To: wmnabors@flash.net Subject: Turn 5 FCC: /u/ruban/mail-archive --text follows this line-- > > "Killed them, you should have killed them all while you had the > > chance!" screams the voice of Tutor in Cheetax's head. "Have I taught > > you nothing? Here, start with the boy..." > (**No, I will not kill, Laura not like it. Leave me alone Tutor**) [ I wonder if I'm overdoing this "voice in the head" bit - Cheetax isn't schizophrenic, she's not actually hearing voices, she's just imagining what Tutor would likely say in this situation. Sort of a memory. Is it OK, is it a nice literary effect, or should I tone it down? ] [ Phase 3 of the second full turn. Cheetax STR 28 gives 5.5" horizontal jump, +12" running gives +6" to that, vertical is x 1/2, so in sum Cheetax can leap almost 6", or 12 meters, straight up, with a sufficient (3 hex) running start. This tree is shorter than that, about 4", or 25 feet tall. ] Cheetax slings the screaming boy over her shoulder, cringes just a bit at the loud noise so close to her sensitive ears, but then ignores it. She takes a few running steps, and leaps to the very top of the nearby dry tree. The thin branches at the top creak at the weight they are asked to bear, and some of them snap and fall away. Cheetax digs the claws of her feet and one hand into the tree to stop their fall; the whole tree sways dangerously, and the boy screams louder. "You're loco! We're gonna fall!" [ Climbing roll to find a suitable branch. Needs 14-, roll 14] She pulls the clinging boy away, and plants him at arms-reach on the thinnest branch she can find that still looks as if it will bear his weight. It bends, and creaks loudly, but holds, and the boy wraps his arms and legs around it in a death grip. "Help! Help me! Somebody get me down! Aaaagh!" The plastic packet of white rocks he was holding falls down to the ground below, forgotten in the rush of self-preservation. Cheetax springs down from the tree, and addresses Virgil. "Your evil comes out now. You lie to me so you will suffer a Cheetah's FURY!" [ Breakfall 14-, roll 11. The "Sons of the Tiger" unstun. Phase 4: ] The elegant man with the blood on his hands turns to his ragged companion. "D., the lady seems to be ... distraught. Since you chose to be our liason to her, why don't YOU ... distract her ... while I wrap up events here. Especially since I seem to be more effective at DEALING with this hooded fellow. Then we will face her together." Doctor D. looks at Cheetax, then looks back at Virgil, ready to protest - but a look from his boss stops any complaint hw was going to make. The man in rags and jewelry strides between Virgil and Cheetax, and faces her, a bit scared, but with his long chain whirling in a deadly circle in front of him. "Come and get me your dirty kitty, some bruises just might make you pretty. You think you so super-powered - I know you're just a hairy coward." Virgil strikes at the wounded youth again, but this time the blue-clad martial artist springs away, and the punch finds only air. "You won't catch me again this way, senor." "Hold still, and die like a man, you jumping bean!" [ Tigers cancel their next phases to Martial Dodges - they won't act on 6. Roll 13, 15. Martial Dodge gives +5 DCV... not even close to a hit either roll. ] The big man in stained grey sweats on the other side of the park again swings his sap at the girl he is facing, and also misses his ducking, bobbing target. "You just got lucky that last time," the girl in blue says. "Try me again." "F%^&!" he exclaims. [ Phase 6: ] Cheetax feints at Doctor D., but then runs at Virgil, trying to get at the Wordsmen leader. The surprisingly agile tattered man lashes out with his long chain, but cannot change its course in time when Cheetax turns away from him, and the heavy metal links whiz by her. [ Cheetax's DCV 8. D's OCV 6, 2 levels. Roll 13, miss. ] Doctor D. cries out a warning to his leader. "Look out, boss, nothin' I could do, cat got by me and she comin' for you!" The Felinoid approaches Virgil at full speed, then at the last second possible gathers herself low, and springs into his chest. [ OCV 8, -1 for the move, -3 for pulling a 9.5d6 attack (you are still pullng your attacks, right?), +1 for partial surprise (it's not a new move, you tried it on the Tiger's Head man while Virgil was certainly watching, but V was expecting D to hold you off), Virgil DCV 4, no modifier for the last maneuver, Kidney Punch. Roll 11, hits by 1, so does 1/2 BODY. 9.5d6 roll 11 BODY, 37 STUN, half