Kalila ignores the implications or comment entirely about being someone's, instead focusing on the other, "Are the ford or the ferry run by the Tower? And what are the relative dangers of each?"

Lilith gives Julian a cold look, and fishes a hankie out of her pocket. She wipes whatever blood there is from around her eyes. Thank goodness for the mask. Blood tastes like crap.

Copper actually. "The ferry is slow, run by local men. Ford is patrolled by sand niggers." He actually uses that term. "Ferry charge a lot. I mean, lot. Used by smugglers."

Lilith slides the hankie away. "What currency? Or barter?"

Julian lowers his gun a bit, engaging the safety and the rummaging around in his bags for a moment. "Anyone hungry?" He asks, pulling out a carboard tube of processed meat sticks. Off-Brand Slim Jims.

Kalila doesn't take offense at the term Vasily uses. She's heard it before, and worse. The elven woman in disguise turns the vehicle towards the direction he mentioned for the ford, silently driving. "We'll go to the ford. We might miss a patrol and save our resources." She shakes her head at the offer of food, concentrating on the road.

Lilith shakes her head as well to Julian, then continues to keep watch. "Aye, the ford then."

Vasily waves off the food, then gestures to the north.. "2 miles up, past bridge. Ford is at big wide of river… makes it flow slow and wide."

Julian shrugs and pops open the can, grabbing one of the meatsticks out and tearing it open, biting down on one end and chewing quietly.

Kalila keeps her eyes out for all sorts of dangers in this place: roadside bombs, random wild creatures, patrols, etc. She mentions, "Throw something over the corpse, please? It will cut down on questions when and or if we are stopped."

Lilith grunts and shrugs off her coat. She grabs Julian's shoulder to steady herself, then roughly slides the garment over the body. She'll be cold for a bit, but she can deal

«OOC» Blindside says, "Kass, gimie an int check :)"
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 8 (Intel) for "Intelligence Check":
1 1 2 2 3 4 5 11

Kassandra will not notice any particular threats, but to the far distance, she can hear the sound of gunfire, then maybe… tires?

Looking forward, Kalila tilts her head. "Great." She doesn't slow but does keep her eyes peeled, paying more attention now to what is going on ahead. "Be ready …"

Julian turns to Lilith, watching her remove her cloak, then shakes his head. He opens another bag and grabs an emergency blanket out. "Here… keep your coat, you'll never get the smell out. This I can throw away." He clamps the meatstick between his teeth and goes to work wrapping the body.

Lilith gives her gun a look and nods at Julian, akwardly straddling the body. Coat back on, but open, eyes narrowed against the cold wind as she half stands and looks forward. "Awright. Troubles?"

"Dunno. But I heard something, might be coming this way, might be some other patrons of this crossing." Kalila shrugs a little, hands working the controls with an ease that is almost mechanical. "Regardless, we'll want to be careful. There are a lot of tense people."

Lilith nods sharply and keeps her ears and eyes open. "Aye aye."

Julian finishes securing the body, folding the blanket with an almost practiced skill, as if he's done this before. He manages to push the body back under the seat, then wolfs down the last of his meatstick before gripping his AR again.

It doesn't take long to come up on the ford, given the way the river starts widening and the occasional boulder pokes up from its depths to create rapids. "Not far now." Cackles Vasily.

Kalila downshifts, slowing now. She eyes the water, the vehicle they are in, the water. Her eyes search the area for ambush spots, for something that looks out of the ordinary.

Lilith watches the road, and the river as well, looking at the surface suspiciously. Not just that it'll be cold…she lets her eyes dart across both banks.

The fording comes in to view, an area of interlinked sandbars over what may have once been an earthwork damn, but was long ago overtopped by the water. On one side, the far side, several vehicles are parked. Vehicle though is really a very liberal term around here, and maybe only one of them looks like it can move right now.

Julian flicks the safety back off with his thumb, feeling the dull buzzing in his arm as the smartlink circuits kick on…

"Aha. Perhaps a welcoming committee." Kalila heads towards the fording, a glance given to Vasily. "Let's hope that they'll at least talk before they shoot us up."

Lilith wrinkles her nose and makes sure her mask is in place. Makes sure her pistol is ready. Flexes her free hand.

"Arabs are a merchant people. They usually talk before shooting, even if its to threaten to shoot you for not paying." Says Vasily, nonchalantly. Go ahead and head across, but everyone keep hands visible."

Kalila doesn't look at Vasily although she does smirk ever-so-slightly, heading out onto the fording at a slow pace, eyes scanning the ground before them as they work to make their crossing. She keeps her hands where they can be seen, on the steering wheel.

Lilith murmurs softly. "Does visible meaning letting them see my gun? Or should I be….polite….and put it away?"

Julian releases the grip on his rifle, leaving the safety off, and clasps his hands behind his head in a relaxed gesture.

The fording is surprisingly solid under the water, maybe concrete blocks overtopped by water. To one side is a pool several feet deep, to the other is a drop off of about 20…

"Keep guns visible, but down pointed. Let them see strength, but do not threaten, big man."

Lilith nods and idly lets her gun hang down, keeping both hands visible, relaxed but not unwary.

Julian smiles. "Cool as a cucumber, my man."

Kalila simply nods at Vasily's words, keeping the vehicle on the straight and narrow, occasionally looking to see where the custom inspectors are going to wander out from.

Across the water, two men in traditional robes step out from behind a deralict vehicle, AK 97s hanging at their side. Remember those? Sasha does.

Julian looks down-river. Only two? Not likely. He begins to roll his neck and look for other places where gunmen might be hiding. Doesn't matter if there is anyone actually there, he just wants to know where to look.

Julian will rapidly see why river crossings were the most dangerous time to be a soldier in any war. There are just too many possible hiding places and too few good crossing points.

Lilith blue eyes glitter from between the layers of black cloth. She watches those two guards carefully, but not directly, keeping her eyes slightly downturned, occasionally looking side to side.

She doesn't slow, she doesn't speed up. Kalila keeps going till they get to the other side or are told to stop. She knows the likely hiding places, and the unlikely ones, and the usual ways to stop vehicles around here.

As you come to the other side, the front wheels on the shore, the rear still in the water, one man, maybe Russian/Arab half-breed, steps forward. "Halt!" he calls out in Russian, then again in Arabic. "Hands where I can see them! State your business!"

Her hands raised, Kalila remarks in Arabic, "We are headed that way," she remarks with a faint gesture, "I am transporting these people to where they need to go, translating for them." She keeps it simple, direct, to the point.

Julian keeps his position, hands clasped behind his head, all back of the bus.

Lilith waits patiently, hands loose on her weapon. Non threating, but not stupid either.

«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 12 for "Charisma Check":
1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 5 5 7 9

The man comes to stop next to the front fender. "What is their business? I do not recognize you." He grins then, pulling out a cigarette case. "But I think I would like too…"

Allowing herself a faint shrug, Kalila remarks, "I didn't ask and they don't pay me enough to pay *that* much attention to what I translate. They are diggers, fortune seekers of some sort." She almost sneers the words, indicating with her head, "The woman looks for something and has the old man feeding her stories. The big one is a bodyguard."

The man rolls his eyes, gesturing to the white woman. "You! You speak the russian?" He asks, in 'the russian.

Julian looks down at the man, then over to his buddy, then relaxing back into his pose, the black goggles catch the sun and reflect it in a brief glint.
Lilith blinks once and turns her eyes towards the man. She nods. "Da. I do." Speaking carefully, slowly.

He taps the truck's single fender then. "What is it you looking for then, sweety gir…" A pause as he peers in the truck. At the wrapped bundle. "… wha?"

Lilith arches a brow under her veil, her voice soft. Clear, very pale blue eyes look out at the man, a trail of her hair just visible as she tucks a loose strand away. "We are looking for an artifact. A relic of sorts."

«Auto-Judge[]» Blindside (#2329) rolls 4 for "What the hell is in the body shaped bag?":
3 3 4 10

Oh. It's a body.

The man pulls back, his eyes narrowing. "Who is the corpse?" Not quite really, you know, angry or on the defensive. People die. People have accidents with high speed projectiles. It happens.

Julian doesn't say a thing… doesn't even think full thoughts. He just relaxes, listening for Kass to give him the go code, and until that happens, he just soaks up the sun.

Lilith shrugs her shoulders. "Oh, that? A Russian friend had a bit of an accident. They're sleeping it off."

Kalila remarks quietly, "Someone who took issue with our digging. The Englishwoman wanted to give her a proper burial instead of feeding the wildlife." She says this in quick Arabic.

«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Charisma:
1 2 2 3 5 8
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 12 for "Charisma Check":
1 1 1 2 2 4 4 4 5 8 9 13

The man nods, then eyes Julian's rifle. "Nice gun, yes. Give me the lefthanded one's rifle, you can pass."

Kalila glances to the man, and then over her shoulder at Julian. She shrugs quietly and translates, "He'd like your rifle." She doesn't put any sort of impact on any of the words, speaking plainly.

Lilith looks at Kalila, then to Julian. She shrugs as well and nods.

Julian snorts. "He would would he?" He turns to the man. "Well I would like a 5 course dinner and a fancy hat… sucks to want, doesn't it?" He smiles all the while at the man, while gesturing between his rifle and the man. "Tell him I'll give him some food, but there's now way I'm letting the rifle go."

Kalila watches the gentleman next to her, her eyes looking for the telltale signs that he understood Julian's words, or enough of them, or the tone. She mentally switches gears, a mindblinks switching her skillsoft system between Driver and Killer.

The greeter gestures. "What did the unclean say? What did he say? I do not like his tone. No, I do not like it."

Lilith doesn't seem to move much, but a stillness does fall over her. She looks at Julian, then at the man. She speaks quietly again. "He asks if there is perhaps some room for negotiation? He is fond of his weapon."

"So am I. You want to pass, I want the rifle.

Lilith keeps her tone soothing, calm. She looks over to Julian, speaking levely in English. "Sir. We may be at an impasse. If we want to move on, he wants the rifle. Are you sure you can't give it up?"

Kalila sits quietly for the non. The man is speaking to the Englishwoman after all, and doesn't need her translations. Instead, she does the mental geometry on the men nearby, eyes flicking to the hidden spots. She goes over what she knows of the AK, the ambient temperature today, the wind speed and direction.

The AK in this environment is a superior weapon to the Alpha, both in ease of repair and stopping power. Ambient temperature is optimal for the AK while it is 2 degrees below optimal for the Alpha. With a higher magazine count and a slightly higher caliber, it is the more lethal weapon, if lacking the higher tech attachments and options of the alpha.

The man watches, stepping back a half step, one finger inching to his trigger, the gun still pointed down. Ready, but not attacking.

Julian considers for a moment… watching the man, then he turns to Lilith, away from the man, and takes a big risk. "Nod your head if you want to avoid a fight, Silk." He acts as if he's talking to Lil, keeping Silk in his peripheral vision…

«Auto-Judge[]» Blindside (#2329) rolls 4 for "Mystery":
3 3 4 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Small Unit Tactics + Task Pool: 1 vs TN 4 (to Blindside) for "Every 2 successes gives +1 reaction die for surprise tests for me only":
1 3 3 4 4 = 2 Successes

Kalila keeps her face impassive, letting her head move this way and that as she considers the likely hiding spots, sniping spots. Too much open area, the fields of fire suck here. And these guys have played this little gambit before. She looks to the man near the car, her targeting system painting him red at a glance. She lets her head loll forward once, then back, marking target number two in yellow. She waits.

Lilith watches Silk. Then looks to Julian, sternly, as if waiting for him to be a good troggy and hand the damn gun over to the nice smuggler so they can move on.

Julian lets loose a long sigh and turns back. "Tell him I'll trade… I'm not going on without /something/. I'll give him my gun for his, and we'll be on our way." He begins to shrug the strap off.

The man pauses, looking to Julian and his tone… then to Lilith… then to Kassandra.

The second man, nearer the cars pauses.. A thick stream of arabic rattles off from him, the first man rolling his eyes and looking quite put upon. "We deal another time. Mullah Rashim wishes my partner. You, pass on. I will find you." A smile comes to his lips as he looks to Silk. "Oh yes… I will find you."

Kalila stares at the second man, clearly about to answer the first man when interrupted. She considers him a moment, the rangefinder ticking off information by the picosecond. She holds the gaze for perhaps two seconds before looking back to the first man, clearly looking to see if they can go,

Lilith watches both men coldly, not easing the ready tension in her body. But waits and counts, leaning more towards Kass. She glances back to Julian and snaps out soft and quick. "I think they're letting us pass."

The first man waves them through, as he steps over to the second man. "Go! I will find you later. We trade then. Remember debt owed!"

The car shifts gears and starts to move forward again. Kalila remarks in Arabic, "We will remember our debts."

«Plot» Blindside says, " Combat scene avoided by not being stupid."

Lilith looks to Julian again. "You can keep your weapon for now."

Julian relaxes a bit as the vehicle starts moving again… then shrugs the strap back over his shoulder. "Mind telling the trog what just happened?" He asks of whoever might answer.

"We almost just died." Kalila remarks quietly, concentrating on steering them out of the fording and off towards where they need to go, "Other than that, nothing special."

Julian nods. "Just another day in the war-torn, God-forsaken neighborhood."

"We almost just died." Kalila remarks quietly, concentrating on steering them out of the fording and off towards where they need to go, "Other than that, nothing special."

Julian nods. "Just another day in the war-torn, God-forsaken neighborhood."

Vasily chuckles loudly. "Why you keep body of woman? Going to eat it later?"

Lilith stares ahead. "Dunno. Probably toss it in an available bog."

"IS RUSSIA! Is one big bog!"

"A thing to remember? They aren't really asking for something when they ask. They expect you to hand it over, right then. The smartass remarks that might work in the Warrens will get you killed here." Kalila keeps her tone neutral, words quiet. "The next time, seriously, don't say anything in a tone that could be considered derogatory. To the Iranians, you are an abomination to Allah. They will kill you without hesitation."

Lilith nods to Silk's words, then looks to Vasily again. "Makes it easy, doesn't it?"

Julian nods. "Oh yeah, Forgot my manners." He relaxes a bit more as the checkpoint falls farther behind, venturing into his bag for another meatstick. "She'll make a nice signal fire if we need one… Which reminds me, we got some free time ahead of us, friend?" He asks of Vasily as he pulls the blanket-wrapped corpse forward again and begins to unwrap it…

Kalila mentions to Vasily, "I didn't want to leave it behind. I want our friend the Colonel to wonder if she is alive and still doing the job or dead. Plus, she may have information on her."

The truck-thing pulls away from the ford, sloughing water from its body, such as it is. "Free time?" Asks Vasily. "Doubtful. Go to your house, get your things, go to Airbase. This is what we do. Must destroy vault before Camel-Fuckers get inside."

Julian throws one of the folds aside, revealing the body. "Or a tracking dot…" He nods. "This won't take long…" He clamps the meatstick between his teeth again, as if it was a rose in the mouth of a flamenco dancer, and then without hesitation begins to frisk the corpse. How romantic.

The carpets don't match the curtains. She's naturally a brunette, it seems.

Lilith idly watches Julian work, then turns her sights forward again. "We were hired to recover something, I believe."

Kalila follows the route back from memory, heading to Sasha's safehouse. She drives quietly, keeping her mouth closed unless spoken to, keeping the vehicle on course.

The Dead's House.

The route is simple enough; and Kalila is, with her super memory and detailed notes, able to get you back upstairs without too much hassle. You are for the moment, clear and free…. and safe.

Ish.

Julian rewraps the body hastily, and after grabing a handful of blanket and wrapping it around his wrist, he hefts the body like one of his dufflebags. He manages to ferry all his gear and the body inside, then lays the body out in one corner. "I'm listening…" He unwraps the body quickly and continues his search. Any item, no matter how mundane seeming, is set aside to be indexed.

Lilith swiftly gathers her things together, slides the bag onto her back, makes sure everything is in place. She looks to Silk. "Now what?"

Once back at the safehouse, Kalila will snag her gear and make sure everything is where she left it, glancing to Vasily, "All right. You had information, you said?" She starts moving items from her bag onto her body, nodding to Lilith, "Now we listen, and determine how to get onto the base."

