Jade Hood and Stone Fist issue #3 (System tryout)

Admin wrote:Jade Hood

The flat roof of the warehouse had a box section on top with a door heading inside. There were a couple of ways in that the group could see - smash the door in, or attempt to pick the lock. The dead goon had nothing like a key on him, so there might be some kind of special knock to use as a password.

Jade Hood strode over to take a look at the lock, wondering if a hair pin, from Mary might be sufficient to force the lock, without making a lot of noise. Alternatively he knew Stone Fist could break the lock fairly easily.

OOC:
Lets see if we can't get in quietly. I did think that if there was little chance of the door being forced without some noise, then we could always try and make a distraction outside, so that it might cover the breaking and entering. But maybe that would be self defeating.

Sj

yeah, if one of us could pick the lock, that would be great. Sneaking in first priority. Smashing in if all else fails.
Stone Fist grabs his burlap hood and places it on his head.

"We really need to get Mary some kind of mask," he mutters to no one in particular.

"A mask? That would mess up my hair!" whispers Mary.

All three pairs of eyes roll slowly to look up at her tangled, knotted mess of blonde hair sat atop her head.

Hooding her eyes Mary adds "I would say that it would make me look more ridiculous, but I'm not sure that's possible. Not... a... word."

Stone Fist turns to Jade Hood who kneels and fishes out a lock pick kit from his belt.

OOC The lock difficulty is 13, so Jade Hood needs 14 or more with his 4 Agility and 4 thief added. A roll of 6 required and he gets... 10,1 (11)

With a click Jade Hood opens the lock and the trio step inside. The bright sunlight contrasts sharply with the shadows inside and it takes a moment to adjust for Jade Hood and Mary. Stone Fist has no such trouble - in fact it seems like he can see through the darkness just fine! A set of iron steps lead down onto a metal walkway twenty feet off the floor of the warehouse which is stacked high with different kinds of crates. It's long (around 100m) and wide (40m or so) and some of the wooden crates are stacked to around 6m (20 feet) in height. There's enough dim light shed by dangling, dust covered bulbs with insects buzzing about them to reveal a dozen or so men lounging about. Some are sleeping on crates, others are playing dice around a table and doing it quite loudly as one wins, then another. An office at the far end of the room shows a fat man with a fan in hand, wafting himself to keep cool. Two men stand on the opposite side of his desk. Where the men in the warehouse and the fat man behind the desk are clearly locals, these two are suited and pale skinned. Their haircuts are neat and short, and one, the smaller of the two, wears round rimmed glasses. Their dark suits must be warm in this hot, cloying place, but neither seems unduly bothered by the heat, even if the fat man, with shirt splayed open and fan beating away, looks like he's melting.

Where the trio are stood, the walkway runs along the wall and offers steps at either end of the warehouse, one pair or which comes down next to the office. There are no guards on the upper level, but some of those 'guards' lounging about on crates may see you unless you exercise caution.

Oh, and all of the guards that you can see have tommy guns...

Admin wrote:Where the trio are stood, the walkway runs along the wall and offers steps at either end of the warehouse, one pair or which comes down next to the office. There are no guards on the upper level, but some of those 'guards' lounging about on crates may see you unless you exercise caution.

Oh, and all of the guards that you can see have tommy guns...

OOC: I'm all for trying to stealthily get to the office and listen in on what is going on, Dave do you want to follow or hang back with Mary whilst I see what I can hear? In any case I am happy to move along and find out what I can, hopefully they'll speak in a language from which I can hear something meaningful.

Sj

ooc: What would be the odds of not being seen if we did something like crawl/go hand over hand along the bottom of the upper walkway. Leaving Mary hiding behinds some crates where we currently are? Or would that be worse than just sneaking from one pile of crates to another until I can leap into the office? And is the floor of the office of thin enough wood that I think I can smash through it if I tried to leap up and through it?

