GM Leinathan's "A Galaxy in Flux" (Inactive)

Game Master leinathan

Smyrna can't help but smile at the number sequence. It was a fantastic coincidence after all. "That name will really stand out around here. Can I call you K-Van? Also, we should get moving K-Van. Here, take my jacket. Your shirt's a bit... sterile."

Cross looked as doubtful as a man without a visible face could manage. He did not exactly like how Smyrna was phrasing her thoughts about the kid.

"Yeah, and like a nuke, this has the potential to get us blown to tiny smoldering bits." His synthetic voice was crackling a bit oddly as he compensated for the jolt of electricity throwing his hardware out of sync. "You've never had to deal with the kind of people that will be interested in this kid. They're not the sort some flash driving can shake. If he's got some new wetware or hardware weapons package, that's bad enough but if he's a full skinjob, then we're talking the sort of cash neither of us would see in a lifetime."

Cross looked up as a police siren passed them. "Shit, let's take Kev here to my shop. I've got a couch he can crash on, the neighbors are solid, and no one would suspect the Cored mechanic of taking care of a kid. We'll get him sorted out there."

Mal nods at Smyrna - she was thinking along the same lines as he was. He quickly - but quietly - grabbed as much of the extra gear lying about as he could safely carry and heads towards the surgical room. "C'mon, Em - we need to stick together..." he says softly to his fellow escapee.

Cassius pipes up again: "Dr. Larson, they're ringing the bell and saying that they're patients," it says. "Should I let them in, or do you want to use the surgery like normal?"

Rollo pushes his semi-automatic into his jeans, which he wore underneath his armor and shoulders the bag which contains his armor. He was up from sleeping on the couch to readiness in moments, moving along with Emily and Maldor. "What are we doing?" he asks, quietly.

- - - - -

The little boy wordlessly nods, pulling Smyrna's jacket on around his shirt and zipping it up. He follows the pair back to Cross' garage on the bus, the journey to which involves no trouble.

The mention of them being patients throws everything topsy-turvey. "Crap...everyone stay here, then. Take up defensive positions on either side of both doors. If this goes bad I'm not going back easily!"

Maldor draws his pistol and moves to the wall next to the front door.

Emily had woken up early to watch the sunrise from one of Jin's windows, and sneak an extra food-cube before breakfast. When Cassius chirped in with the news, and then the arrival of two vesk, she didn't quite grasp the situation until she saw everyone's reactions... She didn't ask questions as most of them withdrew to the surgery room, but her mind raced with so many.

"There's two vesk at the door," Emily whispered back to Rollo. She almost asked what a 'vesk' was, but was afraid Cassius might chime in with a lengthy answer... At that thought, and the mention of the vesk being patients, a simple idea struck her. "Cassius! Those vesk thingies, can you let me hear them? If I can hear what they're saying, I can try and read them..."

Assuming Cassius can do that, she'll try to use her empathy on both of them.
Empathy 1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Empathy 2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

And if there's time she'll try again.
Empathy 1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Empathy 2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Cross lets them in through the garage door, taking them past his cluttered workspace, Smyrna's antique Harley, and the half-cannibalized spare body he was using for parts and repairs to himself. Leading the way up into his apartment, Cross had to remember not everyone had built in light amplifiers and actually turn on the lights. The fake wood stairs creaked at their passing, the sound subtly wrong.

Finally letting the two of them into the studio apartment itself, Cross shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on a peg by the door, revealing the matte black finish of his arms. He left the helmet on.

Cross's apartment was, predictably, spartan. A single room held everything except for an all but unused bathroom. A cheap sofa, coffee table, wall mounted screen, one over stuffed chair, and kitchenette with all the appliances but no utensils. It looked like the fridge was the only thing in there to get any use.

"I don't do much entertaining," Cross said fetching a 'beer' out of the fridge and socketing it into the port under his shirt to drain into him. "Can't offer much in the way of refreshments either."

"Patients? What now?"

