Mission 2b - Special Delivery

I pull out my two guns and show them too Torpor and WuJen "I just have this ares 75 and this super squirt nothing special but handy in a pinch" "when we get back I don't mind upgrades" ichigo chuckles a bit.

"Well that's good to know WuJen" I pull out some explosives from inside my trench coat "I don't have any grenades but this will! Hehe"

On the way to the barrens i inform the guys in the van "just so that you guys know i was in the military and I lost both my eye's ears and now i have cyberware and enhancements so in case the tech guys needs to send or need to receive info" (( I not sure if I need to write down the info for my cyberware here or y'all just look at my character sheet))

Torpor nods to Ichigo, "Just let me know when you are ready and i can do up some stuff for both of those." He then turns to WuJen, "Do you know anyone that does tattoo qi foci? I'm thinking of getting some after we get the whole center finished up. "

As citizens of Mingmei, you all know that all tattoos are associated with the Yakuza. Many businesses ban people with visible tattoos from entering so as to avoid having to deal with the Yakuza while not directly saying they are refusing service to Yakuza. While there are certainly people who get tattoos that are not Yakuza, the stigma is still quite strong. Yakuza tattoos are mostly used as identification among members, as well as a way of displaying one's accomplishments within the criminal ranks.

It is reasonable to believe that magical tattoos in the area would also require involvement with the Yakuza, though none of you in the van have any knowledge as to which specific Yakuza clan and/or member would be able to do that for you.

"I can ask around.  I've only recently looked into techniques like that and don't have a lot of contacts as yet.  Maybe Mikuzume has someone it can recommend."

Ichigo puts his weapons away "thanks torpor"

"If tattoos do not work, maybe ritual scarring. I want something that's a little harder to lose."
Torpor looks to Ichigo, "I can make custom grips for those orc hands of yours, maybe some gecho tape so you will not lose your weapon. Maybe chrome it up. "

"Maybe have the foci surgically implanted." "yeah having a better grip would be cool I don't know about the from a though."

Chougou is rigged in to the van and focusing on the various routes that they might take while letting the AR do most of the driving for now. ((if that's a thing, I'm trying to be ready for anything, but still make plans...))

He notes the idea of letting the drones out to scout ahead, but he didn't bring anything fast enough to keep up I don't think. they can do it once they get to the area, set up a perimeter. Chougou will gladly take the advice of anyone that has a plan, because he is just ready to ride.

Chougou is fully jacked into his van, but the question of route still remains. Which does the group take: the direct and faster highway or the winding side roads?

Chougou asks the group if they think they should take the direct route over the highway or the back roads.

Time doesn't seem to be of too much concern? Is there a chance that someone is after the box and will attack if they are out in the open? Or should they get there as fast as possible to have the thing out of their possession...

"Both options have their good and bad points, i say go for the slower back road route that way you leave the direct route for a quicker get away perhaps. "

"Is it paranoia if they really are out to get you?"


"Take the slower route, maybe even double back a bit now and again.  We got all night.  Once we are in the denser areas of the barrens the drones might be faster than the van is, maybe take short cuts that we can't, and we can certainly slow down if we need to."

(OOC: I don't know the stats of your drones.  Some may very well be faster than the van even on an open road.  It might benefit you to purchase some rotodrones that can keep up in the air for jobs like this in the future.)


(OOC Edit: I assume the Van is a GMC Bulldog, which has a Speed of 3.  Aztech Crawlers and GM-Nissan Doberman also have speeds of 3.  As far as I know you should be able to easily keep a perimeter around the van with your drones)

(OOC Even more Edit:  Now I am unsure.  Your Aztech Crawlers are 'walkers', and may not go as fast as 'groundcraft' like the Van or Dobermans, and no where near as fast as 'Rotocraft' which would easily keep pace with your Van.)

((Speed is pretty abstract in 5e. Ground craft can all go about the same speed as you are more limited by roads, speed limits, other vehicles, pot holes, etc. than you are by the actual max speed of the vehicle. The speed stat on the vehicle is your limit when making tests that involve changing your speed. Acceleration, which you would think would do what the speed stat does, actually is a different limit determining how many ranges you can change. It's weird and when/if it comes up, I'll walk ya'll through it.

Short answer is, anything motorized with wheels can keep up under normal driving conditions. If it flies, it can go faster than the van because it doesn't need to worry about obstacles/roads. I tend to rule that microdrones and drones with legs go at around people speeds.

If Chougou wants, he can give some very basic control over his drones to the others so he can focus on driving in the event of combat. They would be giving commands like follow <target>, attack <target>, retreat, etc through their commlinks. The drones would still be using their own pilot stats for stuff since the others aren't actually operating them, but it would save Chougou from having to spend actions directing his drones. They can use their own perceptions to look out for trouble through the drones' sensors though. Each person that Chougou designates can basically operate a single drone in this way))

Chougou sets up his drones to follow the van and takes the back roads to the location.

