[The Grid: Reloaded] Chapter 2.5 - Deja Disconnected

[Lochar]

Spoiler

If I get someone's position wrong, let me know.


Erin:


Tink's voice answers back. "I can give you skill to make Elendil weep with envy. Let me know when to stop." In a quarter of a second, Erin blinks and feels a dozen years of training strike her, nearly causing her to veer off wildly herself as her mind overloads with information.


Patrick, Kase, Malcom:


There are many, many bad things about being in freefall in a Challenger, falling to the ground below. Really, they're almost too numerous to count, but the three people and the arm probably could make a fair list.


There are a few good things though. The first is that as insane as this stunt is, those in the Marauder are not quite as willing to tumble through the air as the car they were following.


The second is someone really should have made that Blues Brothers comment earlier. With a squealing of tires and destruction of shocks and struts, the Challenger lands wheels down, almost causing the frame to bend, but it does not. Perhaps this isn't the best time to stop.


Sadly, Kase's wild swings at the arm coming from Malcom's wound only glace off of the thick gauntlets as the bounces nearly make him lose the weapon, and he must brace himself as the jerking nearly allows the arm to grab and pull him through the wound.

 

[Arynne]

Erin bites her lip to keep from screaming as the knowledge rushes through her, burning. It’s too much. It’s too much. She can’t contain it. She lose control of the car and crash. She will burst like rotten fruit.


Her whole body seems to spasm, as her sleeping brain is imprinted with the memories of a thousand duels and battles. A hundred thousand katas flash across her mind at the speed of light. She sees a sword in her mind, and she remembers how to strike, spin and strike again, swift as the north wind.


Is that the wind roaring now?


Is it the engine, picking up speed as she approaches the ‘Dark Tower’?


Or is it her?

Spoiler

Spending a point of permanent Willpower to go into XP debt.

 

[The Bushranger]

Even as mechanical sounds that say If you survive this Lace is going to kill you for what you just did to the car signal the return to Terra of, perhaps questionable, Firma, Patrick doesn't hesitate, his foot flooring the gas pedal as he grabs the wheel tightly once more.


...and then opens his eyes, taking a deep breath, delighted to be alive (for whatever weird version of 'alive' they happen to be when on the Grid) and, not counting on the Marauder's occupants having a greater sense of self-preservation, sets about departing the area at the best speed the Hemi can give him.


"Any landing you can drive away from is a good landing! Y'all allive back there?"

 

[magnificentmomo]

Hank is finally able to loosen his grip on his trusty statuette of St. Chris. He looks down at the imprint of the Saint on his hand.


"Alive or something like that, yeah."


The momentary relaxation of survival was cut short by the continued flailing of the arm coming from Malcolm.


Hank shouts,


"God damn that thing."


as he tries to assist in keeping the arm occupied, and trying to tend to Malcolm.

 

[Lochar]

Erin:


Likely, it is a combination of all three. The roaring of the engine, souped up to the point that it could actually give the Challenger a workout, is matched by the roaring coming from your own throat as you brain seems to want to implode, before being shunted off into a corner of your mind to deal with later.


"Overloaded! Damn it, Athena, don't break her mind!" Lopaz's voice is heard dimly from the other side of the phone, before Tink's voice speaks as well. "You'll be fine, Erin, you're just not getting any uploads 'till this one settles in properly."


The little car whizzes through the downtown, you've only got a few minutes until you reach the building the Abyssal Agent is on, and traffic on the streets and sidewalks are dodging out of the way of your insane, probably not in a good way, driving.


Others:


Hank and Kase together can keep Kase from being pulled bodily through Malcom's wound, something that very likely would cause the wound to grow. There isn't much chance for a full grown man to fit through it the size it is now...


And then the reason for the Marauder's declining to chase you from the previous drop becomes apparent, as it crashes through a lower level building, skidding across the pavement before pulling hard into a spin, coming about around the wreck of cars that it caused, facing you like in a game of chicken. Then it launches itself at you.

Spoiler

Erin needs to figure out how she's going to get up the tower.