Julian rewraps the body hastily, and after grabbing a handful of blanket and wrapping it around his wrist, he hefts the body like one of his dufflebags. He manages to ferry all his gear and the body inside, then lays the body out in one corner. "I'm listening…" He unwraps the body quickly and continues his search. Any item, no matter how mundane seeming, is set aside to be indexed.

"Da.. Da… da" Says the old man as he moves over to the stove. "Nice stove. SOmeone be a dear and make an old man a fire to warm his bones. In Soviet Russia, warm fires you!"

Lilith laughs softly, and moves to the stove. "Allow me, sir."

Julian snickers, his hands full of the dead woman's leather outfit. "I like him…" He says.

Kalila sinks down to the floor, taking a moment to dig in her bag. She comes up with a small plastic bag of what appears to be some sort of trail mix. She eats quietly, waiting for Vasily to get warm enough to speak to them.

It takes a few minutes, but Vasily gets back to strength as it were. "Bombada Airbase. Once, very large bomber airbase. Very important to Soviet Empire. Not this Soviet, last soviet. Big bad soviet… not eunuched, lost its own siberia Empire…"

Lilith rubs her hands over the fire once it's going, then make sure the flickering light is covered by the stove lid and sits back, resting while she listens. "Aye. Empires fall, good father."

Julian continues patting down the woman until either he finds something, or he's patted down every place he can without severely damaging his reputation with the present company. When he's done, he rewraps the body, then wanders back towards the group.

Kalila keeps her gaze carefully away from where the dead woman is being searched. She concentrates on eating while she can, producing a canteen from inside her bag as well. She listens to Vasily, using her time to replenish her energy and rest a bit in relative safety.

"Back then… Empire was large. Respected. Before Reagan and Clinton. Before Levis and Pepsi. Before Megacorporations and Magic. Very powerful. First man in space. First space station. First to discover paranormal world before paranormal world discovered us."

Lilith gaze sharpens at this. "You have been great, but please. Continue. How did you discover it?"

Julian nods. "I read about that. Spartan? Spudneck?" He rubs his chin, trying to think.

Staying quiet, Kalila listens to the man and doesn't interupt. Once she has had her fill of the trail mix, she replaces it in her bag and sips from her canteen.

"How Soviet Russia became great in the first place. Germans. Germany invaded in the great patriotic war… and brought with them artifact hunters, scavengers. Nazi's had great love for the occult. Constantly searching artifacts and legend, digging in odd places. They seemed to be looking for -something-. NOt sure what, and none who survived the war were able to tell us."

Lilith nods. "What did the Motherland yield to her sons?"

Julian snaps his fingers. "Sputnik… that's what it was. Had us yankees shaking in our boots if I read correctly." He finds a place to lean against and rummages in a pocket for a post-cadaver search granola bar.

Kalia listens to the old Russian, sipping from her canteen. She seems inclined to rest while she can.

Lilith reaches into her own pack for a couple of snack bars, passing one over to the old man if he wishes to eat.

Vasily takes the tea then, sitting by the fire. "The Motherland, she had a wealth of treasures. Most, we had no frame of reference for. Some made no sense, some were devices from an era before our own. The Soviet Politburo tried to portray them as our vast russian culture, superior to the west, but the KGB knew better; these artifacts, statues and mosaics we recovered from scattered ruins… they did not portray russians."

Julian unwraps the foil on a bar and takes a big bite, chewing quietly and listening to the man speak.

Nodding, Kalila hmmms and tucks away her canteen. She listens quietly, looking interested at what the Russians might have been doing.

Lilith nods. "Who did they potray? Russia is a vast, vast land…Kievan Rus' of the old times had links that went very far south and east."

"Statues of what we call Elves and Orcs. The changed who did not exist before the Awakening. Occasionally, tools and devices. Once… we uncovered an entire ancient city deep underground in the Urals. It's was… a fascinating discovery. Fearing taint or loosing control over a site that big, it was used for an underground Nuclear Test in the early 60s."

Lilith sighs deeply and shakes her head. "No words…"

Kalila groans quietly, covering her face with her hands. She shakes her head with a little sigh, looking back sadly at the man.

Julian chews and swallows, nodding. He looks as if about to say something, but doesn't. Instead he wanders over to his bags and unzips one.

"Uvazheniem was founded to keep control over such issues. I was one of the second generations of Officers to watch over it. Secret, it answered only to the highest levels of the KGB and the Premier himself. It was buried under 10 layers of beuracracy and red tape. It maintained several archives across the Soviet Union, but the facility I watched over was here, at Bombora Airbase. A cadre of officers remained when the Empire fell, joining the Georgian Airforce and maintaining the secrecy of the facility. When the Empire rebuilt… we did not report for duty, fearing this new empire as simply a despot in the clothes of a king. We kept our silence, watching the facility. Keeping its secrets. 70 years later.. I am the last."

Lilith listens in respectful silence, nodding her head. "How much is left there? Anything beyond what we seek?"

Julian drops into a cross-legged sitting position on the floor of the apartment, digging out an ammo tin and pulling the top loose. He ejects the clip from his assault rifle, the one that had held the deaths of two people today, and begins to reload it from rounds out of the tin.

Looking to Vaisly, Kalila raises an eyebrow at Lilith's question.

He exhales. "Seals are intact. Some 10,000 artifacts. But… they must be destroyed. That is your job. Take what you are sent for, but rest…. must be -destroyed- or Arabs get them… or others."
Lilith gasps softly. She looks to Silk, eyes startled, feeling a bit out of her depth. She mouths the words "10,000!"

Julian picks up on Lilith's sudden excitement, his eyes straying to her, then to Silk, as if he expects her to clarify the impact of the old man's statement. He pushes another round in with his thumb.

Frowning, Kalila remarks, "And Nacht knows of this?" She doesn't seem to be getting excited about it, but does seem interested if her boss is aware of what is going on. "Also, we'll need some sort of explosives .. there would be some on the base, I take it?"

"Nacht knew of this, yes. The entire bunker is… how you say… pregnant with thermite charges. Designed for destruction in the event of war."

Lilith pinches the bridge of her nose. "How many of the items would you say are as valuable as what we're after? If any? If there's a chance we can rescue more, we could try."
Julian goes back to his loading, topping off the clip he'd been working on, then sliding it back into the gun.

Exhaling, Kalila shakes her head. "If this place is ready to burn, then we burn it and get out with what we have planned. That said … if there is a chance to do the job *and* get anything else to turn over to the Foundation, we'll do that."
Lilith nods. "Agreed."

Julian grins. "Good thing I brought big shopping bags." He gestures to the two massive duffles. "In a pinch, I can carry all my gear and weapons on me."

Vasily shrugs. "The reliquary was Capped in 1975, when American Agents stole the centerpeice of the collection, a massive crystal that reacted to Nuclear Energy… it was the one surviving artifact from the city I mentioned."

«Plot» Johny says, " This is a tie in to the Great Machine plots of Mira and Minos, as seen in 'magical mystery tour'"
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 8 (Intelligence) for "Ohho?":
1 1 2 2 2 4 7 8
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 8 (Intellignce) for "Ohho?":
1 1 2 2 2 4 7 8
«OOC» Johny will give that to you.

Kalila nods quietly, hmming. "Well. We need to get into the place then and find what we are here for, set the charges off, and get out of the country. We only have most of everyone here that wants to stop us."

Lilith nods slowly, looking to the old man again. "Are you saying that there's nothing of great importance left there? Our item is the only thing?"

Julian looks into the bags he's carrying, spending the next several minutes in quiet consideration of wether or not he really /can/ carry everything he brought.

"Oh no. I'm just telling you that trying to sort through what may be good vs what may be an ancient potty bowl would be a fools errand… and would risk the collection falling in to the hands of those who do have the time."

"Right. Is the item we are after in a nice, well cataloged place by any chance, or is this a scavenger hunt?" Kalila asks the man, making sure her gear is in order.

Lilith winces and nods. "As you say. But, if we can identify something in eyeshot and in reach…" She shrugs, then looks to Kass.

"I don't know… what are you looking for?"

Kalila hms, "A set of spaulders," she remarks, using the Russian word as well. "They are black with markings on them, labeled as the The Spaulders of Asarensch in my notes."

Julian lets out a sudden snort of laughter. "Maybe I'll find myself a nice peice for the mantle…" He chuckles and looks over to the pair. "Don't suppose either of you ladies have magic goggles that could tell us the difference?" He goes back to prepping his gear, unzipping the other bag and pulling out the swing arm for his max gyro and beginning to assemble it.

He is quiet for a long moment, thinking deeply, holding his tea…

«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 12 for "Int Check.":
2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 7 11 13

Lilith watches Julian for a moment and shakes her head, then turns her attention back to Vasily to hear what he has to say…

"No magic goggles, no, sadly. I'll have to put that on my Christmas list, tho, that might not be a bad idea…." Kalila hmms, "Still, it'd be like going into the Pyramid of Giza, I imagine just about anything in there would be interesting to someone."

"Yes… I remember these spaulders. They came from a tomb of some sort. Set in the bottom levels of the city, beneath a statue of a warrior carved from what our geologists said was Diamond. It was harder than our diamond saws and was too heavy to move."

Lilith smiles faintly. "Wonderful. How quickly can we retrieve them?"

Diamond .. heavy diamond … Kalila makes sure the sound of coins clinking was just in her head and not audible, nodding. "Well, if you can remember how to get to it that would be great. We should get started once it is darker, I think."

Julian mentally adds the weight of a few pockets full of diamonds, then returns to attaching things to his chest with sharp, metallic sounds.

The old man exhales "I recall that it was in the 4th annex. The bunker is set up as… vaults off a central trunk line. Imagine if you will, a long, broad hallway that you can drive truck down. Once, was fed by aircraft elevator, but now accessible only through a stairwell. Off this main trunk, nearly a thousand feet long… every 30 feet, a door to either side, and a large room holding crates, boxes and artifacts. Not a display area, but a storage area."

Kalila listens carefully, nodding as the man describes things. While she trusts her memory, she still pulls out a secretary and makes notes on what was said.
Lilith nods slowly, making mental notes as well. "Do you know the exact room?"

Julian gets the max gyro assembled, then hefts the light machine gun out of it's bag. "If we're going right there, I might as well put on my party hat."

"Yes. Armor and weaponry were kept at very farthest door, on left. Marked by a red star with a Kalishnikov over the star. Weapons and Armor. The locks should still be good… you will need the combination."

Julian speaks up from his little corner of weaponry. "Maglocks, or the dial kind?"

"Locks. A combination would be lovely if you have it, or if it were recorded somewhere?" Kalila shrugs, nodding to the inevitablity of locks. She lets out a puff of breath, shaking her head. "Be more able to determine what we have to do when we see the place."

Lilith grunts. "I must've missed something there…lovely. Locks. And yes, we better get moving."

"The locks shall be good… stainless steel, finest vault-doors in all of Soviet russia. Blast doors to withstand any attack save those we wished to damage. Soviet Russia believed in strength, not finess. Perhaps is why the empire fell."

Julian nods. "I /may/ be able to crack them, but I'd rather have the combo if I can get it" He reaches up to tap his ears.

Kalila nods, "We'll have to get them open, otherwise this will be a real short mission." She sighs, "And with luck, we won't have to fight everyone in the city."

Lilith rotates her neck and gets up, stretching. "Aye, that'd be nice."

"The code to the main vault, I remember." HE says simply. "The others.. I do not. You never memorize. That can be beaten from you. Instead, I had them in a book that was kept safe. Unfortunately, the Arabs stole the book from me last winter. They did not know what thye had… but I think that has changed, with the coming of the Atlantian Foundation."

Julian shrugs and grins a bit. "And if we /do/…" he secures the machine gun to the gyro system with a metallic scrape and a heavy click. "…might be fun." He engages the safety on the gun and pivots it out of the way into a more comfortable position.

Lilith shrugs. "Stealth if we have to. I'd much prefer not having to claw my way out of this town."

"I'd rather not, all things considered. It's a bit of a ways to where we need to get to the plane, and having hundreds of irritated people shooting at us the whole way is not the sort of fun I want to have." Kalila chuckles faintly.

Julian shrugs and pulls out the sniper rifle next. "Joykills…" He mutters and does a quick check on the rifle.

Lilith nods to Kass, shouldering her backpack, double checking to make sure she has all her stuff. "Aye, well, there you have it then."

"Job isn't to see if we can get notches on our guns, it is to recover the goods and get them back." Kalila indicates the dead blond with a wave of her hand, "We've already had to kill more people than I wanted."

"The code for the primary lock, is 1107191706211941. This will get you in to the main facility… but I cannot get you farther. I am sorry."

"You've already done a great deal for us, Sir. We appreciate your wisdom and the help you've been willing to part with, and we'll do our best to make sure that your base is taken care of as you wish." Kalila smiles to the old Russian, gathering her gear.

Julian shrugs the rifle over his shoulder. "Yeah well… what's Russian for 'Drek Happens'?" Julian goes next for his comm gear, getting his radio and scanner all set to go. "Besides… the pretty blonde turned out to be a plant. Better we ace her now instead of letting her screw us when things get tight."

"Tell me you will destroy the Bunker." Says the old man. "Tell me, and make me beleive you."

Lilith smiles as well, nodding to Vasily. "Thank you for your help." She simply lets Julian's remark go uncommented. "And we will tell you, old father, as much as it would pain me to do such a thing."

Kalila looks to the dead woman, then to Julian. She just shakes her head and looks to Vasily, "I swear to you that I will make sure this Bunker will be destroyed. No one will ever walk those halls again."

Julian raises a hand. "That would be my department, friend. Usually the big trog bulldozer is a terribly unfortunate stereotype… but I've had some experience with Thermite. Not quite the bang I usually prefer, but it get's the job done very nicely." He secures his comm gear and finally goes for his assault rifle, which is going to be his primary weapon in the assault.

The old man nods. "Good. Good. Now. Go. You have map. You know where to go. In the back of ammunition storage 14, near the merge of Kasperov and Flanker… thou the Arabs call them something else. Something in sand-people." He glances to Kassandra. "I mean no disrespect to present company."

Lilith chuckles faintly at that as she waits for the group, arms crossed.

"No disrespect is taken. I am from Arabia, but I am not of these people." Kalila bows her head to the man and heaves up her gear. "Let's go do something dangerous, folks." She moves to leave, then pauses. "Will you be safe here?"

"I will be fine." Says the old man.

Lilith bows her head to the old man once, giving him a smile before they go.

Moving Along…

Kalila leads back out of the safehouse, checking before just rushing out. If all clear, she will pack her crap back to what is passing for their vehicle, murmuring quietly. "We'll probably want to park a bit away and hike in. I can't imagine just driving up is going to be a great idea."
Lilith moves at a quick pace, not too fast but just enough, keeping her eyes up and swinging back and forth in the fading light as they move to the truck. Hoping they pull this off. "Ha. Not entirely, no, let's just hope we don't find someone there already."

Julian finishes his prepping, and by the time he steps back out of the room, he looks like he's going off to occupy some small citystate. "Actually, I hope we do… maybe they'll know the combinations." He grabs his now mostly-empty bags and carries them along. "One for each of you ladies. When the time comes, you can just start filling them with anything that catches your eye."

Lilith grabs the bag and shrugs. "Maybe. Let's hope we can save more then the spaulders."

The single gunshot rings out in the early afternoon, followed by the metal-on-wood thudding of a gun to the floor. Vasily Nureno, Lt. Colonel in the Soviet Air Force, born in 1965 and aged one hundred and four years old, has served his nation, his people and his time. A time that has come to a close 50 years prior. The doors to the past close as an old man lays down his burden, finding final rest in oblivion.

Lilith stops, turns at the sound of a shot, ducks to the ground…then, hearing where the sound came from, sighs again. She looks to the building and salutes.

Julian turns back towards the sound of the shot, but it's not a jerky motion, he almost expected the shot, and his ears tell him where it came from. "Ruslan Nureno…" he says to himself, as if testing the name. He pauses a moment, then continues to the truck.

Kalila pauses at the single gunshot, hesitating on the way to the truck. She doesn't move for a long moment, doesn't look back. After ten seconds or more, she murmurs quietly in Arabic, "I promise, it will be done." That said, she tosses her gear into the truck and climbs into the driver's seat, starting the vehicle with quick, precise motions.

Lilith hops into the truck, her face under the veils hardening. She stows her gear, gets secure, and watches the building. Closely.

