Track 7:San Francisco-Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Lew looks quizzically at the flying sphere but does not move.
"Are you talking through this thing then?" He asks.

Instead of answering, two long metal arms emerge from the sphere, grab Lew, and carry him down the shaft on a wild ride to join his fellow investigators. It places him on the ground, not far from where Zara is slumped over in the grasp of a woman dressed as a nurse, gently enough to avoid harming him. Lew can see that chaos reigns down here in the bowels of the building.

[jp1885]

Setting the bag of meat to one side, Tony strikes back at the bestial fellow.

DEX 14 + Bartitsu skill (3) + danger bonus = 18,[dice]0[/dice]

Damage,1d6 I think? My character sheet says 1d8 but looking through past posts I’m not sure that’s correct. [dice]1[/dice]

”Down boy!” snaps the investigator authoritatively, giving the brute a sharp tap with his stick.

[SunlessNick]

OOC:   Do I take it that I'm unconscious for the time being?

Spoiler:

Since I misinterpreted the intent of the device, let's say you recover quickly.

[Mr. Handy]

"Leave him alone!" says Liz, spraying the attacking orderly in the face with her mace.

OOC,The idea was that the modification to the radio was to make it emit a high frequency that animals (or part-animals) could hear but humans couldn't. I think that since we're level 2, we all have a +1 damage bonus. 1D8 is probably your HP per level, not the damage you cause. Dexterity roll (12) trying to mace the orderly: [dice]0[/dice]

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"Leave him alone!" says Liz, spraying the attacking orderly in the face with her mace.

OOC,The idea was that the modification to the radio was to make it emit a high frequency that animals (or part-animals) could hear but humans couldn't. I think that since we're level 2, we all have a +1 damage bonus. 1D8 is probably your HP per level, not the damage you cause. Dexterity roll (12) trying to mace the orderly: [dice]239185:0[/dice]

Spoiler:

My misinterpretation of the device. Let's say all the Good Guys recover quickly.

Tony's sharp strike upon the orderly, plus the effect of the Mace, renders the orderly entirely harmless.

As Zara recovers quickly from the effect of the high frequency sound, the elevator opens to reveal the tall, slender man formerly seen as a holographic image wearing stereotypical Chinese robes. In the flesh, now dressed in a sedate Western suit, he emerges from the elevator and directs his attention to the surgeon.

"Fool! This is not the Chosen One. I should have left you back on that blasted island. However," he continues more softly, "all is not lost. Lota, your only fully successful experiment, has kindly provided us with a bargaining chip."

Turning to address the investigators, he says "An even exchange. The ailurothrope for your charming companion's life."

[jp1885]

Tony mulls over his options: does he try to lop off the head or the sting?

Odds Lota Evens Foo,[dice]0[/dice]

The mental coin toss made, the playboy detective teleports behind the latest arrival and attempts to give the fellow a well-deserved drubbing.

DEX now 13 + Bartitsu skill (3) + danger bonus = 17,[dice]1[/dice]

Sadly, overbalancing to compensate for his sudden reappearance, his stick swishes inches from the villain's head.

[Mr. Handy]

Seeing that Tony has attacked Dr. Fu Manchu, Liz sprays Lota with the mace in an effort to rescue Zara.

OOC,Dexterity roll (12) trying to mace [b]Lota[/b]: [dice]0[/dice]

[SunlessNick]

Zara realises that Liz's mace can't hit Lota without also hitting her - she screws her eyes shut and turns her head away from that attack.

[Starspawn338]

Lew is disoriented from the sudden flight down and tries to quickly decipher what is going on. As his feet hit the ground, he staggers forward and reaches to the cylinder to steady himself.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Lota is reduced to lashing out blindly with her claws because of the devastating effect of the Mace.

Spoiler:

dex = 15, - 3 for Blind, random target, including the bad guys[dice]0[/dice]

She only manages to produce an unnerving sharp sound as they move through the air with alarming speed.

