Something went wrong.

You wake up groggy… wishin’ the guy with the jackhammer would lay off your head just a bit. It’s dark, very dark. Not that it really matters, everything is oddly out of focus, all you can make out is vague blurs at first. (those with cyber-eyes or thermal see around them a bit sooner). The floor is cold and hard ferrocrete. You’re lying face down and loosely bound. You begin to hear sounds as if they were miles and miles away. Scuffling, moaning, someone nearby coughs, something not so small scurries in the dark, it sounds like you are not alone. It smells like fetid water, that sweet sticky reek of rotting meat, gunpowder, unwashed bodies, and something else familiar you can’t quite put your finger on. As your vision begins to adjust you see some familiar and some strange faces. (characters that have worked together in the past will recognize each other). A sharp pain interrupts any further assessment of the situation. Something just bit you…. And with horror you realize you are all surrounded by large rats. One rat is obviously larger than the rest, hell you have seen livestock on the trid smaller. Devil rat. The name suddenly seems ominous in a way that it never had before. More shouts of pain and bewilderment erupt from the people surrounding you on the floor. A woman screams. You struggle with the bonds at your ankles and wrists. More noise and panic resounds as more people around you regain consciousness and become aware of the peril they are in. Something is wrong with these rats and they are attacking the bound people around you. You get free precious seconds later. No time to figure out what, why, or how, it is time to act.


GM - Nick Scratch

Odin shook his head slowly, groggy and uncertain. His inner sight started to clear, only to be washed out again by a blazing beacon in the astral... a beacon he recognized. So... Iceblade was here too. Almost as swifty as the glow that was Iceblade came that of twisting magic flows, pulsing a sickly green rather then cool blue and twisting through the air with far more force, vigor, and frequence then they should. Only slowly did other forms start to come clear beneath all the clutter, distinct from the bright lights of himself and Iceblade and the glow of tainted mana. People, bound like he was, and... rats, devil rats! Blast it all!

The last of the fog gone, Odin let loose a mighty bellow, "Freyja!" and snapped his bonds like so many twigs. In a single movement, impossibly smooth for someone of his bulk, he surged to his feet, his blade appearing in his hand as if by magic, filling the room with a high-pitched whine as it powerd up. "ARISE Iceblade! Foul deeds are afoot and Valhalla awaits!"

Initative: 6 + 1 hit = 7 (automaticly acts first this IP)
Simple Action: Stand
Simple Action: Draw blade
Attribute Boost: Agility: 2 hits = New Agility 5, duration 4 turns
Adept powers currently burnt out: Improved Reflexes, Attribute Boost: Body, Improved Physical Attribute (1 level), Spell Resistance.
Adept powers still active: Improved Ability, Improved Physical Attribute (1 level), Astral Perception, Attribute Boost: Agility

OK, so someone knocked him out, bound him (badly) and tossed him in a room with a bunch of other people, and a devil rat, and didn't take his weapons. These people clearly didn't know who they were dealing with.

Slipping his bonds, Mirikon rose to his feet, ignoring Odin for the time being, and drew his katana, in plain view of the devil rat. He'd never bothered to check into whether the awakened beasties could see into the astral like other awakened creatures, but if it could, it would no doubt see the power shining from the blade, an icy blue light in the astral plane.

And then he took the time to utter a couple words of power to himself.

--
Casting Increase Reflexes, Force 3, sustaining it through the focus. 3 Hits
Drain 4. 7 Resisted
So I'm at Initiative 9, with three passes when fighting starts.

Casting Cold Aura, Force 3, Sustaining it through the focus. 5 hits
Drain 2. 4 Resisted
So I'm surrounded by a cold aura that gives +3 DV to my melee attacks, and makes them go against half impact armor, dealing cold damage, and creatures that make a successful melee attack against me take cold damage (against half impact) DV 3.
--

An aura of icy cold wrapped itself around him, and it seemed as though a mist was falling from him, and his blade. There was a reason they called him Iceblade, afterall.

Finally turning to look at Odin, he said, "So, what brings you here? And will you stop with that Valhalla drek?"

(OOG: for those of you perceiving astrally or using magic you may reconsider after the following and change your actions accordingly…)

The moment your senses delve into the magical Ether you wish you hadn’t. You feel as if you were hit in the chest by a baseball bat made from the tortured souls of victims burning alive by molten lava and hot ash. Everything glows with an eerie and frightening tinge, the pounding in your head immediately worsens just from attempting to perceive here…
{Effective from hence forth in this area: BACKGROUND COUNT 3,}
(Instantly those of you that have been to the Puyallup Barrens, Glow City-Mt. Rainier disaster area know where you are just from that feeling.)
{if you still try to cast or channel adept powers read on}

Your body begins to burn from the inside out as the polluted mana sears its way through your established conduit into the abyssal channel of mana surrounding you. The spell you weave begins to become wild and difficult to control as if it had a mind of its own and its intentions were pure malice. A large pit in your stomach lurches, threatening to dislodge its contents all over the room. Barely maintaining control the spell is released and you pray to whichever gods you believe in that it works the way it was intended to, and steel yourself for the oncoming aftermath of casting in this nightmare place.

