[Trespassers IC] Shadowrun: Seattle By Sundown: Breaking Point

[Yours Truly]

On 4/23/2020 at 7:26 PM, StormLord said:

Friedhold finds a nice shady looking alley or other area away from sight and activates his Houdini plasmid to become invisible.  Then carefully makes his way towards a secluded section of fence and uses tiny bursts of Disintegration to cut a big enough hole in it to move through.

Walking right behind someone's tent house, Friedhold activates his Houdini plasmid, and confidently walks up to the fenced off gate before him to casually snip a Friedhold sized hole through the fence, and went right on through. There would likely be someone heading off to investigate the damage sooner or later, but well, he was invisible, so that should help a fair bit. He stopped to consider his actions as he waited for the little sister to follow him through the hole he made.

For one thing, he could skirt around the perimeter first, and get a better idea of what defenses he'd have to look forward to, and there was that building he couldn't make out the purpose of from this side. There's also the option to make a beeline directly towards the tower itself, sure there were probably controls for this thing if he wanted to safely switch it off, but he knew for a fact that most electronics generally ceased to function when some dick comes along to snip off cables and melt gaping holes in the circuitry. He could also go for the building placed right beside the tower, go through the rear entrance he can spy from here, and see if he can't just....find an off button to jam in place.

No matter what he chooses, there's always the chance that he'd bump into a security guard or two, but again, even if they could see him, anything that can cut through metal can cut through a person well enough, and people tend to find it hard to scream without a throat...

[DragonRage]

"They did not in fact say what the weapon was intended to be used for," Alexandria confirms, "Something reprehensible, I might assume."

[StormLord]

Friedhold decides to circle around the perimeter and get a better look at things.

[Powder Miner]

Just a little longer. Just a little longer. Just a little longer. These were the words that Navin repeatedly passed through his head in order to combat the rage still clouding his mind, the merciless thunderstorm causing his head to pound and his body to practically creak with the taut-wire tension in his muscles. Venus had exploded all of the remaining hooks in a brilliant display of firepower and flower power -- a blast that went from violent action to deceptively calm display as the petals fluttered to the ground. He could feel the circulation in his arms returning to normal, sensation and thrumming potential spreading to every place in his arms and hands as his fists and power recovered from the abuse that he had put them through. Just a little longer, and he would come roaring back in with a ferocious burst of power, and then that damned thing would be naught more than a smear. Just a little longer.

 

Navin eats the stun.

 

 

Active Cooldowns:

One-Two Punch (0 turns)

 

Spoiler

Level: 5
HP: 55
Init: 1d20+5

Stats:
Constitution: 5
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 2
Strength: 10
Synergy: 11

 

 

Fistfighter: As a superhero who fights unarmed and up close, Navin has found it a necessity to learn martial arts -- and he's learned Aikido, which gives him ample methods to redirect blows or weapon strikes directed at him. [Dex*3] chance to dodge melee attacks.

 

Shell-Shock: No, Navin isn't specialized in giving his enemies PTSD. What he does do, however, is hit them with waves of explosive force from very close by, and this is the sort of thing that tends to force people off-kilter. When Navin hits an enemy with a damaging, non-AOE STR+SYN attack, he has a [STR+SYN]% chance to remove all of their buffs (or against a boss, one buff).

Flaw: Fatalist: Navin doesn't see a way to fight his destiny. After all, he's been entangled within it ever since that fateful day outside Mhasas. Why would that stop just when it hurts? Navin rerolls all save rolls and takes the lower result.

 

Actions:

 

One-Two Punch (Level 6): Navin flows his energy into his right arm for an explosion punch, then he twists and smoothly circulates it into his left arm, dealing an explosive punch with that arm too. It's a fairly intensive maneuver, though, given its speed. Navin does 4d6+STR+SYN damage, twice. 4 turn cooldown.

Level 2: Upgraded from 1d4+STR+SYN to 1d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 3: Upgraded from 1d6+STR+SYN to 2d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 4: Cooldown decreased from 5 to 4 turns.

Level 5: Upgraded from 2d6+STR+SYN to 3d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 6: Upgraded from 3d6+STR+SYN to 4d6+STR+SYN damage.

