Aaron: Dodge skill upgraded to 2d4. Aaron: - 2 upgrade points.
It had been a while since Aaron needed to equip a dodging skill—and the lack of upgrades made that clear. However, after the pseudo-death experience with Corey, Aaron was not about to fall short of using a lifesaving skill again. It was frustrating that he could not keep his mycoculturist skill active. Mushrooms always popped up in the strangest places, and having that skill available had often proved extremely beneficial.
“Oi, Grub!” Corey called out to the driver. “Drop Frimslaya and Miko at the next corna a’ead.”
The dwarf had been working hard not to notice his surroundings, but Corey’s voice broke that concentration. He had piled into a van with Corey and several other wood elves from the Boomer gang. They would drop off Aaron and a lookout roughly a block from the precinct. From there, Aaron and the lookout were expected to hoof it to the insertion point. Once there, Aaron would drink the shrink potion, break into the precinct, free their people, and exit with Corey and his goons disguised as cops. Simple was the goal.
“‘Ere,” Corey called out above the noise of the van and its passengers while holding out Swift’s shoulder bag. “One o’ me’s boyos pick’d this up. Thoght yu’s might wanna gets it back.”
“Thanks.” Aaron took the bag and slung it over his shoulder. So far, it had proven useful for the dwarf, and he hoped it would continue to be.
“Vision, brutha,” Corey called out again. “The bitty bottle is potent; yu’s only need a drop. But it can take a minute to get workin’. Go a’ead n’ take it now.”
Nodding with a thumbs up, Aaron patted his trenchcoat breast pockets, feeling the small containers within. One carried dust, which would feel so good right now. The other held the shrink potion. His hand lingered over the pocket with the dust for a moment longer, then switched to the other pocket and withdrew the shrink potion. Smoothly, Aaron popped the top, opened his mouth, and let a drop fall on his tongue.
“What in the burnin’ flames is yu’s doin’, Frimslaya!?”
Corey’s sudden interjection caused Aaron to pause and look at the elf with concern. The potion was nasty, but so was any other street potion Aaron had tried.
“Yu’s ain’t suppos’d to drink it, yu’s oaken-headed dwarf!” Corey spoke with his hands to make sure the message was conveyed. “Yu’s put a drop of the bitty on yu’s ‘ead!”
Aaron shrugged and put the potion back in his pocket.
“Yu’s dwarves! Always gotta drink what’s in a bottle.”
“Hey, there weren’t any instructions—” Aaron quickly clapped his mouth shut. He was confident those were the words he said, but that was not his voice saying the words. Looking around, the dwarf realized everyone had stopped what they were doing and stared at him.
“Frimslaya,” Corey spoke with a broadening smile. “Did yu’s just itty-bitty yu’s voice?”
The heat of embarrassment flushed hot up the dwarf’s neck, which prompted a wave of red-heated anger to wash down Aaron’s face. Snickers and stifled chuckles could be heard from the otherwise silent crew, but this further inflamed his anger. With rage boiling over, Aaron released his mouth and yelled, “You said this would take a minute!”
The dwarf’s tiny, screaming voice caused the entire van to erupt with laughter. Corey wiped a tear from his eye while speaking between laughs, “Aye. I says it’d take a minute—but I’s lyin’. I’s just gonna have a bit o’ fun wit yu’s.”
“Fun? Really!?”
This caused another wave of laughter to wash across the van along with calls across the van, “Say something else!” and “Keep talking, dwarf!”
Aaron gave everyone in the van the rudest hand gesture he could think of, then crossed his arms and tried to bury himself as deep as possible in his chair but was thrown slightly forward as the van came to a sudden halt.
“‘Ere’s yu’s stop,” Corey said while throwing back the van’s side door.
Miko gave Aaron a fleeting smile before she hopped out of the van. Aaron, still nurturing his bruised ego, made sure to forcibly push his way past every skinny wood elf before exiting.
“Tick, tock, Frimslaya,” Corey smiled widely before slamming the van door shut.
