Mage: The Ascension - Enigma (IC)

[CloakedInsanity]

Characters -
1. Shivapriya (http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/2/1/1734817/shivapriya.xls)
2. Piers (http://www.freewebs.com/lancer1786/Mage%20fill%20Piers.pdf)

Welcome to post your introductions and such here.

The building for the ASFP unit is kind of like a barracks more than anything. It is set up with offices and conference rooms for the day to day business, but also has rec rooms, and armory, a small bar, and rooms for the members that dont otherwise have a place to stay. Naturally the director has the biggest, best office of the lot, though the second in command also has a fairly nice (a bit disorganized) office that she is almost never in (hence the piles of papers everywhere, though for some reason she can always find what she needs)

Up to you where to start.

[Blantz1886]

Piers Cobham

A slightly short man, Piers is 5' 7" to 5' 8" depending on the ruler. He doesnt look particularly athletic at first glance, but at times is surprisingly nimble. He tends to more drape himself over chairs rather than sitting on them (you know the look).

Having recieved the request for his presence to meet the team he would be in charge of housing and watching, Piers made sure to bury the notice for several hours under other such notices and requests at his house. He did of course show up on time, as these where the people who sign his check at the end of the week, but its still a requirement that the notice be properly crumbled from having been buried and later found.

His hair is dyed rather badly in silver streaks, and in need of being done again, with about a quarter inch worth of growth since he last did the dye job. His normal hair color can only really be described as a dark blond. He lets it grow ragged, and is constantly falling into his face, which he sweeps away absentmindedly while awaiting someone of interest or someone to ask him something he need respond to.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya is a southern East Indian woman aged about 22 years, 5'2", slight of build, with deep honey colored skin and long, thick black hair. Her face is heart shaped, and her eyes are large and dark and liquid (doe like, really.) She has a red bindi centered over her third eye. She tends towards tailored pants and embroidered shirts, with several gold bangles. She has a very ready smile and a calm demeanor.

Currently clad in a pair of gray flannel pants and a blue keyhole top, Shivapriya enters with her small case in one hand containing her pertinent travel kit, and a dark blue wool peacoat slung casually over one arm. She's clutching the letter informing her she was to be here, folded many times over, in her thin fingers. Her eyes settle on the man with motley hair. "Pardon me," she says, her Hindi accent spilling over into her English. "I am looking for a Mr..." She references the letter. "A Mr. Cobham. Do you know where I might find him, please?" She ends the last with a hopeful smile.

[Blantz1886]

"I am Piers. More than likely you will want to talk to the director first. You can find him sometimes in his office over there." Piers responds with a vague hand gesture towards the bigger office, and goes back to lounging.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya looks in the direction of the office. "Thank you, please," she says in her slightly fractured English. She quietly walks to the big office door and knocks sharply three times. She rocks back on her heels and waits expectantly.

[CloakedInsanity]

"Enter"
Upon opening the door, and stepping in, you see a man rise up from his chair to a height of about 6ft. "Ah yes, another one of Ms. Selvia's recruits" He extends his hand across the desk to Shivapriya "Most just call me 'The Director,' if you want my name, its on the door."

[ajivani]

Shivapriya glances up at the door, reading the name on the plate thereon. She takes his hand uncertainly, curious about this Western custom. "My name is R. Shivapriya Kumari. I do hope I am not late, please."

[CloakedInsanity]

Glancing at door you see Samuel Hanson, with Director written directly underneath.
After shaking her hand, he sits back down in his chair, and runs his hand over his closed cropped white hair. "Late? Not as far as I know, Im sure Ms. Selvia would have said if you were. Im sure Mr. Cobham and she will assist you in getting settled in." He opens up a drawer in his desk, "Oh, you will need this if you get in trouble with the authorities. He slides a badge like object across the desk. He then goes back to looking at information on his computer terminal, looking like he expects you to leave.

[ajivani]

She picks up the badge, turning it over in her hands and feeling its smooth edges. "Thank you, please," she says, turning on her heels and stepping out the door. She returns to the main lobby, looking for the man with the strange hair. "Mr. Cobham?" she asks quietly. "Mr. Hanson has indicated that I am to speak with you next, please."

[Blantz1886]

"And what did he tell you to relay to me? As far as I know, I was supposed to just show up here and meet people."

[ajivani]

She places two fingers from her right hand on her lips, almost as if to stifle a giggle if she hadn't bent her pinkie in towards her palm oddly at the last second. "I'm sure Mr. Cobham and she will assist you in getting settled in," she says, her accent melting away. She removes her fingers from her lips and tucks them beneath her coat.

[Blantz1886]

"Guess ill have to thank the director for this later...fine. Your choice for a bunk while employed. You can operate from my place, or from one of the bunks here. If you wish to bunk here, its not a problem by me, just go find a cot somewhere and set yourself up. If you wish for your own room, closet, and personal space, that would be bunking at my place. You might have to wait a while before we head over there however as I still don't have my orders." Piers says rather lazily, as if nothing interests him at all.

[ajivani]

"I thank you for your offer. I do prefer a small measure of privacy, please," she says, giving him a polite half-bow. "Waiting is not a problem, of course." She sits down a small distance from him and folds her legs up beneath her, arraying her pea coat in her lap and looking completely content with sitting on the couch.

[CloakedInsanity]

A moment later you hear some booted feet walking across the tiled floor. "Ah, went and saw the director already I see."
Looking around you see a female figure wearing a black shirt and pants, and a tactical vest, and packing around a rather large looking gun (to someone untrained, your guess is its just mean looking sniper rifle, though to a trained eye, it seems she is lugging around a M-95 Anti-Material rifle.... what on earth for, who knows.) "Sorry i wasn't here when you reported, had a target of interest to locate and deal with. Once you get settled in, come back to my office, and we will get you briefed on your job."

[Blantz1886]

With this individual, Piers does seem to care.

He stands at attention and responds with "Yes ma'am. We shall return within the hour." and gives her a solid salute. Turning to the young girl sitting on the couch he says "My vehicle is outside." and with that, he walks outside the barracks presumable to his vehicle.

[ajivani]

Her face still Buddha-calm, she slides off of the couch and follows the motley-haired man.

[Blantz1886]

Pier's vehicle is a rather well cared for Honda Accord, shows minor signs of age, some dings, and is about 5 years from having been rolled off the production line. It still runs perfectly as all well cared for Honda's will, and he drives the new addition to the team to his home. It is well out of the way, needing 3 different dirt/gravel roads to get to, and is heavily wooded. You would need to know it is there to find it.It takes around 20 minutes to get to it from the racks.

The house is not all that big, but is decently maintained. The lawn is mowed, edges trimmed so as not to be overgrowing anything, plants around the place well trimmed and watered. It is a two story affair, kitchen, living room, a dinning area, and a bedroom on the main floor, most living quarters on the second floor. Piers mentions his room is all the way in the back of the house on the second floor. A bit of odd architecture means his room is the only corner bedroom of the place. He mentions there is a small eruption of Alzehiem out back for use if needed, and will harvest some solid quantities if you need it.

[ajivani]

"Thank you for your considerable generosity please,," she says, eyes drinking in her surroundings. "What are your expectations of me while I am here?"

[Blantz1886]

"If you have any special dietary needs, you buy and make your own meals, else just respect others, their beliefs, and suggestions. Try not to attrach attention to his place, I just recently finished getting everything in order and dont want it destroyed for at least a year. Beyond that, do your job on the tasks assigned to you by the director or captain, take up arms to protect this place, treat it like a home...pretty basic common sense stuff if you ask me." Piers says in his lazy tone once again.

[ajivani]

"All right. Where may I sacrifice animals, please?" She looks at him, bright-eyed.

[Blantz1886]

apparently completely unphased by the question Piers responds with "Do so away from both the eruption, this house, preferably the water lines, and out of plain sight if you would be so kind."

[ajivani]

"Hmm. All right, thank you, please." She kept her face still, meditating on the image of water flowing over an endlessly-smoothed piece of copper. She nipped up the stairs lightly, testing the boards for their creak, and found a small room a good distance away from her host's. A narrow bed was pushed against one wall, covered with a featureless brown coverlet and a thin pillow. A small nightstand stood guard beside it, lightly dusty. A small square mirror hung above it, slightly crooked. Overheard, a pair of sixty-watt bulbs cast down pale, cheerless light through an aging glass cover.

She put her poison kit in her purse, her knucklebones in her pocket, and straightened the holster on her hip, carefully adjusting the loose blouse to hide its profile. Two replacement magazines found a home in her front pocket. She donned the navy peacoat, checking the edges of the furthest seams to make sure the small washers were still sewn in their places in the lining. She placed her human-hair garrotte in her coat pocket beside the odd badge and smiled in the small square mirror on the wall. Shivapriya adjusted the mirror to level with one finger. She pulled out a small wooden statuette of Kali and placed it on the nightstand. She tucked the red suitcase beneath the bed and rejoined the humorless man downstairs.

"Thank you, please," she said, her voice still sunny and still thickly accented. "I think it would be best that I visit Ms. Selvia, please. No point in wasting time."

[Blantz1886]

Piers nods once, and heads out the door to his accord. When the girl follows and gets into the car, Piers heads back to the racks to see the captain. If there is a wait for the captain's time, Piers will return to his previous seat and drape himself as before.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya locates the office of Selvia and knocks politely on the door.

[CloakedInsanity]

Captain Selvia opens the door "Ah, Mr. Cobham, Ms. Shivapriya Kumari, come in." She leads you into her office, which is more or less the exact opposite of the Directors office.There are stacks of paper pretty much sitting on every available surface. She moves a couple piles, and sets down on top of her desk. "Welcome to the ASFP, There are a few more people for the squad that have yet to arrive. In the meantime, it would seem those higher up are restless as always, I leave it up to you if you want to assist or need more time to settle in. Oh... before I forget..."She pulls a few pieces of paper out of the stack next to her and holds them out. From the looks of them they look to be forms asking for a signature and a place to send payment.

