Iron Stars - everlife-end-of-life

Runners are sent to everyone the Stained Freedom Front is working with, pulling in a disparate group of people from across the city. @Svenka [Tig/M’Ranni] , @Eisheru, et al. @iumi of Gudrun @Deleted User and several others are all called in, and the same intelligence is given to everyone by the now settling into her leadership role, commandant Ife. Everlife was once a company on Polychrome responsible for the health of the workers and the families that lived here, and by the end of the tenure corporate had here had diverged from that noble mission quite a bit, instead focusing on immortality drugs, disease, and other money making ventures over the common good. Enough of those failed project leads seem to have been left behind when the corporate big-wigs escaped the planet, and those rats are making noise in the factory district so vital to the next step in the city revitalization project. An army of the damned and forgotten is building there, swayed by promises of warm food and a safe place to sleep. It is not an army, but a horde, one that is soon going to break against the order the Stained Freedom Front and their Icarus Industries partners have worked to hard to build, and a team of notables is quickly assembled to cut the head off the snake and scatter this army before the city and the stain seals protecting it are broken forever. Each of you has found your way to The Glass Tower, to the board room on the top floor where this briefing is taking place, and Ife looks like she has not slept more than an hour or two over the last several days.

4

“Commander, I tell ye, ‘tis time to take a rest. Ye be no good to us falling over where ye stand,” a wizened graying man says, offering an arm to Ife to help her into her chair. He seems a pastoral type, with speech like a farmer and a kindly glint in his eye. His clothes are worn and a little dusty, and there is a small, threadbare stuffed bear clasped to his belt with a purple tulip embroidered over the heart. At his heels is a large scruffy grey and brown Irish wolfhound, large eyes pleading up at the commander and a slight whine coming from her throat. She nudges at the commander’s hand and offers a few conciliatory licks. “See, even Mist wants to see ye rest. Good girl, Mist” As the newcomers arrive, the man looks up and smiles welcomingly. “Aye, ye must be the support team Commander Ife’s been mentioning.” After helping the captain into her chair, he offers his hand for shaking towards the general direction of the new arrivals and says, “Captain Fearghal Mac Tír, from Juroli by-way-of The Selkie for the last decade or so. That there is Mist. She’s friendly. Mostly.” (edited)

A tall mosk with a blue carapace steps up to the table. They have a variety of claws, both organic and mechanical but all look like crab claws. Two are larger and the other two are smaller manipulator claws. Their shell is freckled but otherwise unadorned. They step up to table and take a seat, "N-N-Name is Zorcash. From... From... Where from not i-i-important anymore. Here n-n-now. Recovery and security s-s-specialist." Other than their combat harness the only other equipment they have is their backpack and a rather strange device on their hip that looks like a cross between bio and survey scanners

Following behind the tall mosk, a taros woman also approaches as she lightly fidgets with her long blonde hair. Given the circumstances, she seems well kempt with minimal tarnish appearing on her clothes, notably a long red coat and a scarf that covers the lower half of her face. She casually walks up to the table and grabs a seat at random, making herself comfortable almost as soon as she plops herself down "Yana. Biopsionic and stuff. Boom, short and sweet introduction, right?" It's difficult to tell what expression she currently has, but her body language does somewhat give signs of nervousness despite the general confident vibe she seems to be trying to give off

Tig arrives fashionably late after the other three, hand resting on the revolver at her hip and alien green eyes scanning the room from her carapaced form. She is dressed in power armour, sans helmet and her inscrutable expression would read as something between anxious and excited. “Tig, troubleshooter, bounty hunter and gunfighter. Here… to help.” She takes a seat at the table and leans back, nodding at Zorcash.

No one taking his hand, Fearghal’s smile deepens a bit though his large dark eyes look a shade sadder. His hand scrubs through his unkempt hair in an attempt to save face for the unrequited handshake. “Oh, we be sayin’ what we be good at?” He looks around the room at the aliens in front of him, acting like it’s not the first time. “Plants and animals listen to me, I suppose. I be a farmer by trade. Tulips, mostly. Oh, and I know me way around a gun.” His smile deepens, still not quite touching his eyes. (edited)

1

Zorcash gurgles and bubbles to themselves until Tig walks in. Its then they visibly perk up in their own Mosk kind of way before turning towards Fearghal, "Can sh-sh-sh-shoot and inscribe. L-L-L-Like to tinker with odds and ends. Not b-b-bad with c-c-computers either!"

Mist tiptoes up to the mosk and sniffs at their foot before opening her mouth and gently closing her teeth around Zorcash’s ankle. Fearghal shoots Mist a death glare before she is able to close her jaw entirely, and the mosk is unbothered by the surreptitious attempt at exoskeleton theft. “Not. A. Bone.” Fearghal says under his breath to the hound, maintaining outward welcome towards Zorcash. Mist drops it and looks up at her companion guiltily.

1

One of Zorcash's eye stalks turns to look at Mist, they blow a few bubbles before manipulator claws go over their carapace checking it over before it begins inspecting the furry creature in front of them. A few hairs are deftly plucked from the pooch as they mumble what you take to be words but in a strange language you have likely never heard uttered before "Fur no shell Mist is pet- ... Friend or- ... ? What- ... ? T-T-Tig! _[Mosk]: What is this concept? Human-Animal-Pet-Friend?"