Julian takes a spot in the back, in case things get hairy and he needs to play turret, letting Silk do the driving. He pulls the hand-drawn map from his pocket and hands it to Lil

Lilith nods briskly to Julian and takes the map to look it over.

Kalila doesn't speed, she doesn't drive like a maniac due to anger of upsetness over the man's death. That's something to think about for a later day. Right now, right *now*, she drives towards the base, keeping her eyes on the road, on the surroundings. Her hands and feet move with precision as she guides the vehicle, avoiding potholes and watching, waiting.

Julian keeps a sharp eye out for danger, assault rifle in hand, ready to rock and roll. "One of you should wear the cloak… It'll be big on you, but I don't want it to go to waste."

Lilith nods vaguely. "Silk, you want it?" She looks up from the map at the woman driving.

Downshifting, Kalila brings the vehicle down one the roads, passing by all the poverty and ruin in the city and out towards the base. She shakes her head, "No, I'll be fine, you use it."

Lilith looks to Julian and shrugs. "All right." She tucks the map somewhere within her skirts and holds on as the truck bounces down the roads. "We have any kind of strategy for getting the item? Or are we going to just run in, run out as quickly and quietly as possible?"

"Well." Kalila hms, looking at the sky, "In and out quickly would be the best for me, actually. While carefully skulking around and picking our way through, picking all sorts of interesting things would be lovely, in truth I want to be *gone* from here as fast as we can."

Julian nods. "I'll need some time to get a feel for how the charges are wired, and a bit more to set the timers… I just hope they aren't written in Russian or we may all be in for a nasty surprise."

Lilith nods, grumbling softly. "I can read Russian, if needs be. Language skills is good for something." Lilith gets out the map again as the airbase approaches.

At Bombora

The airbase lies in a low basin on the shores of the Black Sea. It's a massive, sprawling complex, a small city in to itself, with several main complexes. Hulks of aircraft dot the landscape, but the roads and landing zones are clear…

Kalila starts looking for a good place to ditch the vehicle, "Figure out where the ammunition storage 14 is. We'll hike in from somewhere pretty close to here. I want to review their patrol cycle and be ready to move in within the half hour."

Lilith nods, and searches for the spot on the map….

Julian lets the women plan the assault. "Just remember… the codeword is Teddybear." He pats his LMG as he says it.

«OOC» Johny says, "So talk to me how you want to go in, and where."
«OOC» Johny says, "You have the map, the buildings are all mostly ruins. The base is surrounded by a 10 foot cyclone fence with razor wire. There are occasional patrols by motorized infantry, 2-3 guys on ATV's."
«OOC» Julian defers all tactical decisions to the ladies
«OOC» Lilith says, "Hmm"
«OOC» Kassandra says, "ditch vehicle, watch patrol, move through fence at closest point to our entry zone."
«OOC» Johny says, "You are at the edge of the map, where the rail head enters the base, between the open space and the line of buildings."
«OOC» Lilith says, "And the ammo storage?"
«OOC» Johny says, "It's marked ont he map."
«OOC» Lilith says, "Doh. yeah."

«OOC» Johny says, "Those of you who are timing patrols or otherwise looking for security features, gimmie perception checks + 1/2 of the dice from a relevant knowskill"
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Intelligence + 3 (Security.procedures) for "Patrols":
1 1 1 3 3 4 4 5 5 7 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Small Unit Tactics:
1 3 5 8
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls 1 for "Forgot die":
8
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence + 1 for "Perception + Security Procedures, there's us, there's the ammo storage":
2 2 3 3 3 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence + 2 (Civil Engineering) + Task Pool: 1 for "Visual and Auditory perception":
2 3 3 4 4 4 5 7 8
«Watchfor» Vixen (#1018) just connected to the game.
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence + 6 for "Smellovision":
2 2 2 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5
Vixen has partially disconnected.

Julian smells that Lilith needs a bath. he also, with his civil engineering knows that the railtracks to the south east of you, are inoperable. The first real train to run over that bridge is going to collapse it. Maybe hand carts or smaller locomotives, but a freight or military class locomotive will be a pile of twisted metal.

Lilith will plot that the two patrols of ATV's have to cover a circuit of about 5 miles, each moving at about 20 miles an hour, giving you a window of about 10 minutes between patrols. For such a large area, it's a good, tight patrol window.

Kassandra will see that the patrols, when they pass, have a high degree of professionalism, but seem somewhat unfamilar wiht the terrain. Perhaps mercenaries recently brought in to the area.

THe fence appears to be a very old, but maintained and patched, cyclone fence with circular concertina wire across the top. It does not appear to have higher tech modifications, and does not appear to be electrified. It makes sense, given that the cost of electrifying five miles of fence is ginormous. The first wall is always the easiest.

Lilith grunts as she runs a finger down the map, across, nodding her head as she looks up and then watches the patrols roll pass. She murmurs quietly to Kass. "They're good. Nicely run patrol, the bastards…not moving too fast, not too slow, about 20 miles an hour and I'm guessing at that rate they've got 5 miles to go. *We've* got 10 minutes between each pass." She eyes the fence. "Unless that's zappy, I might be able to cut through it…no, the patrols would notice…"

Julian steps up to the fence. "I can find out…" He begins to reach out towards the chain link…

The elven fixer has ditched the robes and veil, dressed for business now. She nods to Lilith, keeping her voice low. "Ok. We'll wait for the next pass and then head out. Fence isn't electrified, although with our luck they planted punji pits on the other side. Anyway, we crest the fence and move towards the goal. The guards look like mercs, from what I can see. It's the way they hold themselves, it's complicated," she remarks.

Lilith nods. Noting Kass stripping down, she does so as well, down to the fullsuit. She keeps her face covered, though, slipping on a warm balaclava and making sure her hair is tightly bound. "Climb the fence, then run, hit the ground if we don't make it all the way before the patrol comes by again, continue?"

Julian nods and taps his scanner. "I can try to tap their frequency… not that it'll do me much good. And I still have the jammer as a last resort." He is composed and still, calm and relaxed. The pre-dustup lull sharpening his nerves and senses.

"I imagine that our large friend here can hoist us up and over. Just make sure to bend your knees or you'll break your legs and we'll have to shoot you." Silk nods to Lilith's comments. "Pretty much. Go, find cover, make it to the entry. Do not engage unless you have to, silently if you do."

These observations took about an hour to make, timing the patrols, marking the patrols, ect… AS such, the sun is starting its way down in the west, across the Black Sea.

Lilith nods briskly. "I'd rather not get shot, so yes, will do. Ruslan, can you toss us over?"

Julian nods and sets his gun down, sinking to one knee. "Ally Oop" he says simply.

«OOC» Johny says, "Give me athletics checks, TN 5, to get over the concertina wire. THat's with Julians help. Julian, you're going to need to make an athletics check, TN 10. Sucks to be the big guy who has no ladder.
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Athletics vs TN 5 for "I believe I can fly.":
1 2 3 10 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Athletics vs TN 10 for "I /am/ a ladder":
1 2 4 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Athletics vs TN 10 for "I /am/ a ladder kp6/10":
1 2 3 5 5 8 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "Kassandra will clear the wire with no problem."
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics vs TN 5 for "Hop up":
2 2 3 3 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Lilith says, "…dammit, what kp am I at…"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Athletics vs TN 10 for "I /am/ a ladder kp8/10":
1 2 3 3 10 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics vs TN 5 for " kp 9/14. I think.":
3 4 5 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Stealth:
1 2 3 3 3 4
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Stealth for "KP 9/10":
1 1 2 3 4 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 for "Mystery~":
1 3 4 5
«OOC» Johny says, "Julian, soak 4M impact damage as you move through the wire."
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Body vs TN 4 for "Soaking Wire. Impact armor is 4 if it helps":
1 1 1 3 4 4 5 5 10 17 = 6 Successes

Taking one last check towards the patrol and then to the top of the fence, Silk moves to set a small foot into the man's hand, taking a deep breath. She nods and prepares to fly.

With the boost, Silk easily clears the concertina wire with space to spare, tucking at the last moment. She lands gracefully, rolling off the excess kinetic energy and staying low after she lands. She stays there until the others are over, watching and waiting.

Lilith has herself launched and dives over the fence much like Kassandra, but perhaps with less grace, just clearing the wire. She lands a little harder, but follows the instructions, rolling as she hits dirt and grunts as her tailbone gets bounced. She lies on her back and waits, sighing a little.

Julian helps the two ladies over then takes up his assault rifle, slinging it over his shoulder and reacing up to grab a hold of the fence. He pulls himself up as if exercising on a bar, but has to lower himself back down when his feet find no purchase among the mesh. He pulls again, hauling himself up and this time he manages to get the toes of his boots into the chainlink. He climbs quickly, examining the wire for a moment, then does his best to pass over it without causing any damage. After about 2 minutes of careful movements, there is a muted thud as his boots strike the ground on the other side. He unslings his Assault Rifle, putting the stock to his shoulder and sliding into step behind the others. He reaches up and pulls the goggles away from his eyes, revealing his cloudy, mishapen irises. Low-light vision doesn't work very well through polarized goggles, after all.

«OOC» Johny says, "Current Karma totals: Kassandra 4/12, Julian: 9/10, Lilith 9/14."

SO there you are. On the wrong side of the world, on the wrong side of a fence, surrounded by Arab Mercenaries who probably will kill you, rape you, and make jackets out of your skin. If you're lucky, it will be in that order.

Eight minutes left. Silk rises in a slink and moves for whatever cover is on the way to their goal. Without cover, she'll stay low, eyes open and alert. She moves in stops and starts, using the shadows and absences of light to her advantage. Her hands are empty of weapons at the moment, but there are weapons to draw if needs be. She mentally toggles the correct cybernetic setting, selecting her combat settings.

«OOC» Johny says, "Okay people. The ball is in your court. You have about a half kilometer to the low rising earth berms in the distance that mark the outside areas of the Ammo dump. Designed to contain explosions, it is easilly defendable as well."
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Stealth:
1 1 4 9 10 16
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Stealth for "using all non-technological advantages.":
2 2 3 4 4 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence for "Vis/Aud, mods on sheet":
1 2 2 3 5 7
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Intelligence for "Perception test. Elvish low light, High Powered Goggles with Vision Mag 3 as well. Thermo when needed.":
2 2 3 4 4 5 7 7
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Stealth for " +12 ruth cloak":
2 4 4 4 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence for "I may be sneaky now, but…":
1 3 3 5 7
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 5 for "Mystery":
1 2 3 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 6 for "Mystery":
2 4 5 7 7 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence for "No russian":
2 2 3 5 10 16
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Intelligence for "I Speak Russian (4). Vision Mag 3, Elvish Lowlight":
1 2 2 3 3 3 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Intelligence for "I Speak Russian (4). Vision Mag 3, Elvish Lowlight, karma reroll 5/12":
2 3 3 3 3 4 4 20
«OOC» Kassandra says, "stay"
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence for "Speak Russian (4) too":
1 1 2 3 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence for "kp 10/14":
1 1 2 3 4

SO there you are, on the top of one of the earth berms, looking in to the interior of the ammo dump. 20-30 individual bunkers are built in to the earth here, each numbered in ancient, fading paint, some numbering visible, some entirely gone. One of the bunkers has people working in it, apparently recovering some sort of explosive devices, given the hush and quiet they work in. Very serious work down there.

Silk stays low, looking over the bunkers, looking for number fourteen, some of the last words the old man spoke to them. She keeps an eye on the EOD team, hmming at being this close. Once and if she spots her quarry she'll move that way.

Lilith moves quietly, frowning as she watches the movements of the people below. Oh, *dammit*. She keeps an eye out for numbers, for letters, trying to stay out of sight.

You paged Julian with 'Heavy industrial sounds, metal on metal, groaning load bearing equipment coming from the area being worked on.'.

Mr. Julian… sort of SEES all the labels, but has no clue what the hell they fucking well mean.

Lilith can't quite see the lettering, but she DOES speak russian, so she's a leg up on Julian.

Kassandra however, will see the lettering on enough of the munitions bunkers to pick out that Bunker 14 is -right next door- to where all those people are working.

Ain't that about a bitch.

Silk considers her luck with an internal sigh, motioning discretely to the other two. She starts making her way quietly towards where the bunker is, keeping an eye on the workers. She works on being quiet, watching the way her shadow falls and her footsteps, hoping they can't hear her heart beat.

Lilith sighs under her breath. Thinking to herself, "Oh, I really, truely hate the world." She slows down, moves not so much to be absolutely silent but to blend in with the natural sounds of night time. Maybe the buggers moving ammo next door or whatever are too noisy to hear them.

Julian considers the situation for a moment, then looks around for anything heavy he can throw, anything that might present an opportunity for distraction to buy them the time they would need to slip into the facility they were looking for. He watches the work, then considers, eyeing the machinery. He turns and begins to gesture wildly. "Do either of you speak Sign?" (Sign Language)

Lilith is looking back and forth, scanning the area, notes Julian…stares at him blankly for a moment, then shrugs and looks vaguely annoyed. She tilts her head for him to come closer, and then focuses back on the workers and getting to the bunker.

Silk was already moving when Julian begins a game of Charades. She doesn't see the man, and doesn't react to the gestures, a bit occupied trying not to get seen by the people disarming God knows what.

As the day gets longer, lights start to come on, local construction generators with lights attached, strong construction style lighting.

Julian follows Silk, pulling up close to her, glancing around for possible eavesdroppers, then speaks quietly. "I have an idea… but it's going to be dangerous for Lilith…" He pauses to listen again to the work. "There's machinery down there, and if you can sneak over and frag one of them, they'll be distracted by trying to make it work again."

Lilith restrains as hiss as the lights come on, and slips deeper into what shadows remain. She does move closer to the others, though, and tilts her head as Julian speaks. "Ah." Just as soft as possible. "The cloak is good. But. The lights are good too."

Silk blinks, looking to the workers, the more lights coming on. She edges back from Julian just a hair, frowning faintly at something or the other. She looks around again. "Looks like they are already doing work," she hisses. "If we move in and are quiet about it, they may regard us as another team working. Things fragging bring more hands on deck."

Julian shakes his head. "With all the hardware I'm packing, the best I can hope for is convince them I'm hired help, but I don't have a fancy hat like the guards do. Guess we just roll the dice and hope for sixes, then?"

Silk murmurs, "I'd prefer not to borrow trouble until we have to." She glances at the vast assortment of hardware Julian is carrying and shakes her head, "Little hope for it now, it's bolted to you." A look back to the people working and the lights. "Just move quietly and lets at least get closer before causing a commotion. There may be other problems."

Lilith watches the workers move about. "Mmm. Maybe if we're lucky, we move fast and silent we can slip in…"

Julian nods. "It's your ball…"

«OOC» Johny says, "14 minutes since you went over the fence.

Lilith looks at Kass. "You think we can move in quick?." She turns her eyes to the workers moving back and forth. "Might be able to time it…slip past one at a time."

Silk nods, speaking quietly. "I think we can, and we'll not have alerted them if successful."

Lilith nods. "I've got the ruth cloak…I could go first, since opening the door itself will be tricky. And more exposed. And take longer." She quirks a faint smile.

Julian nods and listens, not speaking anymore, busying himself with the search for any potential problems.

«OOC» Johny says, "Julian, gimmie a perception check."
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 3 10 11 20

You paged Julian with 'You look here. You look there. The people with the machinery may be going on break soon as two people start unloading what look like crates of food from one of the trucks. Additionally, you look back at the area you came from, just in time to see a pair of ATV's come to a halt near the fence you came in. Your vismag serves you well here, and you can see them using flashlights to examine the wire itself.'.

Julian continues his survey. "Whatever we do, we have about 10 or 12 minutes to do it… looks like someone is taking an interest in our handwork, and it looks like it might be suppertime for the workers."

Lilith nods briskly, making sure the cloak is well secured and covering her fully. "All right. Silk, you game?" She peers her head out just enough, checking the door and more importantly, to see if the state of a lock.

Nodding, Silk says, "Let's do it. We can always do something crazy on the way out, if we are so inclined." She motions and says, "After you."

«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence:
2 2 5 9 16

You know, from here, a good hundred meters from the door itself, its hard to see it or make out details. Binoculars are good for this kind of thing. However, you can make out what you think is a large paddlock on the door. Your russian will tell you that the door is marked 'EMPTY; CONDEMNED; DO NOT ENTER'.

