Hekazu

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

The Dragonclaw makes its save at 16 @Ryonara. Unfortunate.

Next up is Torus, @Gordian Nought.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Not a small wound, but not a kill either. You can definitely see it had an impact on the target.

Next up, on initiative count 13, is Parum @Ryonara.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Parum's initiative has defaulted to DM determination to move things along @Ryonara. It is now 13.

The Dragonclaws have spent their turn ridding themselves of the surprised status. It is now Kyra's turn @Norschtalen.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

Unsurprisingly the girl was someone you could just comfortably chew the fat with. It was one of the parts of being an info broker, being able to keep your clients and that meant making a positive impression on them. His remark was met with a laugh that he would like to chalk as genuine, but if money would have been at stake he would have gone for it being there for the sake of politeness thanks to the point he'd just gone over. Apparently she was used to stuff like that. "Well I should consider celebrating my birthdays then. If only I had the faintest idea when they are. If interesting stuff like this takes place often, I* wouldn't want to miss it all", he quipped, rubbing the underside of his nose with his knuckles.

Oddly enough, what followed was an explanation for why she acted like she was begging for a hail of bullets on herself. Apparently it was a trade secret or something like that, having to take the chances when possible. Croaks pushed air through his nose and gave a laugh at the whole shebang, catching the eyes of his accomplice for a brief second. "Yeah, but being a guest and taking your advantages don't include shaving off a whole grand total of nothing just for the opportunity to get shot if any gangster happens to have an itchy trigger finger. Look, if you are an info broker you can't be as innocent as you look. No matter what you look like. You ain't the first we run business with, and you wouldn't be the first that sold our info if you did. But that doesn't mean you can just rush into a bar full of armed people on who the fuck knows what drugs and pray their boss bails your ass out. It ain't gonna work out some time and you'll be sorry." He felt like a big brother or something saying all that. Not necessarily a good thing, considering she wasn't all that bad looking a chick. He sighed, letting the matter lay aside for now.

When it had finally turned out the guy they had caught wasn't braindead after all, Croaks had felt hope rise in his chest. Yet as soon as the biker had opened his lousy mouth, it had all collapsed onto an even lower level than before. Count the missteps: Thinking they have something to bargain with. Giving incomplete information. Being goddamn annoying to trying to make any sense out of. And as soon as that was pointed out, go on a fucking bender about who the fuck even knows at this point. And he physically inconvenienced his captors. But before he had put the gun singing, Nina had put her leg swinging. Double crack, kneecaps gone. Nice.

Though he approved of the return gesture, Croaks shook his head as he rose to his feet, speaking in a low volume possibly audible over the screams of bloody murder and agony coming from the near useless captive. "Hey, all you would have had to do was ask", he pointed out as he levelled his gun towards the broken knees and put a bullet through each for good measure, the shots of the weapon ringing way too loudly in the enclosed space. Though it was nothing Croaks wouldn't be used to by now. He didn't need to hear to get the next part out of his mouth, slamming the bottom of his foot on the hurting man's chest just to drive a point home and levelling his gun to point on the right side of the man's chest. His right, to be precise.

"ALL RIGHT FUCKO IN CASE I WASN'T CLEAR THIS STILL ISN'T YOUR GODDAMN WATER CLOSET!" he opened up with a strong statement and took his finger out from the trigger guard for just a second to remind the man that the other man with a gun, working legs and twice the muscle^{[citation needed]} had all this and wasn't afraid to put them into use. "SO UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO START SINGING RIGHT ABOUT FUCKING NOW, LOUD AND CLEAR, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE SITTING IN THAT CHAIR FOR A MINUTE LONGER!"

The man wasn't still containing his screaming, so Croaks flicked his gun upwards and took a shot at the reinforced wall next to the man's head. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear what it was that you said. You about to talk or scream a bit more, huh!?" he required, now finally getting through to the snivelling oaf.

