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deject wrote:Joose, I can't cast Fix from my Astral form can I?

Nah, sorry. You can't cast physical spells, only mana.

Also, would be just perceiving astrally (or as I like to call it, going half-astral) get rid of the low-light issue for me?

I guess, but you would trip over stuff a lot. You can see physical things in the astral world, but its kinda vague and wierd. Physical things look like transparent mist: you would be able to see where walls and the like are, but finer details than that would be obscured.

Al wrote:Maybe I'm being Mr Dumb Civilian, but can't we just nip out to a 7/11 and pick up some flashlights? Or even better, an all nite gun shop and get some IR goggles.

Flashlights definately, IR goggles would require a "finding stuff" test though.

Joose, please consider this an application for you to consider a feasibility study into me fashioning torches from bits of old t-shirt and my lighter.

Having done it myself, I know for a fact that some paraffin, cloth and a stick makes a reasonably effective torch, so yeah, I'll allow that if thats what you want to do. Not sure you would want to be relying on it as a light source when you come to plant your bomb though...

Killavodka wrote:What kind of elite group are you lot?

"Who packed the Flashlights since we are possibly going into a pitch black area?"

"Not me!"

well if you guys want to go down to the local shop and get some flashlights be my guest, sounds good to me. I don't think we want to wait too long though.

Well, I can switch between regular and Astral perception at will right? So I could theoretically use both if I had to.

Chopper wrote:Fucking amateurs. I've got low light vision, thermographic vision and an endospcope for looking round corners - how come you lot aren't prepared?

Leland wrote:Actually I think it's just Al who can't see. I've got a flashlight and some Low-Light contact lenses and I can always fumble around with Astral perception, and you and Frank both have some form or another of augmented vision. so I think it's just Al. I suppose we could make Al the t-shirt torch or he could just watch my car. I mean we've seen how useful he is with that gun of his. No offense Al. Either way let's just get on with it. This place is pretty damn creepy.

Al wrote:Give me a fucking break guys, I'm way outside my comfort zone here. It's only a problem if we can't get the power on. Until then if you can give me fifteen minutes I'll buy a flashlight from the nearest convenience store or garage, if not we'll have to go with the T-shirt idea. Don't worry, I'll buy you a new one.

Frank wrote:Chopper, chill out man. This isn't Al's thing. How comfortable would you feel if we dropped you in a tux into a swanky party and you had to spend hours schmoozing with obnoxious bastards to get jobs and intel and you couldn't call a single one a fucking dick? We've each got our own strengths and weaknesses. That shitty shooting of his may save one of our lives.

Frank - whispered to Leland's pan in orzet wrote:Listen dude, we're going to have to act quick on this, Chopper is on edge, ghouls fucked up his life and he will flick that switch between normal and berserker at some point unless he can control the emotion. Al is a good man but this ain't his thing. If we put chopper point I'll follow on and watch him, keep him as calm as I can. You think we should get Al upstairs or do you think you could keep half an eye on him whilst your slinging magic?

Frank wrote:Al, I'm not bothered about the t-shirt, I got a million more the exact same back at the shop, one of those couple nuyen army surplus greens. The torch is last gasp, it'll light things badly, and attract more attention to you, over and above a flash light. Leland, If you held back a bit with Al and you used the torch between you would your spell-slinging be affected significantly?

I wonder if I should start twitching and going crazy eyes yet?

Chopper wrote:God damn it you guys, quit your bitching and let's move - I don't want to be here one second longer than is strictly necessary. Borrow a pair of my goggles if you want, but let's not stand around this stairwell having a support group.

Al wrote:Thanks Chopper. You're right, let's get this done as quickly as we can, I don't want to be here either.

Frank wrote:Good enough. So we're skipping the first basement level until it's lit, the subject habitat and the management area will be cluttered and infested is my guess. If we drop to the next level we may cut off our escape but we have to cross the main lab and storage level to get to the sub basement to fire everything up. Like Al said earlier, get things fired up and get to security, then we can open and close areas and sweep them, once that's done we can get the device down and blow this popsicle stand.

I'll gun up and start down the stairs, trying not to kick anything loose. As and when it's too dark for low light to be efficient I'll switch to thermographic.

Frank wrote:Chopper, move up with me. Al, stay at the back. Leland, any time you want to go fully astral let me know and we'll find a spot to hold up and cover you. Watch your feet, keep the voices at a whisper, if you've got sub-vocal equipment use that. If I stop we all stop, don't bunch, keep a metre or so between you and the person in front. We'll change formation when we hit the basement. Any questions? No? Good. Lets get going.

I remember that my commlink is subvocal and refrain from commenting on the guy at the back always being dragged off in movies, and how I'm at least glad I'm not black or wearing a red shirt. I'll also do my best to do exactly as told while we're down here.

I'm James T Kirk and you're the generic security officer.