[Blantz1886]

Piers signs off giving his home and a a routing number for a place to send his check. "It honestly doesnt matter if the entire team you have chosen is here or not to me." He says rather flatly.

[ajivani]

Captain Selvia opens the door "Ah, Mr. Cobham, Ms. Shivapriya Kumari, come in." She leads you into her office, which is more or less the exact opposite of the Directors office.There are stacks of paper pretty much sitting on every available surface. She moves a couple piles, and sets down on top of her desk. "Welcome to the ASFP, There are a few more people for the squad that have yet to arrive. In the meantime, it would seem those higher up are restless as always, I leave it up to you if you want to assist or need more time to settle in. Oh... before I forget..."She pulls a few pieces of paper out of the stack next to her and holds them out. From the looks of them they look to be forms asking for a signature and a place to send payment.

Shivapriya reads over each document very carefully, memorizing the documents line by line. She checks things like to make sure her name is spelled correctly with the initial preceding R, dates, verb tenses, the whole shebang. Finally, seeing that everything is correct, she carefully signs her name in English letters to all except the direct deposit sheet. "Many apologies," she says, "but I will set up an American bank account here, first. Please allow me a day or two." She slides the sheet back to Selvia across the desk, along with the other sheets.

"What precisely is the nature of this business that I am being hired to do, please?"

(ooc: Mind 1 to memorize, either Arete 3 (2 successes at standard difficulty, or Int+Mind, 4 successes if you're using that alternate rule))

[CloakedInsanity]

[Shiva memorizes it without to much difficulty]
Captain Selvia collects the sheets ""Until then checks can be issued to you so you can deposit them at a later time. As far business, follow me. She leads both of you down the hall to a briefing room with a large table, and a projector system to display info on a large screen at the other end of the room. She then gestures to some chairs at the table and sits down in one of them herself. "The ANFP likes to hire awakened now and then to assist in located those who have decided to make a nuisence of themselves, generally killing, stealing, anything normal criminals would do, just with use of arts, and it would seem most of the time, less morals. Our job here is to stop them. Now thats the simple non-legalspeak way of saying it. The last few months led the administration to decide to up the number of awakened employees because of recent events with some of these problems." She slides a keyboard out of the table and types in a few things, bringing the projector to life, showing a collection of maps, and personal profiles of people on the screen. "We recently uncovered a bit of info leading us more or less to a greater source of information, namely a list of names of those part of the larger organizations of criminals. Problem is the man that keeps this data is most likely clever when it comes to computers, so the best way might be to steal the laptop or other storage device he keeps it on, and sort through it later. This little job should be able to be done by two such as yourselves if you want the task. Hm... and now that Ive probably flooded your heads with information, any questions?"

[Blantz1886]

"So an information gathering task. Let me ask my normal questions. The one who is control of this information, what do we need to do with him if stealth does not work to retrieve the information? What are we looking at as far as possible security and guards? Is there any potential backup for this mission if the banana split hits the fan? Is there any additional supplies that will be given for this mission? Its my normal array of questions which im sure you are use to by now."

[CloakedInsanity]

Selvia taps a few buttons, and a overhead view of a building shows up on the screen. "The target has set up shop in the Casino, in fact it is probable he helps manages the security network. This Casino is a known hide-out for some less-than reputable folks, so getting in isn't to difficult. Your going to have to find a way to break into the managment offices in the back, once your past the guards in the main floor you should have no problem getting to the office to secure the data. There will be back up supporting you from across the street, conviently his office window faces the building. You could probably attempt to sneak through a back door to do the same if you wanted. As for what the data is on, we dont know, so you might have to do a bit of searching. Unfortunantly, the overhead picture, and the information of which office is his (Room 203) is about the only info we have on the layout, as the plans for the building were removed from the plan database. If you need any equipment or clothes to infiltrate the place, the Material Support folks down the hall can help you." While she is talking, she also pulls up pictures of the man that has the data, as well as information on some of the guards. There are also a few pictures of the interior of the gambling floor.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya shifted slightly, feeling uneasy. It was strange to have an organization that casually hired awakened staff members like she would hire a goat herder or a cook. Perhaps this is how it is done in the West, she considered. And why would this woman, apparently a proficient sniper, require her help? Her particular skill set wasn't in demand. It didn't seem quite right. Her mind turned the problem over. It would be more useful to see what this organization did, so working with them seemed best. Besides, if this man was in fact the source of such information, did it matter for whom she worked?

Shivapriya cocked her head. "How long would it take for the police to respond to an emergency call at the Casino, please? I cannot imagine that quickly, if your description is accurate."

[CloakedInsanity]

"The police will eventually respond, though the nature of the place means they like to get a few cars in order to do so, which gives takes quite a bit of time to respond, if they do at all. If this is a problem, it can be arranged for us to intercept the call, and have our back up respond as the police. We usually try not to trouble them with issues like this, though in this case the information can be put to use to rid the world of those who want to do harm. Considering the increased reports murders and unexplained events by the sleepers, anything we can get our hands on helps." Again while shes talking, she pulls up some more data on the screen, showing statistics and the like, then flips it to a sheet detailing communications circuits.
You see a series of channels and the like, as well as a few contacts, including OSC - On Scene Commander - Capt. Selvia
Enforcement - Capt. Long
Squad A - Cobham, Shivapriya

"I will be overseeing things outside, though Ill be limited on giving intel inside, if you need back up, I can call it in. Capt. Long will be in charge of the Enforcment detail as he normally is."

[Blantz1886]

"I would say it would be a good idea to put a few agents in among the police beforehand, and see if we can't discreetly get their attention diverted for this op. Telling them straight out our intention may result in the target fleeing if he has connections. If you have the intel on the alarm system, I can see what can be done before hand as far as making any automatic alarms never send their signal. A 911 call on the other hand, I would let run through, as from what I recall, the switchboard around here tends to be unreliable to slow."

[CloakedInsanity]

"The Enforcement team is there to arrive in lieu of police. Alot of the security system is designed to watch over actions on the floor, and the casino safe, the section you will be in has limited security, the biggest thing you have to worry about is security cameras. The major problem of this system is it is not connected to exterior systems, so to piggyback off of it would need a seperate mission objective to splice into it. There are a few conduits for the feeds located on the main floor in a utility closet that you could sneak into. Probably would be easiest to hook it into a modem on the main data line, and let our Comms Controller take it from there."

[ajivani]

They control the police. They have the money. They are interested in data theft... Shivapriya felt a prickle up the back of her neck.

"So the plan is to sneak in? That may not be to our advantage."

[Blantz1886]

"I will provide you with support in whatever method of attack you wish to pursue. I know a few tricks and can get us a hookup for the comms officer to browse about in their security system. If you wish to go guns a blazing, its not my style, but my job is to act as support, so lay out what you would like to do."

[ajivani]

"Guns blazing? Why would I light a weapon on fire? I do not know this idiot. Idiom."

[Blantz1886]

"Well, a flaming gun would be a bit of a distraction now wouldnt it? The idiom comes from the old west movies made popular by such actors as Clint Eastwood. It refers to charging blindly into danger, guns drawn, and shooting anything that moves. Its entirely reckless, and liable to draw more attention to you and our employer here than anyone would want. That is of course assuming you come back alive."

[ajivani]

"I blame the Italians," she says brightly. "We can either move with the current or against it. Against it would be to sneak in -- possible because of the chaotic situation. With it would be to amplify a chaotic situation. This doesn't need to be done with flaming guns. Besides, flaming guns is inappropriate."

[Blantz1886]

"Casinos tend to be rather chaotic. Perhaps a small alteration would allow a jackpot to be hit in a couple of areas in it, and as everyone runs about we should be able to get to where we need is that what you are suggesting?"

[ajivani]

"I was thinking of just starting a riot. I have read the Trotter papers on herd mentality, and they make our goal both easy and coincidental. The guards will be busy trying to quell the situation and find out what started it -- a jackpot situation is easy to defuse, but something more subtle will be considerably more difficult to manage. I asked about the police as in a riot many ordinary people would try to call them.

"Not only does it create a diversion, but it also makes the guards busy. This other person will be our primary concern, of course, but easier to manage if it is just him instead of himself and five guards. Or ten guards. I hope you can identify what it is we need, please, because I am unable."

[Blantz1886]

Piers nods "That would work. I think between the comms officer and myself if it exists electronically, we can find it. Hooking their system to comms would get us quite a bit of intel as we move about. My bet is this person would keep it in a off-network system, so as to keep others from accessing it. Certainly workable that we can get around it, and get what we need. The question is, what sort of riot are you proposing? The masses have never been my specialty."

[ajivani]

Shivapriya shrugs. "The more ... what is this word... non-specific the better. You see, Trotter states that the herd mentality doesn't need to have a reasonable basis. This explains why people buy Britney Spears CDs. The more people are affected by something, the more that other people will adopt this reaction. I think it is modernly called a meme. Emotional memes in particular are easy to manipulate, especially if the idea is to destabilize a static system. So, it doesn't have to be a jackpot or a gun shot or the arrival of a pop star. The first person you manipulate you must hit hard to break the ... thresh hold. After that, it increases exponentially.

The guards, on the other hand, will not have the same mindset as the people targetted. Therefore, they will be looking for a specific cause. There won't necessarily be one. Therefore, they will be thrown into their own separate system of emotional entropy. Does this make any sense? I am sorry. I am not used to explaining this in English."