Piercing Strike (Level 6): A skill honed during the war against the heavily armored Kemenel in which Navin gained his fame, Navin channels an explosion through straight fingers, focused extremely effectively. Deals 4d6+STR+SYN damage and bypasses damage resistance. 2 turn cooldown.

Level 2: Upgraded from 1d4+STR+SYN to 1d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 2: Upgraded from 1d6+STR+SYN to 2d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 3: Upgraded from 2d6+STR+SYN to 3d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 4: Upgraded from 3d6+STR+SYN to 4d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 5: Upgraded from 4d6+STR+SYN to 5d6+STR+SYN damage.

Rocket Shove (Level 2): Navin applies his power rather differently, boosting a push with an explosion in order to stun an opponent rather than focusing on harming them -- in fact, here, he often focuses on nonlethality. Stuns a non-gigantic enemy for a turn. 2 turn cooldown.

Level 2: Cooldown decreased from 3 turns to 2 turns.

 

Concussive Slap (Level 3): Navin applies a slap to his target... it's just that this slap is prefaced with a concussive explosion, widely dispersed with his outstretched palm, before it hits, staggering the enemy. Navin deals 2d6+STR+SYN damage, and reduces their INIT by his SYN. 1 turn cooldown.

Level 2: Damage increased from 1d4+STR+SYN damage to 1d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 2: Damage increased from 1d6+STR+SYN damage to 2d6+STR+SYN damage.

 

Detonating Throw (Level 2): Navin goes for an opponent who has just made an attack, takes advantage of their momentum, and bodily throws them. With an explosion. The explosion in particular hurts what they used for the attack. 1d6+SYN+STR damage, gives the target 1 turn of cooldown on their last-used move. 1 turn of cooldown.

Level 2: Increased from 1d4+STR+SYN damage to 1d6+STR+SYN damage.

 

Items:

 

Kemenel Infantry Plates (Level 2): A set of a couple of plates looted from the armor of an alien Kemenel soldier during the Invasion. These dimpled plates, painted white, thick and straight-edged, are made of a plastic-like material that takes advantage of Kemenel hardening technology to be light and yet difficult to pierce or cut. 20% resistance vs piercing and slashing damage. 6 weight.

Level 2: 20% resistance vs slashing damage added. 3 weight added.

 

Potion of Health x1: Potions full of, uh, red healy stuff. Seems... reliable...? Can be quaffed to instantly regain 25% health.

 

[Yours Truly]

On 5/5/2020 at 4:35 AM, DragonRage said:

"They did not in fact say what the weapon was intended to be used for," Alexandria confirms, "Something reprehensible, I might assume."

Junior slowly shook his head in response, a slight smile forming on his lips for a moment as he obviously found some amusement in Alexandria's response, "They used it to spray bugs Alexandria. Giant man eating magic bugs. It's the only thing that works apparently."

[Strider]

"I'm no pesticide expert, but it seems like, if this is the only thing that works on insects the size of humans, that it might very well be dangerous enough to humans to be a worrisome terrorist weapon."

[Yours Truly]

On 5/5/2020 at 11:53 AM, StormLord said:

Friedhold decides to circle around the perimeter and get a better look at things.

Skittering around the perimeter, Friedhold spots a solid metal garage door on the squat building furthest from the tower, which neatly explains why he couldn't see any vehicles parked out in the open, and what that building was for in the first place. Although really, it's still kind of strange that they didn't put a rear entrance in there, maybe having a convenient fire escape ranked lower than having marginally more security on their list of priorities? Whatever, it's obviously linked to the other building anyway.

 

Speaking of the other building, Friedhold could see a pair of security cameras hanging from each of it's four corners now, along with an additional camera pointing directly at the cell tower's machinery, and one just above what seems to be a metal sliding door. A pair of small windows is placed on the left and right of the door, mounted high enough to make it difficult for the sister to crawl to, but not too high for him to lift her up if he wanted to, he guesses that they're a form of emergency ventilation, meant to pop open if the audible whirr of the fans pumping air into and out of the building suddenly stops. 

