RE: Shadowrun (was: Now that Helen and Atilla have moved back to our area...)
02-05-2019, 08:23 PM (This post was last modified: 02-05-2019, 08:28 PM by Bob Schroeck.)
02-05-2019, 08:23 PM (This post was last modified: 02-05-2019, 08:28 PM by Bob Schroeck.)
Yeah, I know it's been more than a couple of days. Sorry.
Anyway, at the end of the last session, Yoruichi met up with us at the side of the road about a mile past the border, and we all piled into the Eurovan and started our cheery jaunt across the oppressive theocratic dystopia of Westphalia to our destination, Messern Biochemie -- an abandoned agricorp complex a few kilometers northwest of Paderborn. The highway we're on is not heavily used -- in fact, we see no other cars at all.
We're not moving for even half an hour before Yoruichi has to hit the brakes as over a dozen near-pony-sized dog-things run across the road in front of us, dragging something limp and suspiciously man-sized. It takes only a moment for us to realize that it's a pack of schwarzer bluthunds (AKA bogies to English-speaking runners). We note that there are two apparent Alphas among them, judging by sheer size.
Naturally we get out, because we're socially-conscious individuals who do not like the idea of, well, bogies to begin with, as they are unpleasant beasts. Five (including one of the Alphas) keep going across and then off the road with their limp, man-sized package in tow, while the remaining ten (including the other Alpha) stop and face us, intent on us not doing anything about their fun. To discourage us, the Alpha with the rear guard howls, which causes a fear effect if you didn't follow the link above. Yoruichi fails to resist and dives back into the van, cowering in the footwell under the steering wheel. She's joined by Ylva's wolf Skadi, who also failed. Lukas' familiar Wolfgang also fails and retreats to the Astral Plane.
Naturally the troll is the fastest of us, so Bikavèr right off the bat chases after the five who've left the road, running past two of the bogies to do so. This gives them attacks of opportunity on him, also known as "committing suicide" because he automatically counterattacks both -- he kills one and seriously wounds the other.
Benefiting greatly from the Increased Reflexes 3 she now has quickened on her, Ylva acts next and picks off two with her hunting rifle. Lukas stunbolts another.
A bogie then attacks Bikavèr and dies by counterattack. Lukas is attacked by two more, but between his armor and his magically-improved Body tanks both attacks, taking not a scratch, and kills one of them with a counterattack, using the unbound knife focus which he is carrying. Another bogie tries to get Valentine, but bounces off her armor.
Bikavèr catches up with the five off the road and kills the other Alpha. The seriously injured bogie he left in his wake starts running (limping?) away. Ylva kills the Alpha facing the rest of the group, and then takes out the bogie still standing by Lukas. Lukas then kills the fleeing bogie with his slingshot. Oh, and somewhere in there Valentine ganked the one that attacked her.
Oh, and Bikavèr kills the other four bogies off in the brush at the side of the road with aggravating casualness and an outrageous degree of overkill. <grin>
All in all, not bad for a single combat round.
Oh, and when all the bad doggies are gone, Yoruichi comes out from under the steering wheel, Skadi emerges from the blankets she buried herself under, and Wolfgang sheepishly returns from Astral Space.
Being good citizens, we drag the dead bogies off the road. While doing so, we notice that they're branded under the chin with a design that looks like crossed swords with a fiery halo around the intersection.
Bikavèr comes out of the brush carrying a seriously wounded orc -- who in addition to bogie bites appears to have been tortured for quite a while. We decide to keep him, having always wanted a wounded orc, and put him in the back of the van. Once we're back on the road, Lukas cast a Treat on him to take care of the most recent of his wounds, and cleans him up with a Makeover. Then we dig through one of our medkits and set him up with a glucose drip.
When he wakes up a bit later, we learn his name (which I forgot to write down), and that he was a migrant construction worker who stupidly tried to do a job in metahuman-hostile Westphalia. He got caught by the Himmelsrecken, the Westphalian secret church police, whose symbol oddly enough turns out to be a pair of crossed swords with a halo. Apparently, after interrogating him they've been indulging in the fine Christian pastime of torturing a prisoner, leaving him far the worse for wear.