[CloakedInsanity]

Capt. Selvia seems more amused than anything by the conversation "Let me know when you get all the details ironed out, and Ill make sure you get any equipment you need." She goes back to organizing some data on the computer.

[Blantz1886]

"One item ill need which will need the comm's help will be a auto-run format disk for the modem ill install to their security system. Networks where always a bit tricky so a quick pop in of a disk and walk away after hooking up the modem would make things a whole lot simpler. A few other items of need come to mind which Ill be talking with MS about."

[CloakedInsanity]

"Ill see what I can do." Capt. Selvia goes back to inputting some information on the computer. "'KoK: Making a road doesn't free you from demons'... Why can she never be clear" she mutters to herself. A moment later she pulls something out of the computer, and slides a disk across the table. "You can get the modem equipment, and anything else you may need from Materials."

[ajivani]

Shivapriya bobbed her head. "Of course," she says. Looking at Cobham, she says, "Let us go to Materials, please, and see if they can acquire you this item. Tonight we should go visit the casino, yes?"

[Blantz1886]

"Any time your ready works for me." Piers says lazily, looking as though he can stand at a moments notice.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya rises from her seat and looks at him expectantly.

[Blantz1886]

Piers gets to his feet fluidly, and salutes the captain, and walks out of the briefing room, and heads off to Mat Sup.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya nips after him, looking around very curiously.

[Blantz1886]

"I need a wireless 802.11n Router modem, a class 4 holster, and strap. All supplies have been previously authorized for Op CList." Piers tells the Mat Sup officer when he gets there.

[CloakedInsanity]

The officer pulls up the list on his terminal, and pulls a few cases off some shelves to scan them. Once the man checks the items with the list, he slides a electronic pad across the table to you "Finger print scan to identify and sign for the items, please."

[ajivani]

Shivapriya looks around at the bare room with its industrial gray walls and the crabby old man sitting at the somewhat battered pine desk (ooc: sorry, taking a little liberty here). "I'm sorry, please," she says pleasantly. "I will require a box of hydroshock ammunition chambered to a .45 caliber pistol, several pairs of rubber gloves English sized 5, twelve 18 gauge needles to fit two five milliliter syringes, and two milliliters of lysergic acid diethlyamide, please. If you can."

[CloakedInsanity]

The man looks through a database on the computer for a moment "Ill have to check with Spec-Ops to get the ammunition, I can get you Standard Ball rounds, Rubber non-lethal rounds without an problem though. As far as any medical type supplies, you will need to see the Medical Department in the morning."

This man looks to be the type who has seen quite a bit of action out on the streets, and has been in the office for quite some time. Hes also seems to be the type to know what questions are better off not asked, and has since learned the powers of forwarding the person to where what they want may be located.

[ajivani]

"I see." So only see this man if I don't actually need anything. Hmm. "Is there reimbursement if I obtain my own equipment?"

[CloakedInsanity]

The man, apparently knowing better than to ask questions pulls out a form, and writes a series of numbers and letters on it. After a moment of filling out some information, he slides the form across the desk. "Reimbursement must be approved by the commander of the mission, make sure you list the items to recieve any money back. You may want to disguise the drugs as a more benign medication" the man says with a wink.

[Blantz1886]

Piers ignores their conversation, and gives the man his finger print and signature.

[LongVin]

Takashi Daishi

The barracks.

He had long ago lost the need to sleep, in its place he would meditate to collect and compose his thoughts and body through meditation. He could go through this process very quickly, but Takashi had patience. He would often spend hours in these trances, there was no reason to rush. Resting across his crossed legs was his sheathed katana, it very rarely left the wooden sheath. There was no need, when bare hands or another weapon could suffice.

[CloakedInsanity]

A knock comes at Takashi's door. Upon opening it, he finds Capt. Selvia waiting outside. "Mr. Daishi, I have a mission for you if you would like to meet me in the briefing room." After that she leaves to go see when the other two are ready to execute the mission. She tracks them down in Supply, and waits until they are done getting their gear ready.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya has since wandered off. She has left the compound, entered her somewhat battered Honda Accord, and located a gun shop where she purchases her own box of hydroshocks. She also buys a box of extra small gray nitrile gloves with aloe vera in them in the first aid section of the closest Walmart. She pays in cash. She also starts a small bank account at Mom and Pop Bank, depositing $50 in the account. She lists Cobham's address as the home address.

Once outside of the bank, she enter her car, loads her gun and magazines with hydroshocks, then departs for the control center again. She directs herself to one of the chairs in the lobby and contents herself with people watching.

[LongVin]

Takashi Daishi

Takashi gives a slight nod, before slowly rising. He is dressed in a flowing blac outfit similar to a Karata Gi. Stopping for a moment he prays at a small shrine in the memory of his ancestors. Taking his Katana in his hand, he leaves the room and heads towards the briefing room. He would often use the sheathed Katana as a walking stick not to alarm others nearby of its true purpose, though be a young man he had no actual need for a walking stick.

Arivving at the briefing room, he knocks and waits patiently for permission to enter.

[CloakedInsanity]

After Capt. Selvia locates the other two, and askes them to head towards the briefing room in a few minutes to finalize planning, and discuss what time the execution of it will start. She then makes her way to the room herself "Hello Mr. Daishi." She inputs the code in the door, and holds it open for him "The other two should be along soon, until then I will catch you up on whats going on." She then goes over what the other two had in mind. "You probably would be of the most assistance to be inside as well, just in case anything goes amiss, though if you have any other ideas, your welcome to voice them."

[ajivani]

Shivapriya follows Selvia's directions to the briefing room without a word. Her face is still a benign, smiling mask. She picks a chair at the middle of the long side of the conference table and sits down.

[LongVin]

Takashi nods occcassionaly throughout the briefing as he takes in the information. "No questions, Captain. I understand the task before me and will see it to completion."

[Blantz1886]

Piers had been wandering about the racks, aimlessly stairing off into space waiting on Shivapriya, and finds that now he has another one to watch.

[CloakedInsanity]

After verifying that everyone has the gear they need, she picks up a black case off the floor, and leads the three outside to a car waiting outside. Once inside, the driver takes them to the casino, located towards the middle of the city. At one point the driver stops to let Selvia out. "Make sure to take the commlink with you inside." She points to something that resembles an earpiece, attached to a pager like device. She then walks into the building across the street, presumably to find a spot up on the roof.

The car then turns into the parking lot to let the three out, and wait for them to return.

[LongVin]

Stepping out of the car, Takashi looks around trying to spot anything that might seem out of the ordinary or suspicious.

Perception & Alertness: [roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]


character sheet for future reference

Name: Takashi Daishi
Nature: Traditionalist<subject to change>
Demeanor: Traditionalist
Essence: Pattern
Tradition: Akashic Brother


Attributes:

Physical:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4
Stamina: 3

Social:
Charisma: 2
Manipulation: 2
Appearance: 2

Mental:
Perception: 3
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 2

Abilities:

Talents:
Alertness: 2
Athletics: 2
Awareness: 2
Brawl: 3
Dodge: 3
Expression: 1 (Haiku)<or should this be performance?)

Skills:
Meditation: 3
Melee: 3
Stealth: 2
Survival: 1

Do: 1

Knowledges:
Academics: 2
Linguistics: 1(Japanese)
Cosmology: 2<subject to change>

Spheres:
Mind: 3
Life: 3

Backgrounds:
Avatar: 2
Resources: 1
Wonder: 3(stereotypical Katana sword - rarely used)

Arete: 3
Willpower: 8

Merits: Catlike balance 1
Light Sleeper: 3

[CloakedInsanity]

Nothing outside really strikes you as out of the ordinary, it seems to be your rather typical casino. Outside is dark, with the parking lot lit up somewhat. The driver apparently is good enough to pick a location that easy to get to, but still offers some cover. It seems that wearing somewhat casual clothes isnt to terribly amiss here, and that the three of you shouldnt have to much trouble blending in.

[Blantz1886]

Piers pulls out a monocle, and puts it over his left eye. He takes a look around. If he sees something odd, Piers will mention that he thinks something is amiss. Otherwise he will calmly put his monocle away.

OOC: Im using correspondence 1 and Prime 3, Piers is looking through the local space for anyone around, 4d10 if you want the roll.

"Nothing too much out of the ordinary that I can see from here."

[ajivani]

Shivapriya pauses a moment after getting out of the car, adopting the slightly confused, blissful smile of a foreign tourist who really has no clue what is happening. She glances at her watch and states, "I think two hours is a good time to have a mess, please?" She enters the casino, looking around, and starts to wander aimlessly, talking to herself in Sanskrit.


(ooc: Shivapriya is casing the joint, using Perception + Entropy/Mind to locate the areas where the highest amount of entropy and excitability is, most likely around the bars, roulette, and craps tables. If necessary, she will read surface thoughts/perform psychometry on likely targets and around likely areas to gauge the best places to strike. She will play a little nickel slots to look like a tourist. She is figuring out exits, where it is the group needs to go, and where the guards appear to be congregating/patrolling. If approached, she will talk to people in polite, confused Hindi, stating things like, "I'm sorry, my English isn't very good" and "I'm on vacation."

Per + Mind = 4 dice = 4, 5, 8, 9
Per + Entropy = 4 dice = 4, 7, 8, 8
Per + Alertness for the guards, exits, etc = 4 dice = 4, 7, 7, 9
Arete for surface thoughts x 3 rolls = 3 dice, diff 6
roll 1 = 4, 6, 7
roll 2 = 2, 2, 8
roll 3 = 4, 7, 9

She is taking her time, studying her various targets, and using her focus for mind magicks, which basically boils down to Sanskrit chants and spells from the Artharva Veda and other sources.)