As the van peeled out and sped away from the corner, Aaron looked up at Miko and opened his mouth to talk; but then he thought otherwise and closed his mouth.
Miko laughed softly. She wore a pair of long pigtails that sprouted from either side of her head in a variety of bright colors that swayed back and forth as she laughed. The colors reminded Aaron of the flowers in the garden outside the Yakuza library. “Come on,” She said. “There’s an alley over here that they don’t watch too often.”
Falling in step with the gangster street elf, Aaron quickly flipped open his Hacklet and reviewed the schematic he would use to infiltrate the local precinct. His plan was to enter through a ventilation outlet, maneuver past the cells holding Tommy, Swift, and Jackie, and then clone McGrady’s credentials in a nearby hub to create release orders ‘directed’ by the office of city districting. Simple was the goal, but Aaron knew simple was rarely the action.
“Here we go,” Miko said, gesturing to a nearby brick wall.
The wall was featureless and dirty, with old graffiti that had faded from time and half-hearted washings. The alley was also non-descript, looking just as filthy and generic as any other alley in the city. However, security cameras were high up the wall, at either corner. Aaron checked his schematic, checked the wall, looked at his schematic again, and then the wall. He cursed, turned about, and walked back the way they had come.
“Where are you going?” Asked Miko.
“Just quiet for a minute and follow me.” The dwarf regretted speaking as he had nearly forgotten how small his voice had become. He wondered how long the effect would last.
Aaron – Hacking skill 11 vs. Difficult DT – SUCCESS
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“Okay, I’ve got the camera feeds. They’ve recorded us wandering down, looking lost, and walking away. I’ll delete that later when I know no one is looking…” Aaron said with a few quick keystrokes. “And now the cameras are in a feedback loop, so they only see an empty alley.”
“They never look at those cameras—I’m not even sure if they work.” Miko tried to hide her smile.
“Yeah, well, those cameras work. And after today, they’ll watch their cameras much more closely.” Aaron headed back to the wall.
As the duo approached the back of the precinct building a second time, the dwarf cursed again while looking up. “I think I have outdated schematics of the ventilation system.”
“Why do you think that?” Asked Miko.
“Because that outlet way up there,” Aaron pointed. “Is supposed to be down here.”
Miko stifled a gentle laugh. “I’m sorry. Your voice is just so cute!”
Aaron bowed his head and held his mouth in frustration.
“I’ll try not to laugh—promise. So, is that thing up there going to be a problem?”
Forcing himself to stop stroking the hairs on his chin while thinking, Aaron answered, “No.”
Pulling the shrink potion from his breast pocket, the dwarf uncorked it and let one drop fall on the crown of his head. Recorking the bottle and putting it back in the pocket, Aaron adjusted Swift’s shoulderbag and waited, expecting the potion to take effect any moment now.
“What are you going to do?”
A strange sensation washed over Aaron and seemed to envelop the atmosphere around him. It was a strange, trippy feeling to suddenly fall to the ground, yet his feet never moved. Down, down he went until the falling just stopped. He was still on his feet, but the air was different now, thicker, somehow. Looking up, Aaron saw the ginormous head of Miko bending down to get a closer look at him.
Her colorful, long pigtails hung low, nearly brushing the streets as a giant tooth-filled smile split open the bottom half of her face. “Oh, my sprites! A miniature dwarf! You are so cute!!”
Aaron quickly rushed back, trying not to get stomped, as Miko hopped about in excitement.
“Can I hold you?” The elf asked, leaning forward eagerly.
“Yes, please!” Aaron couldn’t tell if his voice had gotten even smaller, but Miko was all giggles as she offered a hand for the dwarf to climb on. He gave the elf a stern look, and she made an effort to restrain her excitement.
“So, how are you going to get up there?”
“I need you to throw me up to that ventilation outlet.”
“What?” Miko seemed genuinely shocked by the request.
“Throw me,” Aaron said loud and slow while pointing with both hands. “Up there.”
