Havana, you manage to slip out of the bar before the Honor guards can get their hands on you, but this is the Daimyo's building. Glitch follows, without really understanding why. He doesn't protest, but he does ask you where you're taking him along the way. You should be aware: there are Honor guards everywhere in the Neon Pagoda, and they don't so much act as individuals, as they do a hive mind. You've been flagged by them for suspicious activity, and you can't help but feel like you're being watched... That's when a familiar face works its way out of the crowd in the bar — Rostam.
Rostam, Seigi and Kai are a little confused when you suddenly bow, and leave; but they're deeply entrenched in booze, and conversation, so they don't give it a second thought. You catch up to Havana and her mysterious friend just outside the bar. The figure in the shadows is slipping through the ductwork, and following the pair wherever they go. You see it drawing a blade from its back, as it quietly makes its way closer to them from above.
What do you do?
Comments
(Rolled: 2d6+2. Rolls: 3, 3. Total: 8)
Got my own stuff on my mind... but was Rostam bailing on the party, too? Is he on to us? He wouldn't be working with the Guard... I know that much.
Once we're outside the bar it's a matter of keeping low and getting gone.
"We gotta get gone, Glitch," I watch out backs, thankful that I'm stylin' tame today. At least I'm not glowing, right? "you can't go to a place like that thinkin' what you were thinking and have nobody take notice. But I'm with you. You ain't done nothin, right? Thinkin' is not a crime."
Sometimes it is...
Rostam isn't really present in the Veil... he's hard to pick out for anyone turned on. But he's a maelstrom in the flow and I know he's following us. I just have to trust he's on our side here.
"This way," this isn't my home turf so I'm not intimate. But I'm the kind that's sometimes asked to leave discreetly. I take the dark ways out, and gently touch the contacts of my palm disruptor with my fingertips... and hope I don't have to rely on it.
Rostam, you scale the side of the bar's entrance, up into the rafters of the Neon Pagoda's main hall. The balconies below are filled with conference goers socializing. The drop from up here is a solid three stories to the glass floor overlooking the Neon Pagoda's main club. You see your target, sword drawn, holding onto one of the many support struts of the thin aluminum trusses supporting ceiling of the main hall — footing up here is precarious, and you can feel the support trusses flexing under your weight.
Don't fall.
Whoever your target is, they haven't spotted you yet — but it looks like they're about to pounce on Havana's companion. What do you do?
Havana, you're not aware of this as of yet, no — unless you're actively scanning the area for any dangers, in which case you should probably roll Analyze. Just out of curiosity, are you carrying your magnum?
Glitch follows you, but it's slow going getting through the crowd of the Neon Pagoda at this hour — especially a crowd of self-possessed corporate drones that are busy networking their way to the top of the corporate ladder. The elevators and stairs have honor guards posted at them. They're not actively looking for you, but they are scanning everyone trying to enter/leave. If you can get past them, you'll pretty much be home free.
What do you do?
But I'm alert and wary for danger, so let's go with the analysis roll, it can help us get to safety, or alert me about unseen dangers.
Analyze the situation: Scared+0
(Rolled: 2d6. Rolls: 2, 6. Total: 8)
What is my best way out? Just play it cool and walk past? Or do we need to find a secret path.
What if anything appears out of place?
Of course, my sense of the flow might be a factor here. What do I feel.
As for what appears out of place, at first it appears that would be Rostam – because you catch him scaling the side of the bar's facade into the rafters – but then you spot him dashing along the trusses of the building in pursuit of some shadowy figure, with a sword drawn, staring at you and Glitch.
Rostam, your eyes are on the cloaked figure as they stalk their prey. You dart between the struts towards them, and launch your attack.
Sounds like you're trying to Neutralize them. Roll it!
"Wait for the right moment," I say softly to Glitch without looking. As we linger and hopefully just look like we're enjoying some together time outside the party.
Glancing up at Rostam and our pursuer, though, has given me an idea. I trace the conduits and wires from the neon and glaring overheads... find a spot where they meet. A junction, a switch... and as I pass I'll touch it with my disruptor, casual--like a breeze... but the discharge should overload whatever's linked... hopefully blow a few of those neon tubes... send some quickening sparks flying and get these guards looking the other way so we get make dust.
Rolling to Divert the guard's attention from myself and Glitch. +0Scared +1Analyze
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 6, 4. Total: 11)
* Your actions create an opportunity for you or someone else. (For Rostam, or for Glitch to also escape if need be)
* You’re able to slip away. (Will take this or the previous twice if need be)
(Rolled: 3d6+2. Rolls: 5, 1, 6. Total: 14)
Continued in [NULL] Glitching Out [H3]
Rostam, You land your kick square on the would-be assassin's shoulder, exactly where you aimed it. They're heavier than you expected though, perhaps sporting a military-grade sleeve. They stumble forward, almost losing their balance before they grab on to a strut, and turn to face you. They raise their sword to swing at you, and the lights explode underneath you, sending sparks flying. An arc of electricity discharges through the support strut this mysterious figure is holding on to, and they convulse as the high-amperage courses through their body. Their sword goes flying off into the distance, and they don't recover from the shock quickly enough to catch it.
A few short moments later, the shock subsides, and they reassess their odds with you — evidently they don't like it, because they bolt. Leaping from truss to truss, they make their way for the window, and the rooftops outside.
Do you pursue them?
The target crashes through a window in the upper rafters of the Neon Pagoda, but the chaos down below leaves most people clueless. You pursue them across the beams, out the window, and into the warm, muggy night. A tremendous updraft hits you as you cross the threshold of the window, and land on a small overhang of the Neon Pagoda's lowest roof. The target has already started running for some skybridges on the north-side of the pagoda.
I know you've already hit Parkour in this thread, but I think your pursuit of whoever this is plays into that hand perfectly. If you agree, roll it. If not, what do you do?
Parkour with Mad (+1)
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 6, 4. Total: 11)
Leave no trail or trace.
Navigate to an advantageous spot.
Change, reorganize, or manipulate the environment to their detriment.
You have the drop on them, and they have nowhere to go. What do you do?
It's a cybernetic helmet, completely obscuring whoever is underneath it. The glowing cameras where eyes should be focus on you, apertures narrowing into thin slits. The figure stands their ground.
"I don't know who you are, but I've got no quarrel with you. I'm an enforcer, protecting the interests of my employer, and I am sworn to secrecy — I won't betray them."
"I don't know that name," they answer, "and I operate wherever my master tells me to. It would be prudent to let me go..."