Yana tilts her head curiously, unsure of what the heck they just said, then looks to the others as if wondering if they had any idea

Seeing the distress and confusion on Zorcash’s face, Fearghal rushes over and places a hand on the mosk’s shoulder. “Apologies, mate, we’ve been shipbound with the same sodding crew of humans for six straight years. She - well… she ain’t seen anyone like you in a long time.” Ever…

Ife sits, and looks at each of you. "Fearghal has brought back information about Everlife building an indentured army in the factories we need. We'd like to scatter them but leveling the place is not an option if we plan to begin spike drive production. I'm bringing all of you in on this because I know you'll get it done with a minimum of casualties and a minimum of destruction.

“You know this? It seems you know more about me than I do myself.” Tig chuckles to herself. “Slavery is a blight on any society and something to be snuffed out before it ckckck can become the norm. The freedom of one to do as they would is paramount. And it gives a reasonable excuse to use force without moral ckckck concern.” She looks to Zorcash. “We ckckck can do this. We ckckck can apply violence to the slave masters.” (edited)

Zorcash makes a few chitters and other sounds at Mist in a non-aggressive tone. Curiosity is the best thing it can be called. The blue Mosk waits until Ife's briefing is over, "I c-c-can send them inscription? Send inscription through The Messenger! No more slaves only fr-fr-free people"

“Well, to be sure, ‘tweren’t slavery they talked of. ‘Twere a job - a payin’ one.” His smile cools and falls. “That is, ‘till someone tries to leave. I guess we would have to wait to see how the generous overlords treated that request, we would.” His voice fills with contempt in combination with his sarcasm. Hearing the familiar wistful tone in her companions voice, Mist pads over and lays her head in Fearghal’s lap. He absentmindedly pats her head. “Might as well proceed as if they are slaves, I suppose.”

Yana stares towards Mist for a moment, maybe out of adoration, then she snaps out of it and looks towards Ife "Minimal casualties, huh? Now THAT'S something I could work my magic there!... er- figurative magic." She begins fidgeting with her scarf a bit as she sits there and observes the others

“We experienced that kind of ckckck corporate lies with the drones of lucid. Slavery need not be overt.” Tig looks over the others “So… we go in, we deal with the head of this snake and we establish something stable and equitable.”

"N-N-Need to make sure people have pl-pl-place to go right after... Common f-f-folk might not understand and need to not be hostile to C-C-Commandant Ife"

"there are two ways to handle this" Ife says, "the first, you go on foot and sneak in , and do what you can do from there. We can also go loud, but there's going to be a lot more civilians in the way if we do. We do have an old Winter Wolves armored personnel carrier we salvaged when they evacuated the planet. Still working out who helped them do that, but we have it, and it can take a punch. You can drive right through their camp to get into it quickly, but anyone who doesn't get out of your way fast enough is probably going to be a red rooster tail behind you"

Yana nods a bit, but curiosity strikes across her face "Do we have a route for sneaking in? Also, how much of a punch can that carrier take, exactly?"

“Small arms won’t trouble it much if you keep your speed high. Heavy weapons will set you back but it can take a few hits before you need to worry

"So it's beefy, got it! And any potential stealth routes just in case we're not aiming to plow through everything?"

"Rooftops, the buildings are close enough together, and this is still a city, the street layout is more or less the same"

"Ah, gotcha!" She then turns to speak more broadly to everyone else "So from what I'm getting, we can either do this with flashy style with a badass hunk of metal that'll let us show off a bit. OR we could be more discrete and use the rooftops and stuff to get in with less lasers, explosions, and probably dead civilians. Safer for bystanders most likely, but if we get spotted, we might regret not having that carrier. THEN AGAIN, y'all are probably badass enough to handle that shit, but hey, any preferences?"

Fearghal absentmindedly rubs his aching left knee, then has a delayed response as he processes what Ife and Yana just said. “How many folk do it take to operate the carrier? Wonder if we can try to ‘ave the best of both worlds - one or two people on the machine, the rest of us on a ground mission to evacuate the innocents?” He clears his throat. “Tactics ‘ave never been my strong suit, though, I be afraid.”

"I don't think there are any innocents there" Ife says "they're all there because Everlife is arming them and promising them food. They're going to want to work for their meals, and they're not going to take kindly to you killing their meal ticket" (edited)

"Well, what alternatives could there be for them? Sometimes folk can be in rough spots and don't have many options. At least, not many options they can find out! Regardless, innocent or not, if it's possible to have two separate teams, one sneaking in while the other draws attention at their front door, then that might be a good plan to at least get this done! The sooner the head is donezo, the sooner we can hope those dumbasses won't be issues anymore, right?"

(I didn’t really want to split the party if we can avoid it. Two groups doing different parts of the exact same mission with different post rates is going to be pretty hard. ) (edited)

2

Yana thinks for a moment, then shakes her head "Actually, on second thought, maybe that isn't the best idea... I can't be in two places at once, so if someone gets critically injured and I'm not there, I wouldn't be really doing my job. We should probably keep it as one group either in the carrier or otherwise?"