"Cassius, do they look hurt? Is there anyone loitering on the street?"

Amaryst looks questioningly at the others.

I was comfortable with them coming in the front door and most of us in the surgery. That gave us some options. Where to now? A bedroom? Who's got some ideas?

If there is a bedroom we can try to hide in there, but staying in the main room gives us access to an 'out.' Lining up on either side of the doorways means they can only come in one at a time and we are flanking them when they do. Plus we are initially our of sight if they just look through without entering. I think we'd all prefer to resolve this through stealth, guile, or charm and a bit of luck. But we should be prepared for a more 'final' solution, too. =)

Smyrna had been to Cross' garage before, but she'd never ventured into his actual apartment. She was almost disappointed, thinking back to the last cyber punk novel she'd read. "Thanks Cross, I owe ya. My apartment's already being monitored. I'm gonna grab some water for me and K from the kitchen. Actually, ya must be hungry kid, you like pizza?"

"Send them around to the side entrance like usual Cassius" Jin said as he pulled on his sterile white coat he usually wears while treating patients "I agreed to treat them yesterday, just stay here, no one ever actually enters my living area anyways, if you are scared then there's my bedroom too." he finishes as he turns and heads to the surgery, while Cassius locks the door into the house behind him for good measure.

"Greetings" he says as the two enter "I believe we scheduled your visit for this afternoon? Oh well, we might as well get this handled now since you are here." he finishes with the usual semi-professional cheerful demeanor, patients generally respond better if they believe that every issue is minor and that he has it under control, even when he sometimes doesn't.

Professionalism (Bluff): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

Korvan waits and listens as his hand slides ever closer to his pistol.

"Come on Jin, do what you gotta do and make these mooks go away."

OK back to the living room then.

Amaryst sighs and hauls the heavy bags back into the living room where she stashes them behind a couch. She keeps her automatic tucked into the back of her belt and pulls out her tunic so that it drapes loosely over the gun.

The two vesk stagger into Jin's surgery with no notice paid to the suspicious pack of people in the other room. Emily can feel that one of them is in great pain and the other has an overriding feeling of duty and concern.

One of the vesk, with dull green scales, a dirty white tank top and a pair of brown cargo shorts, supports the other who wears overalls over dark, dark gray scales. The second vesk has a poorly-made splint on one leg and his arm is in a sling, and collapses heavily on Jin's examination table. The stronger vesk's English isn't very good, but he tries his best to explain to Jin what happened - "V work downtown," he rumbles. "Was an oops. Um, En søjle faldt på ham," he says, apologetically looking away from Jin. "Sorry, um. It... hurt him. He... broken."

Vesk = Danish.

- - - - -

The little boy goes goggle-eyed when Cross puts the alcohol into his injection port. "You don't drink with your mouth?" he asks.

Amaryst nods to Korvan. {"Watch the surgery door."}

She gets up and moves to a window facing the street. Peering around the edge of a curtain, she looks out.

Looking for vehicles, other people/Vesk.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Maybe curtain is too dated. I bet Jin has windows that are adjustable clear/oneway/opaque depending on applied current.

Sorry but you are gonna have to deal with google translate for foreign languages, RIP

After a short moment parsing the language shift, Jin responds in Vesk "Det er fint, en kolonne, du siger? Hvor landede den?" he asks as he activates the medical scanner and begins looking for bone fractures "Var der nogen ydre blødninger? Hvor er du såret primært?"

Medicine to Treat Deadly Wounds: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

Emily grabbed her satchel of food cubes and cleared out of the surgery room with everyone else. She stayed close to the door, curious about the visiting patients -- it seemed like Jin knew a lot of non-humans. She listened carefully at the door, hoping to get a feel for them.