Admin wrote:OOC well, you both have thief and are reasonably agile. There are plenty of 'guards' but none are the brightest of sparks. Stone Fists muscled bulk would easily punch through the thin wooden ceiling of the office were he able to get close enough. The sticking point is Mary. If you are wanting to get her close enough that she can translate and give you details of what is being said, you lose what advantage you have from your Thieving skills. It's your call. You could try the other way - distract the guards with one and go for the main man with the other. Or play it cool and take your time to get near the office, hoping it will give a bonus.

OOC:
I was hoping that since the Germans are unlikely to speak Arabic and the Egyptian unlike to speak German...ok think I what I need to do is have Mary follow me exactly, take her time and go slow which reduced the chances of something going wrong. I get her to take her shoes off for instance and get her to watch the way I stealth so she can learn from me. I would also suggest that Stone Fist take the opposite side or even stay here, that in the event we get noticed he'd be best placed to create a suitable distraction.

Dave if, however, you think this could be played differently please say so. Paul, if the plan goes ahead as above, consider the use of effort points to aid Mary as necessary.

Sj

Yeah, I was kind of hoping they spoke English as the common language between them since this is a territory controlled by the UK at this time. Mary is too clumsy to sneak, we found that out with her going over the wall.

How about this? We tie her to Stone Fist's back and hold tight with her mouth shut?

I like the split up idea as it does give us less of a chance of a large group being seen but don't like it because it now gives the bad guys two potential spot checks instead of one. But I do lean towards the idea as the best choice that we seem to have.

Jade Hood crept along the metal walkway, hugging shadow and Marys hand as she snuck behind. He turned, making a 'shush' motion and used all of his ninja training, a life time worth of trying to please a harsh set of masters, to hide her. Stone Fist watched from his vantage point.

OOC Using effort points (let's say... 2?) for JH to hide Mary. Roll 9,5,4,5. Pick the two 5s, then roll 6,3. Total roll is 19. Add to that JHs Thief (he can't use Agility because that's a personal thing. Thief is his knowledge which helps here) for a total of 23. Anyone spotting him needs a total of 24 or more, and with 2 perception, that's a roll of 22. Four guys can potentially see him. Rolls are... 10, 11, 13, 12 (in other words, about average)
Jade Hood, like Stone Fist, is on 3/5 effort.

Settling down, unseen, to look into the office and hear through the thin, gapped, ply ceiling which was bowed from a defective fan swaying in the middle, Mary listened. She turned to Jade Hood, translating. "...speaking in German. The Egyptian can speak halting German. He's talking about a factory being set up and wants assurances that workers can be gathered in time. Somewhere in the old quarter. Abdul Ali street, or equivalent. The egyptian is... negotiating. Price. He says that handling all this equipment.. the stuff in crates.. is garnering attention and its harder to keep people quiet. The British have been asking about the flasks and tubes. He wants... more money."

There was a sudden "URK!" and an explosion of glass as the fat egyptian was tossed through the office window! The guards were instantly alert and helping the fat man up as he lay amongst the glass. The two suited Germans stepped out to face the guards who levelled their guns at them.

Back on the walkway, Stone Fist glanced at Jade Hood and Mary. Stray bullets might hurt his friends! He tensed...

The larger of the two germans strode to the nearest guard who pointed the pistol at him, took the mans gun, hand and all, and placed it to his forehead. "Shoot." he stated in English. The guard, sweating, glanced at his boss on the floor before the german shouted "SHOOOT!"

BANG!

There was smoke, a few calls and cries, and a moment later the German, who'd been shot point blank in the forehead, scraped a flattened bullet from it and tossed it in the direction of the fat egyptian. The man paled, and the goons looked about, fearful. The smaller of the two germans crouched, dusted broken glass from the mans chest, and prodded him in the chest.

"The price will stay the same, and the factory will be ready tomorrow evening, as planned." translated Mary, keeping her voice low, frightened by what she'd just seen, though she managed to cover her mouth to stop herself crying out.

