Southside Story (OOC)

[Skysong]

What was intended to be a simple Zombie Dust deal ends up becoming a four way brawl between the Southside C's, the servants of Baron Samedi, the Freedom City Mob, and several superheroes. Who will come out on top?

[quotemyname]

Okay, lets get in on this. What would it take for Lukos to sneak on in there. Also, what type of warehouse are we talking, here?

This? Or this?

I'll make a small intro post. Lukos lives on the south side, so I'll assume he's been following the C's at a distance. He can easily track them at a good distance and remain out of sight. If this is not okay, let me know and I'll edit. Here goes!

EDIT: "Pungent aroma" is an oxymoron. However, I thought that the idea of being more aware of a neon sign through a sense of smell rather than sight since they are such a visual thing was just as much an oxymoron. I felt it fit. Don't know why I'm justifying my post. It's 2am. I'm tired, and felt that this deserved to be pointed out since one of my goals for Lukos is to step of the descriptive writing. What do you think?

[Skysong]

The warehouse hasn't been used to store anything for a while, but it's still full of empty shelves and broken palettes. Given that it's dark, it wouldn't be too hard for Lukos to sneak past the Human sentries, and since he doesn't know about the zombies, he judges that he could almost certainly get inside without being seen by the C's.

I like the description, definitely. The idea of the smell of a neon sign really makes him seem alien and animal-like, yet human at the same time.

[quotemyname]

Lukos will first case the joint, searching for any entry points that are not obvious. He would prefer to not have to use the front door if you know what I mean. He will use Skill Master for stealth checks getting a result of 18 for sneaking around the outside of the building and again for when he decides to enter the building. Lukos has no ranks in search, and it is unlikely that he will turn up any entry points that are truly hidden, so I won't bother rolling for that. Also, Lukos would keenly be aware of any strange smells while performing this investigation. Any whiff something strange would cause him to at least pause and try to identify it, if not second guess his decision to enter the building altogether.

Would you like another IC post describing his lurkings outside, or should I wait until I can make a full post describing his entry?

[Skysong]

I'll put up an NPC post to move the action along a little bit, and give Lukos a more detailed description of his surroundings. If you'd like to post again after that to describe his wanderings, that's fine. I just don't want to have the Mob show up and the all-out brawl start until Physicus shows up, hopefully with Fulcrum.

[quotemyname]

Okay, that sounds perfect. Lukos wouldn't rush in anyway. He's more the cold, calculating, wait for the most opportune moment type of guy.

[quotemyname]

That description was spot on perfect. Good job

I'll go ahead and leave a description about investigating the building.

[Skysong]

Thank you. It's fun to write for characters that perceive things differently from average people. :)

[Dariusprime]

Sorry for the delay. I'm here and working on a basic intro post.

Good descriptions all around I say! :)

[Skysong]

Glad to have you on board, Dariusprime.

[quotemyname]

Okay, THAT was a long post, but I am very happy with the way it turned out. Key to understanding Lukos is understanding his struggle to keep the animal inside of him locked up. Long introspective posts are a great way to bring that out! :D

[Skysong]

Spent Physicus's starting Hero Point to re-roll a natural 1 on Gather Information. I've not been rolling well lately.

[Skysong]

I put up an NPC post to start the action now that Physicus has given Fulcrum a call. That post was the surprise round (sorta), and only the Mobsters acted (by moving forward or reloading). The gas will take effect next round, though both Lukos and Physicus are too far away to be affected and Fulcrum hasn't arrived yet. At any rate, everyone needs to roll initiative.

Physicus - 29 (1d20+9)

Romeo's Crew - 18 (1d20+1)

Murielle and Zombies - 17 (1d20+2)

Mob Enforcers - 2 (1d20+1)

I take back what I said about Physicus rolling badly.

EDIT: I made a map, to clear things up with regard to positioning.

The orange star is Lukos.

The purple star is Physicus.

The dark red stars are Mob Enforcers.

The dark green stars are Zombies.

The dark blue stars are Southside C's.

The teal star is Romeo.

The light green star is Murielle.

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum: (1d20+1=13)

Her she comes to save the day!

Made a Notice check just in case, but I doubt its necessary Notice vs Warehouse/Mobsters/Gunfire (1d20+8=11)

[Skysong]

No need for the check; with all the confused shouting and choking coming from the C's, it's obvious something is going down, and Big Boris is only just moving inside. Fulcrum does notice that the warehouse has several skylights, though.