((If you want to allow the others access to your drones, assign who gets what drone now))

"If we're all bragging about our grenades..." Sun shakes both fists in the air. "These go boom too, and can do it more than once!" He puts his hands on his knees and leans forward. "About going into the Barrens, I think it's not a good idea to just drive in like an ice cream van. We're sitting ducks if anyone has any bad intentions. All that's needed, is a roadblock and 5 people with rifles or magic, left and right of the van, and we're done for. The milk of this run would be bloody real quick. I suggest we're a bit more cautious than that."

"I agree with sun we need to be cautious going into these kind of places! An ambush can come from anywhere and anyone."

"Which is why we don't take the big, obvious route.  If I was a ganger looking to cause issue, that's where I would set up.  We may still run into issue on the less used routes, but hopefully no large, well organized ambushes."

"Ok you guys know this area better then i."

"Not really.  This is my first trip in there, and I wasn't even willing to go astral scouting alone.  I've heard rumors of what's in there enough to make me want to steer clear"

"Ah ok"

"The side roads is a good start, but having some recon up front would be a great help as well." Sun leans over to the front of the van, trying his best not to squash people sitting next to him or topple a pile of drones. "Chou, you're good with machines. You absolutely sure you got none that may scout the area ahead for us?"

((So I did bring a rotodrone and some flying eyes, the rotodrone can scout ahead once we get into the vicinity at a medium distance I assume, but I don't know if people take too kindly to drones just flittin about...and then we can deploy flying eyes once we are closer.))

So Chougou will take the van around the back ways, staking out the area and noting anything unusual and possible escape routes, and then when they get closer he will send the rotodrone and a crawler out (unless things like that get pulverized by the locals just for being there, I know I wouldn't really like robot bugs just crawling around my living area...) and then if they get really close without running into trouble then he'd like to send out the flying eyes to get a better view of things.

Also he offers control of the crawlers (there are 2) if someone wants to bring it into a battle as a backup for themselves ((as mentioned above by GM)) and he will pilot the rotodrone. The crawlers each have an Ingram X smartgun and the rotodrone will have a Colt on it.

While a rotodrone can certainly keep up with the van, the crawlers cannot as they move at about the same speeds as a person. So Chougou sends out a rotodrone to be your eye in the sky ((as I said above, you can pick someone to control it if you like while you are driving))

Chougou's van is a heavily armored delivery van with little in the way of windows for the passengers. Rigged in as he is, Chougou "sees" everything through sensors, though whoever decides to ride shotgun could see through the windows and either throw spells through them or roll down a window and fire a gun in case of trouble. ((First to call shotgun is sitting there))


You head down the city roads, taking your time in hopes of avoiding trouble. The ride is all downhill as you slowly climb down the mountain to the lower and poorer section of town. As the altitude decreases, so does the quality of buildings around you. You are passing through an area of town mostly populated by run down coffin apartments at this point with the rotodrone flying over head keeping an eye on trouble.

Traffic is congested, even at this time of night, and movement is pretty much slowed to a crawl. It quickly becomes clear that this is going to take much longer than you expected...

"I think a spell caster should take shotgun!"

WuJen looks around and smiles.  "You mean me, or did you suddenly develop an affinity for altering the laws of reality on a whim?"

"I can sit up front.  The Spells I know aren't exactly flashy combat magic though.  I can put people to sleep, read their minds, weaken their mental resistance with a touch, and produce some fairly decent illusions.  I can also make some walls and some telekinetic effects.  I suppose I could make the van fly.  Slowly. Also pretty obviously, like...might make the news obviously."

A thought occurs to him, "But hey, watch this and imagine it a bit larger"

In the middle of the van between all the various passengers a lifelike illusion of a tiny street with a tiny version of Chougou's van appears.  As the group watches details of the scene fill in, a run down neighborhood appears on the sides of the street, the van pulls up to a makeshift roadblock with some sketchy figures emerging from newly formed shadows.  Sounds begin to filter up from the scene, laughs and catcalls from the ambushers, the sounds of weapons being readied.  As the van becomes surrounded hatches open up on the sides and top, with several largish guns extending and training on the gangers.  A tiny rendition of Chougou's voice sounds from a PA system, quoting a line from a recent Trid "We don't want to start any trouble, but we will finish it if you do"...  At that point the little drama gets truly silly, the van turning into a giant robot and squishing the gangers...

"Ok, ignoring that no one will buy the van turns into a giant robot, hidden weapon emplacements are all over the trid and I'm betting would be believed."

Sorcery (Trid Phantasm, Force 3)
WuJen carried out 12 launched of one d6 :

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Drain
WuJen carried out 11 launched of one d6 :

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