[CloakedInsanity]

Yup, indeed looks like those places are good place to start as far as emotions being high. You find a man at the craps table and the bar that look to be a decent place to start causing some trouble. You find most of the people in the place are sleepers. More importantly you find that the guards tend to just cover activities like money transfers, and the doors into the back rooms. The guards dont seem concerned at all about covering the exits... money does wonders to keep people in. From glimpses of the guards opening and closing one of the doors in the back, you get an idea that one of them accesses a hallway to the admin section of the place.

[LongVin]

Takashi strolls through the casino his "walking stick" close at hand. He attemps to ignore the bright lights and sounds of the casino and focus only on the task at hand. Taking a seat at one of the bars surrounding the Casino floor he checks to makesure his comlink is in place and waits for the next phase of the operation to begin.

[Blantz1886]

Piers finds a small area of the garage in which he is unobserved. Reaching into his bag, he finds a uniform of the casino techs, and a reasonable ID card. Upon completing this, he heads around back and heads to the entrance to the comms area. Punching in a random code, He uses a small bit of fudging, and the door unlocks. It looked like he might have put in around 4 numbers, but his fingers moved quick so he might have put in 5. He opens the door and heads on in. Noting the camera at the end of the hallway, Piers looks briefly about, and finds the door marked server room. He slided the card through the lock and hits a series of numbers on the pad.

The door opens to it, and he enters the room. No one is inside, and he heads over to a terminal. Setting up the modem and popping in the disk, he sees that the autorun config is under way then gathers what he needs, and heads back outside. Back in the garage, he will change back, and destroy the card. After which, he attaches the comm unit and heads inside to go to the bar.

(lots of forces, good amount of matter scans, good amount of matter magic...)

[ajivani]

Promptly at the two hour mark, Shivapriya spins around on the barstool in front of the Lost City of Gold slot machine in the center of the casino and starts muttering in Sanskrit. Her hands curl into ancient mudras and she feels the practiced art of many reincarnations begin to warp the world around her. She projects the feelings of fear, confusion, paranoia, aggression, and greed on her targets with the intent to mentally encourage them to attack each other, the guards, and destroy the place. She starts slowly, starting with the obnoxious drunk at the craps tables and moving on from there. The idea is to turn the place into a scene out of an old spaghetti Western, where two drunks start a fight and soon the whole place is in an uproar.

(ooc : Extended roll using Entropy and Mind magicks, difficulty 4 thanks to taking her time (-1) and extensively studying her targets (-1). Targeting is by line of sight. The Mind Sphere is used to start the emotions, while continued Entropy has them spiral out of control. Over five Arete rolls:

1 - 4, 5, 10 (4)
2 - 2, 4, 5 (2)
3 - 2, 3, 6 (1)
4 - 7, 7, 8 (3)
5 - 2, 6, 9 (3)

Thirteen total successes, so I'm guessing all hell breaks loose. I love coincidental magick.)

[CloakedInsanity]

Shivapriya has no problem with the man at the bar, causing a brawl in no time at all. At the craps table, a few lucky wins for one of the men at the table, and a mental push to the drunk is enough to send the table into a nice fight. A moment later the guards are seen moving away from the door to attempt to stop the fights. Near one of the small tables near the slots, you do seem to get the idea someone is watching you. From the look on the womans face, she seems more amused than anything.

[Blantz1886]

"Lets begin" piers says over the comm channel, gets up from the bar just in time to avoid being nailed by a flying bottle, and heads towards the door to the offices where the list is supposedly being kept.

[CloakedInsanity]

<Cameras are blind for you.> says a female voice over the comms circuit.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya memorizes the woman's appearance and general location, but makes no move to interact with her. She slips on the pair of gray nitrile gloves and heads quickly towards the door. Her hand has slipped beneath her coat, and she has become all business. "There is a woman in the main casino unaffected by my trick," she says quickly over the comm link. She gives a brief -- very brief! -- physical description and general location.

(ooc: Mind 1 to memorize the woman, 3, 5, 6 on the arete roll)

[CloakedInsanity]

Shivapriya remembers the details of the woman (Black hair, dark blue eyes, almost like she has colored contacts, black top, black knee length skirt, light skin) The captain simply radios back "Leave her alone for the time being, if she doesnt show any intent of following"

As she moves away, the woman seems content to simply stay at the table, drinking whatever drink she has on her table.

[ajivani]

The woman gets shoved to the back of Shivapriya's mind as she crosses the casino floor, drawing her Springfield 1911 .45 and holding it in a down/ready position. "Bhadra Kali, aduri abhavitra," Shivapriya prayed under her breath. She followed the motley haired man through the door.

(ooc: trans: Blessed Kali, destroyer of worlds.)

[LongVin]

Takashi makes his way through the battling crowd avoiding the main fights, but staying close enough to the mob to blend in. Trailing the rest of the team and keeping his eyes on alert for anyone attemping to intercept the team he follows at a safe distance, not close enough to be seen as part of them but not too far as being unable to intervene


Perception & Alertness: [roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[CloakedInsanity]

Shivapriya and Piers go through the door without a problem. Daishi, being the rear guard notices a couple men not acting like the others, and instead pushing their way towards the door.

[LongVin]

Takashi moves to intercept them near the door. Blocking their path he asks "Excuse me, gentlemen. Do you work here?"

[CloakedInsanity]

From the looks of them, ones wearing a dusty leather jacket, the other seems to be more presentable, wearing a button up shirt, one could probably assume not, as the people that generally work there abide by the dress-code. They were also quite rough to push there way through, cutting a direct path towards the door. The man in the dusty coat continues pushing towards the door, while the other moves to prevent Takashi from intervening.
"No, but it seems neither do you."

[LongVin]

Throwing his arm and "walking stick" out to the side he attempts to block the path of the man with the dusty coat. "I must ask you to leave then, before this situation escalates." responds Takashi, though spoken as a threat it is said with extreme politeness. He was not to be controlled by emotion.

These men were not worthy of his martial skills, espicially his blade. Nor did he want to waste his awakened gift on them, it would be a simple matter to change their minds on the matter and have them walk away, and Takashi had meditated enough throughout the day to call upon his gift. But, it would be a dishonor to the art, and manipulating the flow of reality must only be performed when the need is great.

[CloakedInsanity]

The man in the dusty coat doesn't show any sign of stopping, and pushes past with ease. Looking into eyes of the man still in front, you can see that they are oddly vacant of what one would call life. "I'm afraid that simply will not do, there is something beyond that door we need to acquire." While the man says this, he produces a knife from one of his pockets.

[LongVin]

It was no longer the time for the art, and it also appeared that this man may be dominated already from a corrupt use of magic. He would have to remove this man as a threat before concerning himself the greater threat. Snapping out with his free hand he will try to use his knowledge of the martial art of "Do" to put the man asleep by manipulating the pressure points on his neck before he can hope to counterattack.

Do: [roll0]

Dexterity:[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[CloakedInsanity]

Your pretty sure you hit him in the right spot, but as far as you can tell it had no affect on the man. The man in the dusty coat contiues on through the door, leaving Takashi with one, and the one in the coat presumably with the other two.

The man outside attempts to immobilize Takashi by grabbing him, but fails.

Piers and Shivapriya find themselves in a hallway with doors on each side. At the end you see a set of stairs. You can see that the doors are all labled with a placard next to them with a number.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya turns once just inside the doorway, raises her .45, and fires a three-round burst at the man in the long coat.

(ooc: Three round burst = dex + firearms +2 dice in accuracy, vs diff 7 = 9 dice rolled: 2, 3, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9, 10 = 8 successes. Base damage is 5L (or bashing if vampires these be) for your convenience, oh GMly one.)

[CloakedInsanity]

As Shivapriya fires, Piers twiddles a rock in his hand. For some reason, the second bullet loaded into the clip was an incendiary round.
The normal rounds dont seem to harm him much, but he screams in pain when the incendiary round burns its way through him.

The hallway, and outside in the casino all take on a weird redish hue. Outside, Takashi sees everyone else, except him and the man otuside the door stop, like someone is causing time to stop.

In the hallway, one of the doors opens, and someone matching the description of the woman from before near the slots steps out. "I see someone has the right idea that its time to take out the trash."

The man also seems to have a wild look in his eye, and attempts to run up and grab shivapriya to immobilize her, but his attempt is so clumsy he pretty much only gets a bit of her coat.

[LongVin]

Hmm...maybe they would prove to be worthy opponents. but there was no time to dwell on it. He needed to intercept the other man before the mission was compromised. Where his last move relied on subtetly, his next attack would be based on brute force. Once again calling on "the way," the flat of his palm shoots out looking to connect to the flat of the man's nose.


Do: [roll0]


Strength: [roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[LongVin]

rerolling the 10:
[roll0]

[CloakedInsanity]

Takashi manages to bash the man in the nose pretty good, with the obligtory effect of blood dripping about, though as far as blood goes, this blood seems to be darker than normal.

The man gets a good hold on Takashi this time around, though it seems to be taking him some effort keep him pinned.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya dodges easily. She jams the .45 under the man's chin and fires, reasoning that even if he does somehow manage to absorb the damage, he'll have to absorb a whole hell of a lot of it to his head.

(ooc: Dex + Melee +2 dice damage (jab pistol) = 7 dice at diff 5 (4 for range, +1 for called shot) = 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 + one free success for more dice than the difficulty = 6 successes, +2 damage depending on what he soaks.)

[CloakedInsanity]

The shot does quite a number on him, splattering quite a bit of dark blood on the wall and the ceiling. The man still seems to be able to move under his own power. Despite the mess, you can swear you see the wound closing before you eyes, though with a quick scan you see the wound that was caused by the round burning through him remains.