EDIT: Since Physicus has a much higher initiative modifier than Lukos, and he got a natural 20 on the roll, I'm going to go ahead and post with him before we finish the initiative rolls so that whoever goes next (it'll probably be some of the crooks, unless Lukos rolls really high) can go as soon as his roll is in.

EDIT 2: All of the C's and the dealer, Murielle, are now shaken, and take a -2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and checks thanks to Physicus's fearsome presence. I was hoping to get some of them to run away, but they all did a little too well. Maybe I'll try again next round.

The zombies presented in "Crooks!" aren't actually immune to fear, but I figured that, for the sake of movie-style horror and given that they're Baron Samedi's utterly mindless slaves, it made more sense to have them be unaffected by fearsome presence.

[quotemyname]

So I actually made that IC post before I saw the new developments in the OOC thread. Serves me right. I thought we were still in surprise rounds, but I guess not.

So here's what I going to do since it's late. I'm going to leave that post there for now, and roll initiative.

initiative (1d20+1=16) Not too shabby. That puts me after The C's and the Z's (haha), but before the Mobsters. Which is cool by me. As it turns out, the only people that act before me don't actually know that I am there, so my post may still stick Again, that's up to you.

Just for the record. The action I was going to take was intimidating the mobsters. Skill mastery for a 25 if that sticks.

to bed with me!

[Skysong]

Lukos was sneaking around, so I should have given him a surprise round. What I'll do instead is say that you can put a surprise round wherever you want, which is effectively how the post worked out, so there's no need to change it. Lukos guesses, based on the smell of the gas, that it's not just smoke. Given how close he is to the Mobsters, though, and thus how far he is from the C's, he's not in the affected area.

Since the Mobsters were actually out of range of Physicus's fearsome presence (range 50 ft, and they were at the other end of a 70 foot long warehouse), Lukos will have the first crack at them. They can't succeed against a 25, so all of the mobsters are now shaken, too, because Intimidate can't do more than that in combat.

Updated Initiative Order:

Physicus (29)

Romeo's Crew (18)

Murielle and Zombies (17)

Lukos (16)

Fulcrum (13)

Mobsters (2)

[quotemyname]

That's perfectly cool. That's exactly what I was going for. I just wanted to finish Phisicus' sentence

Desired cinematic effect achieved...Mission Accomplished. Also, I have to wonder how much easier this just got for me with all those thugs being at a -2

So we're just waiting on Romeo then?

[quotemyname]

Okay, so there is quite a lot going on in this thread. When I lept form the rafters, I was trying to land between the service door and the mob team. But from your posts, it sounds like I actually ended up between the mobsters and muriel. So can you clarify what happened there? Once I know the current state of affairs, I'll try and work on a post. But don't expect one before like late tonight, as I am packing to go home from school now (and probably should have already left)

I wouldn't expect you to, but maybe an updated map would help? There's just so much going on...

[Skysong]

I thought Lukos was dropping down directly in front of the mobsters to threaten them, resulting in a map that looks like this:

Lukos is still technically between the mobsters and the door, but they're not looking to leave, anyway. The only escapee he might have to worry about so far is Murielle, who will reach the door next turn unless stopped.

If I got it wrong, I'll edit the map and post.

[quotemyname]

I had originally meant to place myself near the back door. However, I hadn't known the layout of the map when I made that post. So if it is possible for me to be in between the back door and the mobsters, essentially guarding the only other exit from the building (as phisicus has the front entrace covered), that would be wonderful. If it is not possible for me to maneuver/jump that far, I can work with what is currently posted on that map. Lukos does have a rank in speed, so even if I have to take a move action to run/jump across the tops of those shelves in the diagram in order to achieve proper placement, that would be wonderful.

So in order to clarify, I had wanted to drop down in the top right corner of the drawn map. Essentially placing me right next to the man with the grenade launcher who is currently at the exit. Is this possible?

[Dariusprime]

Move Action to move behind Boris.

Standard Action to Grapple.

Grapple Attack vs Boris (1d20+8=14)

Grapple Check vs Boris (1d20+24=42)

I think I got him, if the attack hits. :D

[quotemyname]

*slaps Darius on the wrist* Hey! Still my turn!

It really shouldn't matter, though, because I'm probably not going to attack that guy anyway ;)

[Skysong]

Gotcha, quotemyname. I misinterpreted the post, so I'll fix it. Disregard the attempted tazing, and go ahead and post after Dariusprime's; it doesn't matter too much, since you two are adjacent in the order anyway.

Fulcrum got ol' Boris, but only barely. I'll put up a post in a bit.

[Dariusprime]

Sorry quote, I misread. That was your surprise round wasn't it? You can have him if you want. ;)