Iron Stars - milanka

(How would you feel about going after Oilheart, the real one?)

(Sounds good to me)

Milanka is summoned to the marshal office aboard Trivedi Cloud with an urgent communication. It comes from the field work division and it seems like her request for a transfer has finally been approved. Not only has it been approved, it has come with orders. Whatever they are, they are secret enough that they could not be sent to a pad electronically.

Mila wakes up to the sound of her compad going off early in the morning. Ever since the completion of her training at the Vapormills Academy she has been living in a small apartment in Central waiting for the bigwigs to give her a new assignment. Her room is full of all kinds of posters from old detective dramas and mystery shows along with shelves full of books of a similar theme. She groggily grabs her compad and pulls up her messages. Her sleepiness vanishes as soon as she sees the message from the Marshal Office. She pulls it up and reads through it twice, making sure she read it correctly. "YES! NO MORE MOPPING FLOORS FOR ME!" She shouts before leaping off the bed. She speeds through getting ready then grabs some toast and her armored jacket on the way out. She sprints down the stairs and almost knocks her landlord over as he comes out to yell about the noise before running out the door to the bus stop to start her journey through town to the cloud.

A car and transport up to the cloud are easy enough to come by and after a few hours mostly spent waiting in various chair on various means of public transit, you finally find yourself in the somewhat weightlessness of space. THe marshal office is close to the center of the station where the armor is thickest

Mila heads into the Marshal office and looks around for the receptionist. She has been in here before, but usually after hours with a bucket and mop until she got promoted, 'Like it was much of an upgrade' to the docks. "Hey, I'm Milanka, I got a message this morning they had an assignment for me?" She says to the receptionist. (edited)

"The dispatcher will see you now" she says, clicking a buzzer under her desk that unlocks the door to the marshal briefing room

Mila gives her a smile before opening the door and walking in.

Several case files are open on a round table inside the room. On a case board there is a large photo of a Taros murder named Oilheart.

Mila starts browsing through the files, studying the names and whatever pages they are currently opened to before walking up to the board to look at the picture of Oilheart, trying to learn what she can from the picture in front of her.

It seems as though you’ve been tasked to handle this. They were known to inhabit gudruns southern swamps as they’re mostly unexplored. He was a taros and was known to kill children and women, stuffing them into oil barrels after breaking their spines to drown

Looking over the files brings a strange combination of excitement and terror. The idea of finally going out on a case mixed with the knowledge of such a barbaric and twisted individual existing makes her sick to her stomach. She sits down and starts to ponder what kind of equipment she might need to explore such a place while she waits for her new boss to enter the room. (edited)

It doesnt seem anyone is coming. The case files look to have been passed over to you.

Once she comes to this realization, Mila gathers up all the files and makes her way out the door, stopping on her way out to check if she is allowed to take them with her, and also where she can go for arms and transport.

The files are yours to take. The armory aboard the station will be unlocked but only basic equipment is available right now.

05:00

Transport down to central is part of normal platform operations. With cold leads and no recent sightings you’d have to actually investigate the case to have an idea where oil heart might be

Mila decides to head home and spends the rest of the day digging into the files in more detail. After pinning a map of the area from one of the files onto her wall she starts looking into the victims themselves, marking locations on the map while looking for similarities as she tries to narrow down her quarries type. She focuses first on family history and employment, followed by location similarities (districts they were in, nearby public transport, etc), and finally physical characteristics. (edited)

(I'll respond to this when i can, this is a lot to condense)

The victims were found at an old UNW exploration camp south of Rebirth but a previous investigation turned the entire former hideout up and he has likely fled the area. The trail since then has gone cold. They were removed from the cities and brought there to be killed. Public transportation was not used.

02:43

The victims were women, or young children.

*Mila finishes compiling the information she has so far before sitting down on her couch staring at the picture of Oilheart, focusing on a single question in her mind, 'Has he kidnapped a new victim within the past week?'* (Committing effort for Interrogate the Past, Level 1)

He has not kidnapped a new victim within the past week.