Lilith pauses for a moment before moving out towards the bunker…she looks to the movement nearby, nods, the narrows her eyes and peers as best she can at the door. "I *think* there's a lock there. There probably is, and I probably can cut through it…all right. Moving out."

Silk raises an eyebrow, pulling her goggles down and zooming in on the door and lock before getting ready to move out with Lil.
Lilith drifts out, moving fast and low, trusting to the ruth cloak, the shadows, and the distraction of the movers next door.

Julian glides along with the other two, keeping himself slightly hunched as he keeps on the heels of the two ladies who are now in his charge.

«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Intelligence for "Vision Mods: Vision Mag 3, High Powered Goggles, Low Light Elvish, Thermo":
1 1 2 2 2 3 3 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Intelligence for "Vision Mods: Vision Mag 3, High Powered Goggles, Low Light Elvish, Thermo, karma reroll 6/12":
1 1 3 3 4 4 4 10

The lock is now clearly visible. It's a classic hasp padlock, single key entry and a 4 number combination backing it up. It could probably be picked, but the tumbler combination will be problematic for anyone without super duper hearing and the attention span of an elephant. A very bored elephant.

«OOC» Johny says, "Gimmie some stealth and some athletics checks, 1 each from each of you then a pose."
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Stealth for "+R12 Ruth cloak":
3 4 4 5 7
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics for "Slinky slink":
1 2 4 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Stealth for "Cue: Mission Impossible Theme":
2 4 5 5 5 10
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Athletics for "Cue: Mission Impossible Theme":
2 2 5 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Stealth:
3 4 5 8 9 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Athletics:
1 3 4 4 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 for "Mysterrrrry!":
1 1 1 1
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence:
1 3 3 3 4
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 3 3 4 5

THE LOCAL WORKERS AND GUARDS BOTCH THEIR PERCEPTION CHECK.

Julian continues slinking along behind the two ladies, eyes sharp for trouble. In his head he hums the James Bond theme, which he mistakenly thinks is the Mission Impossible theme from that show McGuyver. Boy would he have egg on his face if anyone knew the embarrassing gaffe going on in that thick gray-green dome of his.

Lilith grins a bit to herself. She *really* loves this cloak. She also moves as quickly as she dares, zigzagging a bit as she moves from clump to shadow to shadow, zipping over to the bunker in question.

Silk moves as quietly as she can, skulking along after where she assumes Lilith is. She can't necessarily see the woman, but she can see the thermal traces on the ground where her feet were. She checks through the visual range on her goggles, pausing to listen for any problems.

While this may not be the most perceptive bunch, it doesn't take a genius to see what happens. One of the arabs steps away from the group, to relieve himself. He lifts his robe to let it fly, and fly it does. Right on to the power transformer that links all the tools the group is using. He literally lights on fire as current travels up the stream of urine, in to his penis, then out his body. The lights short out and explode, sending a shower of sparks and glass outward. And a lot of very confused, and very blind workers, now try to figure out what the HELL just happened.

Lilith jumps a bit, but her pace quickens as she hisses. "Movemovemovemove! They're blind!"

Wow. Silk almost stops to watch the show but instead ducks and uses the extra shadows and distraction to pick up the pace towards their goal.

Julian watches the man, his eyebrow quirking, then he cringes. "Yeesh… that's gonna leave a mark." He hustles after the women.
Lilith allows herself a snigger as she rushes to the bunker door.

Lilith merrily triptriptrips along, her rapidly growing foul mood briefly lifted by the sight of a man's penis leading to his firey demise. And letting them get to where they need to go easily.

The Bunker

Silk slips up out of the shadows next to the door, staying in whatever lack of light there is. She isn't wearing *black*, that would be crude and wouldn't actually work to disguise her. She says low, listening for the flap of the cloak that will announce Lilith.

This, with the back area covered in dirt and built in to a hill side, with a large vehicular door with a second human sized door built in to it. The vehicle door is welded shut, leaving just the human sized door able to open, and that has the padlock with the 4 tumbler combo backing it up.

The combination Vasily provided, is for the primary door guarding the facility hidden in the back of this bunker.

Julian slips up to the bunker door and looks around a bit for anyone who might be watching. "Oh look, a padlock… how quaint. Don't suppose either of you ladies have a bobby pin." He reaches both arms towards the lock…

Silk nods, "Actually, I do." She reaches onto her belt and pulls out a polyceramic handle that just fits in her hand.

Lilith shakes her head. "No. But I've got an edge." She smiles faintly, looking over her shoulder…then back to Silk. "Ah…I was just going to gut the damn thing with me razors."

«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls 5 (Monowhip) + Combat Pool: 4 + 1 (EA) for "Whip it? Well, no, I was just going to unspool it and wrap it around and yank. But whatever is cooler!":
2 2 2 3 4 5 7 7 10 14

Julian nods and turns away to let Kass in. "Have at it, then." He shoulders his rifle again, glancing back over to the workers and their progress in getting light restored.

Silk slips back, grinning at the troll and then at the invisible madam. She murmurs, "Stay back." With a mental toggle, she slips the controls over from 'firearms' to 'whip', bringing up the borrowed skills. Her body adjusts to the chip, meant for someone a foot taller than she and a hundred pounds heavier. She concentrates, her body correcting on the fly as she deftly slips the whip out with a flick of her wrist, the ceramic weight at the end slipping around the lock with one quick move, the molecular line having a little talk with hardened steel.

Lilith steps back. "Ahhh….dammit, should've thought of that…" She nods her head, watching Kass move her wrist. "Mmm. Good form. You been practicing?"

The Steel and the monofiliment have a little chat. The steel isn't as hard as it once was, pitted with rust and generally unhappy. It falls in to several pieces after a very very hard pull. It's not happy to do what it just did, and it may not be suggested to try using the whip in combat before it can be fully examined for hairline mono-cracks in the line. But…

The lock falls to the dirt with a dull thud.

The elf retracts the line back into the handle, grunting something unintelligible. She hunches her shoulders and starts to move before the mental controls shift over, leaving her back as herself. She rubs at her jaw, shaking her head. "Orcs," she says, with a hrm and a grin to Lilith. "I cheated."

Lilith chuckles a bit. "Tsk tsk. But, in my professional opinion, well done." She grins in return to the woman. "Shall we proceed?"

Julian nods. "Good for you, don't regret it." He sweeps the area with the muzzle of his rifle, walking backwards to follow the women.

Nacht's rules of Shadowrunning 293: If you cheat, and you win, it's called 'tactics'. If you cheat, and you lose, it's called 'cheating'.

Slipping the handle onto her belt, Silk mutters, "I think I broke it. Ah well." She glances around and checks to see if all her guns are ready, nodding to the door. "Shall we?"

«OOC» Johny says, "Strength check, TN is 5, 3 successes needed."
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Strength vs TN 5 for "Rawr! Me tough!":
2 3 4 7 14 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 for "Mystery!":
1 2 2 9

The door groans, flexing and bending on its hinges loudly, echoing in the space beyond in a fashion that grinds in to the bones. The door does not however, open.

Silk looks at Lilith and hms, moving over to lend a hand. "Together!"

Lilith nods. "I've got one as well, so we're good for now…" She wraps her long fingers around the door handle and tugs…and tugs…and once more. She nods, but also looks to Julian. "Dammit…all right. 1, 2, 3…tug!"

«OOC» Johny says, "Both of you, TN 5, 4 successes needed between you :)"
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Strength - 1 vs TN 5 for "Strength was only 3 at the time of the adventure.":
3 9 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Strength vs TN 5 for "Once more!":
1 1 2 3 11 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Strength - 3 vs TN 5 for "Strength was only 3 at the time of the adventure., karma reroll 7/12":
5 = 1 Success

Silk leans into it, straining as she pulls steadily on the door. She isn't very strong, really, nor does she weigh a lot. She isn't made for bouts of strength, and yet keeps having to do crazy things like haul robots across the South Pole or cart large objects on runs.

THe door ratchets open with a noise that could scare the piss out of a piss drunk. The other men don't seem to notice however, as they are trying to get the lights back on and put their friend out. It's always a bad day when you have to 'put someone out'.

Lilith grunts and pulls…she's in very good shape, she has to be in her line of work. Braces her legs and leans back, only stumbling a bit once the door squeals open. "Ow, dammit. Ok. Let's get in."

The interior of the ammo dump smells of dank dirt. Not weather controlled up here, water has seaped in for years, pooling on the floor. Oil and dirt and mold and mildew blend together in to a miasma that could choke a horse.

Matter of fact, one of those may be rotting in the corner. Hard to tell.

Julian grins and follows the ladies. "When this is over, maybe you and I should do some…strength training." He continues to watch the outside world as he follows the women in, and when they are in he reaches out to pull the door partway closed. A wide-open door would cut down on their looting time. "Ok ladies… time for the great shopping trip." he says as he looks around for the thermite charges, clicking on his eyelights, sweeping the dual beams around the room.

«OOC» Johny says, "Who had smellovision?"
«OOC» Julian says, "yo"
«OOC» Johny says, "Willpower check!"
«OOC» Johny says, "TN is 8"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Willpower vs TN 8:
2 2 3 4 5 13 = 1 Success
«OOC» Johny says, "You manage not to vomit, but you throw up a little in your mouth."

Silk pulls a small flashlight off her belt, flicking the light on and peering around. She glances to Julian's suggestion with a raised eye, clearly thinking he was talking to Lilith. She hms, looking to remember the directions that Vasily gave her, pulling her datapad to check the details.

Julian shudders a bit as he catches the whiff. "Oh god…" he has to turn away from the women to spit foul saliva out of his mouth. A mental command shuts down his supercharged shnoz and he breaths a bit easier. A /bit/.

The Exterior Entrance, hidden.

Lilith eyes narrow a bit at the comment, but she shrugs, carefully slipping into the bunker and finding her footing on the dank floor. "What's the map say, Silk?"

"First we get past this place, down thataway then he said down at the 4th annex, farthest door on the left, kalishnakov and star emblem. Thataway." Silk motions with her light, starting off. "Once we get past the facade we can get to the real complex, and from there .. we just have to get through a monster door."

Julian nods. "Well lets do it quick before they have the chance to block us in." He follows the women.

Lilith nods, following her and trying to ignore the smell. "Oh, fun…let's hope our luck holds."

With flashlights and low light vision or night vision, it's easy enough to find the control box, but only because you know where to look for it. The room is full, positively full, of ancient munitions. 500 pound bombs, for dropping from aircraft. There are probably 400 such bombs here, all neatly racked up in racks that probably will collapse if you blow on them.

100 tons of old explosives.

Mmmmm.

Lilith shivers as she looks over the ancient bombs, the tons of explosive power….and really, really hopes no one sneezes to hards. "Good lord."

"Wow. If I could get these .. no, nevermind." Silk sighs and looks to the control box, muttering to herself in Arabic.

Julian looks around at the room, his eyes wide with wonder. "Ho…ly…drek…" He swallows hard. "Either of you know the Russian national anthem?" He examines one.

Lilith snorts under her breath, moving towards the box as well. "Don't sing it too loudly. Now, how to move on.".

"Gosudarstvenny Gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii was the old anthem. Why? Feeling patriotic?" Silk shrugs, shining her light over the control box.

The box-panel folds up, to create a visual break for the controller. 12 digits all currently set to zero.
Lilith looks to Kass. "Need me to hold the light?"

Julian chuckles. "With this much ordinance around, I think I'm even starting to beleive in /God/." He keeps his back to the women still, watching their return path.

Silk chuckles faint at Julian, handing the light to Lilith. "All right, let's see what we have to do to get outta here." She shifts mental gears, letting the borrowed skills flood over her, pulling out a few different tools.

Lilith holds the light up and at an angle, shining it at the box. "You got the code, I assume?" She grins faintly.

Silk chuckles faint at Julian, handing the light to Lilith. "All right, let's see .." She inputs 1107191706211941 into the device, watching for any changes. "Let's hope his memory was good."

Nothing happens.

Lilith holds the light up and at an angle towards the box. "Good show….oh, dammit." She curses softly and eyes the door.

Julian turns his head. "What? What's wrong?" He turns a bit more, squinting at the door. "Hmmmm… well that's not good… try it backwards?"

Silk shrugs and starts to put it in, then tilts her head, checking her notes. She puts it in as 0621194111071917.

As if it was taking a moment to simply wake up, a light over head, recessed in to the concrete butress of the roof, glows very softly, almost as though it were millions of miles away. Then brighter, then brighter still until it provides light in the room… It comes on before Kassandra touches the pannel a second time.

Lilith looks down at the numbers, frowning. "Those numbers….ah, there we go!" She clicks off the light in hand, rolling her eyes. "Bloody Russian commie junk…"

Julian moves back into his guard position as the light comes up, snapping his eyelights off. "Never doubted for a second…" he mumbles.

Oooos, pulling her hand back before she inputs more data. "Just slow to work is all. Forget that this probably isn't made with state of the art stuff like we are used to. Things worked slower in the past."

Lilith snorts again. "True enough. Is it going to open on it's own, or is there a handle somewhere?"

Julian takes a moment to get a better idea of the layout of the room now that he can see it all.

Silk looks at the floor just in case they are standing on something that will move, "I am not sure." The elven girl checks all around them, just in case. Things worked differently in the past. She hms quietly.

The entire room rumbles. The sort of rumble that comes when a freight train barrels past you at low speed, more torque and force than finesse. The wall starts to slide away, to reveal a much better looking set of doors, these marked with a massive Red Star and the third eye of the Uvazheniem Special Operations Unit.

To one side, sits a portrait of Stalin, unfaded by the years, to the other, the emblem of the KGB. Two things most feared in Soviet Russia.

Lilith looks around as well, passing the flashlight back. She takes a few steps, searching the area…and then jumps back as the wall moves aside, staring at the rather impressive facade of the Red Star. "There we go."

Julian grumbles. "Things were /noisier/ back then too…"

Silk grins for the first time in a while, "Beautiful." She moves forward to look over the door, inwardly cursing that she forgot her camera. Maybe the next super secret KGB bunker. With a sigh she starts to see how to get into this door, making mental notes for her next dig.

Lilith chuckles. "Beautiful, in a way, but a bloody bugger to get through, I wager…" She moves to inspect the double doors.

This, a blast door with clamshell twin-halves, appears to be controlled by a simple electronics pannel on the right. While in its day, it was state of the art, today probably a child could by pass it with 'My first Electronics kit' by Playscool.

The Blast Doors

Julian nods. "Keep working on it… I'm gonna see if anyone hears that oversized microwave plate." He begins to move forward, back in the direction of the door, ears sharp for voices or noise.

«OOC» Johny says, "Julian, perception check."
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence:
1 3 4 4 5 9

The outside seems to be quiet. But who knows. No one picked up the lock outside.. and maybe someone is outside the door RIGHT NOW.

The elven girl ooos, pulling out her little secretary, clicking a few pictures of Mr. Stalin and the KGB symbol, the door. She then moves for the lock and cycles up her electronics program, which immediately sneers at the lock in a Brooklyn accent.

Lilith glances over to Kass and smiles faintly. "Can you tackle it?"

"Of course." It's Silk's voice, but very slightly changed. A little deeper, with a faint Brooklyn accent tinged, the occasional Yiddish word working its way into her dialogue. She runs her eyes over the lock, peering at it closer than she might normally need to, pulling the goggles down to dial up the microtronics. "Bring the light closer, girl, do you want me to go blind here? What am I, a mole?"

Lilith ambles over and shines the light on the box as directed. "Oi, mate, yer down inna deep enough hole." She idly lets her Cockney accent swing into play in retaliation.

«OOC» Johny says, "Electronics B/R at TN 3. It's really very advanced for its age."
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls 5 (Electronics.br) vs TN 3 for "Fear My skills!":
1 1 2 5 8 = 2 Successes

Muttering under her breath, Silk grumbles about the age of the lock, "But see here, see how they were working on this right here? This sort of circuitry, very advanced, very good." She quiets, moving the case to the side.

Lilith peers over her shoulder at the bits and pieces and wires. "Aye, I guess so. Need to read up a bit more on my handyman electronics." She grins a bit. "How much time will it take you?"