Not long after that, we pass by the only other traffic we encounter on this highway -- a Himmelsrecken troop carrier, heading toward where we had our little disagreement with the bogies. We unanimously decide to change our route and take some smaller backroads instead.
When we get close to our objective, we set the orc up in a cheap motel with Wolfgang in one of his human forms watching over him. Then we head to Messern Biochemie to see what we can find out about Ylva's dad. However, before we can even get close Valentine spots a lot of security systems in place on the road to the complex, and convinces us to be very cautious. She launches her Condor balloon-drone and surveys the complex from above.
Surprise, surprise, the complex is not abandoned. Someone with a fair amount of equipment, men, and training has moved in and taken the place over. And that someone is (even greater surprise) the Himmelsrecken. Valentine generates a map using the drone's data; going over the map and what other info Valentine's drone has been able to gather, we get a good sense of at least some of their defenses, and determine that the building that used to be a "Welcome Center" is probably the HQ for base security. We have some discussion about this, and being the bunch of impulsive kids experienced professionals bunch of impulsive kids that we are, we decide we're going to try to get into the "Welcome Center"; our goal is to see if we can access the systems within it and subvert at least some of the defenses to make it easier to get into the main building(s) of the complex.
Bikavèr follows the fence around about a quarter of the way counterclockwise and simply jumps it to see if he can -- just after a large earth elemental rolls through on a patrol. He jumps back out and gets Valentine with the intent of jumping back in while carrying her, and stealthing them both to the "Welcome Center". To improve their odds, Lukas summons a Force 6 field spirit to provide Concealment to them as they head to the Welcome Center and as they stand at the door trying to get in. The spirit is worth every penny as it manages to keep the earth elemental from spotting the pair when it rolls through again. After it passes Valentine cracks the keypad and gets them inside, but warns us that it was on an a separate doors-only system. They take their security seriously here.
And that was where we ended for the night.
A few quotes from the session for your amusement:
(right after Yoruichi hid in the van)
"Why do we work with a teenager again?"
"Because she has a car and can drive."
Helen: "You're like the sixth-graders from Hell!"
Peggy: "I'm a fourth-grader."
"Does Bikavèr count as full cover?"
"If he keeps his knees together."
Anyway, at the end of the last session, Yoruichi met up with us at the side of the road about a mile past the border, and we all piled into the Eurovan and started our cheery jaunt across the oppressive theocratic dystopia of Westphalia to our destination, Messern Biochemie -- an abandoned agricorp complex a few kilometers northwest of Paderborn. The highway we're on is not heavily used -- in fact, we see no other cars at all.
We're not moving for even half an hour before Yoruichi has to hit the brakes as over a dozen near-pony-sized dog-things run across the road in front of us, dragging something limp and suspiciously man-sized. It takes only a moment for us to realize that it's a pack of schwarzer bluthunds (AKA bogies to English-speaking runners). We note that there are two apparent Alphas among them, judging by sheer size.
Naturally we get out, because we're socially-conscious individuals who do not like the idea of, well, bogies to begin with, as they are unpleasant beasts. Five (including one of the Alphas) keep going across and then off the road with their limp, man-sized package in tow, while the remaining ten (including the other Alpha) stop and face us, intent on us not doing anything about their fun. To discourage us, the Alpha with the rear guard howls, which causes a fear effect if you didn't follow the link above. Yoruichi fails to resist and dives back into the van, cowering in the footwell under the steering wheel. She's joined by Ylva's wolf Skadi, who also failed. Lukas' familiar Wolfgang also fails and retreats to the Astral Plane.
Naturally the troll is the fastest of us, so Bikavèr right off the bat chases after the five who've left the road, running past two of the bogies to do so. This gives them attacks of opportunity on him, also known as "committing suicide" because he automatically counterattacks both -- he kills one and seriously wounds the other.
Benefiting greatly from the Increased Reflexes 3 she now has quickened on her, Ylva acts next and picks off two with her hunting rifle. Lukas stunbolts another.