The two germans straightened, placed hats on their heads and waited a moment for the guards to part before walking towards a side exit door...

OOC Want to act now, or stay hidden?

I like the idea of staying hidden and wait for the Germans to leave. Then question the Egyptians as to where the factory is and head for that.

DavidMcMahon wrote:I like the idea of staying hidden and wait for the Germans to leave. Then question the Egyptians as to where the factory is and head for that.

OOC: Agreed, I am not sure JH would want to get into a fight with armed guards one side, invulnerable Nazi's the other and Mary potential collateral damage with us between. Once the Nazi's have gone I suggest we take out the guards, hopefully the surprise will mean they won't fight to hard and we can then question the Egyptian.

Sj

The Nazis strode, unmolested, through the guards and the warehouse, stopping to point to a particular crate, then wave hands at others near it. "Stack zese more carefully!" shouted the smaller bespectacled man. "If you break anything in here, zat vill cause delay, und delay is bad. For you."

With that the pair turned on their heels and left.

There was a palpable change in the atmosphere, an outrush of held breath, then instant jabbering as the guards blamed and counter blamed, gesticulating and getting louder with their shouting. The fat man picked up the flattened bullet, mopped his brow and shook his head. Jade Hood and Stone Fist both could guess what he was thinking - what have I gotten into?

He went back into his office, where Jade Hood and Mary waited nearby on the level up crouched on the walkway in shadow. "What now?" whispered Mary.

There were a dozen armed goons in a group, the fat man some 10m or so away in the office on his own, and plenty of places to use for cover. Eventually the goons would disperse into smaller groups, but chances were that the whole group aside from a few guards would leave on some errand or other.

OOC With regards combat options I will list a few for you, seeing as I was getting round to that weeks ago and got kicked in the nuts by real life:

Critical Blow - when you want to increase the chance of missing but dramatically boost your chances of knocking someone out, try this. It adds +4 to the opponents defence (that's bad) but also adds +6 to your own damage (Strength or whatever used) which is good.

Devastating Attack - like critical blow, but you're really laying it on the line! +8 (!) to the opponents defence, +12 to your damage. If you hit with this, chances are that you'll hurt even the hardiest of opponents!

Flailing attack - a series of weaker attacks, like jabs, which make it easier to hit your foe (-4 to your opponents defence) but the impact is greatly lessened (they get +6 to their resistance). Use this to 'soften' up a fast moving foe if you are slower and stronger than they are.

Grapple Attack - generally for use by slower, stronger opponents who want to pin their target in place and exert pressure on them/beat the snot out of them whilst they are on the floor.

Multi Attack - this is what you need to take out groups of goons or mooks. The more you attack, the harder it is to hit and damage them, but if you're a superhuman against normal guys, its the fastest way to take out a whole bunch of them. Bear in mind that if you hit, you hit all of them. If you miss, you miss all (and probably look silly). The 'steps' in difficulty (number of opponents, in increasing difficulty) are 2, 3-4, 5-8, 9-15, 16-30, 31-60 and 61-125 (for those that really know how to handle an unruly mob). If you attack 2 opponents its easier than attack 3 or 4 and so on. Requires an automatic action and a dice action to pull off (which you can do in one round) and you need to have sufficiently fast movement (superspeed in the case of very large groups) to get round to clobbering everyone.

Sweep Attack - a multi attack using an object that is long (streetlamp) or wide (net). It makes things slightly easier with regards a multi attack but you are limited to the length/size of the object you use with regards how far you can reach.

Team Attack - you can gang up with a friend, colleague, anyone you are fighting alongside, and make it easier to hit a single foe. It's not massively easier (+2 attack for each of you acting in a pair) but every little helps.