Feeling this information she breathes a small sigh of relief before realizing it makes her job a bit more difficult. She decides to get some sleep, waking up early the next morning to head to the armory to get some equipment for the mission. After she has geared herself up she starts looking for a form of transport to take her down to the hideout to look for something the previous investigators may have missed or could not see without her abilities. (Purchasing the following: Mag Pistol - 400 credits Stun Baton - 50 Credits 60 Rounds of Ammunition - 30 credits Survival Kit - 60 credits Atmofilter - 100 credits TL4 Backpack - 50 credits -------- Total - 690 Credits)

(all available) A flyer can bring you to the ruins of the camp to pick through anything that might have bene left behind. Investigators claim they were pretty thorough but none of them have powers like you do

Mila schedules a flyer trip, hopping on board a few minutes later. She spends most of the ride down thinking about what this new job means to her before she remembers she didn't tell her parents about it yet. Once she realizes this she pulls out her compad and writes a quick message to her mom, letting her know she got a new job with the Marshals and she will tell them all about next time she is home. After the message is sent she spends the rest of the flight looking out the window at the terrain, thinking about all the secrets which could be hidden there.

The swampy camp is wreathed in low hanging greenish gray fog. The ruins of four barracks buildings and a small armory have been the site of a UNW refugee settlement when the original colony ship crashed, the hideout of a taros shapeshifter they thought was Oilheart but was not, a resistance movement, and a few other groups of UNW detractors over the years. Most of the room clearance simulations the marshals and UNW urban operations teams use this complex as the foundation for their training

Mila looks over the camp concentrating on Oilheart before opening her eyes with a dull blue light having glossed over them. (Committing effort for the day for Mortis Cry.)

As you land at the edge of the camp you do not see any ghostly images. It seems that you'll have to begin trekking in to obtain anything of use.

Mila starts walking into the camp, maintaining her effort as she moves to the first of the four barracks buildings.

Barracks building 1 is run down. You do not see any evidence of Oilheart in here but you do see echoes of the past here, watching a UNW sweep team fighting Abigail's renegades to throw them out of this camp and into the wildnerness

Mila stops and watches the scene play out. She starts taking notes on the details of the scene, not wanting these bits of history to be forgotten. Once the scene starts to repeat she moves on to the next building.

This building features much the same. The UNW brutally executes the fallen in this building, and the assault column is smaller. Casualties had been taken storming the first and the soldiers are no longer playing around

Mila pauses while writing, giving a small yelp when the first execution happens, and decides notes really don't matter because no one is going to want to remember these specifics. She keeps moving through the barracks buildings looking for something related to her case.

This second building was never used by the person you are looking for it seems

Mila moves and checks out the third building.

She keeps moving through the buildings, noting down everything of interest until she comes to the armory, hoping this building might have some clues the barracks seemed to lack.

(I’ll be doing threads tomorrow. )

(No worries, I'm going to be at work 1-9 tomorrow anyway, just wanted to bump the thread in case it didn't light up for you)

(okay so what buildings did we move through, did we do 3 and 4? or did we skip right to the armory? )

(We moved through 1 and 2, and are moving through 3-4 now)

(okay, was unclear) Barracks 3 is devoid of the shadows of the former violence that once happened here. A single figure is present, kneeling over the downed body of a child. The child's body is lifted and dropped, you would guess into some kind of container though it is not here now- you can just see the shade suspended as though underwater in your vision

Mila flips to a new page on her compad and starts taking detailed notes on the scene. Once it is done she heads over tk the area where the shadows were and starts looking it over for evidence.

You can see a barrel sat here once. The ground doesn't show it was buried here. the phantom representing Oilheart begins walking off to the west toward building 4 while his victim wakes up and begins to come to their senses.

Mila follows him to the next building, paying attention to every detail in the area as they move.

