Run #7: Through the Looking Glass

[Drew Buddy]

Adams stuffs the grenades into a coat pocket.

"Thanks. Keep your head down. You don't need to be visible, only your comm signal does."

[John]

Max snickers and childishly says,

"Your comm signal is showing, Rawhide. Hey, do dwarfs have smaller comm signals?"

[GM Nick]

Rawhide doesn't bother looking up from the SMG he is cleaning.

"God was compensating when he made elves, Max."

[Elliott]

"Do all elves think they are that funny? And we'll see about firepower...claymore to the CPU will certainly make Deus have a bad day. Keep us posted on the evac eta. Let's go!"

Tyros lifts himself, Max and Doc off the tower and back down through the hole in the roof of the atrium to the door from whence the cultists came.

[GM Nick]

Levitate (f4)

[Spellcasting (6) + MAG (6) + Power Focus (2) + Sustaining (-2) = 6]
4 5 5 6 1 3 5 3 6 1 1 5

Resist Drain

[WIL (4) + LOG (6) + Centering (1) + Focused Concentration (2) + Sustaining (-2) = 5]
5 3 5 4 1 1 6 3 6 3 5

The team (minus Rawhide) lifts off the staircase disconcertingly and begins to descend towards the atrium floor, far below.

[GM Nick]

All toes on the ground, the runners approach the massive door.

[Elliott]

"Guns up boys, ill get the door on your go." Tyros stands to the side of the door and puts his massive hands on the handle, ready to pull it open towards himself.

[John]

Max raises his gun and waits just behind cover, ready for anything.

[GM Nick]

The door, secured by a mag-lock, fails to budge even under the troll's titanic strength.

[John]

Max lowers his gun, disappointed with the result. The elf approaches the door and tries to open the lock with his little bag of tricks.

[Elliott]

"Drek, we are not at our sharpest. Does anyone have some emergency rations? I'm getting dizzy with hunger and fatiguing fast..."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc walks over to max,

"Do you want me to do this one?"

[John]

Max nods and says,

"Knock yourself out."

Responding to Tyros's request, the elf answers,

"All I have on me is the saline in my medkit. Perhaps back in the room where the cyber zombies were being kept alive they had some kind of nutrient IV drip that we could rummage up."

Max produces the small pouch of saline solution from his medkit and hands it to Tyros, then makes his way back to the room where the team had exterminated the ghouls to search for some form of sustenance.

[Drew Buddy]

"Grab me a bag of zombie grub while you're back there!" Doc calls out to Max as he exits the room.

Kneeling down, Doc sets to work on the locking mechanism with Max's sequencer.

[GM Nick]

Sequencing Test (6)

[Electronics (2) + LOG (7) + Sequencer (1) = 2]
1 1 4 4 2 1 3 6 5 3

<It looks like you triggered some kind of anti-tamper protection... you better find some way to slow down that node's system before it detects your sequencer!>

[Drew Buddy]

Activating the internal commlink, Doc fires up the Pocket Hacker, and instructs it to gain access to the node controlling the door.

[GM Nick]

<You won't be able to defeat the IC with that... Max, are you still working your way backwards?>

[John]

Max responds between heaves as he runs,

* HUFF *

<Affirmative, Milly.>

* HUFF *

* HUFF *

"Man," * HUFF * "I've gotta' quit smoking.. "

[GM Nick]

<Start tearing down any conduit you see. Wreak havoc, maybe you can disable some of the redundant circuits and slow down the IC.>

[John]

Max glances around for conduit and begins ripping the cabling off the wall where he can and shooting it off the walls where he can't.

[GM Nick]

Sequencer Test (4)

[Software (2) + Sequencer (1) + LOG (7) = 5]
4 2 5 1 4 2 6 5 5 5

The mag-lock's light turns from red to green and the dull echo of a heavy bar being retracted can be heard from inside.

[John]

Having not gotten far down the hallway, Max hears Doc call down to him that the lock has given up the ghost. Doing a quick about face, Max runs back to the door and finds the scene much as it had been before-- Doc at the ready and Tyros ready to open the door. Max gives a nod to his teammates as he readies his gun and takes up position. The door opens.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc Adams sights down the barrel, ready to flatline anything waiting on the other side of the door. His right index finger hovers over the trigger of the large rifle, while his left hand grips the underbarrel grenade launcher pistol, using it as a foregrip.

[GM Nick]

The runners minds take a second to conceive what their eyes are seeing.

Beyond the large door is a scene that can best be described as a cathedral. The floors are a veritable ocean of ornamental rugs. Huge, arm-thick bundles of optical cables cover the walls like kudzu vines, draped across the hastily erected pews. The only light within emanates from the multitude of matrix equipment crammed into every available space.

At the far end, a large terminal is suspended just above the floor, flanked by a multiple appendage assortment of optical and ultrasound sensors.

[John]

Max lowers his shotgun and delicately approaches the doorway, trying to get as complete a look inside as he can. Max takes a hard look at the sensors and glances at Doc. A nod passes between the two and the mutual understanding is reached-- with Doc bearing fresh gunshot wounds, this sneak is Max's problem. The elf tiptoes into the cathedral, motioning with his hands for Doc and Tyros to cover his six. Tiptoeing toward the terminal, Max does his best to stay out of sight from the optical and ultrasound sensors. Max is sweating.

[Drew Buddy]

< Stick to the walls. The ultrasound sensors might have a harder time picking you up if you're not standing in the middle of the room >

[John]

Liking the idea, Max moves close to the walls and stays low.

[GM Nick]

<T--re's s--e kin- o- in---fer--- I ca---... >

Infiltration Test

[Infiltration (3) + AGI (8) = 5]
6 6 3 1 3 6 5 4 5 4 2

Sensor Test

[Sensor (6) + Perception (6) = 4]
6 3 4 1 4 1 2 1 6 6 5 3

Max, through a combination of light steps and weaving around obstructions, manages to approach the altar unnoticed.

[John]

Reaching the altar, sweat drips down Max's ashen pallor. Max hunches low over the table, his arms spread, to keep his balance, and inspects what he finds there. Nervously, he wipes his mouth.

[GM Nick]

A disembodied voice, resembling every bit the vibrations of a billion modulators, rumbles throughout the cathedral.

"I am 74% capacity. I require additional power conduits."

[John]

Max looks around the room and back to his teammates at the door. Making eye contact with Doc, he shrugs as if to ask,

'Should I respond??'

[GM Nick]

A man, somehow having remained unnoticed to the elf's near super-metahuman perceptions, seems to rise out of the patchwork of rugs. It occurs to Max that the man had been frozen in prostration.

Max's stomach turns and his face contorts in a rictus of disgust and silent horror as light falls across the monk's visage. His eyes have been removed and replaced with commlink modules!

"Yes, deity. It shall be done. Am I to understand that this action will conclude my oath of service?"

[GM Nick]

The terminal is a monolith of polished glass, affixed to a circuit board with a myriad of connectors. Long, tentacle-esque accessories spring from the back and swim through the air. The surface of the display ripples and is occasionally marked by the rapid-fire output of insanely complex equations.

[GM Nick]

Deus' voices booms like a sarcophagus lid being lowered.

"Affirmative."

[John]

Max raises his shotgun on the ocularly challenged and breathes steadily. His eyes narrow and he waits.