The drain is enormous you can tangibly see it coming. It hits you like a freight train full of damned souls barreling down the tracks of mana into your fragile mind and body every fiber of you being screams in agony as the polluted Ether flows into your veins and nerves setting each and every cell along its path on fire. Your eyes water, your nose begins to bleed, even your finger and toenails blacken. The result (OOG: if it didn’t knock you out or kill you… and remember you have 3 less magic rating and 3 more drain to compensate for even on adept powers) leaves you feeling weak and nauseated, the room begins to spin and dance around you. (OOG: I want to see the modified results of casting before I describe the events that occur after releasing the spells you have chosen to cast)

GM - Nick Scratch

More of the bound people around you begin to stir. The behavior of the rats is increasingly aggressive. You kill a few dirty, mangy rats with ease, but more rats pile into the room from seemingly nowhere. (OOG: If you think that hundreds of rats gnawing at you isn’t that bad, and wouldn’t do that much damage, here is a visual.)


No matter how many you seem to kill more continue to appear and attack everyone with reckless abandon. The relentless assault of berserk rats is beginning to wear everyone out. Someone must take action to stop the bizarre behavior of these rats.


GM - Nick Scratch

Odin kicked his leg violently, sending a rat that had been gnawing on his boot flying a cross the room, and back up against the tide - an elephant driven back by mice. Meanwhile, he answered Iceblade, "Just trying out my new receipe for rat kabobs. You?" So far his thick hide had protected him from the worst of the assault but others weren't so lucky. Taking another step back, he reached one of the others, who was still tied. Three rats were crawling over him and he was already bleeding for a couple of bits. Out lashed Odin's knife - Snick, Snick-Snick. "Freyja!" The vibro knife seemed small in the troll's hand, but even a small knife build for a troll is overkill when it meets a normal rat. The first blow missed as the rat scurried onto the victim's head and the adept was forced to pull his blow, but the other two connected solidly, sending four rat-halves flying through the air. Two down... but six more scurried up to replace them...

Splitting attack 3 ways.

5 agility + 5 blades + 2 specalization + 1 custom grip + 1 improved ability = 14/3 = 0 hits, 2 hits, 1 hits

Assuming I kill anything I hit, since they are just regular rats and for dramatic effect...

Others around begin to panic and fire handguns wildly into the mass of rats flooding into the room. Just about everyone is awake and fighting off swarms of rats. Someone in the room levels a SMG and blasts full-auto into the horde of rats mulching fur and bone splattering the room in a backlash of blood and gore. “Every drek-filled fragging rat in Seattle must be headed here!” the SMG wielder shouts to nobody in particular. One of the women in the room begins to float above the ground lightning arcing from her fingertips and feet striking a multitude of rats and instantly barbequing them. She wavers in mid air as a swirl of toxic mana engulfs her and for a brief moment, time seems to stand still in the darkness. Just as suddenly as it started, the electricity surrounding her stops, she falls unconscious to the floor, and convulses in a heap.



GM - Nick Scratch

--
OK, rerolling based on the new data.

Casting Cold Aura, Force 3, sustaining through the focus. 3 Hits
Drain 5: 4 Resisted

Casting Increase Reflexes, Force 3, Sustaining through the focus. 3 Hits
Drain 7: 3 Resisted
Spend 1 point of Edge to reroll failures: 2 Resisted

So same results as before, but I took 3 stun total, putting me at a -1 to my other actions from here on.
--

Mirikon grunted as he felt the pain of casting through the background. Oh, so that's why they let him keep his blades. Breathing heavily, the mage looked around, and sheathed his katana, drawing his twin scimitars instead. Aggressive or not, the sheer unnatural cold that he was emitting should give him some protection, as rats went to easier targets. If they didn't, well, his steel would have something to say about it.

"So I don't suppose you bothered to look for a door, hmm?"

(OOG: Roll perception test to find an exit in the dark full darkness modifiers apply and the background mod if you look astrally)
Also your foci will be affected by the background too so account for a -3 on all those foci too



GM - Nick Scratch

--
Simple action to actively perceive.
Perception test: 3 Intuition - 1 Defaulting - 2 Distracted + 3 Actively looking + 3 Enhancement - 3 Visibility - 1 Wounds = 2d6 = 2 Hits)

Simple action to kill more rats
--

Mirikon looked around, scanning through the darkness with thermographic vision, trying to spot some way out through the darkness. For those who could see him, he swayed and moved with his strikes, like a dancer. Indeed, those who saw Mirikon when he was fighting would sometimes compare his movements to a dance of death. Between that, and the aura of cold surrounding him, he actually wasn't doing too badly against the rats. Sure, it helped that the only skin he left exposed was his hands, neck and face.