The ghostly figure moves into the next building where several barrels and tools exist here even now. Some kind of Torch is taken off a wall rack and he gives it a few test triggers to see if he can get it to light. Evidently satisfied he begins heading back toward the main building

Mila starts looking over the tools to see if the one the ghost grabbed a shadow of is on the wall. (edited)

The tools it grabbed are not present now

Mila examines the barrels, looking for any that are still sealed.

There are several that are sealed in here but your vision does not show anything suspended in them. These are probably actually storing what they say

Mila heads back to the third barracks to see what happens with the torch.

The torch was used to seal the barrel shut with the victim inside. After two minutes their agonized jerks have stopped as the lack of air claims them

Mila waits to see where the drum is taken after the writhing stops.

The drum has been rolled to a small lake of ooze nearby and sunk. These bodies have actually been found once before during a prior investigation

Mila recognizes the ooze lake from the case file pictures, and decides to resume her search of the area for the torch used, starting with building 3.

(What are we searching for exactly? This has been kinda passive, and aside from showing you past crimes im not sure how this ties into what you want to do now)

(She would just be searching for some kind of lead that was overlooked by the previous people. The torch seemed like the best option because it was in his possession and might have some kind of evidence on it like DNA or something.)

The torch is still laying on the ground in building 3. It was not recovered after the murder.

Mila pulls the tarp out of her survival kit and uses it to wrap the torch before setting it in her bag. After this she heads over to the armory to look for any remaining shadows.

Oilheart had been living here once. THere are no shadows since no violent or traumatic acts had been committed here, but you can see from the physical evidence alone he had once bedded down here for a prolonged period of time, not far from the place where the bodies had been dumped after he got to watch them drown in oil

Upon entering Mila disperses the shadows and immediately starts looking through the area for any remaining possessions, specifically looking for items with identifying marks from the taros cities or recent human manufacture.

(notice/wis)

(10)

You see the tools are from Stratopoli, the taros city by the inland seas

Mila pulls up her compad and starts looking through the city trying to find shops selling these sorts of tools.

There are hundreds of stores ranging from mom and pop home improvement shops to factories who turn the materials out in bulk. Someone there might be able to identify it more but you have reached the limit of what you can surmise as a passive observer.

Mila calls the flyer down, grabbing a few of the other tools with the corners of the tarp. She sets the down on the floor of the flyer, trying to keep them the least contaminated possible and wishing she had brought some evidence bags and gloves. She has the flyer head to the marshal office in central first to drop off the tools to be photographed and checked for fingerprints. She waits outside filling out a detailed report from the notes she took earlier, taking one of the tools once it has been checked for fingerprints. She finds a flight heading to Stratopoli and hops aboard. Once the plane lands she starts looking for someone who know anything about the tools, heading first to the factories to try and find which one made it. (edited)

(A night would pass here by time we do all of this, for purposes of recovering effort, ect)

03:32

(as far as a flight, is this a public one? or are we using a marshal flyer? )

(She'd just be doing a public one if that's possible.)

A public flight is arranged. You are unable to bring your weapons with you, and your evidence is forced to fly separate from you in the hold of the plane. Upon landing, it seems the airline has broken the sanctity of the evidence and there are now dozens of finger prints all over it. The haft of the torch has also been broken, obscuring part of the serial number

(Did it seem deliberate or just carelessness?)

(Carelessness, but either way the chain of custody on this physical evidence has been broken)

Mila looks over the broken evidence, happy she did not bring all the tools with her. She pulls up the pictures of the torch on her compad and looks through them for one with the serial number intact on it, as well as the numbers from the other tools. She also makes a note to call the customer service line of the airline about her broken luggage and see if she can get a free drink out of it at least, after which she heads out to the factory district to look for tool factories. (edited)

Luckily you have a picture with an intact number, but as you approach the first factory you can see a pair of marshals outside already, including Director Dorian. He does not look happy.