 

No one's coming out of the building yet it seems, which is a shame, he can't quite spot any other security systems from here, but it's kind of obvious that opening the door would raise some alarm, especially since the front door seemed heavy enough to take a fair bit of force to pop open, and the markings on the rear door seemed to indicate it as a fire exit, with all the warnings opening it would entail...

[DragonRage]

"I do not think I want to meet these bugs."

[Yours Truly]

Navin, Heidrun, Venus

The sound of distant screaming echoes in Navin's ears as he fights back his urge to stand and fight, rightfully so it seemed, as his quick reflexes and strong will worked together to save him from being impaled by the various hooks the corpse vomitted in his general direction.

 

Venus patiently waited in place, it was almost time for a grand finale after all.

 

A pulse of green life giving energy energizes the party, healing them for 11 HP, and causing the corpse to jerk and twitch in Heidrun's direction.

 

The corpse grows in defiance at the party, as it begins to glow with the same violent red light, and prepares to make another attack!.
 

Solomon's ring briefly glows with a magenta light, before a rapid fire burst of heavy hardcopy tomes smashes into the corpse's frame, very neatly exposing its myriad weaknesses. Solomon uses Slalom on the corpse, burning 4 story tokens to apply a total of 16 Slalom stacks.

 

The corpse's milky gaze drifts back to the hero clad in white, that a slight hint of fear returning to Navin's mind once more....maybe this time he should just try to shut it up for good?. (Stun or take boosted damage).

 

Status

Spoiler

 

Allies
Solomon: 64/70 HP, Fine, 10 Story Tokens
Navin: Binda, (143/195 HP), Rage (50% less damage on next attack if it is made against any target other than the giant hooker)
Heidrun: Binda, Fine, (143/195 HP)
Venus: Binda, Fine, (143/195 HP)

Slaughterhouse 6:
Giant Hooker: Heavily Wounded, Glowing, 24 Slalom Stacks, Narrative Causality (Recompense)
Mini Meathook 1: Has discovered how to transform into a fine Mist form
Mini Meathook 2: Got a substantial investment in the fertilizer industry
Mini Meathook 3: Looking up at all of you now
Mini Meathook 4: Is resting
Medium Meathook 1: Evaporar
Medium Meathook 2: Stick a Fork in it.

 

Initiative

Spoiler

6 Navin
5 Venus
3 Heidrun
3 Giant Hooker (1st Action)
1 Solomon
1 Giant Hooker (2nd action)

Solomon's Loadout

Spoiler

 

Level: 5

HP: 64/70

Init: +1

Stats:

Constitution: 8

Dexterity: 1

Intelligence: 12

Strength: 6

Synergy: 8

 

Perks:
Reference Librarian: +1 INT Per Level
Twisted Tales: Every time Solomon inflicts a debuff or instance of DoT he gains one "Story Token", that he can use to activate a secondary effect present in his actions by spending the specified amount of tokens, any additional stack or instance of debuffs granted with the use of story tokens do not give Story Tokens.
Lost in the Stacks:  Each and every debuff or ailment Solomon inflicts counts as a separate and unique instance, allowing him to inflict multiple stacking instances of the same debuff and making them harder to remove.

Actions: 
(Level 1) Slalom: Solomon spontaneously creates a series of obstacles using the many vaguely magical books he has at his disposal to try and delay,
harrass and otherwise inconvenience his enemies. This action allows him to distribute a total of four 'Slalom' stacks to up to four targets, causing them to take 1 more point of damage for every stack that is affecting them. This action has a two round round cooldown.
Token Backed effect: Solomon can choose to spend 4 tokens to be able to distribute a total of [Current amount]*1.5 Slalom stacks instead.
Level 2: Solomon can now distribute a total of 6 'Slalom' stacks to up to four targets. 