Pulling a punch - tricky one. When you have superstrength, or a particularly lethal attack, you can pull your punch. This adds +2 to the opponents resistance but you are striking to wound, not kill, so you won't kill an opponent, or send them flying through the air (unless you want to) by a really high roll. In the genre we are using, it's less '4 color' and more 'grim and gritty' so killing a bad guy is hardly frowned on. Not the wild west, for sure, but the authorities won't shed tears for a known killer being tossed off a roof, for example.

Planned knockback attack - when you want to kick, punch, throw or otherwise get your opponent away from you, use this. You can direct the blow to send them in the direction you like (off a cliff is generally a good way to end a fight).

Charging Attack - you can use your great speed (flight, running etc) to slam your whole body into an opponent but the problem is, it may harm you as well as them! For the big, fast, tough types. Don't try this if you are a 90lb weakling taking on a linebacker, for example.

Take Away - an attempt to grab an object away from an opponent, like a gun or weapon of some kind (or the controls for a doomsday device)

Trick Shot - when you want to target one specific part of your opponent for a result other than knocking their teeth out, use this. For example if a bad guy is wearing an armoured suit and you figure that the power pack is vulnerable, use this. If you are successful (and the more successful you are with extra successes) chances are you'll shut it down.

Block - use an object (other than your own body) to block an incoming blow. The bigger and tougher the better (using a rolled up newspaper generally only works for Jason Bourne in the movies). An unbreakable shield is probably the best way to go, but not everyone has one of those... Takes up the dice action (so you can't block and attack in the same round).

Dodge - try to get out of the way of an attack by any means. You add +2 defence but can't perform any dice action in the same round as dodging. If you have the acrobatics skill you can add that as well to defence when dodging, same with the superspeed power and one or two others.

Press the attack - if you win initiative you can lunge at your foe. That reduces your defence by 2, and your opponents defence by 2. Handy if you have a high defence (Combat Skill) like Jade Hood. This can be used in conjunction with most other combat manoeuvres.

Laying Back - the opposite of pressing the attack. If you win initiative and choose to 'lay back' increase both your own and your opponents defence by +2. This can be used in conjunction with most other combat manoeuvres.

Special conditions - Surprised characters can make no dice action in the first round of combat (so, they can't retaliate) and suffer -4 defence. Blindside is an attack from above and/or behind a target where they cannot see you coming. This reduces their defence by -2.

That's enough to be getting on with for now. You'll usually only use one or two of those moves in a fight, but might come across a situation where an opponent warrants a special attack other than simply taking a swing at them!

Admin wrote:

There were a dozen armed goons in a group, the fat man some 10m or so away in the office on his own, and plenty of places to use for cover. Eventually the goons would disperse into smaller groups, but chances were that the whole group aside from a few guards would leave on some errand or other.[/color]

OOC: Thanks for laying out the combat options. It seems, if read this right, that if we go for a mutli attack on the group of thugs, currently grouped together, then since they get serious minus to defence, due to surprise, it would make such an attack far more likely to succeed and do so well.

Therefore I will indicated to Mary to hold back and signal to Stonefist my intention to drop down on the guards from above whilst laying out on the others. He could then jump into combat to mop up any/all if I miss and or then leap to the fat man, if I succeed! What do you think Dave. Assume that I will use effort points to hit and hurt if necessary, I'd rather not miss; as I think this affords us the best chance to take them down with the minimum loss of life and risk to us.

Sj

ooc: I like the idea of Stone Fist using all those nice big crates that the Nazis told them to be careful of and clobber them with those. I guess that would be sweep attack in the new rules. Jade Hood can attack one corner of the mob with is martial arts multi attacks and Stone Fist can attack the other corner by throwing large objects at them.

DavidMcMahon wrote:ooc: I like the idea of Stone Fist using all those nice big crates that the Nazis told them to be careful of and clobber them with those. I guess that would be sweep attack in the new rules. Jade Hood can attack one corner of the mob with is martial arts multi attacks and Stone Fist can attack the other corner by throwing large objects at them.

OOC:
Ok sounds like a plan, lets roll!