(The initial results of one hit on an astral perception test: everyone in the room seems to be awakened, that is to say that a large majority of the people in the room are magic and everyone’s aura reveals the same confusion and most reveal a bit of panicked fear. The rest of the room aside from the background count is flooded with the auras of rats and the one devil rat that seems to glow like a beacon in the astral this is obviously not just any devil rat.)(The results of more than one hit on a perception test {non-astral} reveal the only entrance/exit large enough for a meta-human is nearly 5 meters above on the ceiling and has hinges on one side)

The rats continue to spill rapidly into the room like water from a burst dam. They come in at a rate much faster than anyone can kill them and in mere seconds the room has a living floor of rats. The tidal flow of rats does not appear to be stemming any time soon. In another thirty seconds there will be rats up to everyone’s knees. (not to mention the ones climbing up everyone and biting furiously along the way) Anyone left lying on the floor is covered completly with rats at this time.

Simon awoke from his dark slumber and wasn't sure he was dreaming - the rats, the darkness that seemed to scurry around him weren't too far off his twisted imaginings he'd had of late - but the first scream he heard made him consider that this was real, and he quickly bolted to his feet as he realized that
the living floor of scurrying biting flea-ridden rats was quite real.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2168344/

Init 9 + 3 Hits = 12

He jumped to his feet, throwing a few rats off him and opened his eyes, turning on his eye light...

(Free action- Eye light, low light vision, counterspell ready, turn on internal air reserve)

(Action 1 Simple - Stand, look around for a damned exit with low light and eye light system 2 hits
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2168404/ )

For about a pico second Simon remembered that he could cleanse the background with a little luck - but that was secondary to getting the frak out of there!

He desperately looked for an exit.... moving where he figured the rats were coming from as his eyes scanned through stone and rat for some hope - any kind
of way out.... he didn't quite see the exit, but he could see where the rats seemed to be coming from, was that it?

He quickly began moving towards the exit as fast as his enhanced relfexes could carry him... he had to get out of here before the whole room filled up!

(Last 3 actions RUN if he can see the exit!!!)

"Freyja blast them!" Odin continues to stomp and kick the rats at his feet. Leaning down, he thrusts his hand through the swarming mass and graps the man he had been shielding. A jank to pull him free of the swarm, a shake to remove unwelcome visitors, then a single heave to throws him up over the troll's shoulder, though he carefully keeps his knife hand free throughout the process. Turning, he starts wading through rats up to his shins in Simons wake. "There's too many Iceblade. We should follow the coward, get to open ground. Maybe we can at least draw them away from the others."

OOC:
Simple action: picking up one of the still bound runners and slinging him over my shoulder (5 hits on a lift test if he's heavy enough to matter)
Free action: Running after Simon.

And now I'm hauling our 4th along, just in case we leave the other NPCs behind...

Also, Fugative, you can run for your entire turn with a single free action, so no reason to waste all the rest of your actions.

(OOC: OK, since I have 3 actions left, I might as well try this)

As he ran he raised his fist and began chanting in latin and raised his fist, doing his best to ignore the rats squishing or scurrying under his feet... the place had a horrible aura, but a sufficently powerful mage could still overcome it, impose his will upon the world.

A master could do something even better though - he could impose his will upon the aura. It didn't always work, and it was temporary - but it would make a
BIG difference to the other awakened in the room..

Clenched his fist.. imagined a single point in that fist - a tiny area surrounded by his self - by his will, An area protected by his power, made whole and clean, the
toxic nature pushed back and away - just for a while.... imagine it pushing outwards, the will filling the room...

(Cleanse, edge for extra dice before the roll
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2168472/
hey, 6's! No hits on the rerolls though sadly. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2168473/
Total 4 hits. If I read SR right that should reduce the background by 2)

(uh.. mea culpa on the magic, but initiate grade shouldn't be reduced so wouldn't it be 1 die for magic, 4 for grade and 4 for edge (total 9 dice?) ? I'll be happy to reroll..)

(Assuming the 9 dice is correct spending edge...)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2168834/

3 hits, 2 of them 6's.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2168836/

2 hits. I'm assuming I don't get to roll that 6 again.

5 hits total, threshold is 2, so (assuming I didn't cock everything up again completely) I reduce the count to 0 after 3 complex actions.