Level 2: Solomon can now distribute a total of 8 'Slalom' stacks to up to four targets. (I honestly have no idea how to increase this or otherwise improve the action)
(4 AP)

(Level 1) A Vision of Impending Doom: Solomon takes out his ring and blasts a single target with a ray of energy, causing them to periodically see a mental image of them being smashed into the ground by a progressively larger stack books as a distant voice attempts to goad them into performing a certain action. This vision becomes a reality if they perform the specified action, dealing 2d4 psychic damage, with an additional 1d4 damage being added for every round that passes without the effect being triggered. Only one character can be affected by this debuff at a time.
Token Backed effect: Solomon can choose to spend two tokens to increase the die size by 1 step.
Level 2: This action now deals 2d6 psychic damage, with an additional 1d6 being added for every round that passes without the effect being triggered.
(3 AP)

(Level 1) Narrative Causality: 
"It is ready because the story says it is ready dammit"
Solomon draws harm to a chosen target by kindly asking his patron to drawn upon some of their power to actively fuck with reality in an attempt to encourage others to cause the target's downfall. This action inflicts Recompense (Allies targeting the victim with a negative action will have 1 less cooldown on that action.) 2 Duration, 3 Cooldown.
(Token Granted Effect): Solomon can choose to spend two tokens to apply an additional 'Bonds' debuff, that causes the next three attacks that hit the target to heal Solomon by 10% of the damage dealt by the attack.
Level 2: Recompense now lets the beneficiaries apply the cooldown reduction on any of their actions.
(3 AP)
 

(Level 1) Predestination: Solomon casts a spell on himself to seemingly grant him the ability to see in the future and discern the weak points present in his opponent before he fires several books in their direction, dealing 1d6+Int damage to them.
Token Backed Effect: Solomon can choose to spend two tokens to remove all debuffs currently affecting the target and add an additional d6 of damage dealt by the attack for every stack or instance of debuff that is removed from the target.
Level 2: Adds half of Solomon's synergy to the damage.

Level 3: Increases the dice  usedfor the token backed effect and regular damage to d8s
Current formula: 1d8+Int+Syn/2 (+1d8 for each stack and instance of debuff removed from the target if two tokens are used)
(4 AP)

(Level 1) Running Mockumentary: Solomon throws a book charged with magical energy at whatever passes for the target's head, causing it to bounce off and allow them to sneak in a glance into a tiny fragment of a randomly chosen page that seemingly displays the circumstances surrounding their impending doom, and presumably causing them to notice Solomon's presence. He then opens his mouth and claims that act has allowed him to establish a link to the target's mind, just before he starts to insult their intelligence. The sheer confusion and annoyance caused by Solomon consistently distracting them in combat causes the damage they deal to be reduced by the difference between their intelligence and Solomon's intelligence for three rounds. This action has a three round cooldown.

Token Backed effect: Solomon can spend two tokens to treat the target's intelligence as being halved for the purpose of determining how much their damage is reduced.
Level 2: Solomon's intelligence is treated as being +3 higher than it actually is by this action.
(3 AP)

Inventory:
Ring of Resistance: A seemingly simple moonsilver band that responds to incoming magic by redirecting it to the ring itself. The user may activate this ring to become immune to direct magical attacks for 1 round. 5 round cooldown. Sufficiently powerful attacks may be enough to overwhelm this immunity.

 

The Bound Book of Solomon's Curses:
The book can be activated twice per encounter to double the effect of a debuffing action, in exchange for applying the normal-strength debuff to the user.

It also has a small chance to occasionally cast harmless nuisance spells on the user if it feels bored.

 

 

[Powder Miner]

Finally, finally, Navin no longer had to spend so much willpower to prevent himself from attacking the damned thing, and like a released bowstring his entire body snapped into a powerful, vicious motion, thrumming with tension and energy. The circulation of power in his arms was full, and there was not a damned thing that was going to stop him from tearing this bastard corpse into tinier and tinier and tinier and tinier pieces -- with a savage roar, a scream that rose from his throat and dominated the space of the room, that continued on for far longer than it would seem to anyone that it should... he leaped at the corpse, pounced, violence in his entire form, in the jerky and eager movements of his limbs that brought him at the monster with a dash.

