Cyberpunk 2020

[Kheitain]

There aren't at present any Blades outside...

Suds opens the door and lets you and Rock wander in. You're met by a smallish man of what looks to be germanic decent who introduces himself as Vaso, for some reason one of his arms looks like it came off an african. The guy obviously isn't a fan of personal grooming with a few day old beard, missing teeth and in dire need of a haircut. He takes one look at Rocks shattered arm and leads the three of you to a small, sterile room with what looks like home-built medical instruments.

"We can cut it the rest of the way off, put a chrome one on, I've got a few used ones. *wink* That or we could find one off one of the recently deceased with a similar build. It would probably even come with free upgrades hehee!" He fiddles around with an old school hypodermic needle for a moment before gently pushing Rock onto the old dentists chair he uses as an operating table. Sticking him with the needle -"Fuck, I forgot to ask, new or used chrome, still warm razors or whatever I've got in stock as a replacement? quick before you pass out..."

During all of this Suds motions Zack to the corner of the room, "Best to stay out of his way, he's brilliant but has the attention span of a gnat." Thinking for a moment he flatly states, "Alright, I'll put it out in plain english. I'll offer 150eb per night, per guy. You guys move like a trained unit, and no I don't care where you're from, if it's something I have to lie about don't bother telling me. I'll supply gun-cammed MAC 10's along with medium armour jackets and pants when you're working. Any wounds you get while working will be stitched up by Vaso. Obviously my current bouncers are fucking incompetent. I'd prefer that your gang colours or whatever the fuck those tattoos are stay hidden, you leave your personal shit at the door. You check weapons, keep an eye on the crowd, try to keep the brawls to the arena where they belong. If shit does hit that fan get yourselves out first, all others come second. The whole place is under surveillance, not that anyone really cares what goes on in here. I'll pay for a dozen guys if they'll all move like your group did tonight, interested?"



The Queens are busy showing off the minor cuts they've managed to get, like they're some kind of tough guys. Probably the adrenalin, when you live in shit the only things that make you feel really alive are near misses or drugs. The three guys and one woman your treating seem like they'll be alright, though one guy looks like he's going into shock despite no obvious wounds.

The guys you yelled at yell some stupid shit back, "I smell bacon I smell pork...." "Oink Oink Oink," and "Yeah, or else what?" seem to be the most intelligent of the replies, but the group wanders off down the street still leering and heckling you as they go.

One of the guys at the bus stop is a member of the Black Queens gang, he's busy whining about how he's getting patched up by a pig, but isn't going anywhere anyways. What the other three are doing in a place like this isn't readily apparent. The bouncers pull the bodies off the sidewalk and just prop them up against the walls for now, grumbling amongst themselves.

[Norade]

The posers seem to be headed off anyway, even they're smart enough not to head back in. Jake's done his job with his comment, or Bosco has. Either way it's solved.

"Listen choo for brains, this ain't your turf and we'll get more done my way than yours..." Starts Jake when he's interrupted by Ashton speaking up.

"Come on Jake ease up on him, he's a Crusader. Besides, me and Edward have a bet going on when and how he flatlines. Winner gets his gear and the spoils from turning him over to a body bank. I'm guessing booster's with melee weapons, Edwards betting friendly fire, you want in?"

Jake laughs and says, "Nah, I'll pass on this. I bet Joe can tell you the odds for each already though."

Looking back at Bosco again Jake says, "I'm serious, waving your badge around makes you, and the rest of us by association a target. Keeping waving it around and I'll make you drop it. Complain about my methods in getting it from you your parts get used to patch these guys up."

-----

Meanwhile inside Rock says, "Give me your personal choice doc. I want tough, reliable, and deadly with a place to stick my colors on it."

Zack is cutting his deal with Suds while this happens and once the offer is out he says, "I have just the guys for the job. Myself and the Russian won't sign on full time, but I have enough good men to cover your needs including Rock here when he's back on his feet. I have a few more cut from his cloth and the rest will be agile and good with SMG's. That sound about right?"

[PeZook]

"Listen choo for brains, this ain't your turf and we'll get more done my way than yours..." Starts Jake when he's interrupted by Ashton speaking up.

