Entering the Ghoul Slums

About three minutes ago Stubbly heard gunfire. He seemed sure it was an FN-HAR assault rifle firing in bursts. Linda called bullshit. It seems that no matter how many times they have this conversation, the elf continues to doubt the only thing Stubbly has ever displayed the least bit of interest or aptitude for.

It's a shame really, they'd make a lovely couple.

One of my diminutive homunculi showed up a few seconds ago. While I have heard no reports from them about the alleged gunfire this one has noticed someone flitting about on the ethereal over in Assembly Building 3. The gunfire was of little concern to me given the neighborhood, but this sounds like my show.

Linda would like me to check in within a few minutes. I assure Linda that I'll make detailed notes to relay on my return. Stubbly would like me to point to where he should dump his load. I avoid the crass joke about our pointy eared companion.

It takes only a blink to arrive astrally on location.

---

Transcript in Progress on RogerRed - logging to SSblitz mission record
Method: Team Comms Secure 5
Speaker: FrankL
Recipient: Lindaro


I'm sorry, your intended comms target is currently inactive. His link is marked "Someone has to get this fucking building ready." You may leave a message for playback.

How are you gone already? It's been like a minute and a half oame! I'm a little dizzy. I'll try to go through this as I recall it happening. Maybe you've seen something.

From the looks of the ghouls outside Assembly 3 I'd say the community can expect a hiccup in their food supplies. It's a shame really. Based on our going rate I'd say that they aren't really in a position to weather such an interruption.

Just inside the building the interlopers were messing up the packaging and storage room. They were intent on finding something. Maybe they're organ leggers trying to get a second pass at after market sales. For the haul you'd get out of here there certainly are a lot of them.

There's dwarf with a comically sized gun. I'm not a weapon crazed flower loving midget, but I'd guess it was an assault rifle and I'm willing to give Stubbly the benefit of the doubt on any details.

The troll is enormous. I never will get used to seeing the goblinized giants. The shady patches on his body point to some moderate cybering. His mother must be proud of that hair.

The sight of pitch where a human's vibrant glow should be caused a slight retching, but you'll be proud to know I didn't actually astrally dry heave this time. Based on his slight build and the way he holds his weapon I can only guess he's some tech joy boy. Tech loving humans and mages don't venture into the slums after organs. This lot must be here for us. Still, there was no sense helping them disrupt the building more.

The mage is relatively untrained, or unused to being the lone magic support. There's little else to explain how he didn't see my impatient helper's frantic signaling. His aura seems solid and even, if a little plain.

By this time they'd got the door open. I hadn't noticed the street sam before. He dispatched the shift manager so forcefully that _I_ flinched. I'll have to warn JoeJoe. Even if this one is an ork, the old man looks to be losing ground to the street's fresh meat.

It's a good thing we didn't decide to hide Shelly among the workers here. The approach of this group, whomever they are, appears to be sweep and burn. I believe they actually tried to find a way to fit the troll into the basement disassembly area. This can not end well.

I'm sorry Linda, I'm still a little shaken, so the details here might be off. I had to dodge out of the building for a bit because the mage started going astral again. When I got back into observation they appeared to be preparing for exit.

I'm not sure what the sequence was, but I think the sam killed Louisa Jackson. That poor woman. Her poor kid! I'm not sure what Wesley will do now. He's a good kid, but certainly too young to be out on his own. Maybe we could use a hand with errands and maintenance around the Bulkhead? I know we're already kind of put out on this case, but maybe you could talk with JoeJoe. Look at the kid as a form of bonus pay even.

Once they were clear of the interior I noticed the mage had an active foci. My outrage at the carnage got the better of me and I got sloppy. I managed to get a solid Mass Hysteria channeled through and for a moment it looked like things were ponies. The troll looked about ready to pop all over himself and the sam freaked out and bent the shadow up but good. Or the guy was double jointed with an extra wobly point in his arm already, you never know these days. Everyone else was standing around like donkeys. Street sam clean up no problem.

Only I misjudged the effects on their mage. Suddenly he cracked A next to me and kaboshed me pretty good. I'm lucky I got back into my meat fast enough to keep the blood coming out of my mouth from staining my clothes. Assuming the sam doesn't just enjoy punching the hell out of things he travels with he probably stopped when I did.

Anyways, I'm going to stay holed up here in the manager's office with these volunteers for now. I'll try to provide some early notice, but I might be too messed up to be on my game. Let me know when the blitz room is ready and I'll see you there.

Tell Stubbly that he's a go. He might as well just ejaculate everywhere. At this point he can't possibly end up doing more collateral damage then they're going to do.