 

And the violent movements were followed with violent actions. With a kra-koom, it was now an explosion that drowned out all of the sound in the room, paired with a horrific fleshy tearing sound as the blast and thrust of his arm slammed Navin's hand into the stomach of the possessed corpse, its belly exploding outwards in a wave of gore. It was hard to tell if what came next was a mercy to the more squeamish-minded in the group -- the second punch, another roar coming with it, completely obliterated what came out from that, preventing any discrete organs in the corpse's abdominal cavity from... existing anymore. It was a wave of blood and ground meat that splashed to the ground, and with a third, weaker shout, Navin elbowed it in the side of the head for good measure, before stepping back and away, breathing heavily and covering his mouth with his upper arm (the only part of his arms not soaked in blood), a disturbed look glinting in his eyes.

 

And yet, amazingly, the possessed corpse had not been banished, the body still technically intact, the chains wrapping its form (aside from those blown away from Venus) still there, and the deeply malicious presence still radiating at the heroes of the day intensely.

 

Navin uses One-Two Punch, doing 4d6+STR (10)+SYN (11) damage twice!

Spoiler

Level: 5
HP: 55
Init: 1d20+5

Stats:
Constitution: 5
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 2
Strength: 10
Synergy: 11

 

 

Fistfighter: As a superhero who fights unarmed and up close, Navin has found it a necessity to learn martial arts -- and he's learned Aikido, which gives him ample methods to redirect blows or weapon strikes directed at him. [Dex*3] chance to dodge melee attacks.

 

Shell-Shock: No, Navin isn't specialized in giving his enemies PTSD. What he does do, however, is hit them with waves of explosive force from very close by, and this is the sort of thing that tends to force people off-kilter. When Navin hits an enemy with a damaging, non-AOE STR+SYN attack, he has a [STR+SYN]% chance to remove all of their buffs (or against a boss, one buff).

Flaw: Fatalist: Navin doesn't see a way to fight his destiny. After all, he's been entangled within it ever since that fateful day outside Mhasas. Why would that stop just when it hurts? Navin rerolls all save rolls and takes the lower result.

 

Actions:

 

One-Two Punch (Level 6): Navin flows his energy into his right arm for an explosion punch, then he twists and smoothly circulates it into his left arm, dealing an explosive punch with that arm too. It's a fairly intensive maneuver, though, given its speed. Navin does 4d6+STR+SYN damage, twice. 4 turn cooldown.

Level 2: Upgraded from 1d4+STR+SYN to 1d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 3: Upgraded from 1d6+STR+SYN to 2d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 4: Cooldown decreased from 5 to 4 turns.

Level 5: Upgraded from 2d6+STR+SYN to 3d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 6: Upgraded from 3d6+STR+SYN to 4d6+STR+SYN damage.

Piercing Strike (Level 6): A skill honed during the war against the heavily armored Kemenel in which Navin gained his fame, Navin channels an explosion through straight fingers, focused extremely effectively. Deals 4d6+STR+SYN damage and bypasses damage resistance. 2 turn cooldown.

Level 2: Upgraded from 1d4+STR+SYN to 1d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 2: Upgraded from 1d6+STR+SYN to 2d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 3: Upgraded from 2d6+STR+SYN to 3d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 4: Upgraded from 3d6+STR+SYN to 4d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 5: Upgraded from 4d6+STR+SYN to 5d6+STR+SYN damage.

Rocket Shove (Level 2): Navin applies his power rather differently, boosting a push with an explosion in order to stun an opponent rather than focusing on harming them -- in fact, here, he often focuses on nonlethality. Stuns a non-gigantic enemy for a turn. 2 turn cooldown.

Level 2: Cooldown decreased from 3 turns to 2 turns.

 

Concussive Slap (Level 3): Navin applies a slap to his target... it's just that this slap is prefaced with a concussive explosion, widely dispersed with his outstretched palm, before it hits, staggering the enemy. Navin deals 2d6+STR+SYN damage, and reduces their INIT by his SYN. 1 turn cooldown.

Level 2: Damage increased from 1d4+STR+SYN damage to 1d6+STR+SYN damage.

Level 2: Damage increased from 1d6+STR+SYN damage to 2d6+STR+SYN damage.

 

Detonating Throw (Level 2): Navin goes for an opponent who has just made an attack, takes advantage of their momentum, and bodily throws them. With an explosion. The explosion in particular hurts what they used for the attack. 1d6+SYN+STR damage, gives the target 1 turn of cooldown on their last-used move. 1 turn of cooldown.