Looking back at Bosco again Jake says, "I'm serious, waving your badge around makes you, and the rest of us by association a target. Keeping waving it around and I'll make you drop it. Complain about my methods in getting it from you your parts get used to patch these guys up."

I ignore them both for a second, trying to figure out what's wrong with the guy who seems to be going into shock, but there's little I can do without better equipment. I put him in a safe position, legs up, and cover him with my jacket. Only then do I finally stand up and face Jake.

"First of all, I'm an officer on the city's police force, so yes, it is 'my turf'. Second of all, we're not associates, so it's kinda difficult for me to make you a target, now is it? Third of all, can the threats. Please."

I stare at him for a second, "Now, unless you want to help me get this guy to the emergency room...", I wave towards the man going into shock, "...then we can talk about some quid pro quo, or you can go back to doing whatever it is you came here to do."

[Norade]

"Cops don't stay long here choomba, everybody knows that. Even the team coming will take forever because they know that the boosters own this patch of ground," As he says this he draws his shotgun and starts to ideally inspect it before saying, "If you want to work with Zack you're an associate, if not you might as well be parts. Which are you?"

"No threats choomba, you answer wrong you flatline," He cocks the action on his SMG as he asks this, unlike Zack he doesn't seem to be bluffing you. He might really squeeze the trigger if you answer wrong. Seeing this Ashton and Edward draw shotguns as well in case the cop does something stupid.

The cop tries to ignore them and Jake fires a shot into the pavement just past the cop's head, "We came here to make sure you couldn't refuse this offer. Now make a choice, either you're with us and you follow our rules, or that guy ain't the worst injury out here anymore."

(Not trying to be a dick out of game, but that is why I brought the team. Zack knew a cop might not like his methods and he wanted to ensure that you knew who was in charge.)

[PeZook]

I get startled. In the first moment, I want to go for my gun, but decide against it - I have principles, not suicidal tendencies, though more than once people have told me these are one and the same in this city.

I stand up, slowly, but not before making sure the shot didn't ricochet into any of the wounded, and turn around, raising my hands somewhat, holding them well away from my body.

"We had a deal, you fucking assholes!", I growl at Jake and his little clique.

Great..., I think immediately afterwards, ...now that they've decided to play gangsters, the guy will go into shock and flatline. Jackasses.

[Norade]

"Now, do you agree that you work for us and thus should avoid doing things to embarrass use in front of some of the toughest gangers in this city? The moment you agree with us you can get back to saving your friend," says Jake in a dead serious voice.

[PeZook]

I look Jake in the eye, and it's obvious just how angry I am at the entire situation. But faced with this sort of odds, there's little else I can do.

"Fine", I say, obviously unhappy, "I'll put the badge away, and will work for you, if you're that insistent.", the last bit I said with more than a bit of irony.

[Kheitain]

"That'll about do it," Suds says. "However, how would you like to work out Rocks current need of repair? We can make a fair deal for parts and labour, but seems how he wasn't exactly wounded in the line of duty some kind of renumeration must be made. I'm sure you can understand that I can't just go fixing him on your word that I'll have a dozen well organized guys in here tomorrow... We could simply take a bonde, you pay a deposit up front and I'll garnish your wages untill you've paid your debt... Any other ideas?"

Meanwhile Rock passes out, barely able to get out his last over the top badass remark. Vaso just reaches over and hits a button that causes the dentists' style chair to recline and raise to a comfortable work height. He fiddles around with a few instruments, unwrapping them from their sterile packaging and examining them before he starts work on amputating Rocks arm at the shoulder joint. "Fucking hell, damn thing shattered the entire glenohumeral and humerus, I'm going to need some of them neoprine bits." He wanders to the other side and inspects the bullet holes, "These one's'll be easy though, just a quick pull n' patch. Damn near popped out the other side!" He's mostly mumbling to himself while you two talk except for a quick, "Hey, call what his face guy with the neoprine replacement skeletal shit, I can't keep him under all fucking day! Tell him to just send us a whole shoulder package. I need it an hour ago! I'll get him all prepped so we can jsut pop it in and give him a shot o' the nanites, and somebody get me a fuckign arm to fit him! Check the boosters that are already dead first, they're still warm! Otherwise I should have some shit on ice that'll work." He turns to Zack, "Do you think he'd mind if his left arm is from a Samoan guy?"