The others need to figure out if they're going to play chicken or dodge out. At the speeds you're going, it'd be a Ride+Dex check to attempt to cut down another street and maintain speed (or roll!), or you could pray your car's got better airbags than the Marauder.


The arm pulling Kase has an average of 8 successes on the grapple, if you want to try to oppose it. Or failing that, do some damage and try to cut it off. Or have fun in other ways and surprise me.

 

[Arynne]

Erin neither stops nor slows. What she is attempting to do would be crazy driving even for Patrick, but it is her -- and perhaps Malcolm’s -- only chance. She aims the Subaru directly at the building, planning to ramp it up the side as far as she can, then leap free at the last moment.


From there -- her gaze runs up the side of the building towards the roof, picking out windows and fire escapes -- she’s on her own.


Assuming, of course, that she survives the crash at all...

Spoiler

In case in needs to be said, stunting like hell here.

 

[Arynne]

Spoiler

OK, spending a WP to channel Valor on the roll to leap from the crash, 'cos this will require guts...


Dex + Drive → 10,9,10


Dex + Athletics + Valor → 10,10,6,7,4,9,4

 

[lordofthestorm]

"Peachy! Nothing but gumdrops and ice cream over here!" Kase snapped from his position in the seat, still trying to fight off the arm.

 

[The Bushranger]

As the Marauder's driver grows a spine, Patrick keeps the hammer down - and, for an instant, flashes back to that race he won at Watkins Glen, coming into the esses as another car in front of him got turned around, the resulting melee essentially blocking the track....and he deftly flicked the wheel, his feet dancing on the pedals as he squeaked his way through gaps, getting through just with the rear nerf bar dented...


...and he waits until the last second, not slowing - accellerating torwards the Marauder, wondering idly if Agents ever require new pants. And, at the last possible second -


"Hang on!"


- he jerks the wheel hard left, the Challenger's tires squalling in protest as he aims to bounce the rear fender off a convienetly located lamppost, both to assist in changing direction and, he hopes, to cause the lamppost to fall and block the road, as he redirects the object in motion to continue its motion at the same relative velocity down the handy side street.

Spoiler

Dex+Ride → [5,[10, 7],3,4,1,7,3,8,1] = (4)


Stunt, stunt, stunt, stunt the crazy driver!

 

[Lochar]

Spoiler

Note that unless you come up with a way to overcome 8 successes on a grapple, I'm going to eventually pull you into the wound. Probably at the worst possible moment. Start thinking, my friend.





10s are two successes, not an open roll for a second die. Also, can you link to wherever those dice are coming from?





Yeah, we've had the discussion already. You've got 1 success on the crash. Enough to survive it.


Erin's inability to expertly drive the car doesn't lend itself well to causing a decent crash to catapult herself high, but with a hard yank on the steering wheel she does manage to put the car into a sideways roll that hits up against the curb and flips the car into the glass entryway.


Her sense of timing for escaping said wreck is much better though, as with almost unnatural timing, the door of the lightweight car flips open, throwing her clear into the air right before it slams into the registration desk of whatever this little office building is. The weight of the throw and her own push leaves Erin hanging from a closed window on the fourth floor though, which is a lot higher than she'd rather like to be when she's just holding on with her fingertips.


Meanwhile, a few miles down the street Patrick plays chicken with the Marauder. As the two barrel at each other, he has the sinking feeling that the Agents are quite willing to trade their own lives for that of those in the car. His last second swerve nets the Challenger a clipped fender as the Marauder attempts to correct to force Pat's car down, but the falling lamppost causes just enough havoc that the Marauder is slowed a bit as it powers through, following the Challenger closely, attempting to ram it into oncoming traffic, buildings, or anything that might cause them to stop.


Looking into the rearview mirror, Patrick can see one Agent lean out of the Marauder with a fairly large handgun and start firing.




You're taking a -2 penalty to your driving 'dodge' due to them trying to crash you. Four successes for a .50 firing at the Challenger. Your dodge before stunting or anything is Dex+Ride+Essence+Specialties/2, as usual. The -2 penalty is a coordinated attack, if it makes any difference.