Level 2: Increased from 1d4+STR+SYN damage to 1d6+STR+SYN damage.

 

Items:

 

Kemenel Infantry Plates (Level 2): A set of a couple of plates looted from the armor of an alien Kemenel soldier during the Invasion. These dimpled plates, painted white, thick and straight-edged, are made of a plastic-like material that takes advantage of Kemenel hardening technology to be light and yet difficult to pierce or cut. 20% resistance vs piercing and slashing damage. 6 weight.

Level 2: 20% resistance vs slashing damage added. 3 weight added.

 

Potion of Health x1: Potions full of, uh, red healy stuff. Seems... reliable...? Can be quaffed to instantly regain 25% health.

 

[Noir]

Venus

 

His weapon was fully loaded. More than necessary, but well enough -- it paid to be prepared. There was still a wicked irony with the first shot being the last, though, as some would say -- every ending gives way to another new beginning. 

 

Venus tilted his masked head to the side like a snake would open eyeing prey; the whimsicality of the gesture was perhaps more akin to a curious child, and he brandished his weapon of choice as he eyed the final movements of the doll that was the hooked corpse. The red glow it emitted reminded him of the backdrop that complemented grim, at times romantic sceneries depicted in operas, though in this case, what would transpire next was much more inclined to the former. Having largely ignored the beating Navin had given to what would be his final segment for this performance (though he appreciated the merit that came with what was otherwise crude, unrefined handiwork) he blocked off all sound, wanting to hear only the thumping of his own wild, excited heart that rang, deaf to even the final gunshot that fired the next moment.

 

There was a shimmering light and a splattering sound, but what sprung forth from what remained of the corpse was neither red nor any meaty color typical expected from its dismemberment. 

 

After all, blood was far more alluring to the eye when it came in more colors. 

[Chevaleresse]

Heidrun shied away from the spray of oddly colored gore that burst forth from the. . . thing. . . they had encountered in the warehouse. She shakily dispelled the energy that bound them all together, causing the strange echoed sensations to come to a halt. The healer swallowed nervously and tried not to let her eyes wander back to the horrible creature (or what remained of it.) "That woman. . . is she. . .?" This place got worse by the second. She had thought a corporate ruled hellscape was bad, now there were corpse creatures that fed on life energy? Would she have to watch for more of them? Heidrun shivered. 

[Yours Truly]

Navin, Venus, Heidrun

Theme

The corpse lets out one final, bloodcurdling scream before Venus's shot finally reduces it into a fine, and colorful mist that briefly illuminated the room, bathing it in it's bitterly cold multicolored light, revealing rows upon rows of corpses, hanging from hooks, laying on tables, and piled up in mounds. People? in hazmat suits slowly fade into view, wandering around from body to body, carefully dissecting them and casually stuffing their organs into little ice filled boxes, while they chat with each other about...sports? Dinner plans? And other inane subjects, seemingly uncaring about the death and despair that surrounded them. And then the chain snapped, falling onto the floor with a loud and noticeable clink as the light faded away, revealing it all to be nothing more than a vision of the past, and leaving the party shivering in the same dark and moonlit room.

 

The oppresive air that had pervaded the room is gone now, and after a fair bit of blinking, the party finds that they can see a lot further in the room now than they could before, easily spotting another, far larger hatch at the far right of the room that could be what they're looking for. Speaking of hatches, Navin could hear a faint thumping sound coming from the hatch he had opened before, it was faint, and it could still be a trap, but perhaps...the woman from before wasn't dead after all?. Heidrun meanwhile, would notice that the chains from before seemed a bit off somehow, the mere act of standing near them causing her haunches to rise a little, as if some of the evil magic had lingered on it....

[Chevaleresse]

"I think those chains might still be cursed, but I, er, I really don't want to go near them." She eyed the hatch suspiciously as well. The odds of it being another ambush were low. . . but she was still very riled up, and Heidrun didn't want to risk anything making her feel threatened at the moment. Or, at least, more threatened than she already did, what with the whole "standing in the middle of an old organ harvesting operation after being attacked by a Lifestream-eating monster" thing. "Navin, I hate to ask, but could you, um, check the hatch again? I'll be here to help if something goes wrong, but, um. . ." Her voice wavered, removing the need to complete the sentence.