Nekosmash

(I didn’t really want to split the party if we can avoid it. Two groups doing different parts of the exact same mission with different post rates is going to be pretty hard. ) (edited)

(Fair my bad didn’t think about that)

"Think need t-t-t-to go quiet and f-f-fast. C-C-Cut head off snake and let confusion do the r-r-rest. Once peons know no f-f-f-food coming... Doubt they will think C-C-Commandant Ife is all that b-b-bad." Zorcash gurgles and clicks out in their rough Mandate Common. Turning to Commandant Ife, "If we can e-e-eliminate the leadership, can S-S-Stained Freedom Front control the collateral damage?" (Essentially asking if the Everlife army lashes out in chaos cause their leadership is dead can SFF maintain a perimeter and prevent damage to Stain Seals and/or rest of the city) (edited)

“I’m for quick and decisive like Zor has said. Get in, eliminate and get out. The ckckck carrier would be a good distraction if we ckckck could rig it to rush in without us in it.”

"I can install a ghost driver in it" ife offers, all too familiar with the manufacture of car bombs (edited)

Yana smirks a little, but then stops and leans on her arm "That'll work wonders I'd reckon, but we'd have to be willing to probably sacrifice that carrier. It's probably worth it, but do we have something even less valuable that we can give less of a shit about saying bye to?" (edited)

“Benefit of the ckckck carrier is they will shoot at it for a long while and it will likely breach the building ckckck can we equip it with gas? Something to ckckck cause them to be ineffective for a while?” She looks to Yana. “Or something ckckck cheaper, if this is valuable.”

"You know what, that's a good point! Anything that can survive heavy weapons is valuable enough in my mind, but you're right on the carrier being a target for longer which would buy us more time. About any gas though... do we even have anything like that available?"

"Nothing like that unfortunately, not nearly in the quantity you'd need. Anyone who's anyone would have a proteus implant or something good at filtration anyway, since you can't always predict places where the Stain seals would fail"

"B-B-Best bet to get in position... Use carrier to d-d-draw attention then assault through... E-E-Everyone agrees?"

Fearghal stares into the middle distance, focusing heavily on the mechanics of the situation. Eventually, he nods and grunts in agreement. "Aye."

“We rig a ghost. It drives into the building, draws fire. We go in an alternate entrance. Seems straightforward. We will have a short element of surprise.”

Yana looks to the others and nods with a bravadous smirk "I get the feeling we got us a decent plan here!"

(anyone need to do anything before we step off?)

(Good here)

(I'm golden)

11:31 AM

(Actually I DO need some ammo for my laser pistol. Gave mine away earlier)

(We have type A cells available here if you want to pick up a few)

(yeah would just pick up some solid shot ammo)

(I'll yoink 2 cells then)

Outside the vehicle is prepared with the ghost driver and the explosives you plan to detonate as a contingency. The limiters on speed have been removed, and Ife will finish working on this while you get into position. She thinks the best way to get onto the rooftops is from the ruins of the old stadium two blocks from here. Some gang members may have taken it over, and you may have to deal with them in some way before getting to the roof.

Fearghal looks to Yana. “Ye might plan to stay behind me, lass. I be a great deal bigger than ye, and ‘tis important to protect the healers.” He fingers the holster of his gun.

Yana nods with a smile "Perfectly fine by me! I ain't the best in a fight anyways. I'll be right behind ya, old man!"

He chuckles a bit at her immediate acceptance of the arrangement. Mist pads over to the taros and gently lays her head in Yana’s lap, big eyes looking up at her face.

Yana's eyes seem to dilate as she doesn't hesitate to begin petting them with a look of glee

(I'm ready when you guys are then, I set up where to go but if we want to RP a bit more we can)

2

Eyes resting on the young taros for a moment, Fearghal’s gaze shifts over to the two mosks on the other side of the room. “Tig, Zorcash - ye have any final preparations before we head to the stadium and prepare for whatever…. Whoever might be there?”

Zorcash walks up, various arms grabbing different pieces of equipment or loading ammunition into one of the two weapons that they keep at the ready. Yana and Ferghal can see that Zorcash's submachine gune has the words "Orgasm Donor" stenciled on the side of the barrel. They then finish loading their heavily carved spike thrower loaded before letting it hang down off of a sling, "No-Shell friends s-s-stay b-b-back... T-T-Tig and Zorcash p-p-protect with shells! Right T-T-Tig?!" "Let's g-g-go to stadium... get on roof..."

Fearghal grabs his … generous belly and gives a slight jiggle. “I ‘ave a shell o’ sorts, dinnae ye worry. No need to protect little old me.”

Yana looks over towards submachine gun and gives a "-pfft" as she almost bursts out laughing as they read the stenciling. She holds her hands to her mouth as she struggles to hide her immature sense of humor, especially when she wasn't expecting to read "Orgasm Donor" on a gun... actually, thinking about it more tips her over the edge as she shoves her face into her scarf to muffle her laughter

Setting off for the ruins of the stadium you pass through two city blocks the SFF is working on rebuilding, and it looks like they're making sure this is a job done well. You can see the ruins ahead, twisted light poles and smashed bleachers, along with large mounds of rubble. Some have been tagged with gang sigils though you suspect most of these tags belong to gangs that have been wiped out or otherwise don't exist anymore.