Mila gulps when she turns the corner and sees the director waiting outside and gets filled with anxiety about losing her job already. "D-Director, um, hi, what...what brings you here?"

"A commercial flight? With all the flyers, teleport pads, and other ways to travel around? Even if we catch the real oilheart now, our physical evidence is ruined thanks to your indiscretion. It's back to swabbing decks and paperwork for you. We're going to have to reassign the case to others and come at this from a new angle"

The look on Mila's face goes from anxious to resigned and then to frustrated over the course of a few seconds. "Hold on, You gave me a case with no leads, I got you leads, and now because I make one judgmental mistake you are going to bench me and give it back to the people who got you nothing before. I made a mistake trying to be quiet while traveling but we wouldn't even have this evidence if it wasn't for me. I found this after everyone else managed to miss it completely and there are other tools back in central with the forensics team which come from the crime scene. This case is wide open still, he's from this city, we can still bring him down. If you give me another chance I'll catch him, with evidence."

"You know what. You're right. Solve this case Milanka, solve it or your career as a marshal is done"

"I won't let you down sir. I'll find this guy." Mila says. She waits until the director leaves before breathing a big sigh of relief. After composing herself she puts in a quick call to the marshal office to see if she can have her weapons brought on the next flyer heading into town before turning around to head into the factory. (edited)

Upon entering the factory, you hear the crash of machinery and the roar of grinders to finish products. A reception desk is set into one of the walls and a taros foreman is behind it serving his turn there.

Mila winces slightly when she enters the factory, not expecting it to be quite so loud. She walks over to the reception desk, pulling out her credentials as she moves. "Hi, my name is Milanka Solokov, I'm with the UNW Marshals, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions." She says a bit louder than is probably necessary.

The foreman has no real reason to need to refuse to assist. He looks on, with a gesture of "go ahead and ask"

Mila pulls up the picture of the torch and its serial number, along with the other tools. "Do you manufacture any of these? We are pursuing a murder suspect and are trying to track down where he might have purchased them from."

"This one isn't ours, but we make something like it." He goes on a long tangent about the technical aspects of his company's torches and what makes them different

Mila nods for a while, trying to be polite as he lists a whole bunch of technical babble she doesn't understand. Eventually on the fifth attempt she is able to find a pause long enough for her to reply. "Do you know which company made this torch though?"

He looks at the photo As best he can. “Sakalov Manufacturing. Looks like their grip work. No seal on it either. Hard to be entirely sure but that’s my best guess”

Mila smiles at him, happy to have a lead. "One other thing, do you know who this man is or have you seen him anywhere before?" She asks before showing him a picture of Oilheart. (edited)

“That’s the guy been on the news a bunch a while ago. Drowned a bunch o people. Was caught though. Police made a big show of it”

(Did the marshals know he was caught? Or is that not the case?) (edited)

(Marina, Seung's second PC was pretending to be him to get into a jail, so for a while they thought they had the right guy but they didnt, she escaped, so they think oilheart did too)

22:10

(something like that, they thought they had the right guy but they never actually caught him, public by in large does not know that)

"Thanks for your help." Mila says, giving him another smile. She heads out towards Sakalov Manufacturing.

This factory looks the same as any others. Smoke belches from its soot smeared roof and the workers who smoke are outside doing such on their break as you draw close to the building

Mila looks at the factory spewing soot and black smoke into the air and the workers outside with a sigh. Maybe if we can stop fighting each other for a few years we can match what the humans have built since they arrived.* *She heads into the building through the front door, not wincing at the loud noises this time, and approaches the receptionist desk. "Hello there, my name is Milanka Solokov, I'm with the UNW Marshals, I need to speak with a supervisor regarding an active case." (edited)

“Can you give me some details? He’s going to ask and he’s going to want more than that”

"Of course. We found a product we believe is manufactured by this company at a crime scene and are looking to find where it was sold to. I have pictures of the serial number." (edited)

It is verified that the tool was made here, and a cargo lift carries you to a small conference room away from the factory noise where the foreman on duty has been pulled from other jobs to speak with you.