"Fortress! That's what she works for, Scarlett!" the man yelled over the ringing in their own ears, but what was that if not just names. And as far as names came in Night City, you might as well have given a password without a username associated with it.

Croaks wasn't fooled. This was worth fucking nothing, and he wasn't afraid to let the man know it. "That ain't worth shit and you know it! You aren't just not housebroken, but also take us for drooling imbeciles, huh!?" he yelled out, giving the man exactly one second to defend himself. Thankfully he actually made some use out of it.

"She's a sneaky bastard, and good at fighting okay? Dog like to her boss too, not allowed to drive anything, you get?" Well, it was something Croaks had to admit. But that wouldn't lead them anywhere. The 'was that all' look he gave the man apparently more fuel, and he soon continued: "I- I know where you can find her! I'll show you! Just…" he tried before ending up cut off by Croaks.

"No need lad. You ain't going far with those legs aaaaany time soon. Where are we going?" the bigger gangster asked. Two seconds passed. The gun in Croaks's hands cracked again, a bullet splatting clean through the captive's lung, causing another screaming fit. "Well this guy doesn't know shit… cover yo ears", Croaks lamented, taking aim again. One through the stomach. Two on the other side of his ribcage. And one through the cranium. "Wouldn't wanna be the guy to clean that up", he commented at the resulting mess, unable to hear himself over his ringing ears. But soon they began settling again. Good thing with these police force guns, partial suppression came built in. No idea why, but it was awfully convenient.

He sighed, snapping the safety back on and taking a look at Nina. "We got a bit carried away there huh? Want a drink now? Ain't got much leads to follow with this shitpickle knowing fucking nothing", he complained, turning for the door behind them and looking outside for a second. A couple gang members were already on their way with cleaning supplies, not looking all too happy about it.

@13org

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Ah man we all have real crap iniatives. Does this mean our surprise round is effectively over since the enemy is at the top of the iniative order?

@Lucius Cypher

It means you will not have advantage against them since they are aware of you, but they have been denied their chance to act. You get your free round on them, just without anything special apart from that. Parum still has a chance to move before them, technically speaking. But that depends on the die.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

There, I believe that the 0th posts of the IC and OOC tabs are now up to date when it comes to relevant plot information. If there's anything incorrect or missing, do not hesitate to poke me! I'll fix them ASAP. My IC post is in the works, but I'll finish it tomorrow as well as put a bit of quality assurance work in.

@SleepingSilence@Sadko@Terminal@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Jollan@13org@Lady Selune

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

Most recent IC events by individual plotline:

The case of the Golemeth (Tracy & Theron)

Theron and Tracy both started tracking down a solo with substantial cybernetic augmentation. He had so much chrome and plate, he could just tank 11mm caseless tungsten penetrator rounds. Theron was sent after Golemeth by his corporate sponsors, the Intellitron Corporation, who provided him with most of his bioaugs. At the start of that thread, we did not know why Tracy was after Golemeth.

They were not the only ones after Golemeth. A number of gang bosses had put a price on his head, and he had spent several hours in one of the city's combat zones tearing gangers to shreds with heavy ordinance. Theron and Tracy both spent a few posts dancing around Golemeth, Gangers, and each other until...

A Hardware Spider showed up and no-selled Golemeth by hacking into his hardware and shutting him down on the spot. It then extracted a laser-disc CD from an internal drive in Golemeth's hardware and booked it. The gangers fell on Golemeth's carcass and ripped out most of everything else even remotely useful, leaving Golemeth without any limbs and most of the hardware needed to sustain his cybered-up autonomic functions and rendering him comatose even after the Hardware Spider left.

Theron was in the midst of dragging Golemeth away when Tracy confronted him in the middle of the street and bluffed/persuaded him to drag Golemeth to a private location where they could interrogate him together. The chosen location was a sex parlor that uploads personality templates and schemas into the bodies of human traffic and debtors for paying customers. Tracy, via some kind of unknown contact, persuaded the proprietor to give Theron and Tracy a room and equipment they could use to resuscitate and interrogate Golemeth.