The door will start to rumble open on its own tracks, the lights coming on to full strength now… revealing a long, central corridor that runs some 100 yards away. This area smells of -dry air-.. and somewhere, the tint of ozone. Underneath, a power plant of some sort has come back to full power, but clearly, something has given this place uninterrupted power for the last hundred years.

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "You ladies keep going, I'll keep an eye on the door…"

"Time time time, what is it with you young people and time, always in such a rush. Tch." Silk starts to run a bypass, a grimace coming to her face as she speaks in her own voice, "Not long .. done." Uncliping the leads, Silk closes down the electronics program with a thankful sigh, bringing up the customized pistol program instead. This one is at least quiet in her head.

«OOC» Johny says, "Julian, give me that civil engineering knowskill."
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Civil Engineering:
1 2 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Task Pool: 1:
4
You paged Julian with 'Tell me. What kind of generator can run for a hundred years at low output without maintainance or refueling?'.

Julian feels a slight vibration, and hears the hum of the power coming back online. He goes back to his comm…

Lilith arches a brow at the woman. "Me? Young? Perish the thought." She looks over as the door opens, sniffing the dry air suspiciously, moving towards it carefully. "But, nicely done. We better keep going."

Nodding, the elven fixer moves forward, sliding the goggles out of the way. She keeps her hands free for the moment, although her left hovers over the holstered pistol, her computer targetting system blinking an amber 'ready' in her field of vision.

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Don't stray to far down there… I think there might be a secondary entrance for generator service… or at least fuel lines. This place wasn't blacked out. Either it's daisy-chained off another bunker, or the generator in here has been running for a few hundred years."

Commlink-«Silk» "Affirmative."

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Aye aye"

Julian continues to watch the door, then sudden mumbles. "Wait a second… that's not possible unless…" He is quiet for a moment, then the frown becomes a grimace. "Drek…" back to the comm.

Commlink-«Silk» Silk stops and looks back, drawing her pistol. "Talk to me, VII."

In the main hall passage, the reliquary, there are spotlights illuminating each of the branch doors. THey are massive blast doors with rails running under them, to allow load-carts to be pushed despite the massive loads on them. Common enough for what was probably originally ammo storage before it was retasked.

Each one is numbered, named after Soviet Heros from the ages past. Gagerin, Karlov, Zukov…

Commlink-Malus> Lilith stops as well, hand going to her hip. "What's up."

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "There's no fuel-lines, and no access doors… it's not a generator. It's a reactor."

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Excuse me while I say Fuck."

Lilith backpedals a bit from the entrance.

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Anyone got a geiger counter?"

Commlink-«Silk» Silk shakes her head, holstering the weapon. "If it is dirty, we are already screwed. Do the job. There are things we can take should we live long enough to get back to civilization." With that, the elf takes off at a trot towards where the old man told them to go.

Commlink-Malus> Lilith sighs. "All right."

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "It's not the radiation I'm worried about… that we can treat for. But do you have any idea what's going to happen when we set off a thermite bomb on top of it? We better be way the hell away from here when it starts to burn the outer casings."

Lilith trots after Kassandra. But she does doubletake a bit, and worry.

Commlink-«Silk» "I have a pretty good idea, yes." Silk is still moving, looking around carefully but not stopping.

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Nothing pleasant. Let's move *quickly* now."

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Good, I'm glad we're on the same page here… (there is a not so subtle hint of sarcasm in his voice.)"

Nikolai Melnik. His portrait hangs on the wall next to the designated bunker. A young looking man in a military uniform, the russian text hails him as a hero of the Russian people for his brave, if suicidal, actions to plant radiation monitors around Chernobyle shortly after it's meltdown. His actions allowed the response to be much swifter and accurate than it might have been. He died of massive burns and radiation poisoning some lingering weeks later.

Clicking a picture of the hero and bunker with her secretary, Silk hms softly. She looks around and nods to Lilith, "Here."

Lilith nod and eyes the door, giving the door handle a twist to see if it's locked.

Oh yeah, its locked.

This control panel is curiously, more advanced than the primary one. Soviets; always doing shit ass-backward. To bypass it will be a TN of 4.

Second verse, same as the first. Silk shifts gear, her tools coming to hand. She lets out a breath and controls her mouth, the program only managing to get a few "oye veys" out.

«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls 5 (Electronics.B/R) vs TN 4 for "Lock! -2 TN if Microvision counts":
1 3 3 4 15 = 2 Successes

This isn't very micro, as micro goes. However, the lock is bypassed pretty quickly. This here, is why Vasily was scared. Once you know of this place… it would be rediculously easy to slice in to it and steal its treasures.

The doorstarts to rotate out on a massive hinge…

Melnik Bunker

Silk switches modes again, her tools going into their little pouches. She steps back as the door rotates, sending a quick message.

Commlink-«Silk» "Alright, bunker door bypassed."

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Wonderful"

Lilith steps back as well, eyeing the massive door. "Let's run in and grab what we need…soon, one hopes."

Julian continues his vigil at the front door, tensed and jazzed and ready to get the eff out.

Moving when there is room, Silk is in and looking around quickly.

The room's lights come on with WHUMPS as argon lights find spark after decades in the dark. Half of them don't function, but the Soviets always overbuilt. Plenty of functional lights exist to allow Kassandra and Lilith to get through the area. It's crates… on top of crates on top of crates. A few statures line the back wall that are simply too large to crate effectively, covered in tarps that hang in ragged strips. Almost featureless, they are still pre-egyptian in design and display a far more elegant style than the egyptians ever dreamed of.

Lilith lets out a soft sigh of wonder, perhaps running her fingers over the crates, staring mournfully over the statues. "May we be forgiven for destroying this…."

Click. Click. Click. Silk takes several pictures with her secretary before looking for their prize. Although just a digital representation, the lab geeks at the Foundation will probably spend weeks pouring over them. She nods quietly to Lilith, "Alright. First step, Spaulders."

Lilith nods and looks around the room, drifting quickly and in respectful silence towards the statues. "Aye. He said they were on or under a diamond statue?"

Julian is definitely /not/ doing a crossword puzzle on his pocsec while you two are artifact hunting.

"Nyet. That is where they found them. I'd give a lot to see the statues." Silk starts checking the room out, inwardly cursing and hoping there is a rhyme or reason for how things are set up. She checks box numbers and crates.

Lilith grunts and nods, and turns herself to a search of the crates as well. "Dammit."

Everything is numbered. Everything is ordered. Everything is in PLACE. The Soviet Way. Now if only you had a MANIFEST.. like should be kept near the door in collections like this…

Lilith gets a thought. Looks towards the door. "Russians were neat bastards, weren't they? Very keen on organization and all that."

Logistics, armies live and die by them. The elf looks around and nods, "Clipboard, probably. Near a door or desk, most likely if you wanna look."

Lilith nods and all but bolts over to the door area, scanning for a manifest, for anything.

There, by the main door, is a logbook. Neatly organized in cryllic lettering, a full manifest of the room's content.

Lilith grabs the book and rapidly begins to flip through it, running her fingers down the lines, looking, searching…primarily for the spaulders, yes, but if there's anything else there that might be readily and easily accesible as well.

Silk is still moving through the room, taking note of how things are laid out as well as any open crates or antiquities lying around, especially small easily palmable ones.

«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence vs TN 12 for "*crosses fingers*":
3 4 5 10 11 = 0 Successes.
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence vs TN 12 for "*crosses fingers*":
1 1 1 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence vs TN 12 for "*crosses fingers* 15 minutes.":
1 2 5 10 10 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence vs TN 10 for "*crosses fingers* You bastisch. 20 min.":
1 2 2 3 11 = 1 Success

'Asarensch; Body Armor; Archaic; Unknown Properties; Unknown Composition; Silver Leaf/Floral patterning; Black in color: LOT 4012-B

Fifteen minutes is a long, long time. Somewhere in there Kass has been opening crates and putting things in a bag. Small, light things when she can, but she is gathering things she can. The old man said this was where they kept the armour and weapons, and so she will take examples of what she can find while Lilith tries to read Cryllic.

Lilith calls out softly. "Asarensch…" She moves towards Kassandra, tapping a spot in the book. Shivers. "Lot 4012-B."

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "If you ladies find any good longswords back there, grab one for me, will ya? Preferably one that lights on fire, or turns people to dust or something?"

Stuffed in a bag, Silk will have found some sort of broad leaf-bladed knife, a single gauntlet made out of some sort of exotic leather. A coiled length of golden chain finds its way into the bag as well, and then a tiny black buckler with the sigil worn off, made of some sort of super hard wood. She pauses in her finds when Lilith calls out, looking around at the crates and heading for it.

Ahh, God love Russian Organization because no one else EVER will. There is the crate in question, 3 shelves up, under another box. Suuuuuure would help to have a big, strong, tall trog in here.

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Cuss this blasted world. Seven, if you ever could join us?"

Silk considers the stack, "We could just push it over? I mean, we aren't trying to be neat are we?"

Pushing these racks over would probably require Julian as well. They are strong, stable steel.

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "I /could/, but tactically I advise agaisnt that."

She might have meant the boxes.

Lilith taps her foot, staring upwards as she walks over to Kass. "We could. Maybe the boxes breaking will reveal more goods…or something breaks and our asses get cursed." She taps her chin. "I might be able to climb it."

Commlink-«Silk» "Righteo"

"I *know* I can climb it. I can climb anything." Silk grins at that, "Or I can give you a boost. Either way, we need to get up there and pry open the box."

Lilith chuckles. "…or…dammit. I've got the flying focus. Crap. I was hopeing you could climb and I good look for goodies."

"Sure, load up a bag. Sam isn't going to let you keep it, you know." With that, Kass drops her bag gently and starts climbing.

«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Athletics vs TN 5 for "Climbing":
2 3 3 4 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Athletics vs TN 5 for "Climbing karma reroll 8/12":
1 1 3 5 11 = 2 Successes

Silk takes a run and bounces off the wall, snagging a hand hold. She faulters for a second before scrambling up to where the box is with quick, decisive moves. She leans against the box and watches Lil float up.

Lilith begins to float upwards towards the box. She grumbles. "Oh, no fun…but, you're right."

Lilith tries to speed up and catch up with Kassandra's monkey like climbing.

The crate, 4012-B, is 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet deep. It's the sort of crate you'd expect to ship 50 AK 47's in.

Lilith rises to the top and briefly smiles. "You win." She pushes at the box lying on top of their objective, just as quick inspection. "Now we need to get rid of this."

Motioning to the box on top, "Well, slide it over to here and we'll then be able to try and pry this one open."

Lilith nods and leans her shoulder into it…if it's light enough to at least be nudged enough out of the way.

«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Strength - 1 vs TN 5 for "I am strong! Grrrrr":
1 1 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Strength vs TN 5 for "Rawr!":
1 1 2 2 3 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Lilith says, "Oh, screw you, dice"
«OOC» Johny says, "Give me a grunting monkey pose."
«OOC» Johny says, "Kass."
«OOC» Lilith says, "Ook ook EEEEEK ook :)"
«OOC» Johny says, "After a pose of moving the top box"

Lilith grunts and pushes the top box out of the way. She wipes away a stray strand of hair and nods, eyeing the one underneath. "All righty."

Helping Lilith with a few pushes on the box, Silk helps to slide it off and out of the way, hopefully onto another stack.

Once the box is cleared from the top, Silk pulls a wickedly curved knife off her thigh and starts prying. Built like the famous bowie knife, it is sturdy enough for some of this light work. Once she gets a good wiggle with the knife to get her fingers under, the little elf puuuuuuuuuullls and pries open the lid with a grunt. She frowns and shakes her head. "I know why I bring Sam on runs now."

The box top pops off, revealing straw and hay used as a packing material. The kind of shit rats love to be all up inside. But there are no rats. The smell is musty, but not rotten.

The blade is sheathed and then Silk is looking. "Oh, good, a box of hay," she mutters, digging beneath the packing materials.

Lilith nods her head. "And this is why I don't want to be squishy anymore. Got to get on that Beta bone enhancement you gave me….hmm." She looks down at the box, then at Kassandra, then at the box again, and lowers delicate fingers to push away the hay.

Lilith will uncover the form of a perfectly preserved human face. So life-like it could open its eyes and stare ate you. Fair features, but strong. The hair is light in color…

Lilith starts, jerking her hands back and crossing herself on automatic. SHe then takes a slow breath, peering closer at the…face…examinging it. "What the bloody hell…"

Stone. The face is stone. Cold to the touch, but warm in its carving. THe hair is likewise, stone, but tinted. Not with paint, and carving so fine you can see individual hairs…

Silk hms, "Did you find it?" She is still digging, leaning into the box and feet almost dangling as she tries to find what they are looking for.

Silk will uncover a smaller box inside the larger box. This one marked '4012- B-A'.

Lilith gasps softly, running a single, feather light touch over the face. "No…but…this is incredible…a stone face." She wonders at it a moment more, and then sighs and lifts it, to make room to look for the spaulders. "Can we carry this in anything?"

«OOC» Johny says, "Lil, gimmie a strn check."
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Strength:
4 4 4 5 8

Lilith is able to lift it… but only barely. Only barely. Its unexpectedly dense, perhaps as dense as gold.

Opening the smaller box, Silk remarks, "If you can find something to put it in, sure. There is the bag down there, or a pack if you have one."

Julian continues his vigil, making a mental note to buy an English to Russian Dictionary, and idly wondering how to say "I see the Virgin Mary in my grilled cheese sandwhich" in Arabic.

Lilith grunts. "Good heavens…it's bloody heavy. Yes, I think I will…do you got the spaulders there?"

Inside the smaller box, are the Spaulders. The leafwork and ornimentation glow a soft blue, almost organic in the way it seeps from the leather.

Lilith leans over and eyes the Spaulders, face expressionless. "Benedicite…" she murmurs, then begins to sink to the ground, heavy burden in hand.

A smile comes to the elf's mouth as she lifts the artifacts, "Yes, I do." She looks them over quickly and places them in the satchel around her neck, keeping them close to her body. Once she is sure they are secure she gives the box one final look through, and if nothing else catches her eye, heads back down.

«Plot» Johny says, " Lilith is at +2 tn on all athletics check while she gets a little head."

Lilith lands on the ground, and removing her veil, respectfully and very carefully wraps the head up to offer it some protection, then shrugs off her pack and again carefully slides it inside.

Julian is passing the time on guard duty, taking the opportunity to munch on a granola bar from his pocket.

Lilith carefully shoulders her backpack, and looks up to Kass. "All right, I think this is it. Wanna run for it or take more time looking around?"

Silk drops back down to the floor gracefully, looking around thoughfully. She shakes her head with a sigh, "We need to get out of here. We have what we came for and if we say any longer .. "

Headed out

So there you are… Lilith's weighed down by her new head, Kassandra has the spaulders in a sack… in the middle of Azkahbia, formerly a Russian province, now a no-mans land between the Soviet Empire and the middle east, a land of war and strife…

Lilith nods briskly, grunting a bit under the weight of the pack. "Ok. Let's move."

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Comin' on out"

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Either of you ladies have any experience with Thermite?"

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Any of you ladies seen a big control panel that says "Do not push the red button" in Russian?"

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Hold on"

Silk stops, looking around at the various bits of wiring, control pannels, etc in the halls. She routes to her Electronics program and frowns, muttering under her breath. "Always a catch."

Lilith looks towards Kass, then over the room, letting her eyes look for something of that nature. "Dammit all. Do we know if it has a timer?"

Silk will move out into the main hallway, shaking her head. "We don't know anything about this," she remarks, looking at the way the pipes and wires, if exposed in the old place, travel.

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Remind me to have you order me some remote explosives when this is over…"

Lilith nods. "True. But if the explosives are not degraded…well, if there is a button to *push*, then I assume it would allow the pusher time to escape."

«OOC» Johny says, "Give me perception checkes."
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence:
3 3 4 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 3 3 3 5
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 8 (intelligence) for "I have Chemistry, Military Gear, Electronics and BR Elec as well":
1 3 3 4 5 5 7 16

It only takes a moment to find, lucky. Kassandra follows the conduits and such back to an alcove with a metal box with a flange-front that has a padlock on it and a lot of signs that say DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER only probably more like DANGERSKI.

Silk remarks over the comm, «Silk» "Found it." With that, she moves to the box and nods, "Don't get electricuted when you do it." She'll step back to allow Lilith happyfunsliceytime.