Perception to listen in, and if she can hear the vesk she'll use her empathy on them; repeating attempts if needed.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

Staring at the kid for a moment, Cross decided to give him an object lesson. With care, he reached up to his shoulder and began to peel the matte black coating that was both skin and armor to him down his arm. It came away in one piece, like peeling off an opera glove. Yet, instead of human skin underneath, there were complicated bundles of synthetic muscle, numerous interfaces and anchors, bones of advanced polymer, bands of fibrous tendons, spider webs of ducts and thin pipes carrying lubricants, coolants, and other fluids.

Cross held his arm out for the boy to see, moving his fingers and then clenching his hand into a fist so that the full range of motion was on display. There was a complex serial number stamped into an exposed surface of the combined structure that filled the role of his radius and ulna. Some surfaces shimmered slightly but the exposed 'flesh' was dry as many individual parts were compartmentalized and where liquids were needed, they were contained.

"I'm not like you and Smyrna," Cross said simply. When he moved around and kept mostly covered up, he looked almost human, but laid out like this the differences between Cross and the rest of the species was suddenly abjectly obvious.

Smyrna appreciated Cross' frankness. Something that she always attributed to his personality more than any physical attribute. Smyrna had checked on Cross' mech-vitals before, but she still couldn't help but appreciate the complexity of the cords underneath his metal shell."It's true, he doesn't like pineapple. The monster. Food's on its way.

Smyrna looks over the boy for injuries, but not like any doctor or medical practice would. Something about her demeanor was far more casual and comfortable, like an older sibling. She was always good with kids. From your reaction on the street, I can see that you've been through a lot. From my reaction to your reaction, and from Cross', well, everything, you can tell that we've been through some stuff too. So, I don't want to pry, but I am. What's your story, kid?"

The kid stares at Cross' arm for awhile with mouth and eyes wide open. He reaches out tentatively to poke something, but thinks better of it and snatches his own hand back. He manages "Wow" after a few moments before turning back to Smyrna.

"K-Van" regards her for a moment, lip quivering. "I guess I'd probably be back there if you worked for them, right?" he asks, voice unsteady. "I really need help, Smyrna," he says. "And... Cross. Can you help me? It's... it's big. If you can't help me... I should probably just leave."

He scratches his hair timidly. "Maybe after pizza."

"Anyway... I uh... I can make fire. With my mind. I think some people came to take me away from my bosses, but... they all died," he says, scratching his cheek. "The bosses shot them. But I ran away anyway, and now everyone is looking for me. The men in the cars with flashing lights keep chasing me whenever they see me."

- - - - -

You're probably right - electrically-controlled windows are likely to exist in most modern houses.

The vesk has taken a big injury. He has several fractures, at least one dislocated bone that needs to be re-set, and his scales have split in multiple places. He needs some basic bandaging, he needs his arm and leg to be re-cast, and he needs a chest wrap from a broken rib as well - all things that Jin can easily perform and which take no more than an hour. Meanwhile he and his friend (who are called Vendisk and Saladar) explain to Jin what happened: While on the job, a crane failed and dropped a literal steel beam on tom of Vendisk.

Either way, Saladar gratefully hands Jin a credstick worth 150 credits after Jin gives medical attention to his friend, thanking him profusely.

Cross pulled the sleeve of skin back up over his arm and the edges seemed to seal back into place seamlessly as his body anchored it with an unseen mechanism. Moving to grab two more bottles of the 'beer' for himself. This was a three beer conversation, maybe even four.

"This explains a lot," Cross said, sitting in his chair and slotting the next container into the port to drain. "No wonder the feds have been stomping all over everything. Someone's pet black project has gotten out of hand and they're left on clean-up and containment. Kev here is probably an indenture or off-the-books arti."

He leaned his helmeted head back and stared up at the ceiling as his digestive gear finally let the alcohol hit his organics, soothing the churning feeling in the back of his head. This was cutting a little too close to home for him and bringing up some unpleasant memories.

Jesus, this is some psychotic stuff. K-Van, safe is a tough word in a rough and tumble world, but I'll do my best to keep you away from the a#!*@~*s who messed with you. I bet you haven't slept well in a long time. I have a trick to help you feel safe.