[Powder Miner]

Still trembling somewhat, Navin only responded to Heidrun’s request with a shaky nod and silence, finding himself unable to easily speak for the moment after experiencing... that. That feeling had... it had been artificial, of course, some sort of magical effect that the ghost had put on him, but the shock of it remained still. It had been... Navin had thought that he would have been long beyond experiencing that sort of anger, he supposed. It had been a long, long, long time since he had allowed himself to feel like that. He had his dharma, after all... would he be able to protect others if he spent his time raging like some of the less savory “heroes” that he had worked with over his career? No, of course not. Navin had never understood those kinds of vigilantes, “anti-heroes”, and why they thought it was acceptable to turn their duty into some sort of sadistic quest for vengeance against anything and everything, as if darkness and violence were things to be celebrated rather than mourned.

 

And yet he had gone and fought like that in a fit of pique, now, hadn’t he? Would this be all of his time here — fighting violently, killing violently? He grit his teeth.

 

But nonetheless he walked over to the second hatch, braced himself in case yet another ghost was behind it, grasped the handle, and wrenched it open (leaving whatever was in it to see a muscular man in a mostly-white jumpsuit absolutely spattered with blood and meat).

[Yours Truly]

To absolutely no one's surprise, Navin propped open the hatch to find a familiar looking face lurking behind it. It was the woman he had seen earlier, looking a little worse for the wear now that the room was a little more brightly lit than it was before. She had her hand stretched out towards him again, that same pleading look on her face as she weakly mouthed something he couldn't quite understand. There was a flickering light buzzing away behind her now, and from what he could make out, the tunnel seemed a lot more spacious than it was before, enough for her to properly stand on, if her legs were up to the task.  This was almost certainly a trap now, but even knowing this, Navin couldn't help but...wonder if this was one he had to risk, after all, if it was a trap then he'd just have to get himself patched up again and punch something into submission, but if he was wrong....

[Powder Miner]

Navin let out a frustrated sigh, looking down at how his outfit was heavily stained with his blood and a whole lot more of the spirit’s blood. The exact same scenario, hmm? Navin really wasn’t looking forwards into plunging back into it, because if he had to fight again so soon after... after really having lost control like he had... well, he worried that he would potentially snap again. But then again... he was a hero, wasn’t he? He traveled the world and now worlds to protect the innocent and, especially, those too weak to protect themselves, didn’t he? He plunged through lairs and fought supervillains and monsters for that exact purpose, didn’t he? Those had been risky too, and yet he’d never let that stop him from doing what he needed to do, even when he feared it would be horrible for him, so he couldn’t now, could he?

 

”Please, I would ask that you all back me up if this goes wrong once more.” And Navin stepped forward into the tunnel, one foot making contact with the floor as he reached for her hand. ”...it is going to be alright, now. It is going to be okay.”

[Yours Truly]

Navin
Surprisingly enough, the woman doesn't suddenly dart forward to attack Navin this time, and no hooks attempt to violently embed themselves in his form. For all intents and purposes it seems that there were no tricks this time, he was just a hero covered in blood, and she was a very terrified woman who needed him to take her out of this nightmare she's found herself in. But then he actually tries to take her hand, and passes through it, goddamnit, she's a ghost isn't she?. To her credit though, the woman didn't start screaming uncontrollably or twist her head around and try to kill you or anything, she just stood there, looking a bit lost for a moment, seemingly...uncertain about what she should do next, maybe she didn't know? Or...actually believed him I guess. The moment passes, she starts to cry.

 

Alexandria, Liliya

"Then we may have a problem," Junior finally said in response, having stayed silent with an...almost thoughtful expression on his face for the longest time. "You see, we need the bioweapon to take out a particularly tenacious free spirit guarding the home of a certain Tanya, an insect shaman hiding out within the redmond barrens. Better known as that thorn in our benefactor's side I mentioned earlier. That damned shaman's why we are still here in Seattle after all..."