Lilith follows Kassandra, and places her hands on her hips as she eyes the box. "Grand, isn't it? I can slive through the lock, if needs be."

«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence for "Do I get to do something fun now!?!?!":
1 3 3 3 4 10

Fun is as fun does. In a disservice to arabs across the world, the front door opens. "Dakka dakka, dirka jihad allah? Mutashi! Dakka dirka Muhammad!" Says one of the men, standing in the doorway, peering inside, an AK 97 over his shoulder and at the ready.

«OOC» Julian will try to find a hiding spot before the man makes it all the way inside.
«OOC» Johny says, "Theres racks and racks of BOMBS to hide in!"
«OOC» Julian says, "Fantastic"
«OOC» Johny says, "Safe, steel bombs."
«OOC» Julian says, "I'll take cover behind one of the racks"
«OOC» Johny reminds you; the lights in here are -on- now.
«OOC» Julian says, "I know… I just need the guy to get a bit closer"
«OOC» Julian says, "Like, within range of a lunge"
«OOC» Johny nods. I want to talk to you about causality now.
«OOC» Johny says, "Causality is 'what will happen if I'."
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok, lemme start at the end and work backwards"
«OOC» Johny says, "Now, if you grab the guy and like, kill him inside the room, what will happen?"
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay"
«OOC» Johny says, "Cause in my minds eye, the causality of that is all the arabs outside, shooting IN to the bunker, wiht its safe, steel bombs."
«OOC» Julian says, "I don't want to kill him at least not here. I want to get him in a sleeper hold or clamp my hand over his mouth or something… but I want to do it quietly, becuase if either side fires guns, /other/ then the inevitable steel on steel action and subsequent vaporization, it will alert those outside. So all I need is to hide long enough for him to get closer so I can reach out and grab him."
«OOC» Johny nods. Let me rephrase then.
«OOC» Julian says, "I do see your point though…"
«OOC» Julian says, "It means I'm going to have to do something foolish"
«OOC» Johny says, "Three guys stand outside. One gets yanked in to the mysterious hole by mysterious person. Two guys, while simultaniously shitting themselves, fire blindly in to the hole."
«OOC» Johny says, "And all those beautiful bombs."
«OOC» Julian says, "Are they standing close together?"
«OOC» Lilith says, "…I like my skin in one piece :)"
«OOC» Johny says, "You don't know. You don't ACTUALLY know there are 3 of them, but I'm giving you a GM 'please don't kill everyone just like that' gimmie."
«OOC» Julian says, "I have decided, on further consideration, to revise my plan"
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok…"
«OOC» Julian says, "Well here is my second idea"
«OOC» Johny says, "Cause, love you all though I do. I will kill you :)"
«OOC» Julian says, "Slightly less dangerous, though just as foolish"
«OOC» Julian says, "I put a concussion grenade through the front door… and charge the entrance… If I can get outside and draw their fire away from the bunker entirely, that'll buy us some time."
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay. So your going to throw a grenade, then run to where you threw the grenade? I just want to be sure I understand what your suggesting."
«OOC» Julian says, "No, I'm going to fire it from my assault rifle and use grenade link"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692)'s Assault Rifle (#1732) has the Voucher Item 1 Customized Ares Alpha with the following information:
------------------------------------------------------[ Shadowrun Denver ]-----
==========================> Item 1 on Assault Rifle <==========================
Item Name: Customized Ares Alpha
Item Type: ITEM
Quantity: 1
Fractional OK: No
Clonable: No
Players Can Link: No
Created For: Julian (#2692)
Created By: Basalt (#9193)
IC Location: Carried
-----------------------------> GM Notes for Item <-----------------------------
Feb 11 18:41 Ranges:0-55/56-165/166-385/386-605 Ammo:50(c)/50(c)/8(m)
Damage:9M RC:5 (Internal Smartlink-2, Topmount:Grenade Link,
Underbarrel:Grenade Launcher, Barrelmount:Sound Suppressor,
Troll Adjusted, Barrel Extension, Heavy Barrel, Clip Select,
Personalized Grip, Shock Pad, Extended Clip, Improved Power,
Caseless Ammo Adaptation, Sling, Ruthenium Coating)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
«OOC» Julian says, "It's the top mount"

«OOC» Julian says, "So /hopefully/ I detonate it in the faces of however many people are at the entrance now, and give everyone else something to shoot at besides the bombs"
«OOC» Julian says, "again, just as foolish, but the bombs won't be a factor"
«OOC» Johny says, "That brings you back to the primary issue: Concussive blast/impartation of kenetic energy to the structure, racks and tastey bombs."
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok… then I'm going to have to do something REALLY foolish"
«OOC» Lilith says, "oh dear"
«OOC» Julian says, "I'm not going to fire my gun at all"
«OOC» Julian says, "I'm going to rush the entrance, and get in their faces"
«OOC» Johny says, "Let me reitterate the tactical position you have chosen."
«OOC» Julian says, "Well I'm stuck here, unless there is another exit"
«OOC» Julian says, "Becuase if I retreat, then we'll have to pass the bombs on our way out, which will probably involve shooting any way :)"
«OOC» Johny says, "You are surrounded by rickety, rusted bomb racks containing some hundred tons of deadfall bombs kenetic bombs. These are not smart bombs or anything liket hat, but good old fashioned 'throw them at the enemey' bombs."
«OOC» Julian says, "The bomb racks are kinda a line in the sand…"
«OOC» Johny says, "A ricochet or something hitting the racks could start a chain reaction of shit toppling over."
«OOC» Johny says, "And thats… sort of bad."
«OOC» Julian says, "hmmmm"
«OOC» Johny says, "I can offer you tactical suggestions that Julian might know."
«OOC» Julian says, "Please do, becuase I'm out of ideas"
«OOC» Julian says, "I'm in a very bad spot, unless…"
«OOC» Julian says, "Hehe, I suppose I could stand right out in the open among the bombs and dare them to shoot at me?"
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay. I suggest charting the door, grabbing the man and using him as a meat shield."
«OOC» Johny says, "Charging."
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok, so much like my original plan, just use a big sheild to make sure the bullets don't go anywhere"
«OOC» Julian says, "well, not ORIGINAL plan"
«OOC» Julian says, "my original plan was crazy"
«OOC» Johny nods. Or, you know, in to you. More over, they arn't firing in to the door now.
«OOC» Johny says, "But rather, near the door. Thats a big big difference on LOS weaponry"
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok, one way or another, I have to get them away from the bombs and give them something else to shoot at… so I'm going to charge the door, sling my assault rifle, and try to grapple the man"
«OOC» Johny says, "I'm sorry that I didn't convey the poorness of your position before hand, but I figured you sort of understood the inherant danger of 100 tons of high explosives on sagging racks."
«OOC» Julian says, "Right"
«OOC» Julian says, "Which is why I knew I couldn't sit and wait for them to get closer, and I DEFINITLY couldn't retreat"
«OOC» Johny nods.
«OOC» Julian says, "I have to advance, or we're screwed one way or another"
«OOC» Johny says, "If you cant let them get closer, and you can't back upo,. you must advance. yes."
«OOC» Julian says, "I'm just going to do it without shooting"
«Watchfor» Janie (#4136) just disconnected from the game.
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok… I'll pose the beginning of what I'm sure is going to be an…interesting… extraction"

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "We just ran out of time…"

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "What?"

Julian already has the rifle strap halfway over his head by the time his leading leg lifts. Like a heavily-armed sprinter leaving the line, he is in motion, barreling towards the door. He flexes his fingers, and hopes the first man through the door had an extra lunch today…

Commlink-«Silk» "Understood. We've found the controls and are setting the bomb."

Lilith growls under her breath and tenses, ready to run like hell.

"Go help him, Malus." Silk remarks, reaches for her tools. "I can do this and he's probably gonna need help making a hole."

Lilith nods briskly and begins to move to the door. "Aye aye, Silk. Luck to you." She offers a brief smile before making her way out. "Be safe and run fast."

«OOC» Johny says, "if lilith leaves right now, she's 2 combat rounds at full run from the front door."
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay. Now we handle the combat with Julian."
«OOC» Johny says, "Julian, a charge attack on the man at the door. You have surprise. I'm gonna give you that."
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok, having never done this kind of H2H combat, not quite sure hat TN to roll"
«OOC» Johny says, "Give me an unarmed combat roll, TN is 4-reach."
«OOC» Johny says, "Unless you want to apply it to the other guy"
«OOC» Julian says, "I'll take it"
«OOC» Julian says, "CP applies?"
«OOC» Johny nods. Yes.
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Kung Fu + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 3 for "Charging Grapple":
1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 5 9 10 = 8 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "KP?"
«OOC» Johny says, "KP?"
«OOC» Julian says, "nope"
«OOC» Johny nods.
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 3 vs TN 4 for "DAkkadakkaholyshitistan!":
2 3 8 = 1 Success
«OOC» Lilith giggles
«OOC» Johny says, "7 to you. Your base damage is strM stun damage, I'll give you +stage for the charge, so StrS stun damage."
«OOC» Julian says, "11s"
«OOC» Johny says, "Which stages to 13D stun."
«OOC» Julian says, "Is it enough to grab a hold of him?"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 vs TN 11 for "Impact armor? Why would I be wearing a suit of plate mail?":
3 5 9 11 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 vs TN 11 for "Impact armor? Why would I be wearing a suit of plate mail? KP 1/3":
1 3 4 5 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "Yes. He's out like a light."
«OOC» Julian says, "Pose it?"
«OOC» Johny says, "Incdentally, he's a 4L weapon if used as a bludgeon"
«OOC» Johny says, "And please do"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 5 vs TN 4 for "surprise check Goon 1":
1 2 9 10 13 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 5 vs TN 4 for "surprise check Goon 2":
1 2 3 3 4 = 1 Success
«OOC» Johny says, "Goon two is off guard. Goon one, however, is on the ball. He will be firing at you, a burst from the AK 97"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 3 (Cp) vs TN 8 for "ASsult rifles, Partial cover (Achmed) Burst one":
1 1 1 2 3 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 3 (Cp) vs TN 8 for "ASsult rifles, Partial cover (Achmed) Burst one KP 1/3":
1 2 2 2 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 3 (Cp) vs TN 9 for "ASsult rifles, Partial cover (Achmed) Burst two Recoil +2":
1 1 1 3 4 4 9 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 3 (Cp) - 1 vs TN 9 for "ASsult rifles, Partial cover (Achmed) Burst two Recoil +2 KP 2/3":
2 2 2 3 9 9 = 2 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "8m Base damage. You can use CP to dodge if you like."
«OOC» Julian says, "naw, I'll soak"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) has the Armor Rating Ballistic with the value '8'.
«OOC» Julian says, "8S total?"
«OOC» Johny nods. 11S from burst, +1 stage for successes. 11D damage coming at you sir.
«OOC» Julian says, "ah, ok"
«OOC» Lilith says, "Ouchie"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Body vs TN 3 for "Need 8":
2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 10 11 = 8 Successes
«OOC» Julian says, "Now, are the two men standing next to each other?"
«OOC» Johny says, "No, one to either side. Now its time for inits."
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls 1 for "+10":
2
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Initiative with a result of 7.
«OOC» Julian has to do his manually becuase he's been upgraded
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 2 for "+6 Berber":
5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 3 for "+8 Azamagh":
1 2 3
«OOC» Johny says, "Berber moves on a 16 and Azamagh moves on a 14"
«OOC» Johny says, "So both move before Julian does."
«OOC» Johny says, "So its like this:
16: Berber
14: Azamagh
12: Julian

6: Berber
4: Azamagh
2: Julian

«OOC» Johny says, "Berber is going to fire at Julian now, having recovered from the gaping."
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 (assault rifles) + 4 (Cp) vs TN 8 for "Burst Fire, Partial cover (Poor Achmed!)":
1 1 2 3 4 4 7 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 (assault rifles) + 4 (Cp) - 1 vs TN 8 for "Burst Fire, Partial cover (Poor Achmed!) KP 1/3":
2 2 3 4 4 9 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 2 vs TN 3 for "Need 8":
1 1 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 8 11 11 = 8 Successes
«OOC» Johny nods. 11D again.
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 (assault rifles) + 4 (Cp) vs TN 9 for "Burst Fire, Partial cover (Poor Achmed!) Recoil, Burst 2":
1 1 3 4 5 5 5 7 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 (assault rifles) + 4 (Cp) vs TN 9 for "Burst Fire, Partial cover (Poor Achmed!) Recoil, Burst 2 KP 2":
1 1 1 1 1 3 3 4 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "NO damage"
«OOC» Johny says, "Now Amazagh"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 8 for "GODDAMN IT ACHMED! GET OUT OF THE WAY!":
1 1 1 3 3 3 4 7 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 8 for "GODDAMN IT ACHMED! GET OUT OF THE WAY! KP 3/3":
2 2 3 3 4 4 5 17 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 4 vs TN 9 for "GODDAMN IT ACHMED! GET OUT OF THE WAY! Burst 2":
1 2 3 3 4 5 5 8 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "11S"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Body vs TN 3 for "Need 6":
2 2 2 3 3 4 5 7 8 9 = 7 Successes
«OOC» Julian says, "is quickdrawing a free action, or simple?"
«OOC» KassGM says, "simple"
«OOC» Julian says, "Hmmmm"
«OOC» Julian says, "That makes my next move risky"
«OOC» Julian says, "VERY risky"
«OOC» Julian had intended to hurl the body at one of the goons, then spray the other with Assault Rifle fire…
«OOC» Julian says, "Oh hell… no guts no glory, right? (I am so gonna die)"
«OOC» Johny says, "talking to wife. Sorry"
«OOC» Lilith says, "Can I keep your cloak? :)"
«OOC» Johny says, "Dibs on his ware."
«OOC» Lilith kids, don't wanna Jules to die really
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok… I'm going to throw the body at…. Azmagh, and draw my rifle to fire at Berber"
«OOC» Johny says, "Throwing the body will be a complex action"
«OOC» Julian says, "hmmmm"
«OOC» Julian says, "Well, it's slightly less dangerous then the alternative so…"
«OOC» Johny says, "Back."
«OOC» Johny says, "Was talking ot my wife."
«OOC» Julian says, "Telling her how dead I'm about to be?"
«Watchfor» Aladriel (#604) just connected to the game.
«OOC» Julian says, "Hmmmm, ok, let's try something a bit different"
«OOC» Julian says, "wait, that will leave me open to the other shooter"
«OOC» Julian says, "Hell with it, I'll throw the body"
<OOC» Julian says, "I'll throw the body at Azmagh"
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay. Thats what, Body+2L damage, Kass? You looked it up once."
«OOC» KassGM nods
«OOC» KassGM says, "CC 14"
«OOC» Johny says, "6L damage, throwing weapons."
«OOC» Johny says, "+2 for it being rather uh. Odd."
«OOC» Julian says, "That's what I was afraid of"
«OOC» Julian says, "What's the attribute that throwing weapons defaults too?"
«OOC» Johny says, "Str, I think"
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok, here goes nothing…"
«OOC» KassGM says, "Strength"
«OOC» Julian says, "and no cp, right?"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Strength vs TN 10 for "Good thing this is more a distraction then an attack…":
1 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 9 11 = 1 Success
«OOC» Johny nods.
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 3 vs TN 3 for "Easy to dodge big body.":
1 2 5 = 1 Success
«OOC» Johny says, "Amzagh dodges."
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 for "BErber's will":
4 5 11 15
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay. Berber's action. Now that There is no meat-shield, he's gonna unload in to Julian again. He's not scared of a bulletproof trog!"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 4 for "DOCKA DOCKA DOCKA!":
3 3 3 4 5 7 16 = 4 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "dodging?"
«OOC» Johny says, "dodging?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Hmmm… no"
«OOC» Johny says, "At the start of the NEXT round, Lilith will arrive. Kassandra will be taking at the last, several combat rounds getting the electronics in order."
«OOC» Johny says, "11D+1"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 2 vs TN 3 for "Need 10":
1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 = 10 Successes
«OOC» Julian says, "Hot shit"
«OOC» Johny says, "Nice."
«OOC» Julian says, "Someone up there must LOVE me"
OOC» Johny says, "Sasha."
«OOC» Julian says, "Awwwww, that made all warm and fuzzy"
«OOC» Lilith says, "Oh, *ow*"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 vs TN 5 for "Burst two.":
2 4 5 10 = 2 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "Dodging?"
«OOC» Johny says, "Azagma's action."
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 for "Willpower":
1 3 4 5
«OOC» Johny says, "Julians turn"
«OOC» Julian says, "Going to draw (simple) and Burstfire on Azmagh (simple)"
«OOC» Julian says, "ready?"
«OOC» Julian says, "ok then"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Assault Rifles (Ares Alpha) + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 2 for "Base Damage 9M, APDS ammo, burst fire. Smartlink":
1 3 3 4 5 7 9 13 14 = 8 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "Thats 9M+4 stages, or 9D+2. Half ballistic."
«OOC» Julian says, "It's burst"
«OOC» Julian says, "should be 11S+4 stages?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Or did I do something wrong?"
«OOC» Johny says, "Oh, right. burst."
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) uses 3 of item 3: Assault Rifle AV from Assault Rifle (#1732).
«OOC» Julian says, "Ooops"
«OOC» Julian says, "wrong one"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 5 vs TN 7 for "Armor 7, 3.5/rounded up to 4, 11-4=7.":
1 1 3 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 5 vs TN 7 for "Armor 7, 3.5/rounded up to 4, 11-4=7. KP 3/3":
2 2 3 5 5 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "Azmagh is a pastey stain."
«OOC» Lilith says, "nice"