He saw the exit. Only problem was, it was five meters overhead. This could be a problem. Sheathing his swords, Mirikon reached into his pockets, and pulled out a pair of gloves, knee pads, and slip on soles, which he promptly donned.

"You guys wait here. I'm gonna go open the door." And with that, he promptly climbed up the wall, and then, hanging upside down from the ceiling, crossed over to the trap door, to try and open it.

--
Using my Gecko Tape Gloves to climb the walls, and get to the trap door to open it.

There is a visible sigh of relief from everyone in the room as the horrible toxic mana swirling around lessens then disappears (although not for long as it only lasts about 4 hours, but more than enough time for you all to deal with the situation at hand.)

The Devil rat takes notice of the decreased background count and something bizarre begins to occur in front of everyone. The physical appearance of the rat wavers and shimmies like a broken holo-vid (or a mirage) for just a moment then POP! A loud thunderclap and the Devil rat is no more, in its place is a vile oozing toxic spirit radiating a mysterious but powerful glow. The thing glances over the group points a horrible looking tendril at the guy wielding the SMG and a spray of acid shoots from it (catching all the mages in the room by surprise there was no casting at all) and douses the SMG guy. Its effects are immediate he drops to the floor in a screaming heap his gun a melted pile of dripping scrap his armor and clothes burn wildly leaving a disgusting dissolved smell of Kevlar and cloth. All the rats around him similarly dissolve in the spray of acid and leave a messy bubbling pile of gooey rats. But this does not deter any of the thousands of other rats from the hell-bent task of attacking everyone in the room. A new sense of panic immediately fills the room as the newest and greatest threat appears.

(Boy did you guys screw up… it WAS only a force 3 with the background count but now you have a force 6 toxic spirit to deal with. Enjoy!)


GM - Nick Scratch

(Miri roll willpower and edge if you want for a panic test you are hangin' right above it and at the moment defenseless. At this point in time I would like to start using initiative so everyone roll that and lets start taking turns as they should be.)

Iceblade in a panic scrambles to open the door that has no handles, he pounds on it frantically and pushes it as hard as he can in a blind raw reaction of desperation to get away from the horrid creature below.

Odin whirls to face the toxic spirit, knife in hand. With a shrug of his shoulder, he drops the runner he had been carrying back into the rats, producing a swarm of squeeks. "Sorry." He raises his knife above his face and freezens for a moment, not even stomping at the rats at his feet as he seems to concentrate. Then, without warning, the throws back his head and screams "Freyja guide me!". He immediately starts moving again, his movements swifter and sharper them before.

OOC:
Resist Drain from earlier boost (I figure its expired, since we aren't really counting those actions): 7 hits, more then enough.
Complex Action: Infusion, increase Improved Reflexes to Rating 3: new reaction: 6, new initative: 9 (4 passes)
Auto-injector triggerd by infusion: Nitro, new strength: 9, new willpower: 7, new perception: 3, high pain tolerence 6, duration 30 minutes
Auto-inector triggerd by infusion: Psyche, new Intuition 3, new initative 10 (4 passes), new logic 3, duration 3 hours
Ability boost: body: 3 hits; new body 12, duration 6 turns
Ability boost: agility: 3 hits; new agility 7, duration 6 turns.

Ok, done buffing (grin), will start figthing next ip.

spend a point of edge
3d6.hits(5)=1 re-roll 6
1d6.hits(5)=1 re-roll 6
1d6.hits(5)=1 re-roll 6
1d6.hits(5)=1 re-roll 6
1d6.hits(5)=1 re-roll 6
1d6.hits(5)=0
Net hits = 5

{O.C.C. at this point I feel I should at least attempt something heroic, but I don't have a clue how to fend off a spirit}

Secure awakens and scrambles to clear himself of rats seemingly unafraid of the terrifying toxic spirit but at a loss for what he should do to help the situation… a strange look of confusion mixed with indecision crosses his face.

GM - Nick Scratch

The oozing bubbling abomination moves from the center of the room towards the corner where a small girl is standing chanting words of power seemingly unaware of the host of rats gnawing on her exposed flesh. The Toxic mass of hate and malice stretches out a spindly tentacle and a stream of steaming acid flies forth from it. At the exact same moment the girl glows with a brilliant blue light, shouts her last words, and unleashes a counter stream of crystal clear waters.

The streams pass in midair just millimeters apart.

The small girl is doused in boiling hot acid, her screams of agony may haunt some of you to the grave. The resulting scene of dissolved little girl is too horrifying to describe. But she did not die in vain.

The stream of purified water hits the toxic monstrosity like a hot knife through butter. It washes away the polluted creature’s tentacle in a nano-second. But the fetid beastie is undeterred and turns to face the next brightest astrally glowing person in its reach…

Odin.