the BODY is 5 BODY, 37 STUN. Virgil wears no armor, PD 6, takes 0 BODY and 31 STUN. 2d6 roll 10, no Knockdown.] Cheetax hits him hard, and he only lets out a grunt as his eyes close, and he topples. The Felinoid thinks that she pulled her attack successfully this time, and no bones were broken. She makes sure that she does not land on him but furthers the damage by pushing him towards the ground and continuing her "flight" and landing a short distance past where Virgil landed. And she prepares for the next attack. [ Phase 6: ] The boy in the tree continues screaming but does not move, holding on to the shaky branch for dear life. The boy running out the west gate spares a glance in his direction, and calls "Hang on, Raoul! I'll get help!" He doesn't slow down running away. Doctor D. turns around to see Virgil down and Cheetax crouching out a bit beyond him. He mumbles to himself, "Virgil's out in one shot - he didn't matter a lot." He starts whirling the chain defensively, and raises his voice, calling towards the car. "IT VERY CLEAR, WE NEED HELP HERE! HEY SHOFAR, DON'T GO FAR!" The driver's door of the luxury car opens, and a very large and fat black man (7', 400#) in a chauffeur's uniform more slides than steps out. He has long curly hair and a beard, and he is carrying a shotgun. He moves slowly, and says nothing. Also she "extends" her claws like a cat does, and makes it evident that she did this. Doctor D. notices - if he weren't a black man, he might have turned pale. "OH MY. I'M GONNA DIE." He raises his voice one more time, and calls, this time towards the south side of the park. "MISTUH X, PAY YUH RESPECTS!" "D@#$!" says the man in the black hooded sweatsuit stepping out from the shadows under the tree on the south side of the park. "I had hoped you three - four - would be able to deal with sssuch a sssimple sssituation. Itsss obviousss you cannot." He gathers the front of his sweatsuit in his left hand, and rips the whole thing away. Underneath, he is wearing a shiny black and green full body armored costume, including a mirror-visored helmet, and a small emblem of a serpent on the left breast (black on green). He bears a large futuristic thick-barreled pistol in his right hand, and he raises it and zaps a bright green beam of energy at the dry tree near and behind him. The whole tree bursts into flame with a loud crackling roar. The fire limns his dark form from the side, and smoke rises upwards against the electric lamplight, and eventually the bright stars. He fingers a control on the side of his helmet, and roars, "SSSCAT KITTY! GO HOME NOW - AND I WILL SSSPARE YOUR LIFE!" His voice booms across the park. Cheetax's keen ears can pick out that it has been mechanically amplified. [ Next is phase 8, Cheetax to move. You can reach V or H immediately, without a move, D with a half-move, and attack the same phase, X, F, S are more than an half-move away, so one full phase would be spent just moving towards them.] 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 00 _______________________________________________________ 01 |L_\_/__________TT______L_..____________________TT___L| 02 | |-T - * * * TTTTTTT * * \ / * * * * * TTTT | | 03 | |/ \ TTT TO . ---T-r TTTTT | | 04 | |* \ . /|\b TT *| | 05 | |* \ / C V D . ] | \ *| | 06 | |* --T--- H . T T *| | 07 | |* /|\ \ / . ] FJKTTTTT *| | 08 | |* / | \ --T-- . T T *| | 09 | | [ ] / \ . | | 10 S|L| . . . . |L| 11 B| | . . . . . | | 12 B| :. . . . . . f . . . | | 13 | | . . . . . . . | | 14 | |TT . . . | | 15 | TTT [ X. . . . .g. . . . . . . . . . . .: | 16 | |TTT ] [] ] | | 17 | |* T T % % T \ / *| | 18 | |* TTTTTT -%%T%%- TTTTT ---T--- *| | 19 | |* TTTTT % % T / \ *| | 20 | |_*_*_*_*_*T*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_| | 21 |L_________________________L_________________________L| B - parked car (2+ hexes) f - broken water fountain : - park gates 0 - round picnic table, on its side . - paved path [ - bench skeleton * - bush [] - rectangular picnic table --T-- - skeletal dead tree TTTT - leafy living tree %%T%% - burning dry tree b,g - bags L - streetlamp C - Cheetax (11,05), ready to attack r - Hispanic kid, (19,03, 25' up in tree), holding on tight H - Tiger head (12,06), dodging K - Tiger left paw (23,07), unconscious J - Tiger right paw (23,07), fighting F D - Doctor D. (14,05), fighting H V - Virgil (12,05), unconscious F - Foulmouth (22,07), fighting J X - X, green armored man (11,18), threatening with blaster S - Shofar (01, 10), chauffeur man, walking with shotgun