«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Initiative with a result of 7.
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 2 for "+6 Berber":
1 16
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls 1 for "+10":
2
«Plot» KassGM says, "Inits: Berber 13, Julian 12, Lilith 7 // Berber 3, Julian 2"
«OOC» Johny nods. Simple action: Throw grenade. Simple Action: Shoot Julian. Otherfucken dirka muhammad dirka jihad, bitch."
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 4 (CP) vs TN 4 for "Thrown weapons; grenade int he door to stop any reinforcements. Cause, you know, this trog is scarry enogh.":
1 1 2 3 4 7 11 11 = 4 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "Thats enough to get a grenade through a door, don't you think?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Works for me"
«OOC» Johny nods. Second action.
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 4 + 3 (Cp) vs TN 4 for "MOTHERFUCKER DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!":
1 2 4 4 4 4 9 = 5 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "Dodging, Julian?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Ummmm, nope"
«OOC» Julian says, "11D?"
«OOC» Johny says, "11D+1"
«OOC» Julian says, "Ah, right"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 3 for "Need…10?":
1 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 10 11 = 9 Successes
«OOC» Julian says, "I'll KP it… I need my full body in case I have to do what I think I might have to do…"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 4 - 9 vs TN 3 for "Need…10? KP 10/10":
4 4 5 9 16 = 5 Successes
«OOC» Julian says, "I'm up?"
«OOC» Johny says, "Julian is up."
«OOC» Julian says, "Burst Fire (simple), Speak (Simple)"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Assault Rifles (Ares Alpha) + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 2 for "Base Damage 9M, APDS ammo, burst fire. Smartlink":
1 1 2 2 2 5 5 5 16 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 5 vs TN 7 for "Ouchy.":
2 2 5 8 9 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 5 - 2 vs TN 7 for "Ouchy. KP 3/3":
1 3 5 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Johny says, "So looks like you get 5, for D+1. HE still dies."
«OOC» Johny says, "Pose it."
«OOC» Lilith says, "My turn to run like fuck?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Ummmm"
«OOC» Julian says, "Well…"
«OOC» Johny says, "The field is open for you. You have a grenade in the hallway between you and the door outside."
«OOC» Julian says, "I don't think you could run fast enough"
«OOC» Julian says, "The grenade is next to a bomb rack"
«OOC» Lilith says, "No, run back *away* from boomy"
«OOC» Julian says, "Yeah, that's gonna be a BIG boomy"
«OOC» Johny says, "Let me explain a bit."
«OOC» Johny says, "If the grenade goes off…"
KassGM pages: throwing back grenades page 107 CC, quickness 6 test to grab
«OOC» Julian says, "As in we're all re-rolling Big"
«OOC» Johny says, "It will chain detonate every bomb in the room."
You paged KassGM with 'You the bomb.'.
«OOC» Lilith says, "…"
«OOC» Julian says, "as in count your rollover karma"
«OOC» Julian says, "But"
«OOC» Johny says, "If that happens, you all die."
«OOC» Julian says, "I think it has a minute or so fuse
«OOC» Johny says, "It goes off in about 3 seconds, actually"
«OOC» Julian says, "A combat round, ok"
«OOC» Johny says, "Start of the next combat round. Lilith has one action to act."
«OOC» Lilith says, "…"
«OOC» Julian says, "Oh, good point"
«OOC» Lilith panics
«OOC» Julian says, "How's you throwing arm, Lil?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Or your kicking leg"
«OOC» Julian says, "You have three seconds to pick up the grenade and toss it"
«OOC» Julian says, "Good news is, it's right there in front of you, you don't have to hunt for it :)"
«OOC» Julian says, "Stay Positive, right?"
«OOC» Lilith says, "Johny? Can I grab it and toss it out the door? Or will that do any good?"
«OOC» Johny says, "As per page 107 of the Cannon Companion, it's a quickness test, TN 6, to grab and return-fire a grenade."
«OOC» Johny says, "And yes, that would be a SPLENDID idea."
«OOC» Julian says, "You don't have to throw it really far"
«OOC» Lilith says, "OK!"
«OOC» Julian says, "Just get it out the door"
«OOC» Lilith says, "ok"
«OOC» Julian says, "and away from the bombs"
«OOC» Julian says, "Can she use CP for that?"
«OOC» KassGM turns on her Anti-Bomb force field.
«OOC» KassGM says, "No"
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok then"
«OOC» KassGM says, "be glad it wasnt a minigrenade, those are TN 8"
«OOC» Lilith whimpers
«OOC» Julian says, "all she needs is 1 success though, right?"
«OOC» Johny says, "So, Lilith. Gimmie a quickness, TN 6 test."
«OOC» KassGM says, "yes"
«OOC» Johny says, "I'm not going to be a cock and make you go scrabbling under shit for it."
«OOC» Julian says, "Oh, your made in the shade"
«OOC» Lilith is gonna kp that motherfucker, yo.
«OOC» Johny says, "lets see if you get the thing first ;)"
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Quickness vs TN 6 for "OhfuckohfuckohfuckohFUCKSHIT":
1 2 2 3 7 = 1 Success
«OOC» Lilith says, "plz?"
«OOC» Lilith says, "is that good, or kp?"
«OOC» Johny says, "Now. Do you have thrown weapons?"
«OOC» Lilith says, "No, just projectile"
«OOC» Lilith says, "err"
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay. Thrown weapons defaults to what… strngth?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Good news is you don't need to be particularly accurate"
«OOC» Julian says, "Just lob the thing for all your worth"
«OOC» KassGM says, "Strength"
«OOC» Johny says, "Give me a str test, TN is 8."
«OOC» Johny says, "Now is where you want to use that Karma should it go poorly"
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Strength vs TN 8 for "I'ma fuckfuckfuckfucked":
5 5 8 11 13 = 3 Successes
«OOC» Julian says, "Whoa!"
«OOC» Johny says, "HO-FUCKING-AAAH!"
«OOC» Lilith says, "…THANK YOU GOD"
«OOC» Julian says, "Holy shit!"
«OOC» Lilith downs her half cup of grog
«OOC» KassGM says, "neat"
«OOC» Lilith says, "Which I do, in fact, have"
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay. Lilith. Go get a coke. Come back, then pose some bad ass chuck norris grabbing and eating the grenade, then dropping his pants to piss grenade fragments at the enemy."
«OOC» Julian says, "you deserve it"
«OOC» Julian says, "That was uber"
«OOC» Johny says, "Seriously, that was an AWESOME set of rolls."
«OOC» Lilith giggles. Downs a good shot of rum.
«OOC» KassGM says, "Very nice."
«OOC» Lilith says, "AHHHHHHHHHHHH"
«OOC» Julian says, "You are going to be the Queen Badass at the post-run orgy, lemme tell ya"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 1:
3
«OOC» Johny says, "Okay! Top of the round. Grenade explodes 1.5 meters from Julian. 10, -1 for distance. 9S, impact armor."
«OOC» Johny says, "Her awesome roll is of course, 9D."
«OOC» Julian says, "Sweet!"
«OOC» Johny says, "Trust me, Lil, this is VASTLY SUPERIOR to what would have happened otherwise :)"

«OOC» Julian will gladly take 9S over 180kissyourassgoodbye
«OOC» Lilith says, "hehehehehe"
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 2 vs TN 5 for "need 6":
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 5 13 15 = 4 Successes
«OOC» Julian says, "Ack"
«OOC» Julian says, "L wound"

Julian builds up speed in a very short distance, his nerves and senses going into combat mode. The poor bastard never sees it coming. Had he not given Lilith his cloak, he would never have seen it at all. As it was, in the space of three or four heartbeats there is a flash of motion, then blackness for the hapless guard. Julian doesn't even slow down appreciably after delivering the sholuder check. He just grabs a hold of the slumping form in both hands and holds it out in front of him…

Charging out the door with poor Achmed the meat-shield, Julian encounters two very startled arab men with guns. One of them is so startled he just sort of stares at Julian like a dog that heard a sound it just doesn't understand. The other however, blinks, calling out an explitive in Farsi then lets his gun do the talking for him. POor Achmed takes most of the rounds, but a good burst gets around the human meat-shield and hits Julian.

Julian adjusts the position of the body as best he can, using it like a big, unweildy sheild to soak up bullets, and trying really hard not to get lost in his "The Hulk" moment. Gotta focus… need your gun to put up a real fight… need your hands to get your gun… time to play "Really Un-Aerodynamic and Awkward Lawn Darts" He plants his feet and with a jerky motion, he lobs the body at Azmagh, hands moving for his Assault Rifle. Time to go to work…

Berber narrows his eyes, moving in to a combat position, the rifle coming up to his shoulder, no holding at the waist for him. He moves to the side, the gun chattering off two quick bursts in the heartbeat of a moment.

The rounds seem to have little effect and Azagham backs off, calling in to his radio. "Dirka Muhammad Jihad Islam Mecca Halal Jihad!"

Julian's hand settles over the grip… a simple, physical action, but a profound one. A warm buzz runs the length of his cyberarm, a familiar one, one he's felt a thousand times. And suddenly it doesn't matter that he's thousands of miles away from his home turf… half the world away from circles he usually moves in, and way outside his operation comfort zone. The red target dot appears in his field of vision, a welcome friend. a battlefield, is a battlefield, is a battlefield, and Julian was built for battle. The gun raises, almost of it's own accord. Arms and brain work in tandem, and info splashes across his field of vision. Full Clip, APDS ammo, short range… Azmagh spitted in his cross hairs…

I am the hand of Aden…

TAT! TAT! TAT!

The gunman shakes his head as Azagham dies a brutal bloody death at the hands of this infidel. Senseless, that a deamon of Shihatain would kill one of the pure. He, in one smooth movement, unsnaps a grenade, pulling it from his ALICE pack. The cylindrical object is lofted then, underhanded, through the door, where it clatters across the floor, spinning to a stop a few feet inside, next to one of the big racks of bombs that were so important in the above conversations.

"Time to die, Partner." Says Berber then, in his best John Wayne accent. It's not very good, but it gets the point across.

Julian identifies the clattering sound, and his spatial recognizer tells him exactly where the thing landed. Drek… He is about to turn, but immediately dismisses the idea. The two dead men had buddies, and they would surely be coming around to stick there noses in it and have them blown off. He moves forward, away from the bunker, following his initial tactic. He keys the comm, laying out the situation in two words…

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Malus!…Grenade!"

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "FUCK"

Lilith hears the words. Hears the clatter. Registers the flicker of light and sound and motion, and death. The scent of blood and the cool night air blowing in hints of sulfur and copper. And time…slows. She's moving, running fast, moving, moving…quickly now, long finger reaching out and down in a dreamlike motion, half crouched, and she's there, there's the grenade. Grab it. Moving. Still running as her arm rolls in the back swing, uses the energy of her run to *throw*. No words, not yet, release…fly…

Time comes back in the normal fashion, with the stench of the anteroom full of bombs around her, the grenade flying hard and fast through the door way as Lil skids to a stop on the slick surface of the floor, going to one knee and watching, expressionless. Over the comm: "Duck."

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "/NICE/ arm, Bledsoe!"

Julian lets off a brief congratulations over the comm before he focuses on the grenade. He hears the thud of it bouncing against the ground and turns away from it, but not fast enough. It explodes, peppering him with shrapnel which tears small holes into his armor and leaves some barbs dug into his skin. One particularly bad one starts a slow trickle of blood, but Julian keeps moving, eyes sharp for more targets. He goes for the comm again…

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Silk, we have about 5 minutes before things go southwise…"

Activating Self Destruct Sequence

A few moments ago…

Kassandra finds herself staring a black panel with two keyswitches. The keys are in the switches, turned to the proper configuration Several handles, 9 in number, 3 rows of 3, with several lit indicators flashing various colors. Crylic lettering reads:

REACTOR CONTROL

Silk looks over the controls and keyswitches, reading over the controls. She hrms as Lilith runs off to help Julian, acclimating herself with what this thing does and how it works before she starts flipping stuff.

Cyrllic lettering on the inside of the door panel, advises:

To initiate self destruct:

Step 1: Ensure that both authorization keys are turned to the armed position.

Step 2: Ensure that all cooling valves are turned to their 'off' position.

Step 3: Evacuate facility as conventional explosives will detonate in 60 seconds to seal the main doors.

Fallout should be minimal.

Silk hmms at the controls, reading the Cryllic. She hmms again, her Math SPU running the calculations. After a few moments, and upon hearing automatic weapons fire and then a grenade, Silk shakes her head. Well, so much for surprise. She comms.

Oh, this might be very surprising indeed.

Commlink-«Silk» "Ok. I can't turn this on yet, because you wanna be outside. So .. can you push them back and get clear? Because when I turn this on, I am going to run very very fast."

Time resumes in equal measure

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "I wouldn't mind running fast. Seven?"

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Give me two minutes, then light it… I'll make us a path…""

Julian lets the assault rifle sag against his chest, and adjusts his hands to close around the grips of his Machinegun. Subtlety is out the window, and in a few minutes there's going to be a lot more then a pissed off trog with a SAW to worry about.

Commlink-«Silk» "Affirmative."

Lilith runs outside, pausing for a moment at the door, then slipping out quietly and sticking to the shadows. Her eyes scan the immediate area, looking for trouble or a clear path… "Seven. You ok?"

Silk makes sure everything is A-OK while she waits, connecting leads to wires and getting power readings. Nothing more embarrassing than the self destruct not working.

Julian nods his head. "Ship shape, Malus. That was a hell of a throw…" He nods down to the machinegun. You're my spotter… you see anyone, give a shout… subtely is out the window…"

«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 5 (Electronics.BR) for "Microtronics, extra time taken, yadda yadda":
1 2 3 3 4
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 5 (Electronics.BR) for "Microtronics, extra time taken, yadda yadda, karma reroll 9/12":
2 3 3 4 5
«OOC» Johny says, "Ooutside folk: A perception check."
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 1 9 15
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence:
2 3 3 4 4 7

As it happens, there ARE two leads that have, once the front panel is open, show now power. Looking further, two wires have corroded right through.

Lilith nods briskly. "Ok, but you've got better eyes…if you're compass enough. I mean clear headed." She takes point, still watching, voice perhaps a little too calm given what just could've happened.

Julian nods his head. "Clear as crystal" He then shifts his weight a bit. "Will you do me a favor? There's a granola bar in my thigh pocket. Will you unwrap it and put it in my mouth? I'm starving." His own hands are manning the big gun mounted to his hip.
Lilith makes her way to the top of the rise, looking around the area. Here, in the munitions district, its easy to see in to the airbase itself. It's only been a moment since the radio call of Azamgah, but in the distance, the sound of an air raid siren goes off and lights coming on. Oh, to have binoculars.

Oh, of course. Silk frowns, checking what supplies she has left and getting her tools ready. Schematics flow across her field of view, the bodiless personality and skillset offering suggestions about how to best correct the problem given the tools she has at her disposal. She mutters a yiddish curse, pulling a multi-tool out.

