolding hanging along the exterior. The windows and exterior walls are all punched out and covered with plastic sheeting. Covered poorly in fact, there are many loose corners whipping around in the wind and rips and tears big enough for someone to step through. It's a cluttered environment from the outside, but would let a shooter remain concealed if they were tucked back up inside.

From his vantage point under the truck, he quickly ascertains where the sniper is.

Looks like I know where the sniper is, but still none the wiser as to his intentions. And I have bigger problems right now or the same problem with multiple components.
As the cyborg starts lumbering towards his position, Looks heavily armoured Shrike changes his mind about his ammo type and then opens up on it. He knew he wouldn't last in close combat, so keeping it at bay and disabled was his best option.

Muppet Man wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:18 am The bullet must have surprised the cyborg monster, but not killed it outright. It landed on the ground in a crouch. It's head was a thing of nightmare at this point. The armor piercing bullet had penetrated the armor and deflected, coming out behind the "ear" leaving a big tearing hole. Fluids were gushing out. Nothing looked like blood or brains though, and it was washing away the gore from the 'borg's victims. It shivered for a moment then slowly started its way toward Shrike's position.

Not indestructible, which is a good sign.



Pass 1 22
Free action eject clip
Action Change ammo to APDS and grab explosive rounds clip

Pass 2 12
As the cyborg moves towards him and the sniper opens fire, hopefully distracting the borg, Shrike opens up on its nearest knee joint with his Ares Alpha.


11P +successes -6AP

Pass 3 2

If it is still moving towards Shrike, he will slide out from under the trailer and run for cover by the second trailer.
If it is disabled or at least moving very slowly from the knee shot and not likely to reach his position, he will shoot again to render it unable to do anything.

11P +successes -6AP

TIME STAMP wrote: //Location: Downtown Puyallup/Seattle Metroplex/UCAS
//Time: <1152:45/2075-01-18> Combat ACTIVE, Round 2 Shrike & Arthur
//Weather: <Heavy Overcast, Light Snow, 1C, Wind N 8kph, feels like -6C>
//Air Quality: <Monthly Average: Moderate (Yellow), Precipitation pH 2.6>

OUTSIDE OF A SUSPICIOUS SCONE FACTORY WITH DANGER WRITTEN ALL OVER IT

Parking Lot Detail (1 grid = approx. 1 meter)
It seems like the borg has warmed up. It is moving frighteningly fast, in fact. Not as fast as Shrike though. Shrike quickly changes his ammo and starts attacking the cyborg's vulnerable joints. His first shot strikes home, an array of small explosions going off at the monster's digitigrade knee. It seems unfazed and keeps running erratically towards Shrike's location. It's erratic motion caused Arthur's carefully aimed shot to miss. Something that doesn't happen often. Shrike also has trouble connecting on his second shot, so does Arthur.

It pauses and tries to lift up the trailer to get at Shrike, and when it's struck in the exposed shoulder - finally Arthur's shot connects. The borg drops the trailer. It's to big to reach Shrike standing up, so it drops on all fours. The destroyed head lolls to the side.

Arthur and Shrike can see pretty clearly that two sensor "booms" are in play swinging around from connection points on the back behind the neck. Without the head, these are probably its only remaining cameras.

---

What the frag are you going to do now?

Otter watched the elves pack up and head out, then looked back to where the fox-eared elf was checking on her unconscious buddy.

Wheels ticked around in her head, putting together pieces and adjusting her course. If things were as royally frakked as the elf was making it sound, just casually strolling out of here could be blundering into half a dozen crosshairs of people inclined to shoot first and not bother asking the questions at all. She wanted out of here, but she also wanted to live long enough to figure out what was going on, and why it had somehow decided to involve her.

"Look," she said to Wraith, with a glance over her shoulder at the troll just to make sure she knew where he was, "I'm not picking out CURTAINS or anything, but we've got better odds of getting all of us out in one piece if we stick together. Especially if your big friend over there's gotta lug that guy out."

"And the longer we take, the bigger the odds that our mutual enemies will reinforce. So...whaddya say?"

Physical key. Of course.

"Nope," Stygge replies to the trucker's query, "didn't get no key." She allows her 'colleague' to slot his key in before driving the truck towards her actual destination. "Just need to get some fuel," she says to keep up the façade for as long as possible. Of course, once the Fairground Scone Factory is in view, Stygge gets a good look at just how much things have gotten out of hand since she left Shrike with the unconscious puppets from earlier.

"Holy shit," Stygge mutters once she brings the truck to a halt. There's no way her passenger is going to go in there - at least not willingly - so she tries to think of a way he can gracefully exit stage right and not have a motive to report her actions to anyone. Of course, she still has plan B (B for bullet) if that doesn't work.

"You know what?" Stygge says. "Why don't you get out now and have a drink? I'll bring the truck back to the plant once I've refuelled." If the man seems to be on the fence, she then offers to make up for any pay he loses out on from this, hoping that this trucker isn't super devoted to the company. If he's clearly opposed to the very thought of leaving Stygge alone, she draws her pistol from its arm slide and points it at his head. She then repeats her suggestion verbatim, albeit with a more menacing tone and sans the offer of financial compensation.

Finally, if even that doesn't work, Stygge wirelessly activates the smartgun system on her pistol and starts blasting. Fortunately she had gotten into the habit of loading her weapons with gel rounds first, so at worst this inconvenient passenger would be knocked out cold. However, she can't risk him staying conscious and able to interfere with her plans, so she fires a three-bullet burst just to make sure he does get knocked out cold.