Meanwhile outside...
Untill Jake and Ashton decided to compete for how much cocky and stupid could be crammed into one person, you were doing alright. It's nothing long term but a little bit of pressure and some bandages made out of their own clothing you're managing to stem the bleeding. The one guy is going deathly pale and seems to be having trouble breathing.

You also hear a few sirens, can't tell which vehicle yet because of how much it's echoing off the buildings in the area but it sounds like they just turned on and were nearby already.

A few bloodied gang members start trickling out of the doors, two or three at a time. Seems some of them figure they made their point and are going to limp home.

[Norade]

"The way I see it is, we're a pack we work as a pack. I assume that all dozen guys won't be working at once most nights, but given the cost for the work you're doing how does fifty eb a week off every member's wage for a week work, that's 2,100eb; a discount to be sure but we're not asking for top of the line chrome here either," says Zack as he looks over at the table where Rock is finally out.

The doctor has started removing shattered bones from the mangled shoulder and calling for parts to get it all fixed, but after a bit of fixing and mumbling he asks if Rock would mind an arm from a Samoan guy, Zack says in a jovial tone, "No idea, I guess will find out if the first thing he does when he gets up is slug you."
Then he hears sirens moving and says, "I should go let the guys know their bouncers here. Might save us some police issues."

Satisfied that they've done their job the young pack members lean against the car and try to look important. By this point Joe is back up, a hint of powder rests on his upper lip, and chatting on his phone making deals. As they chill they hear sirens and Jake looks a bit worried about their guns, but before he can do anything Zack is there.

Jake looks to his boss and says, "What do we do about these cops?"

Zack smiles and says, "Your bouncers at the Slammer now, so act like you belong and were called in to help deal with this shit storm."

[Kheitain]

Actually the time isn't going to sync that well, and unless you're interrupting your new boss to dash outside 2100eb isn't going to cover Rocks patch up. Providing that you actually listen to Suds and not go running outside the moment you hear cops...

"Actually before you go trying to walk out of here... 2100eb won't even cover the cost of replacing that arm, discount or not."

Vaso starts wiring Rock into life support, "This is going to take me all fucking night to get this done right."

Suds pauses long enough to allow thw interruption, "He does things a little unorthodox, but he used to be a trauma surgeon in the wars. Anyways, that pack of artificial bones and the arm alone will run you at least 1000eb, he's probably going to need a shot of nanites or two, or if you can spring it a full nanosurgeon pack. That'll run you 1500eb a shot or 6000eb for a colony."

Vaso pipes up again, " If you've got a proper doctor back home he'll be bredridden for at least two weeks without nanotech, a week at least with. If you don't have a trained physician he'll be stuck for a month before he can even get out of bed, and it'll be another two to four weeks depending on your level of care before he's completely fine. He should be dead you know. If you spring for the nanosurgeon colony, and leave him in my care I can have him walking in a week or two, and then another couple weeks till he's 100%. All up if you want him to be able to cover your ass again within the month he's going to need trained care, physio and some serious tech. You'll be oweing me, parts included, even at a discount on the labour, about 20 000eb. Feel free to take him back to your pack, he'll live once I amputate his arm and be mobile again in a little over two months, and still be armless."

Sud's crosses his arms and leans against the wall, "So unless he succumbs to his injuries he's going to be a rather expensive pet. You can understand why I don't want to front 20 000eb to a bunch of random gang members. I'm going to need some form of collateral, at this point he's not worth enough in parts for me to even put a lean against his corpse, and by the way, for en extra 1000eb or so you could just get him some new chrome.

[Norade]

Zack does the math in his head and curses at how expensive getting Rock fixed is going to be. He can afford it and doesn't own anything worth even close to 20,000eb to offer as collateral, yet at the same time he won't leave a pack member armless. Taking the wages from his men will work and doing so over ten weeks will get Rock up and running with a new chrome arm. However Zack decides to take a different path.

Zack asks, "How much would Rock, another built something like him, and myself draw in an arena match? We've generated a buzz around here and I know that betting numbers can get high, especially if we get some fixers to run it and sell pay-per-view on the net. My bouncers ensure that you get your cut of winnings. I sign a contract stating that Rock, another member to be named, and myself will fight in an arena match with profit sharing of 70/30 in your favor. Does that sound like a deal? All you need to do is find us an interesting match."