 

[Arynne]

With a grunt, Erin begins to pull herself upwards, the ‘walking stick’ thrust into her belt banging painfully against her with every heave. Her muscles cry out in protest, but her mind overrides them, fixed on one thing only.

 

[Lochar]

Spoiler

You guys going to post? I'm going to end up doing something fairly atrocious to you if you don't.


Erin:


Many wondering eyes watch as you pull yourself up the side of the building, having seen you thrown from the flaming wreckage. In the distance, sirens are heard, both police and fire rescue.


That doesn't matter to you, however, as it is the labor of several long minutes as you think about what is at risk. One of the books, one of your friends is severely wounded and the man at the top of this building is making it that much worse. Ten minutes go by, and you pull yourself to the edge and peek over. On the roof stands a man in the same suit as the other Agents wore, but on his arm is a heavy gauntlet of Soulsteel. Only the upper half of his arm is visible, however.


The lower half is plunged into a shimmering portal of blackness that stands as tall as the Agent himself, and you can almost unconsciously hear the screams of the dead coming from it. Faces seem to swirl around the Agent's, the Abyssal's, arm.

 

[lordofthestorm]

Kase knew time was short. He couldn't keep this up forever, the soulsteel hand was going to pull him back into the abyss from whence it came. No doubt it would also kill Malcom, as Patrick was busy driving and the wound from whence the hand was coming from was the more egregious of the two. Knives were useless (although that was him panicking) and Hank was only delaying the inevitable. What could he do against this kind of power?


He could call Athena. Maybe she could upload some kind of specialized grapple breaker? No, that'd only put her at risk, assuming they would try tracking a call for help if it went out.


A gun? That's assuming they even had one in the car!


No, this was going to require his own two hands. He had to break free. He had to. There was nothing else for it but to live!


With that, Kase plants his feet on the two most solid objects in the car (the door and Patrick's seat) and tries to pry the black steel fingers around his chest. "I...said...LEGGO!"

 

[Arynne]

Erin, meanwhile, pulls herself, inch by inch, over the edge of the roof, careful to keep low, hoping the Agent’s concentration on his summoned portal will narrow his vision.


Move and freeze, move and freeze -- gently, gently, nothing abrupt. Don’t stare. He can feel that. Use your peripheral vision.

 

[The Bushranger]

"Incoming!" Patrick shouts, as the Agent, clearly tired of playing around, opens fire. And he starts jerking the wheel, swerving erratically as he considers his move and the rear window explodes in shards of glass...suddenly jerking to the side and standing on the brakes, intending to cause the Maruader to at least pull alongside.


He's certain that if he survives this Lace is going to to kill him.

Spoiler

If I'm right, that should come out to 5 dice?


5d10 → [1,7,6,7,8] = (3 before penalties)

 

[magnificentmomo]

The holy man finally finds his balance in the bucking and swerving sports car.

I did always prefer good ole terra firma.

In the whirlwind of action, Hank finally notices that the grasping arm has a hold of Kase, and Malcolm wasn't looking so good. A horrible feeling socks him in the gut as he realizes what exactly is about to happen, and what he has to do. His muscled and worn hands reach out and grab Kase, and attempt to wrench him free of the soulsteel gauntlet, knowing full well that the struggle will exacerbate Malcolm's wounds, and they already look grim. He digs the heels of his workboots into the backs of the charger's seats, heaving with all of his might. As the struggle heats up, he can see the pain on Malcolm's face. Between each tug and heave, Hank murmurs out a segment of Malcolm's last rites,


"God our Father,"


He groans and pulls,


"Your power brings us to birth,"


He heaves,


"Your providence guides our lives,"


sweat mingles with tears as he gives his all to save at least someone for once,


"and by Your command we return to dust...."

Spoiler

So, I'm going to attempt to help save Kase, now that we, regrettably, don't have to worry about saving Malcolm. I'll blow a willpower and channel Conviction. What should I roll? Also, stunt?