Meanwhile, alarmed by the sudden appearance of Tony behind him, but able to avoid the deadly blow of his stick, the man who calls himself Fu reacts by striking back, in the manner of the martial arts of the Far East.

Spoiler:

dex = 9[dice]1[/dice]damage[dice]2[/dice]

He lands a moderately strong blow with the edge of his hand on Tony's arm; fortunately not the one he uses to wield the stick.

Struggling to his feet, the surgeon races to the elevator and desperately presses the call button.

[jp1885]

“Well played sir! Have at you!” cries Tony, adopting a fighting stance and striking out once again.

DEX (including all) 17,[dice]0[/dice]

This time he hits home!

Damage,[dice]1[/dice]

A powerful strike indeed!

[SunlessNick]

Feeling Lota thrashing about, Zara tries to get free of her grip.

Strength 6
Rolled: 7

I guess Lota wants to keep her hostage...

[Mr. Handy]

Liz sprays her mace at Fu Manchu next, hoping to incapacitate him as well.

OOC,Dexterity roll (12) trying to mace [b]Fu Manchu[/b]: [dice]0[/dice]

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Still sightless due to the effects of the Mace, Lota releases Zara from her grip and stumbles around aimlessly. The surgeon enters the elevator as soon as it arrives and disappears behind its closing doors. The seriously injured Fu manages to avoid the Mace, but, evidently deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, races away down the forward corridor, then turns to the left, out of sight. Not much later a voice emerges from all parts of the building, echoing off the metal corridors. It seems to be a prerecorded female voice.

"Prepare for evacuation. Begin boarding now. Demolition in thirty minutes." Not long afterwards, "Twenty-nine minutes."

[jp1885]

“I think we had better scarper,” says Tony, his voice slightly strained. “Are you all up for a climb?”

If the sphere that grabbed Lew is still around, perhaps that could be reprogrammed to fly him and possibly Zara up the old lift-shaft, leaving Tony and Liz to climb as best they can?

[SunlessNick]

Zara tries pressing her hand against the metal plate the surgeon used to call the elevator down.

[Starspawn338]

OOC,I tried to grab the disc that took me down, ostensibly to steady myself but if I can hold it for Liz to try to reprogram, I will.

Lew looks nervously to the others as the countdown starts.
"I'm not sure you can climb out that fast. Is there any other ways to go you have found?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Let me try my hand at reprogramming that sphere," says Liz, taking out her tools and examining it. "If that doesn't work, I'm up for a climb. It beats getting blown to smithereens. Or we could try to find out where everyone down here is 'boarding.' There must be another way out. We haven't found another exit besides the elevator and the shaft we used. At least we don't have to worry about sabotaging the bad doctor's experiments down here. The self-destruct should take care of that."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Zara tries pressing her hand against the metal plate the surgeon used to call the elevator down.

Perhaps surprisingly, the elevator opens up after a brief wait.

Twenty-eight minutes

Spoiler:

[dice]0[/dice]

There is enough room inside to hold as many as four persons.

Twenty-seven minutes

A quick glance inside reveals only a few buttons, marked (from top to bottom) with the letters Z, L, and B.

Twenty-six minutes

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"Let me try my hand at reprogramming that sphere," says Liz, taking out her tools and examining it. "If that doesn't work, I'm up for a climb. It beats getting blown to smithereens. Or we could try to find out where everyone down here is 'boarding.' There must be another way out. We haven't found another exit besides the elevator and the shaft we used. At least we don't have to worry about sabotaging the bad doctor's experiments down here. The self-destruct should take care of that."

Spoiler:

int = 15 + 1 Scientific Knowledge = 16[dice]0[/dice] borderline result, so let's have something interesting happen.

Twenty-five minutes

After some tinkering with the device, Liz is barely able to reprogram it to act as a lifting device. The only drawback is that it will carry only enough weight to take one person back up the air shaft.