A voice chimes in from Smyrna's purse "Oh so I'm just a trick to you? I thought you loved me babe."

"You got me Tay." Smyrna responds "While you're at it, engage surveillance protocol."

Tay slips out of Smyrna's bag. Even though gears are shifting and metal is sliding against metal, the movement of Tay is eerily silent. Tay scuttles up the wall of the apartment and onto the ceiling. There, Tay matches color perfectly with the ceiling. Almost invisible, you wouldn't know Tay was there if you didn't see Tay moving.

Smyrna looks at K-Van. "I modeled Tay after Thaumoctopus mimicus. Hundreds of years ago they lived in the ocean, but pollution killed them all. Tay's a relic itself, but it does a good job of keeping us alive. Right Tay?"

"I dunno about that, it looks like you're both slowly dying right now." Tay responds, with zero hesitation.

"Thanks Tay, now go outside and holler if you see something. But stealthily."

Tay slithers down the wall, opens the door, and heads through. "Stealthily holler, got it!" Tay slams the door behind.

Tay Stealth: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26
Tay Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

Amaryst turns from the window and stalks over to Korvan. Watching the surgery door, and keeping her voice low, she asks, "What's the story with Maldor? You knew him before -- and then he was kidnapped?"

Just 'cause she started with Korvan, doesn't mean the conversation is private. Anyone in the living room, chime in.

"Yeah, we were best friends back in Chicago when we were kids. His family looked out for me more than my mom ever did." Korvan says with a shrug.

"The neighborhood was always kind of a shit-hole, when Mal disappeared, I had always assumed that he and his family had finally gotten the chance to go someplace better...never faulted them for it, just missed my friend."

With a smirk on his face he adds, "Now that I've found out he was taken...and who knows what became of his family, I've got someone else to be pissed at I guess."

Amaryst emits a little huff, halfway between a snort and a sigh. "We're not likely to get any revenge. This is all too big, too many dead people. Uofeeah (UFIA) and the police are going to be -- well motivated -- and very angry. If they ~ nods at Em and Maldor ~ don't want to go back, then we have to get off world. And I wouldn't plan on coming back. That's a big step for you, and them."

Korvan shrugs. "I'm mobile...whether it's here on Earth or elsewhere, it doesn't really matter to me. Hell, it might even be nice to get off this rock for a while."

Amaryst apes disappointment. "I was hoping you'd want to stay here, and never be able to redeem those favors."

After a sidelong glance she continues, "Getting offworld won't be easy. I hope there's help waiting at that safe house. Speaking of which, how are we going to get there? Is it safe to try to fix a van the way you did the car yesterday? Should we try public transport? Should we splitup?"

When Maldor hears Amaryst say "split up," he looks over at Em, then back to Amaryst and Korvan and shakes his head. "I'm not losing Em. We have too much in common and have been through a lot. We're two of a kind out here - don't know how many others escaped, or even if we could find them. I just want to get away and be left alone so I can figure out who I am and how I can make a difference. We may not have a choice about splitting up later, but there's strength in numbers, right?" Maldor whispers all of this to avoid being heard by the vesk in the next room.

"You're not getting out that that easy, Amaryst." Korvan says with a grin.

"I suppose I could try and wire a van the same way, though there's not as much call for those and I would suspect that the monitoring would be a bit more frequent...but we can give it a try if you want."

"Public transport might be the way to go, but I'd suggest switching modes and lines fairly often...and yeah, Mal's got the right of it. For now we stand a better chance if we stick together."

Amaryst looks to Maldor and back to Korvan.

"Maybe we won't be conspicuous as long as we don't move in a tight pack. We move in groups of two or three, but the groups stay about 20 to 50 feet apart."

Kovan nods. "That should work. Who's in which group? If this situation is going as sideways as it sounds for offworlders, it would probably be wise to split you and Jin up."[

As Amaryst finishes her sentence Jin comes in from the now vacated Surgery, stepping into the conversation in a rather literal sense of the word.