You see a grayish blur fly across your vision, forcing the man into the wall. While he was still alive and twitching before, he is now quite limp, and effectively staked to the wall. "So much trouble, so much trouble." the woman walks forward, pulling a short rod out from behind her back, which springs into a full length staff as she draws it out. She walks towards the door back into the main casino "I'd leave that in if I were you, and if I find one of you has taken some of its blood, I will kill you."

[LongVin]

Takashi appears to surrender to the grab, but before the man can soldify his hold he falls back pulling his attacker down with him and strikes his foot out trying to throw the man over his head.



OOC: Not sure if this would be Dex and Brawl or Strength and Brawl since it is not a pure brute force move but neither is it just a quick attack and retreat like movement. So I'll let the DM roll.

[ajivani]

It's clear. I am surrounded. Shivapriya sighs, then turns her attention towards Cobham's direction. She continues to follow him.

[Blantz1886]

Piers absentmindedly plays with the rock and heads for the stairs.

[CloakedInsanity]

Takashi manages to flip the man over his head, with the man landing with a sickening crack on the floor. As he tries to rise to his feet, he gets forced back down to the floor by a black booted foot. Takashi notices the figure is someone who ressembles that described by Shivapriya. "I believe you picked the wrong meal." The man once again tries to get up, apparently very panicky. "In the end, you are nothing but shadows and dust..." She places a hand on the mans neck, a moment later the man crumbles into a pile of white dust, just leaving clothes behind. "Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, if you know what I mean."

[LongVin]

Pulling himself to his feet Takashi keeps his eyes on the newly arrived but apparently very powerful woman. Not sure how to respond he begins manuerving towards the door but keeps his eyes on the woman in case she makes any sudden movements. His associates may need him in the hallway against whatever it is against them.

[CloakedInsanity]

The woman doesnt seem inclined to follow, she does however rise to her feet, and begins waving her hands in some sort of pattern, which she eventually raises her now glowing staff above her, causeing the remains of the man, as well as the blood to disappear, making it appear nothing ever happened.

[LongVin]

Takashi advances through the door, occassionaly glancing back. Whoever she was she was very powerful and atleast seem inclined to help...at this point.

[CloakedInsanity]

Continuing up the stairs, the other two find no one in the hallway, from the numbers on the door, it would appear the room they are looking for is at the other end of the hall.

Takashi finds himself in the same hallway the others just went through, he notices the man that pushed passed him now staked to the wall, with blood all over the wall and cieling.

[LongVin]

It was now time to see what exactly what was attacking them and why his obviously devastating attacks which should of brought down any normal man. Approaching the staked body he places his hand on the man's chest and closes his eyes.

Clearing his mind he expands his conciousness into the dead or near dead body trying to read its life signs to see exactly what made them so strong and different.


Life magic: [roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[CloakedInsanity]

You find the mans body is oddly cold for being "dead" this long. Normally a just killed body still has quite a bit of warmth in it, and one that is begining to decompose would still have some a well from the microbes doing their work. This one is cold, like a rock.

A coroner would say this guy is clinically stone cold, not going any where soon, dead.

"Yes, this man is ultimately a dead man as it were. All there is to look for is the blood." Oddly you heard no sound nor sign of the woman approach, but now she is standing next to you.
Indeed looking at the blood is the only source of power you can find in the body at all.

[LongVin]

Removing his hand from the staked body, he turns to face the woman. "hmm...It is strange, it does not feel as it should." Remembering he has not thanked or introduced himself to his new ally he bends at the hip. "Forgive me for uncourtesous behavior. I am Takashi Daishi. Thank you for your aid."

[CloakedInsanity]

The woman makes a bow that wouldn't be out of place in a 17th centuary court "I am Lydia, and I believe the honor is mine. As far as him, he is the monster you would call... a vampire. These two it would seem barely even classify as a true monster, they always fail to realize only a human can kill a monster. But don't let me keep you from your business here."

[LongVin]

Takashi lets out a disapporiving grunt when he hears the term vampire. "An abomination to all things held sacred." he shakes his head before continuing. "It is an honor Lydia. But I must attend to my task now. Perhaps we shall meet again." He bows once more before turning to spring up the stairs.

[ajivani]

Upon reaching the end of the hall and the correctly numbered door, Shivapriya asks Piers how many people are in the room.

[Blantz1886]

Piers reaches into his pocket and pulls out the monocle again. He looks to be examining the walls. "I would say there are probably 5 individuals beyond that door. One of them might know a few tricks. I would be careful in aiming, as I think this might be the security center. That also being the case, perhaps the watchful comms op could provide us with an entrance distraction."

[CloakedInsanity]

At this point the red hue of the weird area spell disappears.
<It could certaintly be arranged if thats what you need,> muses the female voice over the comms circuit. Something flickers into view next to Piers. You notice its a slim figure, someone with shoulder length purple hair, wearing a neat black vest with green-neon trim, similiar style pants, and carrying a Tablet PC under one arm. " I can only project this form for so long, love."

[ajivani]

"I think the door is unlocked, anyway," Shivapriya whispers.

(ooc: Entropy 2 for random chance effect, diff 6, 5, 6, 7 check results, coincidental effect. Dex + Stealth to open door quietly, difficulty 8ish - 2, 3, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 3 successes?)

[LongVin]

Takashi continues to race up the stairs to meet with the rest of his companions.

[Blantz1886]

Seeing that the door was locked, and hitting random numbers failed to pop the lock, piers moves his hand to the keypad, and pushes a slightly different sequence of numbers. While doing this, He suddenly looks up, and shifts his focus to the door when the angry fail beep goes off. "****, get us a distraction now. The one with some tricks is at the terminal facing this door. He is the only one who is aware right now. Get ready."

Piers reaches into his bag and pulls out his Steyr, loads the clip and chambers a round, although it makes no sound. He looks to Shiva to see that she is ready.

[CloakedInsanity]

Shivyapriya attempts to type in a number into the lock, only get get a series of beeps saying she failed. The comms girl seems amused by their attempts. Noticing Piers draw out his weapon, the girl shrugs. "You could have saved alot of time, love. 13269" She simply walks through the door to do gods knows what.

[ajivani]

Mem isese xvera, Shivapriya thought. She decided to wait to see what would happen, as her skills clearly aren't useful here.

[Blantz1886]

"Get ready, we are going in hot. Piers says over the network. He nods once to Shivapriya and holds his steyr at the ready. He punches in 13269.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya looks at Piers' Steyr-Aug, then gives him a gracious nod. She opens the door for him.

[Blantz1886]

Flipping his steyr to full auto, he opens fire, emptying the clip.

Dex+firearms+10=17 difficulty 8

10,9,2,9,8,5,6,9,4,9,7,4,7,2,2,9,10

10 success, 2 each, 1 extra to the awakened one

Damage 2+7 for the techs, 3+7 for the awakened, difficulty 6

Tech 1
4,8,3,9,5,7,5,10,6

6+1 for more than difficulty
Tech 2
3,6,5,6,9,9,3,3,10
6+1 damage

Tech 3
10,8,5,3,7,3,10,8,9
8+1 damage

Tech 4
7,8,2,10,8,9,6,5,5
7+1 damage

The Awakened
5,10,10,4,1,7,8,7,2,7
7+1 damage

[CloakedInsanity]

Piers does a number on the guys in the room, picking off 3 of the techies. One of them manages to kinda roll out of his chair, but still catches a round in the side. The awakened is now also slumped over at his desk, unconcious from a round to the chest.

[Blantz1886]

Piers unloads the spent clip, replacing it into his bag, along with his gun. He steps inside the room. He looks around, and reaches into a pocket for a magnet, and some wire. He grabs some other tools and gets to work at a terminal. While he works, he asks Shivapriya to look for their objective, and if Comms can give a hand while he cleans this place up.

[CloakedInsanity]

Comms seems to look off into space for a moment, rubbing her head. She moves around the room, apparently trying to avoid looking at the blood. Unlike before were she could just slip through things, now she seems able to actually pickup objects and such.

[Blantz1886]

When he has his magnet, he holds it pointing towards the far wall, and starts to collect the bullets out of the wall. He takes his time, making sure to collect all of them. He even goes so far as to retrieve them out of the bodies with the magnet.

9,3,6,6

4,6,6,9

2,8,1,8

10,3,8,8

11 total success to collect all 43 rounds and casings. He stashes them in his back.

After which, he goes into his bag again, and digs out a kit. It is filled with all sorts of wipes, cleaning solutions, and gloves. He begins cleaning up the blood.

4,9,7,7

8,9,4,8

10,8,6,2

10 success to clean up the blood using matter 2 and leave no trace.

He also puts a little of the solution in each of the techs mouths. The solution used is a mix of chlorine bleach, ammonia, and laundry detergent.

After which he begins helping with finding the list they need.

[CloakedInsanity]

Searching around a laptop is found under the desk the awakened was working at. Handing it to comms, it doesnt take long at all for her to crack the password "Im afraid you on your own for a while." She then flickers out of view.

[Blantz1886]

Time Reference: The akashic showed up, and the laptop was found while Piers was cleaning. Someone would have been told to keep looking, one to go guard the hallway.

[ajivani]

"Looking for the objective is useless," Shivapriya says calmly, "since I do not understand what it is that I look for. This one is the Awakened, please?" she asks, indicating the one slumped over and unconscious. She sheathes her .45 and reaches into her pocket, pulling out a 14 inches of braided human hair with two ebony pegs tied to either side. She slides it around his neck and tied a strangler's knot with chilling calmness. She pulls it tight and proceeds to choke the Awakened to death.

(ooc: Dex + Melee dif 5 (orig 7, but he's unconscious) to tie the knot: 7 dice = 2, 2, 3, 5, 9, 9, 10 = 6 successes. Willpower roll for brute strength = 7 dice diff 8 = 2, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 = 4 successes.)