I was thinking in terms of the stairwell being a good spot to get killed. If we have the muscle up front and deej's firepower in the middle then we should be okay. When we hit the basement proper, we'll have to keep me and chopper at either end of our tasty human train, lessening the chances that you'll be eaten, unless Joose decides you've signed your fate.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM[/media]

Well, que sera, sera. I've got a technomage ready rolled as a backup. Always have a spare, harks back to Paranoia where you roll six characters at once.

EDIT: Christ, I don't know where to start with how bad that Star Trek clip is.

Do we want to see about looking down the lift shaft? If it's clear we could climb right down to the bottom and miss out the other floors.

Leland wrote:Al, if you want to you can take my car to a store and get a big fuckoff flashlight, that's fine with me. We can hold our own I think. It's up to you though. To be a bit honest, I'd actually feel a bit better know that piece of shit I drive wasn't all broken.

You guys want me to check the bottom floor out astrally before we head down there? If I am I'm not moving my precious body any further down until I'm done with the recon. Or we could just go for it, see what happens.

Leland reaches into one of his coat's pockets and slips on his Shock Glove.

Just out of curiosity, has my detect enemies spell picked up anything else since the initial thing?

Al wrote:It's okay, Chopper sorted me and I'm more use down here than I am up there. I'm not a great shot but a flechette round from this baby will spoil any critter's day.

Right then. I think I'll be the Astral Scout and check out the lever at the bottom of the staircase we're in.

Leland wrote:Alright, hang tight for a second here, I'm going to check out what's down there. I know they're dual natured, so if they spot me I might see if I can draw one at a time or confuse them before I come back up here.

enter fuzzy zoom go time!

deject wrote:Right then. I think I'll be the Astral Scout and check out the lever at the bottom of the staircase we're in.

enter fuzzy zoom go time!

I presume you mean "level" there.

you shoot off down the shaft (oo-er), past the first basement level, and wizz about on the second basement level. In the "Subject Storage" levels, theres a lot of odd tubes, varying in size from a couple of foot wide and long to more than 14 foot long and 10 foot wide. For some reason, they are totally opaque in Astral space, and have a kind of fuzzy aura around each of them, but you are not sure why. Its a pretty strange aura, not like anything you have ever seen before. Some of the tubes appear broken, and they don't have any aura. You cant make out any fine detail, so you don't know any more than they are roughly tube shaped.
The "Main Surgical Lab" area is full of stuff, but beyond it being stuff and non of it alive, you cant make out much detail there either.
The door to the security room is closed, and has the same opaque fuzzy aura that the tubes have. The door to the stairwell is similarly fuzzy, but is slightly ajar. Not wide enough for you to get through, unfortunately.

As far as the general nature of Astral space is concerned, most of the floor is pretty neutral, but the room in the center, the lab, is a fucking mess. If astral space had colours, smells and noises, this place would be a deep angry crimson, smell bad enough to make you sick, and sound like a cross between static and a fog horn. There has been a lot of horrible, horrible things happening here, and recently too. You recoil from it slightly, and just looking at it makes you feel a little shaken.

One thing you are pretty certain of though; apart from the tubes and the doors, nothing down here has an aura, so nothing down here is alive (or undead).

Oh, and as for your detect enemies spell: the thing you picked up originally is still there, and is still somewhere on the ground floor. It keeps moving about, and its slightly weaker, as if its getting further away. Other than that, nothing happening.

The rest of you moving down the stairs then?

You presumed correctly.

Leland zooms back to his body.

Leland wrote:Well, ok then. I don't know what the fuck has been going on in this godforsaken place but it was some nasty shit. I didn't see anything threatening down there. The central area *Leland signals the surgical area* is particularly nasty. I think the ghouls may use it as a feeding area or something, because the aura it gives off is powerful and fresh. I don't fucking like it one bit. Still, I didn't see anything down there that was alive or undead so, we should be relatively safe for the moment. Should I check out the next floor down from us or do you want to go straight for the bottom and for the generator?

If we do decide to head on down, I think that just as a precaution I shall call up Clean Air horse 4 to protect us from whatever may be in the air down there. But that's only if we go down there first.

Leland wrote:I can't help but think that whoever set this facility up was most definitely researching up on the damn ghouls and HMHVV, possibly the more magical kind. Lots of stuff around here has that vibe like it's a mana barrier or something.

Chopper wrote:I don't like the fact there's still something lurking about on this level we haven't dealt with yet. In fact, I don't like one single thing about this fucking place.

Want me to go and check what the thing on this floor is? There's just one of them right? I can be quiet about it so as not to draw any attention.

Leland wrote:Yeah sure. It's moving around a lot, so I'm not sure exactly where it is. We can track it down though. Let's go Chopper.

I think I'll switch to astral perception to help track whatever enemy I'm detecting.

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The Second Forumised Shadowrun Adventure