Waiting for Korvan to finish his assessment, he then pipes up. "On the contrary I think Amaryst, our friend, and myself should form one group, while you look after the other two." he then continued to explain "A couple of kids with an offworlder will stand out, but with another human? Well you could be their uncle or something as far as a bystander knows."

"Meanwhile nobody will look twice at a few of 'Aliens' as some of your kind put it, sticking together like we usually do." he finishes with a hint of disdain in his voice.

Amaryst nods. "Jin's groups make sense. If I'm Jin's bodyguard, then wearing my armor will be more explainable if the authorities take an interest in us. And I want to keep Rollo close to me. He seems a little more relaxed today, but if he gets edgy again he could make a mistake that would get us all caught, or dead."

Hey, Leinathan, I've been more or less assuming Rollo was in heavy armor and that the battle damage on the suit was glaringly obvious, but is that true? If he's in a 2nd skin suit or something similar then might he be able to wear his armor without attracting attention? How noticeable is the battle damage to his armor?

Yeah, it was heavy armor - hidden soldier armor. The battle damage is obvious, but that can be repaired if you want to take some time and make some Engineering checks. Rollo also carried a semi-auto pistol (22 rounds), an autotarget rifle (61 rounds) and 6 tier 2 frag grenades.

Rollo hums. "Yeah, that sounds fine. If there are checkpoints on the roads or something, we're basically f$**ed though," he brings up. "Seeing as how neither I nor either of you "experiments" have valid ID we can show police." He shrugs. "Maybe it would be better to have our own car in that case. We can hack away the self-driving tech and just drive away after we take out the checkpoint."

- - - - -

The boy smiles gratefully, sinking into Cross' couch as Smyrna sets up Tay as a sentry. "Thank you for your help, you two..." he mumbles.

He scarfs down three slices of pizza when it arrives and then passes out. He must have been completely exhausted.

Cross stands once the kid seems to have dozed off for the night. On quiet feet he heads for the stairs down to his garage and motions for Smyrna to follow him. It was time for a talk and the garage was the best place to do that without waking the kid.

Maldor rolls his eyes at Jin. "Korvan and I are the same age, Jin, and Emily's not much younger than us. And since we're not kids by human standards, we wouldn't be suspicious on our own. At least, we wouldn't have been 10 years ago. Not sure WHAT passes for normal these days."

"Easy, Maldor. Jin may not estimate human ages well, but I think he's got the right pairings. Three humans will draw little attention. While three aliens may draw attention, Jin's presence might shield us to some extent if it looks like Rollo and I are subordinate to him."

...

Rollo hums. "Yeah, that sounds fine. If there are checkpoints on the roads or something, we're basically f#@+ed though," he brings up. "Seeing as how neither I nor either of you "experiments" have valid ID we can show police." He shrugs. "Maybe it would be better to have our own car in that case. We can hack away the self-driving tech and just drive away after we take out the checkpoint."

Amaryst swings her attention to Rollo. "That attitude will just get us all caught or killed. Any violent confrontation with the police will end with us surrounded by overwhelming force. They are ready for us now. Your raid has them on the highest alert. There are intelligence units scanning every kind of media and camera. There's probably army units with rapid airlift stationed throughout the region or even waiting already airborne. Our only hope is to stay small. Until you really learn that, I'll hold the big gun and the explosives."

She takes a deep breath. "But you make a good point. We can't get off world without ID. I'm hoping there will be something waiting at that safe house, but Korvan do you know anyone who could arrange ID?"

"Someone needs to plan a route. Someone needs to make a list of supplies we need for the trip and the resources we have."

Engineering on Rollo's armor: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

I can't remember particular scores, but I know a bunch of us had engineering so if we gang up and aid another on this maybe leinathan will let the repairs go quickly.