Mila presents her identification to him, and asks if he can show her what store the shipment containing the torch was sent to.

There is a small hardware store on the eastern side of the city where this load was brought.

Mila thanks him for his time and heads out to the hardware store, stopping by the town marshal's office on the way to check when her weapons will be delivered.

(you can get them whenever)

When Mila arrives at the office she finds her equipment waiting for her. She picks it up, thanks the attendant at the front desk for arranging the delivery for her, then heads through the town to the hardware store.

A few people are browsing the home-sized store, along with a manager, and two bored looking clerks.

Mila walks up to the front desk where the managet is sitting. "Hi, my name is Milanka, I'm with the Marshals. A piece of evidence in an ongoing case was shipped here from the factory, I was wondering if I could look at your records and security to see who purchased it and when."

The badge is enough for them to not trouble you about accessing private information.

14:19

You’re able to check the records. (Admin/int)

(6)

A name and address from the credit company are found in the records, the date of purchase is close to when the murders began.

(Name and location of the credit company or of the purchaser?)

(purchaser)

Mila thanks the Manager for their time and heads out of the store, making a stop at the marshal office to run some background on the name she was given and the address.

you have that information already and the marshal office confirms it

(I was meaning more if the name has any criminal history associated with it and whether the address leads to a suburb or more urban housing.)

The address leads to a townhome that does not have any criminal history associated with it. While not quite a suburb the home is in a neighborhood that was once considered a very nice place to live

After completing her search Mila grabs a slightly stale pastry and a bottle of water from the office cafeteria, munching on it for a bit as she walks before she wraps the rest of it up and puts it into her bag along with her weapons. She next pulls out her compad and writes a brief note explaining she is a UNW Marshal investigating a suspicious person at the listed address. She then starts making her way to the neighborhood, before going door to door to gather information from the other residents on the block. At each door she explains to whoever answers she is a college student doing a survey on air pollution and interest in green initiatives, asking them if they are interested in filling out a response. When she says this she turns her compad around to show the message along with her marshal badge, doing her best to maintain the same smile as before asking if she could come in to continue talking. (edited)

(Seen. I honestly dont know what to do here)

(She would just be looking to see what the impression of his neighbors is, what kind of schedule he seems to keep, anything that strikes them as weird about the house.)

(okay so you're not going into the suspects house , you're interviewing the neighbors?)

(Not yet, don't want to go in there blind)

(So you're interviewing the neighbors?)

(Yeah)

Most of the people in the neighborhood aren't interested in talking to the police and many doors are slammed in your face. The UNW is tolerated here but not warmly. In a neighborhood like this, they only have one another and no one seems willing to talk but one woman at the end of the street seems like a bit of a gossip and allows you to come inside a living room where all the furniture is wrapped in plastic dust covers. Tea that tastes as old as the cups it is poured into is served and she awaits your questions, idly playing with her long white hair.

Mila gives a wide-eyed look as she enters, both out of relief someone finally was willing to speak with her and shock as she noticed all the dust-covered furniture. She takes the tea with a thank you, sips it before deciding it will go untouched for the rest of the talk. "So, to start, do you know what kind of work the person in that house does?"

"They said something about workign with the department of natural resources. They leave town for a week or so sometimes or another"

(I'll post in the morning, work has kicked my ass the last couple days)

(Sounds good)

"When was the last time they left town and for how long were they gone?"

“They left about a month ago for a week. Almost exactly a week”

"Does the person ever get visitors or do they keep to themselves for the most part? Any family you are aware of they have mentioned?"

“They mostly keep to themselves. Occasionally a woman comes over but I think she just cleans the house”

"How long has this woman been coming over, and is it the same one everytime?"