[CloakedInsanity]

Well, if the awakened wasn't dead before, he has now been finished off.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya unwraps the garrote with an practiced snap of her wrist, the same soft expression on her face as a housewife who is pleased that she's finished mopping the floor. She puts the garrote back into her pocket, draws out her .45 again into a low and ready position, then takes up a spot at the door to watch the hall. "Perhaps you will be able to look better," she says to the Asian man, "although I guess there would be a good place to start." She points at a desk. Turning her back to him. she starts to hum the song, "Camptown Races."

(ooc: entropy 2: where is the best place to look? 2 6, 9 on Arete roll, diff 5 or so.)

[CloakedInsanity]

It would seem the computer the comms-girl unlocked before she disappeared would be a good place to start. She did conviently leave it on the desk.
When Takashi finally steps inside the room, he notices Piers is still busy finishing cleaning up the room.

[LongVin]

Takashi takes up guard blocking the door and checking the hallways for anyone approaching. "Is it necessary to kill them? They have been defeated. They will have to live with that dishonor."

[ajivani]

"If I am not mistaken," Shivapriya says slowly, "if their dishonor concerned them, they'd conveniently kill themselves. I'm just ensuring follow through."

[Blantz1886]

"I am not your superior here, but let me remind you both... Piers says from in the room while cleaning. "We are inside a casino having entered restricted areas, killed several of their men, and are here to acquire something. While I am making it so we cant be traced so easily, would one of you kindly get your ass in here and start looking on that computer? You can talk about honor, dishonor, what have you on the way back to the racks."

[ajivani]

She looks at Piers curiously, wondering why he's cleaning up the mess at all. "Let me remind you that I have no idea how to operate a computer." She returns to the desk, shuts the laptop, and unplugs the power cord. "There you go. What else are we taking, please?"

[Blantz1886]

"If you see anything useful, grab it. Else, lets get out of here. Piers says as he puts his solutions away apparently satisfied with his work. "Let me see that for a few seconds first though."

He opens up the laptop again and quickly looks through the HD.

Wits+comp, difficulty 6
6,8,8,9,7
5 success

Seeing the list they are after, he shuts the laptop and sticks it in his bag.

"Lets go."

[ajivani]

Why didn't he just... oh, I don't want to know, Shivapriya thought. None of this makes sense. She follows Piers.

[Blantz1886]

"What do you think you are doing? I have the objective. Takashi can take rear, you lead, or the other way around."

[ajivani]

"The man with the sword goes first," Shivapriya said tonelessly.

[LongVin]

Giving a quick nod, Takashi takes point and begins leading the team towards the back to the garage. he sprints to about 10 yards ahead and keeps a vigilant look out for approaching threats.

Perception & Alertness: [roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[ajivani]

Shivapriya watches the back, glancing back as she follows Piers.

<ooc: Per + Alert = 4 dice = 5, 6, 7, 9)

[LongVin]

Rerollign zeros: [roll0]
[roll1]

[CloakedInsanity]

The group heads back the way it came, when you get down stairs in the hall way you came through, you notice the bloody mess and man are gone, with no sign of a fight at all. No trouble is met on the way back to the car, well.. except the car is now in fact, gone.

[Blantz1886]

"Thats not a good sign. Captain, what happened?"
The first he said out loud, the second over the network.

[LongVin]

damn it.

That screwed up and you just know those rolls would of been awesome.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[LongVin]

"This proves to be ominous...Would it be best to wait? Or should we seek an alternate mode of transportation?"

[CloakedInsanity]

"Something wrong?" comes the captains voice over the circuit.

[LongVin]

Activating the comm "Our vehicle is no longer here. We have accomplished our mission."

[ajivani]

"Para lanawa," she says in a conversational tone. She glances at the martial artist. "Second option?"

(ooc: hindi, "damn you all.")

[CloakedInsanity]

"Interesting. On my way." About 10 minutes later a car pulls up into the parking place where you are waiting. Capt. Selvia steps out "Good work, get in and we will head back to headquarters."

Once they get back, she leads them to the briefing room for a debrief.

[Blantz1886]

Piers pulls out the laptop and hands it to the captain.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya takes up a perch facing the door and says nothing.

[CloakedInsanity]

The capt. takes the laptop mentioning she will make sure it gets to the intel folks so they can go through it and pull any thing of interest on it. "Until thats done, we only have the incomplete list of people of interest to work off of. There is also the matter of one of our vehicles and drivers disappearing to investigate. They were careful about it since I never saw it leave the parking lot from my direction, which means they took it around back. First before the investigation into that starts, I'd like to tie up a few loose ends since from what I over heard it seems you had a bit of trouble."

[Blantz1886]

If they where doing it right, why where they not watching all entrances and exits? Are these guys serious about what they are doing?

"Did the vehicle have any form of homing device?" Piers asks.

[CloakedInsanity]

"No, but we run a trace on the radio and cell equipment installed in the vehicle. I consider it likely we may have hostage, the driver, in this case."

[Blantz1886]

"As of now, do we have any demands?"

[LongVin]

Takashi who had been silent all this time inputs his own information "We were attacked by two men as we were attempting to reach the room. They were not mortal men, they were vampiric abominations who turned to dust upon their deaths."

[CloakedInsanity]

"As of yet no. We are fairly positive he his alive still, once we get a location, we can check. So far no one has answered the radio in the car."

The captain looks a bit surprised with Takashi's input "Vampires?"

[Blantz1886]

Piers looks at Takashi with an interested look.

[LongVin]

"Yes...vampires. They were impervious to my strongest attacks. It was only with the intervention of that woman..." he goes on to describe Lydia and then continues "When the beast was killed it turned to dust. The other was staked to the wall, I examined the body and it was not...natural."

[Blantz1886]

"Natural is a rather poor choice of words there. I would highly recomend that you chose something much more in line with what you mean."

Piers face has turned rather solid, and without a trace of humor.

[CloakedInsanity]

Capt. Selvia listens with interest. "Any idea what they were after?"

[LongVin]

"It is hard to describe...as if the body has just become a shell for blood. I do not know, they were trying to follow us. I intercepted one, the other I found staked to a wall."

[Blantz1886]

"Hmm..last i recalled that second one had been shot, and left when it was unconscious from gunshot wounds."

[LongVin]

Takasi shakes his head "Staked to the wall. And then gone when we returned that way. It must have turned to dust."

[ajivani]

"Or pulled off of the stake." She seems somewhat disturbed.

[LongVin]

"Perhaps." Takashi accepts the statement. He had no knowledge of vampires other than that they apparently exist and turn to dust when killed.

[CloakedInsanity]

"Interesting. It would seem this Lydia you spoke of has some knowledge about these things. If this pman was indeed what it seems to be, my hope would be that it did turn to dust. Worst case is its once again loose."

The computer terminal in the desk beeps, and the Capt. looks at the screen for a bit. "Hmm, seems one of the police located the vehicle, though nobody was in it. It was found someways outside of town, across the sound by the looks of it." She looks at the clock "Looks like they must have caught the last ferry across."

[Blantz1886]

Piers looks rather bored and says "I suppose that means checking it out in the morning when the ferries are back up and running. If you can give us something to go on, we can head out in the morning and begin finding out who stole the vehicle. Takashi right? You have two options for housing. You can stay here, taking some space out of the cots, or I have some real estate. Your choice."

[LongVin]

"hmm...it would probably be better to stay here so we may leave as one group in the morning."

[Blantz1886]

Piers nods. "Then I shall see you in the morning if we are done here." He looks to Shivapriya to see if she is opting to stay here or head back with him to the house.

[ajivani]

"I will return in the morning," Shivapriya says, rising from the table. She nods once to those assembled, and then walks out to the parking area. For the first time she notices that she drives a car virtually identical to Piers'. She frowns slightly, then returns to his house.

[Blantz1886]

Piers stands, salutes, also goes to his car, and heads for home.

Upon getting home, he mentions to Shivapriya "Sure seems amateurish for them not to have only one person watching the back wouldnt you agree?"

[ajivani]

She is standing in the kitchen, preparing some rice and vegetables. She looks up at him and frowns for the first time. "I am deeply disturbed by this whole... thing. Have you worked for them long?"

[Blantz1886]

"One or two jobs before this one. Solo work where the chance of being caught was low to none."

[ajivani]

She adds some garlic. "They control the police. They hire mages as easily as I would hire a goat herder at home. They have access to great resources, abnormal resources. They use - perhaps overuse - technology. I have been to many chantries in China and France and the Philippines. No one acts like this. I hope I am drawing a poor conclusion.

"In any case, how this was handled was done very badly. I can and have organized better, and with less. This tells me that either they are fools, that this is some sort of foolish test, or that we are easily ... what word? Expendable? That means wasted, yes? I do not wish to be wasted like spilled water. What do you think?"

[LongVin]

Takashi takes his leave and returns to the barracks of the compound. Practicing his techniques and katas to the air both bare handed and with sword he passes the next hour before taking a seat on his bed cross legged and entering into a meditative trance.

Wits & Meditation: [roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]


Takashi contemplates on the mysteries of the mind and body and prepares himself the next day including the possible use of his art.

[Blantz1886]

"I hope it has been obvious to you that I was not formally trained in the arts. I have knowledge, but almost all of it is from self discovery, small handwritten books in odd corners of old second hand bookstores, and the like. Your knowledge of the world is likely to be greater than mine. Your ideals for example. My knowledge is an extent of worship and reverence to a goddess of...knowledge? Something like that from what I read. You are also a big believe in karma, and give it a helping hand. Thats about as far as I know. The old man if I dont miss my guess is one of those monk inner peace guys. They can meditate for hours, spout things that seem immensely wise when asked for advice AFTER the fact, but at the time is next to worthless.