Amaryst doesn't have a lot to contribute to resources. She has 177 units, but she's going to need a new comm unit, and will want a medkit (unless someone else has one) and a healing serum and some clothes. She's not planning on picking up the money she earned yesterday unless we're broke. Then she'll risk it.

Emily stayed quiet through most of the planning -- she knew so little about the outside world and how things worked, and the others brought up points she never would have thought of. As much as she didn't want to go back, she knew if things went wrong there was a good chance she and Mal would be taken alive. Emily looked around the room at everyone, and knew none of them would be so lucky...

When Amaryst mentioned supplies, Emily brought her satchel over. "I grabbed a bunch of food on the way out," she said, and unzipped the bag.

"Korvan, what about that hacker friend of yours? That girl who brought you in to get patched up a while back, she seemed pretty savvy when we talked, do you think she might be able to help with getting ahold of some IDs?" Jin asked the merc as he picked up Cassius' projector from his desk and laid it on the kitchen counter and beckoned the others over to plan "Between what I had on hand, the payout I got from the vesk, and the creds those two arrived with I have a little more than 500 credits on hand to work with."

"I tried phoning for help when those two got here but your damn greedy comms services slapped me with a huge bill for it" he continued, bringing up the DoS statement that he was given on the holoprojector "I could send it through for 400 but it could be a while before anything they could send would arrive."

Mal chimes in with a quick survey of his gear. " I found a medkit, an injection gun for medicines, two vials of analgesic for field surgery, and two canisters of sprayflesh. Plus I have my healing powers. Will that be enough?"

Maldor is starting to realize that he has only participated in training exercises or experiments designed by the Institute, but never an actual field event. Amaryst, Korvan, and Rollo had real-life experience...and thought of non-traditional solutions to problems he had never even been exposed to. He decided that it would be worth it to stick close to them and learn everything that he could!!

Smyrna quietly follows cross into the garage. "Hey buddy, so I brought a firecracker into your living room." Smyrna shuffles around nervously a bit. "You pissed?"

There was not a surplus of free space down in his garage, what with Smyrna's Harley taking up one of the two vehicle bays and the countless half finished projects scattered around. So for Cross to maintain something like his preferred personal space, he ended up leaning against the maintenance cradle, the bump of his shoulder set the partially cannibalized body suspended therein swinging oddly.

Cross remained quiet for a long and awkward moment, letting Smyrna stew for a minute. Her heart was in the right place, he could tell that much but she was making some assumptions about him and the situation. She did not know what sort of trouble they would be bringing down on their heads here and what was already on the way.

"Where do you think this goes, Smyrna?"

Jin, are you referring to Smyrna?

Rollo scoffs. "So what to you suggest we do if, driving down the road, we come to a police checkpoint where they check our IDs?"

Smyrna takes a deep breath, then squats down to the floor. "Well, according to my calculations, and assuming that this is as big of a deal as we think it is, the police find this place in 10-12 hours. If I leave on my bike and avoid surveillance, I can hide the kid for 48 hours. Anything beyond then, and some random a~%%&*$ or unlucky break could tip me off. Tay's also wanted merchandise, not as big, but maybe just as valuable, so that's going against me too."

Smyrna's voice becomes quiet, sullen as she talks. Resilience is a level from where Smyrna acts on a daily basis, but being 19, her mental stamina, along with the physical trauma and fatigue, is starting to wear down on her.

"You know, I've never left this city Cross. I love it here. I know its history, the climate- the wildlife, even the extinct stuff. I love its opportunity, and its mistakes. I...I don't think I can live here anymore Cross. I think in 7 hours, I'm going to have to make a break for it and leave this planet. That's where this goes, if I even make it that far."

Smyrna stands up now, taller than before. "Ugh, it hurts to say that, but it feels good to get it out in the open. I'm going to leave with the kid Cross. If I go first thing in the morning, the police won't have anything to pin you with. I dropped my bike off in your shop and picked it up after repairs. Cross, you don't talk a lot, but you think, and I like you. I'm sorry for bringing you into my anarchy for this long. I'll be out of your hair soon, unless hair is a touchy subject for you.