[Kheitain]

"I'm not a fan of gambling, especially when it comes to business. I'll take you're offer, but to ensure your cooperation untill then I'll have Vaso put a tiny little implant in your, Rock's and this mystery third man of your's arm. We'll take it out after the bouts over. Deal?"

[PeZook]

Seeing the idiots satisfied with their little show of machismo, I grit my teeth and put my badge under the shirt. As soon as their attention is turned elsewhere, I kneel by the guy that's had me so worried. Hearing he's having trouble breathing, I mutter, "Goddammit".

There's little I can do. Backup is definitely on the way, but before they call in an ambulance, he'll be dead.

Fuck this, I think, take out my Trauma Team card and break it in half. Hopefully, they can get here before it's too late.

[Norade]

"That's a bit cliche, but I guess I'll do with a little insurance that I hold up on my end. However, aside from you not trusting us, it's hardly a gamble that you'll make money off of this. Make it something fresh and new, bill it as your bouncers versus the challengers and let the word get out a while and you have money. If we win and aren't to much like hamburger after the first one maybe we make it a bi-monthly gig where we fight the winners of some fights in that span, maybe even hold a tournament to see who faces us," Zack keeps talking hoping that his idea can be a quick fix money wise for the near future.

[Kheitain]

Suds smiles and clasps his hands, "I'm glad we understand each other, I'll get Vaso to install one in you right now." He turns to Vaso, "Hey, put own of those arm thingers into this one, and the guy you're patching up, the ones you use to ensure cooperation."
Turning back to Zack, "It only takes a second, you want to be out or you just want a local?"

Out front you hear the sirens cut out just before the police roll up. The four cars leave their lights on and use their cars to block off the road. The officers in the passenger side kneels at the front wheel, propping their Millitech Ronins across the hood. Three of the drivers stand sideways behind the doors and pull their rifles out from the car. The last one saunters over to Bosco, rifle slung easily across his shoulder and asks, "So what's such a big deal that you had to call us in too? It looks fine now..."

All Officers are wearing armoured helmets, flak jackets and pants with a hand cannon of a sidearm on their hip. These guys are night patrol in the combat zone, their hardcore and more than ready to rock.

[PeZook]

Words can't describe how relieved I look to see the patrol cars pull up. I shake hands with the officer that walks up to me and quiclky motion for him to get into the bus stop.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you.", I say, grinning like an idiot, "The Slammer just had its annual riot. I've got three people wounded over here, they could use an ambulance, but can wait.", I start quickly summarizing the situation, "One's serious, Trauma Team will be picking him up in a few minutes. The boosters are leaving now, one by one, so we'll probably do the usual thing.", which means let them go, photographs as many as possible and then pick them up when opportunity arises, rather than turn the situation into one with barricaded suspects.

"Those guys", I point towards the bouncers, "Are security, several of them got killed when the whole thing started, at least one by an associate of the jackasses standing around there.", this time, I point towards the nomad group, "One of them took a shot at me", I add, speaking about Jake, "So I holed up here with the wounded as soon as I could and waited for you to arrive, rather than trying to tangle with him and his friends. They've been non-violent since then, but I'm pretty sure they came here to cause some serious trouble down the line."

When I'm done speaking, I pull out the badge again and put it back in its rightful place. I also unholster my gun, "So let's get the armed thugs secured and mop it up."

[Norade]

The pack members point loaded and cocked weapons back and taking aim they move back towards the car while Bosco is still busy talking with his fellow officers. Joe's already in the back and the rest of the pack are going to get into the car and take off. Judging by the tone of things Bosco is something of a joke and the officers would rather stay out of this than shoot though they're obviously able to do either. The team quickly starts strapping the surplus military helmets they usually wear as bike helmets on; they weren't going to wear them inside, but never leave home without head protection.

Rolling down a window Ashton calls out the passenger side to the officers and says, "You guys look ready to fuck shit up and I'd guess I few of you have taken a shotgun slug before. I may not look it, but I'm a pretty ace solo so if you decide you want to hinder our leaving this scene peacefully then you guys can chance needing a new limb. Besides, last thing you need is our boss seeing us hurt and calling down the pack on your station."

