Chapter 1: Sortie, Runners!

God damn I'm stupid I tried to delete my first post but forgot that it deletes the entire thread...we'll have to redo it, although I remember the rolls everyone made. Dammit! Sorry everyone, this is what I mean when I say I'm new...I'll retype everything

Actually can anyone maybe copy and paste the old thread's info here? I apologize profusely for my stupidity, I feel awful. If you can repost the old info here, but I am retyping.

With a bang! you feel a powerful resonance under your feet. Monitors zigzag out of projectors and alight around the cortex, flashing unknown symbols, and levers and pedals extend out of the walls. You feel the tendril like synapses plug into the two holes in your neck. You're connected to the mind of the machine. [Spax listens for something, anything, but as usual only hears mental static that slowly fades away.]

The Type-12s stomp out of the hangar, and Commander Darani's red horned unit unbars a massive gate. As she steps aside and lets you pass through the gate, you hear her in your mind. ***"We've got three sluggies today. We all know they're damned slow, so this should be easy. Except if anyone is doing any out of cortex heroics today, please hit them in the red bulbs. Remember Zast, I had to pull you out of that thing's tentacles last time? It hurt the soul, buddy."*** Zast makes a rude gesture and punches Darani on the shoulder. Young, Darani is the commander because of her telepathy, she is foolhardy and talkative. The rest of you must communicate via hand signals and gestures. Darani 'talks' to fill the silence.

As you exit the city, the dead-skin like Amorphous Fields fills your monitors. Bubbling goop makes a misstep dangerous, and the ground has been known to crack. ***"Alright everyone, you know the drill. Be careful, and all that safety stuff."*** She lowers her arm to point at the slugs. The three yellow-brown gigantic slugs have multicolored mushrooms growing out of their shells, and glowing red bulbs cover their face, giving them a decorative air. Barbed tentacles grow out of their mouths and the backs of their shells.
***I yell, and we charge and decimate these things. Our usual plan."***
She 'yells' and raises a fist, and the Defensers pound across the fields to the slugs, making small, groundshaking leaps to avoid the goop. Did discipline die, or is it just Darani? The slugs grow larger in your monitors.

The slug on the left is the largest, it's tentacles almost whimsically floating behind it's shell, poised to shoot out. The slug in the middle is already distracted launching tentacles at Zast and Miu, but they seem to be doing a decent job of evading and parrying it's attacks so far. The right slug moves slower than the others, and seems slightly...sick. It is only moving forward.

What do you do? Roll initiative and state actions!

(I will now post what I remember of your posts so we can continue as normal. Copy and paste them into your posts and then edit them if you wish)

Spax listens and sighs as he only hears Darani in his mind. "Still not talking, buddy? Don't worry, I'll wait." He pats a pile of thick cables next to him.

Leaving the bunker, he spots Ara's distinctive pink defenser and playfully bows, and then gestures towards the slugs in a 'ladies first' motion.

He leans into his controls, and Gion sets off. "I can't believe I'm finally a runner, Gion! I'm the happiest I've been in my entire life."

Initiative: 5

(Spax, you should take an action like the others)

Ara says: "You ready to go, Soniku? This should be easy." She leaves the city with the others and runs along the other Defensers. When they reach the slugs, she spots Spax and his motions. She waves her hands in a 'no thanks' motion, and lifts up a painted bow and taps herself with it with a ping. I'll shoot from back here, you play here today. Soniku lowers to one knee with a thump, and Ara looses an arrow at the middle slug distracted with Zast and Miu.

Initiative: 6
Arrow attack: 11

Zofor sees the antics of the young'uns and thinks Those two are always so affectionate. The fingers of his Defenser Hei snap together to become a dagger, and he attacks. (sorry, anything I missed? What slug did you attack?

Initiative: 11 trained
Dagger: 19

I tense as the tentacles fly towards me. "Soniku, we've trained for this. I'm ready, I'm ready..." She pulls back on a lever while hitting a pedal and thinking "MOVE!" at the last moment, and hopes that she was fast enough.