Yana stares at the old sigils and sighs "I wonder how many of those things still matter now..."

Tig rests her hand on her revolver, focused on the task at hand. She is wearing a butterfly harness, a helmet covering her Mosk features. She has a Rocket Launcher close at hand should she need it, and a Magma Fusilade stowed if things get.... more heated A brace of grenades suggest she is not too terribly concerned with causing mayhem should the need arise. She looks to Yana for a long moment. "None of them matter."

"I..." Yana looks over again and slowly nods "You're right. I suppose they don't!"

Fearghal casts his gaze down, fiddling with his belt loop for a second before looking at Tig. “The symbols themselves might not. But the folk who painted ‘em did. We all wanted out from under the corpo thumb. Just went about it in different ways, we did.”

Yana pauses and looks over to Fearghal with a somber look "That's... also true. Fuck... just thinking about the corpo all over again just... things could've been much better off if those jackasses didn't just..." She trails off before resuming "Well, best we can do is live in their stead.. yeah? And cut off some big shot heads while we're at it!"

Nodding solemnly, it occurs to him that he just said some depressing shit to an innocent kid and casts Yana a friendly wink. “Attagirl, Yana. That’s the spirit.” He halfway lifts a hand to ruffle her hair, then realizes he barely knows her and redirects the pat toward Mist instead. It were a long six years of isolation, he thinks, chastising himself for his lost social grace. He casts his gaze at the path ahead, looking for signs of any bandits, brigands, or other trouble between their current location and the ladders up to the stadium roof.

Yana blinks for a moment but doesn't really think about the strange route the old man's hand took to pat Mist and just simply grins Her gaze follows his as she too looks for any sign of danger ahead (edited)

"Going the route of undisciplined thugs is no better than enslaving the populace. Those marks mean nothing because we decide they mean nothing. Freedom doesn't mean wanton anarchy." Tig notices the strange movement of almost-touching and looks at the old man for a long moment. "We choose to break the notion of the corporations and the notion of the self-serving gangs because there is the potential for more."

“Agree to disagree, mate.” Fearghal says, meeting Tig’s gaze. “These people -“ he points to the graffiti - “were just tryin’ to survive. Doin’ what they could. I reckon there be a fine line between self service and self preservation.” He sticks a pinky in his ear and wiggles it around, then removes it and examines the fingertip. “But, what do I know? I ain’t seen much. Just an old sap, I reckon.” He throws his hands up in resignation, And beckons Tig to lead.

"Sap? Captain F-F-F-Fearghal not look like tr-tr-tree... T-T-Tig! Why do no-shells have f-f-funny sayings?"

2

Fearghal chuckles over at Zorcash. Eyes wide, he teases, “Ye be mistaken, friend. I do be a tree!”

Zorcash clicks and bubbles in what could be interpreted as confusion or who knows what, its a Mosk doing Mosk things. Zorcash begins trying to find a way to get up to the roof so they can make their transit

“It’s not a tree. It’s a strange, old and perhaps strangely naive human. We focus and we ckckck commit to this. Regardless of what is needed to resolve the grip of control the gangs and corps have on this place.” (edited)

“Corps do it for money, gangs do it to survive. But aye, focus I will. Ye have the right of it, there.”

There looks to be someone here, though they are out of sight. A trash fire is burning amid the rubble piles and you can smell the sharp sting of plastics being used as fuel for the blaze.

Yana chuckles as she listens to the others before her eyes rise up to notice the trash fire "-there's a fire there... though I don't directly see anyone."

The old captain does a gesture indicating the rest of the team to hang back. He turns in the direction of the fire and the mystery individual and starts a leisurely stroll towards them, whistling absentmindedly and telegraphing his location as much as possible. Dinnae want to cause a stir or a fuss… He approaches their makeshift campsite seeming calm, curious. “Aye, anyone about?”

There is a chuckling sound within the ruins as six punks come out. They are wearing leather vests, battered gas masks, and most of them have mohawks in various neon colors. Two have pipes wrapped in barbed wire while the rest have a mixture of other scrap weaponry that if it doesn't kill you, will probably give you a nasty infection. "Well well, we're here, and this is our land. You're gonna have to pay a toll if you want to pass through it"

“A toll?” Fearghal chuckles congenially, Mist cowering behind him doing her most convincing puppy dog eyes towards the gang. He makes an earnest attempt to feel around each of his pockets, shaking them audibly. “‘Ow much of a toll are we talkin’ ‘ere? My friends and I are just passin’ by, we are, and we don’t want no trouble. Credits are a bit thin at the moment, as ye can probably understand, but I’m sure we can come to an agreement. Ye seem like reasonable lads.”

“You see this? This is a genuine rocket launcher. It is guaranteed to render most any structure as a former structure. Imagine, for a moment, what that would do to the flesh that is wasted on the likes of you. You have 2 options. One. You fuck right off and you give us not even a small amount of trouble, maybe my kindly friend here gives you something, maybe he doesn’t. Or two, I test out this thing. I’m sick to death of you pieces of shit and your demands. Take it or leave it.”