“Not sure. Was already here when I moved in but it’s about every week and a half or so”

"How many days until the next cleaning session?"

"A few, I don't pay that close attention , just something I noticed. I thought you were the cop"

"Never hurts to ask." Mila says, finishing her tea with a smile before getting up. "Thank you for your time, you've been a big help. If you can think of anything else, please let me know. I'll see myself out, have a nice day." *Mila walks out of the house and starts making her way out of the neighborhood, reviewing her case notes as she heads back to the marshal office. She sits down at an empty desk and concentrates on a question. Is there a natural resources department work site which held evidence related to this case within the past week?* (Committing effort for Interrogate the Past)

There are no sites that would have held evidence, he has done all of his brutal work away from the city or anything linking him to his day job (edited)

With this new information Mila puts in a call to the subjects supervisor looking to see if he was on business during his week away from town.

He was not on business or working for the city in any way, he was on some of his vacation time and did not respond to calls or emails from the office

Mila thanks him for his time before hanging up. Just need to figure out where he went during that time now, she thinks to herself before starting a search for new missing persons cases begun during the week he was away from town which fit the profile and are currently unsolved.

(admin/int)

(7)

Only one report fits what you are looking for, a young 8 year old Taros male was abducted from the train station and has not been found

Mila immediately packs her bags and heads to the train station. Once she arrives she concentrates for a second to bring up visions of the past, looking for a young taros being taken by an older one.

(Committing effort for the Day for Mortis Cry, forgot to specifically mention it)

You're able to see a reflection of what you are looking for on the second platform, a man shoiving a child into a car, keeping a firm hand over the young one's mouth and nose

Mila keeps the vision going, following the car as best she can as it drives away. As she follows it she looks around for any cameras which may have gotten vision of the vehicle so she can confirm its identity. (edited)

(You're going to follow a train on foot?)

(Oh, I thought it was a car not a train car. I'll edit the post really quick)

20:04

(Was it showing him shoving the child into an existing train car or a shadowy version of one?)

(there happens to be a train here now the vision showed the child being pushed into)

Mila watches the shadowy figure of the child and the monster enter the train. After a few moments she turns around and heads to the train station security office. When she arrives she flashes her marshal credentials to the person at the front desk. "Milanka Solokov, UNW Marshals. I'm investigating missing persons case which may be connected to a larger one, I need to see the train schedule and security camera footage for the following week. We have a suspect in mind but need to identify which train he rode on." (edited)

You’re given access and find the train in question after an hour of searching. It heads to Vapormills , the edge of taros territory , and using their footage you can see your suspect and a large canvas bag that must be the child leaving the train. A car was rented and from there he vanishes into the wilds, the last photograph is the vehicle at an automated toll before heading off road down a steep logging route cut into the swamp, where there are no more methods of electronic station keeping

Mila thanks the station security staff for their time before heading back to the town Marshal office where she secures passage to the Vapormills office. While she is waiting for the flight she looks through official records for any abandoned outposts or encampments in the swamp area the logging route lead into.

It leads to the outpost that you have already been to, but on the ground it is a very long drive

Mila checks on the bodies recovered from the scene and compares them against the boy to see if he has been found already or is still unaccounted for.

The image of the boy being drowned back at the camp looks similar to this boy

(What I meant was his body recovered, since you said at the start the barrels that had been dumped were all fished out already.)

(His body was recovered by the team that swept the place for evidence )

1

"Gotcha Bitch." Mila says with less of a smile than she had expected. She informs the flight controller she will be staying in town rather than flying to Vapormills and will need backup to apprehend the perpetrator at his home address.

(How big a response you looking for?)

14:14

(some details as to how you plan to control the scene would help immensely)

(Just looking for like, 2-4 guys. Nothing massive, just enough for us to cover both sides of the building when we go to arrest the dude.)