[DragonRage]

"So...  If our group were to defeat the shaman without deploying the bioweapon, then you would have more further use for it," Alexandria deduces, "This feat is likely within our capabilities."

[Chevaleresse]

"Oh, you poor, poor thing. . ." Heidrun slowly drew closer to the ghost. Ghosts were an unfortunate fact of life post-Sephiroth; the world might have been saved, but many people had suffered untimely deaths in the process. "I. . . is there anything I can do to help you?" Heidrun looked down. She had helped calm ghosts before - she was quite good at it, unusually good going by those who had commented - but she had no way of knowing how the ghosts in this place operated. If all else failed, she could try to force her soul to return to the Lifestream. . . but she didn't even know if this world had a Lifestream. At the thought of the current of mystical energy, the healer felt her shift restlessly in her slumber at the back of her mind. I'm safe now, and so is this place. Go to sleep. 

[Yours Truly]

Alexandria, Liliya

"Good, if you can bring the shaman back to us alive, I can promise you that we will return the samples of the bioweapon back to your group," Junior plainly states, a slight smile making its way on his face as he leaned back on his far too brittle looking seat, "Of course, I will still need to convince the others that this plan has merit, and I assume that Ares sent more than two Shadowrunners to take us out, but I'm sure that if you give me but a few hours, I will be able to convince them to not take the hard way out."

 

Heidrun, Navin
The ghost slowly turns to face Heidrun, her eyes still a bit distant and unfocused when she softly said....something in a language Heidrun didn't understand, but one Navin recognized, somewhat, he knew that it was some dialect of Chinese at least. On the bright side, there was something the healer did understand perfectly well though. While this place doesn't seem to have a lifestream of it's own, now that the more hostile spirits have been dispersed, she could feel a similar flow of...power maybe? Filtering into the room from the hatch they had climbed through, carried inside on the very air it seems. Of course, the cloying...stench? Of death was still permeating it, but with a bit of work maybe she could...try filtering it out and doing stuff with it?.

[Chevaleresse]

Heidrun took a deep breath. The energy filtering in was close enough to her home's that she thought she could manipulate it, but it reminded her of mako. She could take it in and exude purified lifestream, but she had only done so under extreme circumstances, and it had been nothing but toxic to her, and she actively rebelled against such a thing. Still, perhaps she could reintroduce this ghost to the normal cycle of energy in the world?

 

The healer focused for another moment. She tried to, essentially, pull at the energy nearby, seeing if she could separate it from the fell taint that had polluted it. If, somehow, this didn't result in any catastrophes, she would bring that flow of energy close to the ghost.

[StormLord]

Friedhold took his time to walk around to the back door, the "fire escape". He examined the mechanism and hinges for a few moments and then carefully used his Winter Blast Plasmid to freeze both as solid as he could. Once he finished he took a walk to the front door and tried looking it over for possible ways to bar or jam it.

[Strider]

"I can assure you, whether there are more of us or not, this is quite certainly within our capabilities. So, tell me, how will we contact you, if and when we deliver you your. . . prize?" A hint of disgust was apparent in Liliya's tone. But it was quickly suppressed.

 

"And, anything else we ought to know before this rabbit chase?"

[Yours Truly]

On 6/19/2020 at 3:05 AM, StormLord said:

Friedhold took his time to walk around to the back door, the "fire escape". He examined the mechanism and hinges for a few moments and then carefully used his Winter Blast Plasmid to freeze both as solid as he could. Once he finished he took a walk to the front door and tried looking it over for possible ways to bar or jam it.

Friedhold

(8 v 1 Unmodified by stats)
It honestly doesn't take all that much effort to try and jam the fire escape from this end, a couple of long and sustained streams being all that's needed to gather up hard looking frost in the hinges, and the conveniently placed door closer. You're not entirely sure if anyone actually noticed the gouts of cold and frost freezing the door shut, but there's enough security cameras nearby to convince you to at least rush over to the front to see if anyone's popped out, thankfully finding it to still be closed...for now. Unfortunately though, this door swings inwards, and unless he could find a way to jam the locking mechanism or fasten the entire door in place, which are both kind of hard to do when it could swing open in any moment...