Fearghal’s eyes dart towards Tig, and he seems a bit worried before regaining his friendly composure. He shrugs his arms with a smile and says, “Well lads, you heard the lady. She be a feisty one, and she don’t suffer no foolishness. I was tryin’ to give ye a break, but ye crossed the wrong mosk it appears.” He claps Tig on the back and laughs.

!roll 2d6

Nekosmash Roll: [4, 2] Result: 6

They begin to scatter, hoping they don't take a rocket in the back for their trouble.

After they run away, Fearghal looks over at Tig and sees in her eyes that she meant what she said. “Lads like that really piss ye off, don’t they? They give you two a lotta trouble in the past?” He sighs deeply watching them run. Barely more’n kids, them. Dumbarses. “Well, Miss Tig, yer reasonin’ makes sense. Wouldn’t fault ye for that.” He hangs back as the group begins to move again, then turns to Zorcash. “Remind me to never get on ‘er bad side!” (edited)

"T-T-Tig no have bad-side! T-T-Tig very f-f-friendly" they gurgle in reply before continuing on their way as if a horrendous threat wasn't just thrown out wantonly.

Yana sighs a breath of relief. "Holy shit, I thought for a moment that was gonna get bloody real quick..."

“Only woulda got bloody if they kept being dumbshites.” Fearghal chuckles, continuing onward towards their destination.

Tig continues, but very conscious of her surroundings, faintly touching the spot on her chest where she had felt the attack pierce. “Onward. Hopefully they don’t warn anyone.”

It looks like from down here you can cross their "territory" into the stadium, where you can climb one of the rubble piles to get to the roofs. From there, you can officially begin the operation and you're doing so now without injuries, and with all your resources.

Fearghal catches up to Tig and proceeds forward towards the rubble piles outside the stadium.

(exert/str from everyone)

(6)

(oof 3)

3

(8)

Zorcash is unable to climb one of the taller piles of debris and struggles as they're hauled up by the others, the sharp rocks and jagged pieces of building material scraping into his belly (3 damage)

7:52 AM

From here, you find yourself on the rooftops and Ife signals your ghost driven vehicle is prepared to surge ahead.

Fearghal lends a hand to Zorcash to help them up, as Mist noses against them from behind to assist. “That scratch don’t look terrible, but reckon Yana should take a look at it when we’re back to make sure it don’t fester. You okay otherwise, mate?”

(23/26) Zorcash makes a dismissive gesture with their claw, "B-B-Barely a scratch-ch-ch-ch. We ready to light the c-c-candle? If have q-q-questions, ask n-now. Once we go, w-w-we do not-t-t have time for d-d-discussion. Assault th-th-through to find leaders and e-e-end them..."

Yana looks over to Fearghal and shakes her head as she looks to Zorcash "I should just take care of it now. Won't even take a second, if you want that dealt with, Zorcash." She raises a hand slightly, basically offering to use her biopsionics on the scratch "Never know when the slightest scratch will be that tipping point before you collapse, ya know?"

(They wouldn't decline the healing)

1

Yana gets closer. Upon hearing no objections, she places a hand hear the scratch and yawns as the injury fades almost instantly. While the ability to heal like this normally takes some amount of effort, she seems to hold enough mastery over her powers to do so easily (5 hp healed at the cost of 1 sysmetic strain to Zorcash) (edited)

(full, 7/14 strain)

You estimate you have about five blocks of rooftops to cross between here and an easy overlook of the target area. The buildings are close teother and there looks to be enough trash on the roofs to make crossings in places where you might need to bridge a gap of some kind.

Mist leads the way, scouting out the paths of least resistance and puts her weight first on anything that has questionable stability. If anyones falling through a roof, she wants it to be her. Fearghal follows in the back of the marching order and helps the others along with a hand to grab for balance, or lifting a heavy object out of the way.

Tig follows along, butterfly harness at the ready should footing fail. The drums of violence in her ears, still not sated, ready, willing and wanting blood. “Get in strike fast and deal with this.”

(Would we be able to carry a person for a short hop between buildings neko? Both Tig and Zorcash have the Butterfly Combat Harness)

(Yeah I’d say so thanks to the armor)

Yana gulps as they go towards the rooftops. Big falls like this would have a good chance of seriously injuring her, if not worse. Still, she tries relaxing a bit and forces a grin onto her face as she looks towards Tig "Couldn't have said it better myself!"

"Sh-Sh-Short hops between b-b-buildimgs, butterfly harness can h-h-help us to carry you two across. Should b-b-be there in no time, have vehicle s-s-start distraction when we are two blocks away?

"Good plan. Good timing." Tig focuses on the path ahead, but offers to carry Feargal should he want it.

He seems a bit uncomfortable at the offer, not used to a lady offering to care for a man, but shrugs it off. “What about Mist girl here?”

Zorcash gurgles happily, "Z-Z-Zorcash make extra jump! F-F-For fury not-pet-Mist!"

Tig gets Fearghal across the gap, while Zor takes care of the dog.