A team of four other deputies and their vehicles are assigned to you, making 5 men and two trucks to arrest the suspect. They are at the local precinct, a kilometre from the home- waiting on your arrival

Mila heads over to the precinct as quickly as possible. When she arrives she heads to the room where her team is assembled. "Hi everyone, I'm Mila. We are going to do this quickly and simply. I'll join the first vehicle and approach from the front, parking behind his car so he can't get away easily. You two park behind and cover the rear. This guy has a maid come regularly, so I don't anticipate any traps at the door, but be on your guard anyway. Let's get going before he manages to get wind of the noose around his neck." She says before turning on her heels and leading them all to the vehicle garage. She hops in the back seat of the first truck while they make their way over.

Turning down the street you pass the maid just leaving in her own car. She looks to have been crying recently, her eyes are puffy and she watches as the marshal vehicles pass by. Accelerating, the SUV turns into the driveway and parks, the doors open like shields, their armored centers meant to protect you from incoming gunfire

Mila steps out from the vehicle behind the opened truck doors with her pistol pointed at the door of the townhouse. "UNW Marshals (Insert whatever Oilheart's Legal Name is here), come out with your hands up."

The house is silent. Nothing stirs, nothing moves, there is no indication anything is happening inside. The two front facing windows are dark tinted, and the door is solid wood.

(About how far away from the door is the truck?)

(10m or so)

Mila turns to the other deputies next to her. "Cover me, I'm moving up to the door." She says before taking a deep breath to calm her nerves before moving around the car door up to the wall next to the entrance to the house.

The house remains as you’ve seen it, quiet and dark

Mila looks up at the building and tries to identify an open window she can climb to with her Gecko Anchors.

None of the windows are open, but the building is a normal house and none of them are going to do much more than get in the way if you try to break through them

Mila motions for another deputy to meet her at the front of the house next to one of the windows. She takes another deep breath to calm herself, her nerves doing their best to try and get the better of her, before pulling out her stun baton to smash the window on the right side of the house open.

The bottom of the baton smashes through the window, and there is a sudden shift from within the house as whoever is within begins making their way to the stairs to come up. They will be here in a moment.

Mila leaps through the window and swaps back to her pistol with it pointed up at the doorway leading to the center of the house. "Come out Oilheart with your hands up! You are under arrest!"

There is no answer from below, but you can hear the footsteps coming closer

22:07

(initiative, since its kind of unfair if he just pops up and shoots you. With the change in elevation between us I'd say we're within 10m

(3)

(8 for oilheart)

22:10

Oilheart races up the stairs, vowing now to go down without a fight. His knife is drawn, and he barrels into close combat with you with no such qualms about keeping you alive.

22:10

(3 to hit, 1 shock if AC is less or equal to 13)

(AC is 14, so no shock)

(okay, well your turn then)

Mila is a bit shocked when he rushes at her. She dodges out of the way of his knife, dropping her pistol in the process before drawing her stun baton and reaching out at him with a jab. (15/6)

Oilheart recoils, the wound burning a hole in his clothes and not what he was expecting. He quickly adjusts his grip, well practiced with the knife he is using and sends a powerful stab toward center mass (16/6)

22:19

Outside the other deputy is trying to find a ladder or something he can use to access the second floor, no one is able to help you timely as it stands

(Oh, I wasn't going in the second floor, I was going in through the first floor. I had the other deputy meet me at the window so they could follow me in. Mila is down regardless) (edited)

(you mentioned climbing with gecko anchors, which is unnecessary if its on the ground floor, so I've been running on the assumption of you climbing this whole time- which is why i brought up him coming upstairs a few times. Help isn't going to be able to get to you before another round, where he'd go for the terminal blow)

(I just mentioned looking up to see if there were any windows open, not actually climbing)

9even from the ground, them getting into the window or booting through the door isnt going to have them stopping a finishing blow)

(Yeah, no worries.)

(Im sure itll take some time to spin up ideas. Let me know what you're tihnking next)