If I manage to dodge, I'll try to whip out my dagger and slice slice those damn tentacles as they go by me.

(ooh: JUST WOW. It'd only have been better if the second roll was a one.)

Spax watches in awe as the event unfolds in front of him. The whine of the Defensers metallic and synth bodies plunging into the fray mixes with the wet, sloppy squishes coming from the slugs.

An arrow flies expertly from Ara's giant bow and pierces the monstrosity she was aiming at, he smiles proudly remembering how good Ara was at games of aiming and hitting targets that they played as kids. His warm memories swiftly change as he watches in horror as some of the slugs tentacles reach out toward her Defenser. Ara doesn't look like she's going to make it and Spax pushes Gion to intercept the enemies attacks.

OOC: Moving in front of Soniku with my blade gauntlet raised to block the slugs attack. Rolling Speed defense and adding one level of Effort.

(boom, pm incoming Osiris!)

While I wait for the others, I'll detail your anoetic Magnetic Drag 'whistler' cypher that is attached to your beautiful plug suits. You are all trained in their use. They can be used twice unlike most cyphers.

Magnetic Drag
Level: 6
Wearable: glove attached to hand of plugsuit.
Usable: Fires a magnetic cable
'Whistler' equipment is called so because of the 'whistling' sound that is heard when it pull runners along the cable. Their use is simple: Point at a metallic object, and you'll go flying to it, even if it's above you, like a Defenser. Runners use these to quickly mount other Defensers.

A note on Whistler use in conjunction with climbing Type-12 Zorahis:
Because of their unorthodox and uneven armor plating, Type-12s have good handholds and footholds and are easy to climb (or as easy as climbing a giant robot gets). So Type-12s are good runner platforms when runners aren't in their own.

OCC: Hey, since I had the crit, can I go with the minor effect of my illusion having a special quality? Namely, can the "cube" the illusion has to stay within move with me while the illusion lasts?

My breathing gets faster and faster as Soniku takes more damage, then silence. The monitors regain clarity and I see Gion standing above me with an outstretched hand. I take it and pull myself up, and then nod in thanks to Spax. I'm still shaken.
I examine Soniku, (what do I see?) and as Sofor seems to be cleaning up the two slugs, I turn towards S3 and see the two Aces. It always creeps me out when Osiris does that, it's like there's two giant ghosts. With a deep breath, I pick up my bow and take aim at the demented slug.

Gion rushes forward, but a second too late, the tentacles reach out toward Soniku and Ara inside with alarming speed, especially from something so inherently slow. "No! Ara!" Spax yells inside his Defensers hull. Almost as if Gion understood the mechanic humanoid springs forward with an extra burst of speed. Each footfall churns up the ground beneath.

(OOC: Sorry, I thought it would be Speed Defense to get there in time. I was fully ready to take the punishment from the slug to protect Ara. But being lower on the Initiative track, it makes sense that I didn't get there before the tentacles. As for my major effect... How about this?)

The gigantic gauntlet on Gion's right forearm splits in two with a mechanical whoosh and from inside a three-meter long, two-meter wide blade of synth-steel stabs forward cutting the air with a hiss. The gauntlet closing on top again as the blade fully extends into the air makes hollow "SHUNP!"

Spax maneuvers inside Gion's hull and brings his arm across in a wide arc, immediately the cogs, cables, and electronics transfer Spax's movements to Gion and the Defensers arm bearing the gigantic blade slices into the tentacles attacking Ara's Defenser Soniku. The blade easily slices the myriad of slimed tentacles with a single strike. The damaged tentacles retract almost as fast as they had attacked, each trailing a thin line of brown goop from the severed ends.

Spax maneuvers Gion to assist Soniku in getting up then gestures to gently take her bow. Gion kneels with the bow held over his head effectively becoming the base of a siege weapon. Giving Soniku the chance to pull back with both hands to fire. (OOC: I'm thinking +2 to attack and +2 damage!)