(a quick hop back for Yana is all we need to worry about too, but with the butterfly harnesses it is trivial in difficulty)

11:51 AM

You emerge about a block from the place where the vehicle is going to make its approach, and you overlook a sprawling camp of locals

(Yana would accept the help with the butterfly harness)

The locals here look to be doing exercises, eating, huddling around fires, sleeping, and practicing hand to hand combat drills though everything they do has the hallmarks of sloppy somewhat amateur work, and though they are not individually well trained, there are hundreds of people here and this force is more than enough to cause havoc and destabilize the things the Stained Freedom Front and their new allies are trying to build. None are looking at the tall rooftops around them for the moment, and you do your best to stay low as not to skylight yourselves as you observe. The ground is a cleared area of empty lots and alleys, and a focal point of the activity looks to be a large crumbling clock tower on the other side of this abandoned plaza, about 100m away in a direct line, though you've reached the end of what the buildings are going to be able to assist you with in terms of staying off the street

"Yikes... I really don't wanna see these people fighting..." Yana sighs as she looks around, then to the others "A lot of cleared area down there. Wouldn't be anywhere for cover if we got seen there..."

"W-W-Wait for Everlife to r-r-respond to vehicle, then we m-m-move to opposite side of compound to m-m-make our approach-ch-ch. Straight sh-sh-shot to the tower will d-d-draw attention."

"As Zor says, we get in position, wait and ckckck charge." Tig draws her weapon and waits for the chaos to begin, the drumbeats of violence to come ringing in her ears. her breath controlled but wanting this.

(Sending the vehicle in?)

(Yeah! Lets light this candle!

) (edited)

4

(Yeehaw!)

There is a bang and a roar as the vehicle surges forward, and you can hear the shouts of alarm from the vanguard of the Everlife camp. Most of the initial recruits try to just scramble and jump out of the way as opposed to trying to do anything to stop it. A few rip off opportunistic shots but either miss, or do nothing more than scratch the paint. You can see from your overlook it is going to run into trouble as it approaches the main building here, as soldiers are beginning to come outside at the disturbance and jump into fighting pits nearby.

“Now we go!” Tig uses the mayhem to move quickly to their intended entry point, revolver in hand and ready.

Zorcash quickly helps ferry the remaining party members down and dashes to join Tig. They keep their submachine gun in hand with the Spike Thrower at the ready

(initiative)

(7. forgot the +1 dex on my roll)

(4. Mist acts on my initiative, right?)

(Correct, they act with you)

(6, mah doods)

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [1] Result: 1

(just need tig and we can throw and order together)

2

(its been 24, we will move on. Zor is up first)

Zorcash surveys the field and attempts to pick a path towards the main building that avoids people. Arcing away from the vehicle, they dash toward any sort of cover they can find on the way.

(Would this be trying to sneak then?)

(Yeah. Like say we are coming in from the South and the vehicle is coming from the East. I would want to skirt to the West. Sneak/Dex of 10 if you want it) (edited)

(5)

5:05 PM

(Sorry)

(sounds good that will be your main, So Yana is up next)

Yana looks towards Zorcash and proceeds to attempt to follow behind them, also trying to avoid being seen. She tries forcing a smile as she does, but her nervousness is quite visible at this point

(Sneak/dex is what this sounds like

(8)

(Tig up)

4

3

@Svenka [Tig/M’Ranni]

Tig follows suit, keeping quiet and low. Trying to use the mayhem to their advantage.

4:18 PM

(5)

It looks as though you’ve been spotted as you barge your way through the scattering everlife citizen militia.

4:31 PM

(Ferg)

(The group was trying to stealth but has now been spotted, and the handful of nearby militiamen not focused on the oncoming APC bomb are going to get scrappy in a second here)

2

Fearghal squares up, unholstering his mag rifle from its place on his back. He puffs himself up to look as big as he can. In the background, Mist attempts to slink by as if just a city mongrel, to the other side of the militiamen (as much as 20 movement will let her)

(Mist can move and main all 20 and get behind them on the flank, you've got all your move and main left if you wanted to try something here, on their own, they're not going to back down)

(Sorry he’s trying to make himself big to intimidate them while Mist gets in position behind them)

(ah alright, want to do a perform/str)

8:12 AM

(I think that is maybe the closest )

(9)

3

!roll 2d6+2

Nekosmash Roll: [3, 1] Result: 6

The group decides that their life on the streets was better than being dead for trying to stare down heavily armed mercs, and they begin to scatter.

4

Yana looks to the scattering group, then back to Fearghal "Holy... holy shit, you certainly made THAT easy!"

He re-sheaths his rifle across his back as Mist pads back over and licks his hand. “Don’t be needin’ trouble till it be time for trouble.” He says, chuckling at Yana.

Yana chuckles back, then looks to the others "Well, we should probably keep moving then!"

Tig makes an annoyed clicking sound but doesn’t press the matter, instead falling into a brisk walk towards their target.

(We probably dont want to get closer for a second here)

7:36 PM

The APC begins to hurtle into the front of the building and explodes, killing the men who just ran from you and blowing a large hole in the center of the building. The enemy has scattered for a moment, and their leadership is inside.

Zorcash motions for the group to hold for a moment while the APC finishes its gloriously short life. After the explosion, they point towards the the leadership building and continue moving in that direction.