The tires start to squeal as Jake nails the gas and aims for the best gap between cars he can find, either any alley a sidewalk, or a side street as the case may be, as a final word to Bosco, Ashton says, "You really know how to ruin a party man..."

(Slugs versus flak doesn't look good for flak BTW, average damage is 17.5, the armor, being halved, stops half of that and the slug deals 8 or 9 points through. Even with an augmented BTM of -5 that's about 3 points a slug on average and each gun fires 2 shots per round. Just noting this so the GM and players know what the cops should already know.

Also looking at the map there might be three roads that need blocking off, assuming the cops aren't all just rolling up on one side. Though if the sirens were coming from both sides and anybody noticed they would already be gone.)

Meanwhile, inside, Zack says, "Is this like a big injection type thing or a small cut and some stitches? Actually, fuck it! A can of smash and a few minutes and I'll be good for anything short of major surgery."

[PeZook]

"Shit! GUN!", I shout as loud as I can as soon as the Nomands raise their weapons...and then I start shooting. I don't dive for the bus stop - if the nomands fire on it, they could hit one of the civilians, so I'll try to find some other cover.

[Kheitain]

Well you're going to move that fast Norade I guess the cop that goes to talk to Bosco get's as far as "So what's such a big deal tha..." "Shit gun!" yells Bosco as he starts to backpedal west (left on the map) towards the two cars for cover.

Unfortuanately for the storyline backpedalling, that was the reason for the sirens cutting out. Between sound reverberating off the buildings and them cutting out when they got close you wouldn't be able to discern direction that well without cyberaudio. They both came from Precinct #2 and turned the sirens off near Delany. If you look in the main book for the Night City map and look where the slammer is, two cars will be blocking off first street, allowing Sterling to remain operational. The other two cars come down the unnamed street between Delany and Sterling. For future reference that street is called Barnes.

The moment the Nomades raise their weapons the four officers kneeling behind the fenders open fire (readied actions). They each empty a clip and with well practiced hands hit the release and slam another magazine home just as the last rounds leave the barrels. Rolling randomly for who got hit, it's Edward, Jake and Ashton hit with 12, 13 and 7 rounds respectively. I'll roll individual damage and hit locations if you like, but it seems like they'll be well past Mortal 6. It seems like alot of unessesary rolling

Before Joe even has a chance to get into the waiting sedan there's a hail of bullets and his buddies are reduced to being swiss cheese on the pavement.
Initiative up for the actual combat starting...
One of the officers that were standing behind the doors backpedal till they are behind the cruisers, the officer that started talking to Bosco hits the ground, dropping his rifle as he tries to avoid the crossfire. Bosco makes it to the other side of a cruiser for cover.
Joe's still standing, almost miraculously unharmed but has eight (nine if Bosco draws his weapon while diving for cover) automatic weapons aimed at him.

[Kheitain]

Sorry PeZook, by the time I finished writingmy reply I forgot that you had posted that you would start shooting. The cops moved first the the initial round (Their readied shots winning a pre-round initiative I worked between them and the Nomads).

Pick a target in the middle of the storm of bullets or just eat pavement and get behind the cruiser and aim at Joe, your call.

[PeZook]

It happens fast: so fast that I can't even get my shot off. It's almost over before it began, as I turn around behind the cruiser I was gunning for and see a lone Nomad standing in the middle of the street, his buddies writhing on the ground...or dead. It takes me a second to ascertain the situation.

"Drop it! RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!", I finally scream at Joe, keeping the pistol on him. I can hear my heart pounding, and the fresh hit of adrenaline surging through my veins. If the Nomad so much as flinches, or tries to aim for the cops, the bus stop or the officer on the ground, I intend to double-tap him in the chest. Not that it will matter with so many weapons pointed at him.

(OOC: My handgun's not automatic)

[Norade]

(A few more questions, on timing as logically my guys should have been at or in the car while the cops were still unloading. These are, why do the cops get a bonus versus armed gang members who already had weapons in hand? Another, they should have moved as the cops were pulling up not right after the guns were drawn, so why do the cops assume things are moving fast at all? Third, could you please do a better job of describing time scales, the cops went from a long time away to very close with no mention of much going on outside. To be honest had the sense of time outside matched the sense of time inside these guys would have been calling Zack from the car and been driving away by now.