Sj

Stone Fist dropped into the shadows behind a large bunch of crates and selected a long one, around 5m in length, and about a metre high and wide. Lifting it, he found it tricky to guess at its weight because of his superhuman strength, but figured it to be around 500lbs, well within his weight limits!

Nearby, Jade Hood peered over the top of a crate and nodded. He watched his friend pull his arm back then toss the crate at a bunch of thugs!

OOC 6 each is probably the way to do this. That adds +6 defence and resistance, but that's reduced to +2 defence and +6 resistance thanks to surprise for Jade Hood, and +0 defence +6 resistance for Stone Fist because he's using the bog long crate. Note that a smaller crate (1m cubed, say) would hurt but hit a maximum of two foes. Jade Hood is using effort points (he's on 3/5), no mention of effort points for Stone Fist so its dice only. The goons are average (2 across the board) so this shouldn't be too hard.

Jade Hood attacks (1 effort spent). CS6 for opponent, +2=8 defence + Roll 10,1=19. Jade Hood has CS11 + Martial Arts 7 + Roll 9,3,5. Pick the 9 and 5 + 11 + 7=32. He hits for 5 accuracy. Damage is 5 accuracy plus strength 3 + Roll (1 effort point) 8,6,8. Choose double 8, add roll 4,1. Total 29. Bad guys resistance is 2 (Body) + 6 (modifier) + roll 9,4=21. Each takes 8 damage. POW! All six are rendered unconscious! Jade Hood is on 1/5 effort

Like a whirling dervish Jade Hood lands in the middle of his foes, kicking, jabbing and butting! In moments they are down, and he turns to see Stone Fist toss a crate through the air!

OOC Stone Fist CS9 + Roll 9,4=22. Bad Guys CS2 + Modifier 0 + Roll 3,7=12. Hit for 4 accuracy. Damage is 4 accuracy + Strength 5 + Roll 5,3=17. Resistance is Body 2 + Modifier 6 + Roll 2,1=11. Each takes 6 damage, and is wounded, but none go down! All are on 2/8 Health points.

The crate crashes into the men, breaking and scattering bent copper tubing across the floor! The noise is deafening, but its about to get louder as the men scrabble for weapons and turn on their attackers!

OOC initiative... CS6 + 10,4=20 for goons, CS11 + 15 (doubled)=26 for Jade Hood, CS9 + 9,2=20 for Stone Fist. He goes before the goons because he has higher Agility. Jade Hood is within striking distance, Stone Fist only needs to move a few metres to get within hand to hand range. Actions?

Admin wrote:Jade Hood OOC initiative... CS6 + 10,4=20 for goons, CS11 + 15 (doubled)=26 for Jade Hood, CS9 + 9,2=20 for Stone Fist. He goes before the goons because he has higher Agility. Jade Hood is within striking distance, Stone Fist only needs to move a few metres to get within hand to hand range. Actions?

Jade strikes left and right against his downed opponents seeking where possible to use one against another in the confusion of the fight.

OOC:
Ok no effort points, with one left its too easy to spend them too fast and I need to save one. So I'll attack those who get up first and seem to be the most threatening. I am more interested in knocking guns out of hands or stopping them having a weapon advantage over us, than I am knocking them out. With Stone Fist coming right up, I realise they aren't going to do much, unless I fail to knock guns away from them.

If however there is the chance to grab a gun and get them to freeze so I'd shoot the first one who moved, then so be it, as that might just bring the fight to a halt straight away and in which case I'd kick guns away from anyone's reach and have them move in the opposite direction, suggesting Stone Fist take on the fat man. Even now he might be pulling a revolver out of a draw!!!

Sj

How many men are left? If Jade Hood's next attack takes down most of them, then Stone Fist will charge and punch. If there is a significant number of them left and not mixed in with Jade Hood, then he will grab another crate and throw.