It says something that Lil doesn't react much to Jule's question. She shakes her head. "Later. We have a problem. I think they're on to us."

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Be advised, sirens going off. They've raised the hue and cry.""

hue and cry.""

Commlink-«Silk» "Yes. Automatic weapons fire and grenades have a tendancy to alert."

Julian looks in the direction of the lights and sirens, zooming in. The display in his Smartlink window read Light Machine Gun - Anti Vehicle Rounds 50/50. "Bring em…" he says simply. Then he grins wryly at Silk's statement and responds.

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Hey! They started it…"

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Easy there. Try to avoid a fight, we're more interested in getting the fuck out of here."

Silk kills her comm for the moment, reducing it to a text crawl with a thought. She needs less distractions right now. No sense telling them that if she screws this up they won't have time to notice. She lets out a quiet breath and lets the chip guide her hands, peering closely at what she is doing.

«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 5 (Electronics.BR) vs TN 6 for "Attempting to rewire crappy Russian ex-state of the art self destruct system.":
1 2 2 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 5 (Electronics.BR) vs TN 6 for "Attempting to rewire crappy Russian ex-state of the art self destruct system. karma reroll 10/12":
2 4 5 5 16 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 5 vs TN 4 for "Athletics Check. Base Quickness is 11.":
1 1 3 16 17 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 5 vs TN 4 for "Athletics Check. Base Quickness is 11.":
1 2 3 4 7 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 2 2 3 11

[RUSSIAN] DESTRUCT SYSTEM ARMED.

Julian zooms in on the activity to get an idea of what they plan to field to investigate the distrubance, thusly giving him an idea how much free time they have to deal with…

Lilith shifts and tenses again, rolling back and forth on the balls of her feet. "I really rather hope we can get out of here in one piece." And of course, continuing to watch and scan the area.

In the distance, Julian's vision will catch at least 2 trucks being loaded with soldiers, in addition to a trio of ATV's. They are headed this direction. Additionally, there looks to be another truck, different than the others. It turns on, visible by the heat plumeing up from it. Zooming in you see it has an Atlantian Foundation logo on it.

Well. Either that worked really well or she screwed up. Regardless, the best way to determine that is to watch from somewhere safe, like .. Spain.

Silk turns and bolts for the door, picking up speed as she goes. She doesn't bother with little things like slowing down at corners, biting back a cry of pain as she bounces off a wall and keeps going. She shifts into high gear at the straightaways, building speed as she moves for the door.

Transducing, Silk will comment.

Commlink-«Silk» "Time to go. Big Boom."

Julian watches the hubbub. "Relax… the hard part is over, now we just need to blast our way out…" He goes for his comm.

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "Silk… what was the name of that organization you didn't want to find the spaulders?"

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Aye aye. Big badda boom…what you see, Sev? We got company? We need to run now, please."

Commlink-«Silk» There is a moment of silence from the comms.

Commlink-«Silk» "Alternate frequency Gamma." Silk's comm cuts off.

Elsewhere, somewhere in the area, someone writes down… 'spaulders' and 'silk' and 'sev'.

«OOC» Julian says, "How far away is the fence?"
«OOC» Julian says, "If we just made a beeline"
«OOC» Johny says, "one half mile."
«OOC» Julian says, "anyhow, back to my question… ok"
«OOC» Lilith says, "Can we run it and get over in time?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok, and the trucks are the only enemies nearby? Anyone on foot?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Nearby being a relative term"
«OOC» Johny says, "You don't know, but you don't think you saw any. AS to the fence; you couild probably make about halfway to the fence, at a sustainable run, before the trucks caught up with you."
«OOC» Julian nods
«OOC» Julian says, "can we still see the door of the frequency?"
«OOC» Julian says, "Er, bunker"
«OOC» Johny says, "YUou're in a maze of bunkers, brohime."
«OOC» Johny says, "Gotta be more specific"
«Auto-Judge[]» Johny (#799) rolls 10 for "Mystery":
1 2 2 2 4 4 5 5 9 9
«OOC» Julian says, "I mean Bunker 14"
«OOC» Julian says, "the one we came out of?"
«OOC» Johny says, "You're not that far away from it, though you may WISH to be."
«OOC» Julian says, "Ok…"
«OOC» Johny says, "There are 200,000 pounds of explosives about to have a nasty wakeup in oh, 45 seconds."
«OOC» Julian says, "Right, I know"
«OOC» Lilith says, "Best idea would be to head in the opposite direction of the trucks?"

Bravely running away

Commlink-«Silk» <PRIVATE FREQUENCY> Jetwash, emergency evac, going to be under fire.

Commlink-Jetwash> "Aff. Coordinates?"

Julian changes his comm over… and keys a transmission.

Commlink-«Silk» <PRIVATE FREQUENCY> "It wont be hard to find, there is going to be a HUGE explosion in less than 60 seconds.

Commlink-VII> Julian says, "When you hit the door, you run in a straight line, do not deviate, we'll meet up with you…"

Commlink-Jetwash> "Give me a direction to head in, Ground-lead."

Lilith looks over at Julian. "Away from the trucks, Sev?"

Julian sights a line from the open door of Bunker 14 straight to the fence. "Now we run…" He does some calculations in his head, and thinks he's going to be doing at least 1 more foolish thing tonight. He nods. "Beeline to the fence. Don't stop… just run… I'll cover you." He begins to trot, but not very fast.

Lilith nods, tenses down in a runner's crouch, and then pushes, bolts, and *runs* like all bloody hell.

Silk mutters a string of very nasty words. She makes a grab for the NAVDAT, still cussing and transduces the coordinates to the waiting Jetwash. She doesn't slow down and probably runs into things on the way for the door.

Luckly, it's a pretty straight shot to the door. Kassandra makes in in a time that would do Flo-Jo proud. Hey look, bodies and blood and a small grenade crater!

Julian trots after Lilith at about half his full potential. He keeps looking behind himself, waiting for Kass to appear. When she does he will break into a full run towards the fence.

«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Athletics vs TN 4 for "+10":
1 2 3 4 7 11 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» KassGM (#10360) rolls 5 (Athletics) vs TN 4 for "+11 Quickness": 2 SUCCESSES SACRIFICED TO TAKE HEAD
2 4 5 9 10 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics vs TN 6 for "+5, +2TN for head
1 2 4 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics vs TN 6 for "+5~kp 10/14":
1 5 5 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics vs TN 6 for "+5~ kp 12/14":
1 5 5 8 = 1 Success

«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Athletics vs TN 4 for "+10":
2 3 3 4 5 5 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Athletics vs TN 5 for "+11 Quickness, +1 for taking the thingy.":
2 5 5 5 8 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics vs TN 5 for "+5": PASS OFF HEAD TO KASSANDRA
1 1 1 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics vs TN 6 for "+5~kp 13/14":
1 4 5 5 = 0 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls Athletics vs TN 4 for "+10":
1 2 4 4 4 5 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Lilith (#8983) rolls Athletics vs TN 4 for "+5":
3 4 4 10 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Kassandra (#9777) rolls Athletics vs TN 6 for "+11 Quickness, +2 for taking the thingy.":
2 4 4 4 11 = 1 Success

Lilith runs, or tries to. She pushes, and pushes, and is glad for her brief lead…but dammit, why the fuck…pack's pretty damn heavy. Adrenalin is running rampant, shock blurring the last few minutes somewhat, but she keeps moving on.

Julian breaks into a full run, but after only a few moments he catches up to Lilith. He considers offering to carry the head, but he needs his gun. So, he simply jogs next to her. "Keep it up, Bledsoe… we're almost out of the woods…" He tries to sound encouraging, but he's a trog who's not very good with people.

Out the door and moving! Silk doesn't slow to gawk at dead bodies because she likes not being blown up or glowing in the dark. Picking up speed as she sails over the bodies, the elven fixer doesn't waste words, doesn't slow. She packed light for a reason: stealth, not firepower. Speed, not tank.

Lilith grunts. Fuck, that damn stone face…creepy thing, but…she stumbles under the weight, and then uses the moment to jar the heavy item free, catching it before it falls. Her slower speed helps, and she picks up pace, looking up to Kass. "Silk. Trade off?"

Even from behind, Silk is moving to pass Lilith; she isn't good at much but she can at least run really fast. She nods wordlessly to Lilith and moves to snag the pack with the heavy stone mask in it, not slowing appreciably. She keeps moving, passing the human woman now and still running flat out.

Julian keeps pace with Lil, then picks up speed to stay with the pair as Kass gets up close and the baton is passed. He tries to calculate in his head how long it'll take for the trucks to get here, and hoping the explosion will be a large enough distraction. When Silk sprints ahead, Julian keeps pace with Lil.

Julian continues running, keeping pace with whichever lady falls behind. He sets his filter to block out the sounds of his breath, and listens for the sounds of vehicle engines or gunfire.

Lilith feels the weight lift from her pack as the pass is made, and stretches out her long legs in a flat out run. She *bolts* forward with a extra burst of speed.

Well, she *was* going fast. The stone artifact is heavy, creating a drag on the otherwise speedy elven fixer. She pushes forward, her momentum cut down somewhat. She is still fairly fast but loses ground from carrying the possibly priceless relic from a long forgotten age. Still, she doesn't seem willing to drop it.

Commlink-Jetwash> , "Coming in hard. Light off a flare."

Silk's free (left) hand moves to her utility belt, snagging the microflare from its place among her belongings. She ignites the device with a flick of her wrist, scraping it on her buckle to set it off. That done, she'll toss it forward, the flare trailing red as it tumbles.

Commlink-Jetwash> "I see you. 15 seconds, heads down."

Julian will keep running until Someone else stops, not privy to the convo going on over the private channel.

Flare thrown, Silk will drop prone and slide to a stop. She yells, "DOWN!" aloud, covering her head with her hands.

In the distance, the whine of powerful jet turbines can be heard along with the roar of water being displaced as Jetwash comes in low over the water, massive rooster tails of spray fanning out behind her. In the distance, the other distance, there is the counter-sound of Jet engines igniting; a WHUMP and then the whine slowly building up.

Lilith hits the ground right after Silk, covering her ears as she comes to a slow skid in the muck from her run.

Julian watches Silk fall to the ground, then shakes his head. If he lays down, then it's gonna be a bitch getting back up. Instead he hunkers over, moving over to where the two ladies lay. He takes the time to try to reaquire the position of the trucks.

There comes, in all this cacophony of sound and fury, a moment of pure silence; where one sound dominates. The ground shakes, reverberating in the knees, a sort of 'UMPH' that resounds through the soil as the first charges of the self destruct going off.

Commlink-Jetwash> "10 seconds."

Silk stays down, her head covered. She transduces, "Gonna be a lot of ground disturbance, charges are going off."

Julian keeps his hunkered position, eyes scanning for the vehicles. He plants his feet shoulder width apart and compromises between standing and laying prone by taking a knee.

Lilith nods wordlessly, feels the ground shake underneath her and closes her eyes for a moment. Several creative blasphemies wander forth as she releases some of her tension and fear.

«OOC» Johny says, "Julian, work wiht me here some."
«OOC» Johny says, "body, natural body, not cyber or bio. TN is 12."
«Auto-Judge[]» Julian (#2692) rolls 7 vs TN 12:
1 2 2 4 4 5 10 = 0 Successes

The vehicles are on the other side of the rising mounds of the ammunition dump. Julian can see soldiers coming up over that rise… and then the rise just… is gone. The sound comes after the light. A detonation equal to nearly a megaton, contained and vented upwards. The bombs so carefully stored for a century detonate in a ripple, rolling backwards from the front to the back. Whiteness overtakes julian, looking back for his persuers. His optics overload, as he was straining to see.

Blindness envelops him.

Jetwash's long range T-Bird comes in low, then reverse thrusting to achieve stationary position just in time for the blast wave to come in over and jostle her.

Commlink-Jetwash> "Fuck me, prepare to board, rear ramp!"

Lilith feels her body shake and tremble with that blast, down to her core, and gets to her feet as fast, if shakily, as she can. She starts to move, beelining for the back of the transport.

Silk pushes herself to her feet with a grunt of effort, the extra weight from Mr. Easter Island in her bag. She trips and then rises again, moving towards the LAV at a jog, moving towards the back ramp and waving the others forward. The elf doesn't look back at where the bunker was, more involved with getting the heck out of Dodge.

Julian is zoomed into full Magnification, watching the trucks. "I think they're going for it… we're in the clear. I think they…" He never finishes the sentence. The light comes, visiting fury and destruction on the bunker, and fulfilling the last wish of an old man. It is strangely bueatiful, and for a moment a smile forms… but then it becomes a cringe. "AHHH!" he bellows suddenly, turning his head way quickly. He blinks rapidly, the movements of his head are confused, uncertain. "Drek…" He closes his eyes and leaves them closed. "Malus! Start talking and don't stop!" He bellows at her, hoping she'll hear. He begins to work his way up to a standing position. He turns a bit in either direction, as if he can't see a thing.

Commlink-Jetwash> "Move move move! Sensors show they are putting… oh you have to be kidding me. SU-37 Flankers? Well, Missiles are missiles. GET IN MY BELLY!"

Lilith hangs on the edge of the ramp, pausing for a moment. She blinks and looks to Julian. And begins cursing again, very fluently. Lilith is also screaming said curses.

Silk doesn't slow down at the ramp, climbing up as fast she can and heading for hopefully a seat where she and Mr. Big Head can settle in before all the missiles hit. She misses the screaming from Julian over the roar of the engines, and Lilith standing around cursing in that odd language of hers isn't anything new. The elf starts strapping in.

Julian turns towards the sound of the voice, moving a bit slowly, careful of obstacles. When he hears his boots hit metal plate he releases hold of his LMG and swings it into a non-ready state. "Help me find a seat" He says to Lil as he reaches his hands out to find a seat.

Lilith grabs Julian's hands and with strength born out of pure adrenalin, pushes him firmly down into a seat. "Buckles. Here." She puts his hands where they ought, and plops down herself, strapping in quickly.

Commlink-Jetwash> "Confirm all aboard!"

Commlink-«Silk» "We're on!"

The LAV turns in the air, somewhat ungainly at this low speed. In the distance, gunfire can be heard, either shooting at you or rounds in the ammo storage cooking off. The jet turbines transfer more thrust to the rear ports, shoving the craft forward in to the air. Wings gather lift, more thrust is transfered, you fly faster… until you are nearly plastered back in your seats.

Commlink-Jetwash> "Good news and bad news!"

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Do tell"

Commlink-Jetwash> "We're going to outrun the fighters. Bad news is, sensors indicate a massive thermal disruption coming from that explosion. I don't think they are going to survive the detonation."

One strap, two straps, damnit! This chair needs more straps! Silk doesn't even ask what the wonderful news is. She has a pretty good idea what is about to give chase, and they don't have much time. She transduces ""Yeah. Old nuclear power plant is about to blow up. We might want to be elsewhere."

Commlink-Malus> Lilith says, "Fly faster?"

Commlink-Jetwash> "Working on it. ETA to Istanbul is 2 hours."

Julian straps himself in and then reaches down, running his hand down his own side and down the side of his leg. Finally it finds his pocket, and he pulls open the flap, fishing out…what else? A foil-wrapped Granola bar. He begins to unwrap it.

Lilith settles back into her seat and closes her eyes. Hands clenched tight over the armrests of her seat. She's *done*.

Eyes bright, Silk smiles at the satchel pressed against her. She can feel the spaulders in there, their prize for the mission well in hand. The heavy stone face is here as well, along with the small bag with the few other trinkets she could liberate. She relaxes for just a moment, but stays on guard. No relaxing until they get home.

Julian finishes unwrapping the granola bar and takes a bite, chewing thoughtfully, eyes still closed. "So…" he says, then swallows. "…you guys do drek like that all the time, huh?"

Lilith keeps her eyes closed, trying if not to relax then just come down carefully. "Mmph." She breathes, slow and steady, opening her eyes but not responding much. "Home first, talk later."

johny julian kassandra lilith samuel

page revision: 26, last edited: 06 Jul 2009 05:26

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The Watchers

A Shadowrun Organization

Soviet Legacy, Part II

Out Of Dodge

The Dead's House.

Moving Along…

At Bombora

The Bunker

Headed out

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Bravely running away

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