The doorframe is a ruin of fallen stone , blackened bodies and rubble. Leadership sounds like they’re trying to rally a combat squad upstairs but their men are sluggish and stunned

Fearghal looks down, away from the charred and mangled bodies of the men - the boys - he tried to convince to run. He turns to Tig and breathily says, “maybe yer way would ha’ been a mercy compared to this.” Clearing his throat he speaks up to the group. “Well, let’s not end like those poor sods. Forward!” and he motions to keep moving. Mist trots along determinedly beside him. (edited)

“No need to question. We resolve this with violence.” Tig surges forward towards the building, ready for the impending violence.

Zorcash clicks and gurgles to themselves, something about painting rocks and inscriptions. They charge forward with Tig ready to cover their friend (edited)

The stairs leading up are crumbling but should support you single file. You hear booted feet running upstairs, and shouts as the leadership that survived tries to get their men into fighting shape somehow

"Sounds to me like we have company up there. You guys ready?"

Fearghal nods and grunts a quick “Aye.”

Tig’s helmet clicks closed and she gives a simple nod, crouching slightly to get ready.

Yana nods "Let's do it then!"

surging up the stairs you see five Everlife stormtroopers closing ranks to protect the man with the megaphone Fearghal saw earlier. These troopers look well trained, with laser rifles held ready. There were militia standing here with them once, but it sounds like they have fled, leaving only the most disciplined troops behind. "you can leave now, and leave with your lives, or we can make this a bit more interesting" he says, gesturing for everyone to lower their guns for a moment.

Mist slinks in the room first, casually sniffing around to look like a tagalong stray. She “absentmindedly” paws at some debris in a corner on the opposite side of the room before finding a hunk of metal to chew on. A jovial glimmer in his eye, Fearghal chuckles warmly at the men. “More interesting, ye say? Reckon my friends ‘ere and I are right interested as it stands.”

Tig resists the urge to pull the trigger but nevertheless has her gun at the ready. “Move and get 5k ckckck credits each or die. These are the only two options. Decide now.”

4

(Is that just to the troopers or would the exec be included?)

(Troopers in her delivery, although anyone else can jump in on the plans for the exec)

When the choice between payment or a quick death is presented to them, the mercs begin to move aside, abandoning their charge quickly. Evidently, you pay more.

Fearghal chuckles watching the boys run and takes a nonchalant step toward the exec. “I reckon ye look right familiar, ye do. ‘Twas a nice speech you gave earlier. Didn’t like a lot of what ye were sayin’, but ye sounded right nice givin’ it.”

"t..Thanks..." he says, nervously now that he is alone. His confidence is now a sliver of its former self. "So, what happens now?"

Tig growls in frustration and full-force punches a wall, the desire, the NEED for combat not sated. A bubbling frustration finding its way into her fist and the wall. “I’d say you are at the mercy of this kind old man.”

Fearghal reaches out a hand in a calming gesture towards Tig, a warm smile glinting in his eye. He turns back to the man, hands fiddling with some lint from his own lapel. “Captain Fearghal Mac Tír of Juroli by way of the Selkie, friend. Ye’ve been sayin’ some downright offensive and dangerous things, ye ‘ave. Like of which might end up gettin’ somebody hurt. Incitin’ a riot - I’ll be!” Mist emits a low growl as she sniffs the perimeter of the room. He begins again, threateningly. “I don’t know yer name… Frankly? I don’t want to know it. But I do know one thing, my friend. Yer gonna call off the attack on the Front, and yer gonna come back with us to meet some friends and answer their questions.” He clears his throat, eyes migrating to his bloodthirsty companion. His tone softens a bit, as if speaking to a child. His grin widens and takes on a sickly sweet cast. “I’ll be more’n ‘appy to give ye a say in the matter, of course. Capitalism, free choice, all that shite you corpo goons get on yer knees for.” “So all that about comin’ with us and callin’ off the fight be option one. Option two is that meself, the blue feller, and the young lass over there go back out that door we walked in and start mindin’ our own biscuits and gravy. That means you get to stay in the room with my lovely Mist girl. Oh, and Tig here.” the captain chuckles and pats the quivering exec a bit too hard across the back. “Yer a right big lad. Tig’ll ‘ave fun with you, all right.” “What be yer choice, my friend?” (edited)

"Thugs in suits raped and killed Polychrome, I'm not going to sit by and watch you scumbags hump the corpse" Derisively, he spits on the ground and takes a massive breath in. (physical save everyone)

3

(Fail 4v13) (edited)

(success. 13v10)

(Success 14v10)

(fail 9v13)

Nekosmash

used /roll

Nekosmash Roll: [7, 5] Result: 12 Request: [2d8]

(12 damage if failed, none if passed) The cloud of Ochre Stain bio-agent begins spreading through the man as it slowly kills him. The killing wind sweeps through the room, catching all of you and the security troopers in the room in its killing embrace. The seal penetration of the Stain on the planet's surface, combined with additional bio toxins begins to take hold in the effected persons, sending them into paralyzing rictus coughs, as they fall to the ground. The security troopers look to be faring little better as the advanced seals in their suit are eaten away. One of them chokes on bloody froth from their mouth.