OOC there are six guys left, all injured. I assume you take on 3 apiece. For Jade Hood, that works out as CS6 + Modifier 4 + Roll 1,8=19. Jade Hood gets CS11+Martial arts 7 + Roll 7,4=29. 4 Accuracy + 3 strength + roll 10,9=26. Bad guys have Body 2 + Modifier 4 + Roll 9,7=22. They take 4 damage each. Out!

Jade Hood spins and punches, kicks and chops. He really is a master of his art (7 Martial Arts is probably the worlds best, or near, at this point in time) and the dazed goons, despite having guns, don't get chance to use them as they thud to the floor, unconscious!

Stone Fist grins. His friend was a 'normal man' supposedly, but only in the way that he didn't have any superhuman powers. With his speed, skill and determination, he was like a one man army!

Determined to do the same, Stone Fist charges at the remaining three goons...

OOC CS6 + Modifier 4 + Roll 8,9 = 27 for the bad guys. CS9 + Brawling 3 + Roll 10,5 = 27 for Stone Fist! Missed!

Two of the three shoot at Stone Fist, point blank. The other at Jade Hood! The sound of gunshots ringing out fills the warehouse!

OOC Two on Stone Fist get Team Attack. CS6 + Weapons 1 + Team Attack +2 + Roll 6,8 (=23) and 8,5 (=22). Stone Fist has CS9 + Roll 6,4 (=19) against both. Both shots hit for 2 and 1 accuracy, plus damage of gun 4 + Roll 9,1 (=15) and 6,4 (=15) vs Stone Fists Resistance of Body 4 + Tough Skin 3 (which enhances his body to protect against killing attacks now as well) + Roll 10,7 = 24. Both guns strike, but the bullets flatten against Stone Fists chest!

Stone Fist takes two bullets to the chest, but is surprised as anyone when he barely feels them sting! For sure, the guns were small, the owners poor shots, but even so... was he now bulletproof?

Jade Hood was glad his friend was still on his feet but had a gunman of his own to dodge!

OOC CS6 + Weapons 1 + Roll 8,3=18. Jade Hood has CS11 + Roll 6,5=22. He easily ducks out of the way of the bullet!

"Stop! STOP!" shouts the Fat Man across the warehouse. He stands outside his office, pointing a small handgun up to the walkway where Mary stands transfixed, terrified! "You surrender, yes? Or girl.. such a pretty girl, she die, no?"

OOC there are three goons left within swinging range of Stone Fist and easy access to Jade Hood. About 10m away is the fat man outside his office pointing his handgun in the direction of Mary who is some 8m away from him. She looks terrified, but looks towards Jade Hood and Stone Fist with a glance...

Admin wrote:OOC there are three goons left within swinging range of Stone Fist and easy access to Jade Hood. About 10m away is the fat man outside his office pointing his handgun in the direction of Mary who is some 8m away from him. She looks terrified, but looks towards Jade Hood and Stone Fist with a glance...

OOC: Sorry, Paul what do we understand her to mean with the expression, "With a glance"...a glance of what? A glance meaning, "I've got a plan, attack I'll be ready to duck." Or a glance of, "I am not afraid to die, don't let him stop us"...etc! Not sure what her glance means and in some ways surrender or fighting on rides on it.

So I think we'll either surrender and look for an opportunity to fight back, or fight back and hope Mary has got more savvie in the survival dept than has been the case so far. In any case I feel so saddled with Mary, I didn't expect the fight to go so well, so far but having her with us to translate makes such a difference (at least we get to learn a bit more of what is going on) but she is continually such a liability I am beginning to think we leave her be, as she is a homing beacon for trouble! We know the adventure will progress without her - yes we might be handicapped, but so be it. What do you think Dave?

Sj

ooc: Mary is the classic damsel in distress/pulp heroine and I accept that. But it is getting a bit predictable that when we get in a fight, she is going to always get caught. Jade Hood needs to start teaching her some simple martial arts tricks for cases like that, like a heel rake along the guy's shin, who is holding her at gun/knife point.