Another note, remember the average of 5d6 is 17.5, so you might as well ignore half of those shots as they're hitting SP18, then any shots between 19 and 21 will do only bruising damage to a BTM of -3 which I would guess most combat personnel would have so the vast majority of the shots will do a single point of damage. Odds are that you're going to be rolling close to average each roll with that many dice forming a nice curve so chances are my guys take a real bullet each and the rest bounce off or bruise. That is even if they don't get into the car, if so the door, as per FNF has 10 SP as it isn't layered armor that means any shots hitting the door will need to roll 28 or higher to hurt anybody. If we take the doors as stacked armor, then they need to deal 22 damage to bruise and past 25 to deal anything worse than a single point of damage.

Thus don't be so quick to write off the pack already, remember I know the rules and the guys I'm laying know what their armor can stop. They know they can't stay long, but expect to have time to escape.)

[Kheitain]

I do admit I've had trouble describing time scales. Things seem to have moved exceedingly quickly as you've made multiple things happen in your post so I've been just letting time move at a reactionary pace when not in combat. I'm not attempting to pull anything over on you with regards to the rules, I expect you to have a copy. The cops havn't got far to move from their mustering point down the street, hence them arriving reasonably quickly. It seemed to me with the focus being on Zack inside, with things outside reaching a bit of a stable point that a few minutes had past. You seemed to be making posts for both your guys inside and out at the same time so once Bosco had tucked away his badge and responded to your intimidation that things were following the indoor timeline, otherwise you would have continued your banter with him alongside your posts for Zack, Rock, Suds and Vaso.

Things moved quickly due to your post about the Nomads readying weapons and moving towards the car. Understandably fully armed and armoured cops expecting action aren't going to tolerate having shotguns levelled at them so well. The cops rolled up quickly with sirens off, passengers had to move a total of three steps to get into position, where the drivers were only getting out and standing behind the doors.

Satisfied that they've done their job the young pack members lean against the car and try to look important. By this point Joe is back up, a hint of powder rests on his upper lip, and chatting on his phone making deals.

The cops intentionally rolled up quickly and ready to go, this is a well known area to them and they have a system. I don't see any issue with that. That the speed at which they appear and be ready for action should surprise the young nomads, and responding by levelling shotguns that the cops know are lethal is probably a hotheaded and bad idea.

That all being said I did make a mistake on the amount of damage getting through SP18 and am making individual damage rolls now and I promise not to be altering anything the dice roll to save posting. If any of them do weather the damage and COOL checks I'll ghetto edit. Timelines I will work better on and I'm open to suggestions on how to do so in a play by post campaign, I am new to this after all. In my defense conversations between Zack and NPC's seem to be taking on a speed of hurried line recitals as opposed to a conversation between two men attempting to size each other up. He can't be everywhere instantly.

[Norade]

(Well, it seems as if I fucked my understanding of my named NPC's and messed up on thinking of the setting and timescale. Not the sort of mistake I make around the table, those end up as spectacular lapses in judgment and doing things like hearing reloading and popping out to get my head blown off by that guys partner. Then again, given my rolls to shoot through concealment in that game...)

[Kheitain]

OOC: That was a funny game.

Alrighty so after a lengthy discussion we've come to an agreement on where this chain of events should have gone. Norade I'll just post for your nomads in this instance seems how we've already figured out exactly what they're doing. We're going to back it up to the instant the cops lights are visible before they pull up.

As soon as the police cruisers enter the intersection the nomads pile into their sedan and strap on helmets. With Ashton at the wheel, Joe riding shotgun and Jake and Edward in the back. They gun it for Sterling, driving over the sidewalk to try and dodge the police cruisers.

The cops on the Sterling end of the block keep moving forwards leaving an opening behind them and the other two cruisers that came down Barnes, already moving in that direction give chase. The expert maneuvering of the officers and their previous momentum gets them around the corner in almost the same amount of time it takes Ashton to get the big sedan around the cops and the light pole and onto Sterling heading south.

Sterling is a large six lane artery running through the city, three lanes north and three south.

Meanwhile the other two cruisers split up and one heads across to block off Barnes while they radio for backup.

Do you want individual initiatives for the cars in the chase scene or just grouped by the vehicle to make it more streamlined? I'l just roll each person and make an average over all occupants.