Perhaps the situation is odd. I don't know. I've been doing mercenary work for a while now, some who have a good idea of what I can do, and some who don't. Expendable cannon fodder is the phrase your looking for. The pawns in a game of chess if your familiar with the game. I do not want my life to end till I have some answers to my past, and hence why when the reaper comes for it I will be taking something of his when he takes me."

[ajivani]

She smiles a bit, her brown eyes sparkling. "The Akashic... well. I have been to many Akashic chantries on missions of peace. While I cannot vouch for them truly the world over, this man does not seem much different than the others that I have met.

"One secret of karma is that you get out of it that which you put into it. If you don't want to end your life without getting answers, why do you put yourself at such poor risk? You are a smart man, Piers. What else is mismanaged here that we don't see? Is your life worth that?"

[Blantz1886]

"Risk is where you venture something to gain something, or lose it all. I have tried the quiet life, and got nothing. The question came out of self...apathy? Boredom perhaps, something of that nature. So, I work to gain insight. The money doesnt hurt either mind." as he finishes saying that his gaze looks around the kitchen.

[CloakedInsanity]

(When ever you feel your ready to start the new "day" works for me. Take your time ;p)

[ajivani]

"Apathy." She taps the wooden spoon against the edge of the pot. "This is when you do not care, yes? I do guess that you care enough to pursue this goddess of learning. Risk is necessary, I agree. But some risks are very bad indeed, when what you risk is not worth what you could gain.

"You worship the goddess of learning and knowledge, you say. Why not seek a teacher?"

[Blantz1886]

"I tend to have the most luck with self study, and learning indirectly. Most teachers from the few I have talked with end up telling you how to do this, and how this works. I prefer my own methods."

[ajivani]

"You have met poor teachers. I am sorry for this." She takes the pot of rice and veggies off of the stove and begins ladling it matter-of-factly into two bowls. "I like you, Piers. I think it is shameful this position that you are in. You sound unhappy about it." She hands him a bowl and a fork. "I think there was beer in the refrigerator, yes?"

[Blantz1886]

Piers nods "As well as other drinks in some of the cabinets." Saying that, he goes to one, and grabs a bottle of Seagram 7 whiskey, and some 7Up from the fridge, and pours himself a drink.

"I get frustrated with my efforts at times, not getting anywhere for weeks and months. I am not necessarily unhappy about it, just tired now and again."

[ajivani]

"I think I understand why you would be so frustrated. I have not experienced this myself, but it makes sense. It sounds like you have had a very hard time. I feel angry that you are so trapped -- not at you, but at your trap.

"What if you had a way out?"

[Blantz1886]

Taking a careful sip of his drink "I would be wary. An animal stuck in a bear trap and has someone come along to free it, could be there out of kindness, or to finish it off."

[ajivani]

She receives this statement mid-swig and nearly chokes on her beer. She slams the bottle down, coughing and laughing. "Piers! You are such a funny man! I don't want to finish you off... if I did, I would have dropped some of this in the rice." She shows him a small vial of a clear, viscous liquid. "I would rather help you."

[Blantz1886]

"I have learned a few tricks to stop such things if I am suspicious. Why do you think I ate what you cooked without but a moments hesitation? As far as a way out, there are many ways. I have found ways of travel that don't require a motor vehicle. I can effectively disappear from sight if I need to, and off their scopes. It means selling this place, which I would rather not do at this point, considering all the work I put into it, but even so. The choice to leave exists, the question becomes however where would I go?" Piers calmly asks while drinking his whiskey and eating.

[ajivani]

She chuckles and stows the essence of oleander. "Wherever you like," she answers, taking a bite of her rice. "Come with me, if you like. Or not. Find a new city, new people. Perhaps if you change your location, you will change your way of thinking."

[Blantz1886]

"It is not something to be taken upon lightly. I have found that for better or worse, you are an agreeable sort, for whatever that may mean. Tell me though...what is it that you suspect of the employers?"

[ajivani]

"There is a rule many Tradition mages follow that means if they are enemies of enlightenment, you must not aid them or trust them. My grandfather called them bandits on the path to Nirvana. This is sometimes a silly rule, because who is an enemy of whose enlightenment? It may not mean the same thing to everyone. But, without question, the Technocracy is an enemy." She takes another swig of her beer.

[Blantz1886]

"You have opted to use several phrases that have little to no meaning to me. Enlightenment for example, are you referring to the idea of one with the universe, spiritual perfection and so forth? Technocracy for another. All I have read is referring to the legends of the Illuminati. Is that the same thing?"

[ajivani]

She sets down the beer bottle and gives him a very serious look. "I do not know what this Illuminati is. Let me explain.

"I believe certain things. I believe in them so much I make reality mirror it. You believe in certain things. You believe in them so much as I do. I do not expect you to believe what I believe. You call this goddess of yours a goddess of knowledge. I call her Saraswati, goddess of learning. Our beliefs ... intersect... but they are not the same. And they should not be, either.

"There are people who have the same blessings as us who choose to make it so no one is allowed to believe what they want. It is like choking everyone all at once, but they do not know they are being choked! These are called the Technocracy. They will either convert you, or they will kill you.

"As for what is Ascension, I do not know what your Ascension means. If you measure your progress, it is like being so much that you truly understand on your most deep levels that which makes up all of reality. I do not think it is the same thing as one with the Universe or spiritual perfection. For you, it may be. Or it may not. The important part is that you get the choice to decide. The Technocracy wants to take the ability to make those choices. Does this make sense?"

[Blantz1886]

"It does. So, I would presume to take it that you are saying who we work for as those who are part of this...technocracy? If thats the case, then I would say that I have potentially worked for others of their kind. This makes me wonder then. What kind of names where on that list that we retrieved today?"

[ajivani]

She rubs a finger around the edge of her bowl, considering. "I hope I am wrong about them being the Technocracy, but I don't think I am. There is a saying I learned when I learned English. If it walks like a duck, and looks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it is a duck.

"I think those names are either other Technocrats with whom these people are angry, or they are Tradition mages, or they are some other party whom we have really made upset."

[Blantz1886]

"So we have what amounts to a 1/3 chance of it being helpful to us after a fashion, though even if it is other...technocrats you called them, it is a potential ally lost. The question then becomes...what do we do about it regardless of who it is we just handed over to them? Do we assume they are technocrats and break ties, maybe make some attempts to retrieve that laptop? Do we stick around and get proof one way or the other? I ask you as you have demonstrated a much greater knowledge of the world that we exist in."

[ajivani]

"I have two ideas. One is to leave and let fate sort it out. This is an advantage because I have already survived. This is a disadvantage because I think I do not want to leave you there. The other is to play along with this game and see about ... making them not win their game. This is an advantage because there is potential to learn their ways. This is a disadvantage because it is clear that we are expendable from what happened with their surveillance. Or they are sloppy. I do not know which is more disturbing." She finishes her beer.

[Blantz1886]

"I would say our best bet for right now would be to think it over the night, and talk once more in the morning. I would at the moment go with holding out on doing any more work until we see our first check, giving us time to move about and investigate. When we see the color of the money so to speak, we can make a fully informed decision."

[ajivani]

"See the color of the money?" she says, mystified. "I agree with the rest of your statement, but what does this idiom mean?"

[Blantz1886]

"In a sense, where the money stems from. Money that is "red" for example is money gained out of slaughter. White money is lawfully gained. It can run the full spectrum, and each person might have a different association."

[ajivani]

"Hmm. This is useful." She puts her dish and the pot in the dishwasher, then turns to him. "I am going to teach you a phrase that is very useful in Hindi. This is my native language. It is short -- 'lanawa he.' Repeat it, please." Her eyes twinkle with mischief.

[Blantz1886]

"lanawa he? Tell me...what did I just say?"

[ajivani]

"It means in English, 'Damn it.' It is a useful phrase, I think. Please sleep well, Piers." She presses her hands together at the level of her heart and gives him a half-bow, then goes up to her little room.

She undresses, places her newly-reloaded .45 beside her pillow, sets the alarm for 0345 (but a quiet alarm!) and drifts off to sleep.

[Blantz1886]

Piers nods to her bow, and heads to his room. He sets his alarm for 5:00 sharp, loud enough to awaken anything capable of being woken up.

[CloakedInsanity]

Nothing happens during the night, and the sun, proving it is indeed a reliable one, rises, burning off some of the slight fog that eveloped the city.

[Blantz1886]

Piers awakens to his alarm, and begins his day with his routine of W.S.E.

Wash face, Shave, Eat.

He would stumble downstairs about 5:20 in search of food. If the euthanatos is not downstairs at the time, he makes egg, peppers, and onion burritos for them/him if she opts to make something of her own creation.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya actually wakes at 3.45 am, turning off her quiet alarm clock. In the darkness, before her small, spare altar, she makes her devotions. She chants and performs yoga postures, trying to make as little noise as possible to be considered a decent house guest. Afterwards, she goes on a twenty minute morning run (armed, of course.)

Once she returns to the house at about 5:10, she has a quick shower. She's downstairs by 5.30. Watching Piers chop vegetables, she makes a pot of coffee and empties the dishwasher without saying much. When the coffee is done, she pours two cups. Into her cup goes sugar and a touch of the poison of the week. She gives herself a little taste of death every morning to remind her what is most likely to happen, and to also build up that ever-important poison immunity.

(ooc: Int + poisons diff 7 = 5 dice = 4, 8, 9, 10, 10 = 6 successes; she lightly poisons herself on a regular basis, but the roll is made her to prove that she can in fact do it without being stupid. Why does she do it? You never know when you need an immunity to iocaine powder...)