Arthur mentally winced as two of his precision shots sparked off the pavement. The maimed cyborg skipped over toward the elf veteran like a wounded frog might attempt the waltz before attempting to flip the trailer. It held still just long enough and an armor piercing round blasted through the shoulder of the monster. Like a good doggie, it put that trailer DOWN!
Then it got on all fours, which Arthur thought was a bit much.
In retrospect, he would later conclude it was not playacting a dog for him but simply trying to murder Shrike; a perfectly justifiable state of mind.

Arthur's cheerful song calmed his hands wonderfully and concluded like this:

“Eyes an' Ears(bang), an' Mouth an' Nose(bang), Head(bang), Shoulders(bang), Knees an' Toes(bang, bang)!”

He first fired at the two remaining sensor pods and then fired a group of four shots at the estimated center of mass hoping to hit something important by accident...

IP#1: 21
Free: Called Shot: Sensor pod #1, Simple: Attack
17d6>4=8 20P ap -5
Free: Called Shot: Sensor pod #2, Simple: Attack
17d6>4=9, 21P ap -5
IP#2: 11
Simple: Attack
21d6>4=8, 20P ap -5
Simple: Attack
21d6>4=6, 18P ap -5
IP#3: 1
Simple: Attack
21d6>4=8, 20P ap -5
Simple: Attack
21d6>4=9, 21P ap -5

"Wraith I'm beginning to think you are to soft for the shadows you gotta stop doing these charity cases, every time we go on a run we end up with a stray... and now it's a dead otter?"

He turns to her to the young technomancer "I know what your name is and I know I made the joke you hate most. That's just a little payback for assuming I would be slower than you for lugging a bit of dwarf decker around, dig"

He throws her his commlink "Here is what we have from map data so far enriched by what I got from pretty boys with the pointy ears. You will also find the AR signatures of our friends outside so when you meet them you don't engage them by accident. Don't mess with the phone. I you know can, at least I hope you can because you don't seem very good at actually eating bullets, ooh wait that's my job."

Picks up Mulpa and goes back to collect the commlink and then talks in a conspiratory voice "Tell me where the bad guys are so I can kill them before they kill you" and lits a new cigar

It's fracking lifting the trailer up. How strong is this damn thing his reflexes are still in high gear from his wired reflexes, but his combat training and survival meant Shrike was not going to hang about letting this thing get close to him.

Pass 22 Move away from the cyborg and roll for cover under the other trailer

Pass 12

Damage 11P plus successes -6AP
Burst Fire -2 to target Defense
Max Accuracy 7

Pass 2

Damage 11P plus successes -6AP
Burst Fire -2 to target Defense

or move away at speed from the Cyborg

Defense rolls

TIME STAMP wrote: //Location: Downtown Puyallup/Seattle Metroplex/UCAS
//Time: <1153:00/2075-01-18> Combat ACTIVE, Round 3 Shrike & Arthur
//Weather: <Heavy Overcast, Light Snow, 1C, Wind N 8kph, feels like -6C>
//Air Quality: <Monthly Average: Moderate (Yellow), Precipitation pH 2.6>

COMIN' ROUND THE CORNER COMING INTO VIEW OF A SUSPICIOUS SCONE FACTORY WITH DANGER WRITTEN ALL OVER IT
The atmosphere inside the truck cab is one of camaraderie shared by those with a common occupation. Stygge had the correct bearing and attitude to be a trucker, just like the guy assumed of anyone in the company truck. He didn't pay attention to details. When they rolled to a stop and took in the very unusual scene, even in 2075 a rampaging robot or borg is not a typical occurrence. It's then that the trucker takes in the details.

At Stygge's suggestion he departs the truck. She was armed more like a security guard than a trucker. She didn't have the security key. She headed straight towards this scene of chaos. She was moderately persuasive, and that was persuasive enough. He rolled out the door with, with his mumbled reply, Yeah, yeah, I think you're right..." almost lost in all the other noise.

One very important detail he may have overlooked: the physical key was still in place. Stygge had full control of the truck.

[Roll initiative if Stygge is going to engage. Location on map below.]

OUTSIDE OF A SUSPICIOUS SCONE FACTORY WITH DANGER WRITTEN ALL OVER IT

Parking Lot Detail (1 grid = approx. 1 meter)
Bang, bang. Smash, smash. And repeat.

The borg advances as Shrike retreats, its scary speed making it an even proposition. But when Arthur's shots blow off the sensor booms, the game changes. Shrike's shots do discernible damage. The monstrous borg doesn't scream, but in all other ways it seems to recoil. It reaches out, a long blade extending the length of its arm. But the swipe, blind and injured as the borg is, Shrike is able to twist to avoid it with ease. Between Shrike's autofire and Arthur's well placed shots, they take chunks out of the borg, knocking it down. It tries to run, blindly skittering. But it fails, twitching mechanically but not moving.

INSIDE OF A SUSPICIOUS SCONE FACTORY WITH DANGER WRITTEN ALL OVER IT
The elves are the first to up the elevator shaft, but they hear the shots before they reach the top.

"Troll! What are you doing up here? This firefight your doing?"

Troll, human, elf, doorstop. All of them can hear the shouts from the special forces elves. Well the doorstop can't. Only standing at the bottom of the elevator though, can Wraith hear the goings on above. At least until Shrike's automatic fire and explosive bullets join the fight.

Boy, it really sounds like the most interesting things are happening out in that parking lot!

---

What the frag are you going to do now?