12:03 PM

(if you're downed, you're not dead, but you're mortally wounded unless you can be stabilized. With a medkit, the Dc for a heal/dex or int is 8, without, we are starting at 10)

(Anyone downed?)

(HP 3/15 remaining)

1:05 PM

(Do I need to do anything for Mist?)

(if 12 damage is more than Mist can take, the companion would discorporate for now, and you'd have to call them back tomorrow)

(Gaiapsi core technique gives a save roll DC for the animal companion. Should I roll a separate save for her or just use my previously rolled save against her DC?)

(Separate for mist is good!)

(14v14 pass for Mist!)

3

(I believe that is going to down Yana)

1

(Yes, it should be downing them)

1

Mist hesitantly pads over to Yana’s limp body and uses her elongated canine snout to nuzzle her fuzzy head underneath the unconscious Taros’ hand. She lets out a mournful whine as she looks nervously between the three remaining party members as if beckoning someone to do something. (edited)

Tig immediately follows, holstering her gun as if on instinct as she touches a hand to Yana’s chest and emits a soft glow between her fingers. (Heal for 14 HP - any chance of helping the dying troops?)

(NPCs, so they just kinda die, unfortunately)

(Gonna assume no but figured I'd double check anyways. Does Occult Resilience have any effect here?)

(It does not)

(So it's not Gaseous, got it)

9:02 PM

Yana's eyes flutter open after the healing from Tig as she slowly wipes her mouth a bit "W-... what just happened?"

Mist glomps upon Yana and licks her face as soon as she senses movement.

Yana's eyes widen in surprised, but then she grins a bit as she begins petting Mist, still confused but enjoying the brief moment

A mechanical claw extends to help pull Yana up to her feet, "No Stay! N-N-Need leave... Grab anything worthwhile and L-L-Lets go!"

Coughing, Fearghal hobbles back to the group. “Aye, ye scared us there, lass. Let’s get ye out of here before we breathe too much of this shite,” he wheezes between coughing fits.

outside, it sounds that the force is scattering having lost their taste for a fight. Calls for orders and leadership go unanswered, and grabbing what you can among the scattered papers and compads here you make your way out into the street once again to scatter as just another part of the running, disorganized mob.

8:03 AM

(3xp, 5000 credits all)

4

Svenka [Tig/M’Ranni]

“You see this? This is a genuine rocket launcher. It is guaranteed to render most any structure as a former structure. Imagine, for a moment, what that would do to the flesh that is wasted on the likes of you. You have 2 options. One. You fuck right off and you give us not even a small amount of trouble, maybe my kindly friend here gives you something, maybe he doesn’t. Or two, I test out this thing. I’m sick to death of you pieces of shit and your demands. Take it or leave it.”

Neko can I count this as satisfying my goal of “have someone call me friend”?

(yes)

8:19 AM

(I'll write a little interlude here once everyone catches up. We've made Polychrome "Safe enough" to begin spike drive production. We have other system ships out there lurking with captains more suspicious or adversarial than our dearest Fearghal here, so getting his ship spiked up, and getting Tig's back into the void to entreat with those folks might be the start of the navy we're looking for)

8:19 AM

(and if anyone's got interest in running the port here, let me know, I'll work out some goals)

4

Nekosmash

(and if anyone's got interest in running the port here, let me know, I'll work out some goals)

(I could potentially be interested after my personal business on Juroli)

Over the next week the spike drive from Tig's vessel is brought down on the cargo elevator and kept under heavy guard. The convoy is one of the most impressive assemblies of logistical coordination on the planet since the fall of the megacorp council and many of the trucks are filled with combined units of former corpo soldiers and SFF grunts who just days ago would have been shooting at one another, instead of covering one another's backs. Crime is beginning to fall, and just last night the medical center close to The Glass Tower announced its first full month with an infant mortality rate of statistically 0%, something not even the corporations had ever managed to achieve. There is a sense that things are improving here, and that the time of the gangs and former corporate holdouts dreaming of 'better days' is coming to a close. The former Everlife factories are cleared and repaired, and at last, the first indigenously created spike drive is born, to be installed on the refurbished Selkie. Many ships still haunt the deep black around Polychrome, and the vast stellar ocean outside the gravity well , but for tonight, everyone celebrates the new sense of progress this broken patchwork of a world has made. Ife cannot be here to celebrate, citing a debt she owes a certain Dimitri, man of Soviet Steel in the CBSS for saving her life a few months back, and the time has come for him to collect, and for her to answer. Entrusting Zorcash as temporary harbormaster until a more suitable long term choice can be found, she makes a prompt exit after a short speech in front of the elevator leading to the surface and Amana Lin Starport.

10:28 AM

A new state is being made here, one that will foster safety and stability without the need to shackle political wills to any other group. The people will be resourceful, smart, hard working, and dedicated, and most importantly, will represent themselves, rather than having their interests dictated to them. A flag is unfurled, a blazing orange background with the 2669 equivalent of the jolly roger emblazoned on it. To see this flag across the battle lines from you, she explains, is to see that you stand against the interests of free peoples everywhere.

9

( We can break off back to our normal threads)