Smyrna smiles at her dig and goes for a stretch, then flinches as she remembers her burns. Then she relaxes back into a neutral stance. She starts rummaging through her bag as it becomes clear she's holding back tears.

No ranks, can't hit that DC for the Culture roll.

"Oh, Smyrna? I don't know if I'd call her a friend. Hell, Amaryst is probably closer to her than I am...she introduced us." Korvan says to Jin.

Turning back to Amaryst, he says, "It could probably be arranged, but it wouldn't be quick...not really a luxury we have."

Cross lets her unload her plan and make her decisions. "You don't know these people, Smyrna, not like I do. That kid is someone's property, their investment. Might be a private R&D project or government contractors but either way this is not the sort of thing that goes away until you convince them they are going to lose more than they gain by coming after you. Considering what that kid can do and the potential fallout if his story goes public, you'd have to make yourself pretty damn expensive."

He turned and looked down at the splayed open spare body. The back was split down the spine, showing the slot where a systematically reduced human mass was expected to slot into. Cross knew the cavity was actually larger than it strictly needed to be to account for additional equipment and modifications to make sure the core was compatible.

"The kid and you get six hours of sleep. Tomorrow we call Rex and see if he has any leads on a ship leaving in the next twelve hours. We should both have some good will built up with him, enough that he won't screw us over anyway. What've you got in the way of ready cash?"

1d5 ⇒ 1

Smyrna, Cross, seems like you're just about ready to move on to the morning. Let me know, ok?

Culture: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

When Amaryst mentioned supplies, Emily brought her satchel over. "I grabbed a bunch of food on the way out," she said, and unzipped the bag.

"That's a good start."

Mal chimes in with a quick survey of his gear. " I found a medkit, an injection gun for medicines, two vials of analgesic for field surgery, and two canisters of sprayflesh. Plus I have my healing powers. Will that be enough?"

"Those will all come in handy."

"Korvan, what about that hacker friend of yours? That girl who brought you in to get patched up a while back, she seemed pretty savvy when we talked, do you think she might be able to help with getting ahold of some IDs?" Jin asked the merc as he picked up Cassius' projector from his desk and laid it on the kitchen counter and beckoned the others over to plan "Between what I had on hand, the payout I got from the vesk, and the creds those two arrived with I have a little more than 500 credits on hand to work with."

"I tried phoning for help when those two got here but your damn greedy comms services slapped me with a huge bill for it" he continued, bringing up the DoS statement that he was given on the holoprojector "I could send it through for 400 but it could be a while before anything they could send would arrive."

"I've got about 150. The agency owes me 100 for finding Rollo, but I don't think it would be prudent to try to collect it. What's it going to cost to get to the safe house?"

Rollo scoffs. "So what to you suggest we do if, driving down the road, we come to a police checkpoint where they check our IDs?"

"We're working on the IDs, but if we get picked up in Boston, there's nothing to do. We're finished. If we make it to a spaceport, then we might be able to shoot our way out."

Amaryst: Checking your bank account, you notice that you've been wired 50 credits from the Simon Home Protection Agency with a note: 'Cleaner's fee deducted from your paycheck. No violence reported, so no bonus.'

What do you mean, 'pick it up'?

The safehouse is located in one of the many warehouse docking districts of former New York State, southwest of Manhattan Island. It is about a three-hour drive away from Jin's house, or five hours on public transportation. Getting a cab that far is about 20 credits. Renting a car for an entire day is about 40 credits. Public transit is free.

You can acquire anything you need except weapons and armor from Amazon's Instant Drone Delivery Services in 1 hour.

Jin already has a medkit.

Getting a fake ID for Rollo/Maldor/Emily might require some work. Without direct knowledge of a broker or forger, you'll need to tap your other friends or criminal networks you're in contact with.

I think I've addressed everything? What's your plan?