[LongVin]

After many hours, Takashi "wakes" from his meditative trance. His morning ritual is very similar to that of his evening ritual. He practices the katas of his martial arts before washing up and then goes to the mess to have a light breakfast. He was prepared for the search today.

[ajivani]

"What is this called?" Shivapriya asks, indicating the burrito. "This is a good design."

[Blantz1886]

Piers offers some customization to the burrito, w/ or w/o eggs, any of the vegetables, etc. His is made with all of the above...eggs...peppers...onions...and before he finishes wrapping his up he adds tabasco.

"So, we shall see what happens today. May we live to see the sun rise above the horizon, and set again." On the last bit his eyes get a semi-distant look.

[ajivani]

She opts without eggs, and takes a bite. "You look a little disturbed. Maybe disturbed is not the right word. Talk to me?"

[Blantz1886]

"Its an old family saying. Passed down from the days of when my ancestors sailed the south seas. It has very little meaning now, but back then, it was a blessing so we see the day through to the end. With what our employer's resources are, if us telling them we arent working for them anymore is not taken well, then we may find ourselves in a bit of trouble."

[ajivani]

She takes a sip of her coffee and smiles. "They will be furious," she says brightly. "But why worry about it? Are you driving, or me? I noticed our cars are the same."

[Blantz1886]

"I would say whichever is more comfortable for the driver. If they become furious at us, more than likely the passenger will need to be returning fire. I havent tried it often, but from what I hear, firing from a moving vehicle is rather difficult."

[ajivani]

She shakes her head. "It is not really that difficult. You just need to time your shots with the swaying of the vehicle and brace yourself correctly. Perhaps one day I will tell you what happened in Manila. In any case, I am a terrible driver."

[Blantz1886]

"Mine it is then. Lets see what happens. If I where you, if you have any personal belongings, don't leave them here. We may not be returning to this place."

Piers finishes off his burrito and coffee, and heads up to his room, where he collects his holster for his colt, dons his heavy jacket, and a duffel bag from his closet. Making sure he has everything of personal value stashed in the bag, his spare cash, and some other odds and ends, he goes out to his car and puts the bag in the trunk of his car.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya does likewise, erasing her presence in the small room. She places her things in Piers' trunk, then waits to leave.

[Blantz1886]

When it looks like she is ready, Piers gets into the car, and when she gets in as well, sets off for the base.

[ajivani]

She watches the passing traffic. "I think we are not mentioning our plan to this monk, yes?"

[Blantz1886]

Piers shrugs "Works for me."

[ajivani]

They arrive at the headquarters. Shivapriya adopts her usual happy persona.

[Blantz1886]

Piers takes his normal chair, and drapes himself over it looking bored.

[ajivani]

She picks out another chair and sits in it, assuming a full lotus position.

[CloakedInsanity]

From inside the briefing room, you here two people in the hallway having a rather heated argument. From what you can hear you figure out it is Capt. Selvia yellling at Capt. Long about what happen last night. "You mages are all the same... look after your damn selves." Apparently this pisses her off more "Look, one, maybe even all three of them could have been killed, or worse. You deciding not to even show up had me running around trying to cover their backs by myself. They are just lucky I could get a car when I could, or it would have been worse. Next time you bloody well better have your men in line, damn what the Technocracy tells you. The foot steps and talking drift off down the hall.

[Blantz1886]

Upon hearing this, and some of the key words, Piers turns to Shivapriya and whispers "That would be that word you mentioned before. Are we outbound or do we take care of a few lose ends first?"

[using forces 2 to make sure anything said is heard just between us two.
7,8,8,3]

[ajivani]

Shivapriya rises, reaching into her coat. "I think we tie knots."

[Blantz1886]

Piers nods "Lets begin with a sailors knot." and brings an arm inside his jacket while standing up

[ajivani]

She pulls out her freshly-reloaded .45 and says, "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. I am become death, shatterer of worlds." She walks with clarity and purpose towards the meeting room.

(ooc: bhagavad gita for the win!)

[Blantz1886]

Piers draws his colt as well, and follows suit. "Know that though the sky is red this morn, I sail with no fear, for the albatross flies not for me."

[CloakedInsanity]

The only person in the meeting room is Capt. Selvia, apparently busy with something on the rooms computer.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya holds her weapon in a down/ready position. "Selvia. Are you a member of the Technocracy?" she asks, her voice calm and even.

(ooc: Mind 2 Entropy 1 to tell if she is lying, presumably diff 6, arete = 6, 10, 10 )

[Blantz1886]

Piers holds his gun aimed at the other exit of the room, and moves close to the system that Selvia is using. He places one hand upon it with his gun still drawn towards the door, though making sure he is not in the line of fire should Shivapriya open fire.

[CloakedInsanity]

Capt. Selvia seems confused by the two having guns in their hands coming into the breifing room. "No, and even if I was, their apparent arrogance would make me change my mind. Now, why the drawn guns?" She sounds more pissed off than anything, probably still from the previous events. Sensing her emotions leads you to believe she is telling the truth.

On the terminal are two lists of names, apparently one being a database of names that the unit has on hand, the other is relatively short, possibly the retrieved data. By the looks of she seems to be concerning herself with the database, looking through the "L" section in particular.

[ajivani]

Shivapriya then asks, "Are you a Tradition mage, a Nephandus, or an Orphan?"

(ooc: same rote, 4, 6, 8)

[Blantz1886]

ooc: the hollow one and euthanatos are causing quite a ruckus in the briefing room via IM with the GM

[LongVin]

OOC: Oh boy...I better not find anyone dead in there!

[Blantz1886]

Selvia was killed by an electrical "mishap"

The Euthanatos and Hollow one booked it and got the hell out of dodge

They are cruzing down side roads, hitting up Bend OR, Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, and ending up in Vegas.

[CloakedInsanity]

There was quite a rucus in there escape, quite a few men dressed in swat gear came to attempt to pursue/stop them. Oddly, a man in a lab coat showing up led to them deciding to book it, while also leaving the hallway quite a mess (lots of cracked tiles/flooring/walls, much like a large blast of pressure happened)

After there escape, Capt. Long walks through the rubble, looking around at happened. After the tear gas clears, the men get to work checking the building to ensure the two arent hiding anywhere.

[ajivani]

OOC: Oh boy...I better not find anyone dead in there!

OMG. We walked in, electrocuted Selvia after I tried to shoot her, then a bunch of men with assault rifles slipped on the ... um, floor wax! in the hall, then were promptly poisoned with a tear gas grenade. Then some vulgar magick slinging dude in a labcoat showed up and started nuking ****. We booked it.

[Blantz1886]

He was vulgar by pulling a neo...Shivapriya fired off a tri-round burst, and he stopped the bullets in mid air. His paradox hit the area...aka: maurader aka: book it

[LongVin]

OOC: Well damn....so do I hear anything going on from the mess?

[CloakedInsanity]

Yyou hear some gun fire, as well as the rumblings of something almost like an explosion. Seems by the time you get their evertything is over, though quite a few men in armor are busy checking each room.

[LongVin]

Takashi finds the highest ranking officer in the area and asks "What has happened here?"

[CloakedInsanity]

You end up finding Capt. Long as he is busy organizing a search of the building. From the look on his face he doesn't look at all happy."Your kind are all the same. You can never control your actions. It seems your friends decided to make a mess on the way out."

[LongVin]

Takash gives the captain a hard look "Do not make the claim that we are all the same. We Akashics value honor and commitment above all us."

He surveys the area around him and the damage caused "If my former teammates have indeed done this, they have dishonored our team and have brought me both shame and dishonor. It will be my sacred duty to track them down and bring them to justice. Where do you believe they have gone?"

Closing his eyes, he waits for an answer but also attempts to focus in on the residual magical energy left from the others to try to discern which way they have gone.

Perception & awareness: [roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[CloakedInsanity]

The captain mentions they are in the process of searching the building to find them.

You find that they have made their way to the parking lot, and are in the process of getting in a car and leaving.

[LongVin]

Turning on his heels, Takashi settles into a run rushing towards the parking lot hoping to intercept them before they have a chance to flee.

[ajivani]

Seated in the car, Shivapriya spots the Akashic heading towards the car. "Piers," she says. "Trouble." She hits the power window to roll it down, and grabs a prepared syrette from her poison kit.

(to notice the Akashic, Per + alert = 4 dice = 2, 2, 6, 10. Grabbing essence of oleander syrette = Int + poison = 5 dice = 2, 3, 6, 8, 9. Effects and symptoms of oleander poisoning include tachycardia, sweating, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, unconsciousness, respiratory paralysis, and death, similar to digitalis poisoning. Reaction time is immediate. Atropine and quinidine are reversal agents. Oleander is native to temperate climates such as Greece, India, Italy, and California, but it can grow just about anywhere. Oleander is a popular poison in Bengal and Madras, India... which is why I figured it was reasonable that Shivapriya has it.

Source: Stevens, S., Bannon, A. (2007). Book of poisons: A guide for writers. Georgetown, Ontario: F&W Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-58297-456-9.)

[LongVin]

Stopping in front of the car, the samurai enters into a fighter's stance his sheathed sword out to one side ready to be drawn should it be needed. He did not feel that the situation warranted his sword...just yet.

"Hold," he shouts, "I will not allow you to leave this place!"

[ajivani]

"So it is a point of honor for you to work for the Technocracy and betray your own Tradition and the Council of Nine? Strange definitions of honor you have, Akashic," she says acidly. "Even I have read the Hagakure. Good and bad fortune are matters of fate. Good and bad actions are man's way."


(ooc: Hagakure quote from the first chapter, recalled with a Per + Mind roll of 2, 3, 4, 7, 0)