Tracy then proceeded to interrogate Golemeth, revealing several potential leads.

A dead gang walking (Croaks & Nina)

The Colonel's Corner Amphibians, a small time gang specialising in river based operations led by two men by the names Ribby & Croaks, had suddenly lost their main supplier. The news of this arrived by most unusual means, that being a trench coat wearing corporate agent who they considered their best way onward. Ribby was quite opposed to Croaks trying to do something about all this, but knowing that he could not talk his brother from another mother out of the task, he'd arranged an info broker to visit the bar they called their HQ. Just so Croaks would have something to go on.

Surprisingly enough the meeting with Nina Ruadh, the broker they'd called in (who by Croaks's later discoveries needed a severe replacement for her self-preservation instincts), ended with many things different to what had originally been planned for. The most important detail would have to be how Miss Ruadh had suggested teaming up in the task and how her expertise had driven their interest away from the corporate guy, instead suggesting looking into other avenues. And one presented itself before their faces just now. A certain red furred exotic of canine disposition had left an unconscious guy outside. And they had heard rumours of someone matching the description trying to find info on the Lt. just as well.

The pair are currently interrogating the quite alive biker, but it isn't looking all too bright for results. The man can barely speak while unhurt, and given how uncooperative they are, applying the hurt has already had to begin. It remains to be seen if anything worthwhile can be gained at all.

The misadventures of a Reaper (Scarlett)

TO DO: Sum up in more detail than OOC tab. Likely to be merged with above.

NCPD, put your hands up! (Samed)

A quick look at a crime scene has been had, though a reassignment to other tasks is soon to follow. It is to be expected that it might bind the man together with a higher ranking individual, but the case of the vanishing gear looks like a classic sales event to outside forces.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

Right, this has taken me much too long. Responsibilities for student organisation annual ball struck harder than anticipated, and I chose to prioritise them as you might understand. I'll be looking to get my own post as well as the recaps up ASAP. I apologise for my failure in getting to this earlier.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

The brief conversation regarding the plan of action was ended with an analysis. If it was necessary to cast the other spell, they would. But the cliff was much too high to traverse down with rope if they did not want to risk splitting their forces. Not to mention the old druid who did not exactly look the part of one that climbed ropes deftly and reliably. The spell used to ensure a safe fall was the way to go, and with the length of the drop they might even allow themselves a moment of falling before casting it, making the assault ever faster. And as far as the life in the camp looked, nobody was paying any particular mind to the cliff they were on. It was all shaping up to be a terrifically good plan, if expensive in spells.

The adventurers lined up for a dash and a jump, and were soon soaring through the air. They had their landing points on both sides of the mouth of the cave, but not before it itself, allowing them to be ready to act immediately when they were to come to view. Catching the guard off guard was the biggest benefit of their approach, and they were not about to let it go to waste. There was barely a clink in their equipment as they touched down to the ground with the exception of the mightier clang from Brannor, but by then they were already at the ready to move.

The sight the first attackers saw before them was exactly as they had hoped. The guards began scrambling for their weapons, but it would still be a while before they would actually draw them and be ready to put up a true fight. They had the upper hand here. And they would take it.

Mechanics&Rolls

The Dragonclaws are surprised by the party. They rolled 23 for initiative, so anyone who acts before that has advantage on their attacks. In any case, they miss their actions and movement for the first round in combat. And yes. We are in combat, rushing in through the 30 foot wide mouth of the cave into the darker parts. The guards are thirty or so feet from the entrance, but anyone should be able to reach them if they wish to with their weapons reach of 5 feet accounted for.

Anyone who has yet to roll for initiative in encouraged to do so promptly so we can get this show on the road.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity@Ryonara@Gordian Nought@Lucius Cypher@Norschtalen

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Would we get a surprise round against the enemy at least?

@Norschtalen

TBD. It seems likely with this approach, that much I can say.