A bogie then attacks Bikavèr and dies by counterattack. Lukas is attacked by two more, but between his armor and his magically-improved Body tanks both attacks, taking not a scratch, and kills one of them with a counterattack, using the unbound knife focus which he is carrying. Another bogie tries to get Valentine, but bounces off her armor.
Bikavèr catches up with the five off the road and kills the other Alpha. The seriously injured bogie he left in his wake starts running (limping?) away. Ylva kills the Alpha facing the rest of the group, and then takes out the bogie still standing by Lukas. Lukas then kills the fleeing bogie with his slingshot. Oh, and somewhere in there Valentine ganked the one that attacked her.
Oh, and Bikavèr kills the other four bogies off in the brush at the side of the road with aggravating casualness and an outrageous degree of overkill. <grin>
All in all, not bad for a single combat round.
Oh, and when all the bad doggies are gone, Yoruichi comes out from under the steering wheel, Skadi emerges from the blankets she buried herself under, and Wolfgang sheepishly returns from Astral Space.
Being good citizens, we drag the dead bogies off the road. While doing so, we notice that they're branded under the chin with a design that looks like crossed swords with a fiery halo around the intersection.
Bikavèr comes out of the brush carrying a seriously wounded orc -- who in addition to bogie bites appears to have been tortured for quite a while. We decide to keep him, having always wanted a wounded orc, and put him in the back of the van. Once we're back on the road, Lukas cast a Treat on him to take care of the most recent of his wounds, and cleans him up with a Makeover. Then we dig through one of our medkits and set him up with a glucose drip.
When he wakes up a bit later, we learn his name (which I forgot to write down), and that he was a migrant construction worker who stupidly tried to do a job in metahuman-hostile Westphalia. He got caught by the Himmelsrecken, the Westphalian secret church police, whose symbol oddly enough turns out to be a pair of crossed swords with a halo. Apparently, after interrogating him they've been indulging in the fine Christian pastime of torturing a prisoner, leaving him far the worse for wear.
Not long after that, we pass by the only other traffic we encounter on this highway -- a Himmelsrecken troop carrier, heading toward where we had our little disagreement with the bogies. We unanimously decide to change our route and take some smaller backroads instead.
When we get close to our objective, we set the orc up in a cheap motel with Wolfgang in one of his human forms watching over him. Then we head to Messern Biochemie to see what we can find out about Ylva's dad. However, before we can even get close Valentine spots a lot of security systems in place on the road to the complex, and convinces us to be very cautious. She launches her Condor balloon-drone and surveys the complex from above.
Surprise, surprise, the complex is not abandoned. Someone with a fair amount of equipment, men, and training has moved in and taken the place over. And that someone is (even greater surprise) the Himmelsrecken. Valentine generates a map using the drone's data; going over the map and what other info Valentine's drone has been able to gather, we get a good sense of at least some of their defenses, and determine that the building that used to be a "Welcome Center" is probably the HQ for base security. We have some discussion about this, and being the bunch of impulsive kids experienced professionals bunch of impulsive kids that we are, we decide we're going to try to get into the "Welcome Center"; our goal is to see if we can access the systems within it and subvert at least some of the defenses to make it easier to get into the main building(s) of the complex.
Bikavèr follows the fence around about a quarter of the way counterclockwise and simply jumps it to see if he can -- just after a large earth elemental rolls through on a patrol. He jumps back out and gets Valentine with the intent of jumping back in while carrying her, and stealthing them both to the "Welcome Center". To improve their odds, Lukas summons a Force 6 field spirit to provide Concealment to them as they head to the Welcome Center and as they stand at the door trying to get in. The spirit is worth every penny as it manages to keep the earth elemental from spotting the pair when it rolls through again. After it passes Valentine cracks the keypad and gets them inside, but warns us that it was on an a separate doors-only system. They take their security seriously here.
And that was where we ended for the night.
A few quotes from the session for your amusement:
(right after Yoruichi hid in the van)
"Why do we work with a teenager again?"
"Because she has a car and can drive."
Helen: "You're like the sixth-graders from Hell!"
Peggy: "I'm a fourth-grader."
"Does Bikavèr count as full cover?"
"If he keeps his knees together."
-- Bob
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber. I have been
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber. I have been
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....