"Why should we stop," yells the hooded Stone Fist. "You kill her, we get you, torture you in ways you can't imagine, and then leave bodies all here for the local police to clean up. You surrender, we ask questions, get proper answers, and we leave, with no bodies for the police to clean up."

He picks up another crate and prepares to throw it at the remaining men.

HE hopes the guy will either surrender or his words and actions set up an opportunity for Jade Hood to disarm the guy with his throwing stars. They did need him alive to question but he didn't need to be in good health for the questioning.

DavidMcMahon wrote:ooc: Mary is the classic damsel in distress/pulp heroine and I accept that. But it is getting a bit predictable that when we get in a fight, she is going to always get caught. Jade Hood needs to start teaching her some simple martial arts tricks for cases like that, like a heel rake along the guy's shin, who is holding her at gun/knife point.

OOC:
Oh man is she ever, but you make a good point. Paul when we get a breather I need to show her some defensive moves at least to break out of this usual cycle.

DavidMcMahon wrote:He picks up another crate and prepares to throw it at the remaining men.

Jade Hood, catching Mary's subtle nod and seeing how Stone Fist intimidates the goons, uses that moment to try and nail the fat man's aim and his gun with a throwing star.

OOC:
ok I've only got one effort point left, this seems like a good time to use it, if need be.

Sj

OOC Jade Hood goes first, Fat man second (high roll), Stone Fist third. Mary is your classic damsel in distress, but they all start out as screamers/feinters in the movies/serials. After time they develop a backbone and hit guys with sticks and vases, then some time later develop a right hook. If she sticks about with you two long enough be in no doubt she will improve - and I mean more than just the stick/vase thing, but that's part of the storyline to be revealed... Chucking her back in the library won't do her - or you - much good. I was hoping to hook her up with Mummy with regards her knowledge and the characters ancient origins, but not seen anything from Victor for a few days.

Right, we're talking about a trick shot to hit a specific part of his body. Range is 3 (10m), the Guys CS is 7, trick shot adds +4 and the roll comes up 5,4=23. Jade Hood is using a martial arts weapon, so he gets CS11, Martial arts 7 and roll (with 1 effort point) 8,1,7 (take 8,7) = 33. 4 accuracy. He only needed 1, so it's all good.

The silver star spun with a flash to knock the gun clean out of the Fat mans hand!

The trio of remaining goons turn a gun each on Mary, Jade Hood and Stone Fist, and the man wails "Don't just stand there! Shoot them!"

The goons had seen the bullets ping from the big mans chest, and now the lithe fellow toss a star to knock a gun from the bosses hand at 30 feet! One, then another, backed towards the door, tossed down their guns and fled!

"Cowards! COWARDS!" shouted the fat man in his native tongue. He turned ... into a slap from Mary! He hit the floor, and she leant over him "That's for threatening a lady!" she said "And this..." CHUD!

Stone Fist and Jade Hood both winced at the sight of Mary delivering a short sharp kick to his nether regions "Is to give you some idea of what will happen if you don't talk!"

She looked up, smiling, brushed hair from her face and dusted her hands off. "He's all yours boys!" she beamed.

OOC I will be altering the effort point mechanic recovery in some way. Will let you know.

ooc: Victor has been really really busy. Work going into the toilet and he is trying to find a new job. I talked with him a bit today. He isn't sure if he can post any time soon or will have to drop for awhile. He says he is having problems even finding ten minutes free near a computer to post right now. And i was really hoping we would meet his Mummy character soon too.

"We are very interested in your new employer," Stone Fist says, still holding the crate and doing his best to make it look like he is doing is casually with one hand, maybe even bouncing it up and down a bit if he thinks he can do that without fumbling or grunting with effort. "The ones that just left. The ones that paid you to kill us. I assume that they were the ones who paid you and you didn't decide to do this on your own."

He smiles at both Mary and the pain wracked man.