“I can’t throw you.”
“Why not?”
“It’s bad luck to throw a dwarf.” All the levity was gone from Miko’s face.
“It’s what?”
“It’s bad luck. Everyone knows you should never throw a dwarf, or you’ll get bad luck.”
“Seriously?” Aaron stomped, but Miko didn’t flinch. “Of all the Stone Father nonsense. This is why I hate being a dwarf!”
“You hate being a dwarf?”
“No!” Aaron snapped back. “Just throw me up there. You’re not going to get bad luck.”
“Oh, yes, I will.”
“Oh, no, you won’t.”
“Yes, I will!”
“No, you—” Aaron stopped and breathed deeply. “Look, I am a dwarf, and I am giving you permission to throw me. That eliminates all of the bad luck.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“I’m the dwarf here, not you. So, I get to say how the dwarven juju works. I allow you to throw me up there and eliminate all bad luck associated with this action.”
Miko looked up to the metal square sticking out of the wall above, then back to the dwarf. Worry, with a touch of fear, painted her face while the colorful pigtails outlined the sides.
“We don’t have time for this. Just throw me up there now.”
“Oh!” Miko moaned as she reared back with Aaron in hand. “I don’t want to do this.” Closing her eyes tight, Miko threw the dwarf high up in the air.
“Burning depths!” Aaron yelled out as he flew up into the air, flipping head over feet. Panic quickly set in as he passed the apex of his height. “Catch me! Catch me!”
Miko opened her eyes and saw the miniature dwarf rapidly falling to the ground. She sprinted forward with outstretched hands and leaped out to save Aaron from a terrible fate with the back alley street.
The miniature dwarf fell into her hands, and she reflexively drew him in close while curling herself into a ball. The side of her body hit the pavement hard, and she skidded across the abrasive surface with the remaining momentum. Her thigh, arm, and shoulder burned from the large abrasions, and she moaned in pain. A muffled yell came from the elf’s hands. She withdrew her cupped hands from her breast to see an angry but safe little dwarf.
“You coprolite-for-brains, elf!” Aaron lashed out. “What were you trying to do!? Did you even look when you threw me?”
“I was so scared,” Miko's eyes welled with tears. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Look,” Aaron looked directly into Miko’s large, wet, green eyes. “You need to throw me up there right now, and you need to see where you’re throwing me. If you don’t, I swear I will dig up every dead, stone-terded dwarf buried under this city and have their rock-hewn bodies hunt you with all the bad luck they can unearth. Understand?”
Fear and sadness were deep in Miko’s eyes as she nodded.
“Good. Now, throw me.”
Miko whimpered, but she reared back again with Aaron in hand. She kept her eyes open, focused on the metal square sticking out of the wall, and threw the miniature dwarf high into the air.
Aaron sailed high, this time seeing his target but also quickly realizing he couldn’t control his flight path. Still, he vainly flapped his arms and kicked his legs while saying, “No, no, no, no!”
Aaron smacked full-body against the brick wall and bounced off in a spin that landed him sliding across the top of the metal square. He slid right off the edge of the square. Aaron yelled out as he fell, but his fall and yell were cut short as Swift’s shoulder bag became stuck on a screw head sticking out of the metal.
Exhaling at the near miss, Aaron quickly reached around the vent’s opening.
Aaron – Dexterity (No skill) 6 vs. Normal DT – SUCCESS
With less difficulty than expected, the miniature dwarf managed to unhook the shoulder bag and slide through one of the vent’s slots. Poking his head out one last time, Aaron waved a hand down to Miko and yelled, “I’m in!”
Miko hopped, clapped excitedly, and waved back. “Be careful!”
Straightening his trenchcoat, adjusting the shoulder bag, and fixing his spectacles, Aaron looked down the long, dark vent shaft. He could feel an invisible clock ticking in the back of his brain. There was no telling how quick Corey would be—the wood street elf was very unpredictable regarding things like this. Turning the light of his Hacklet on, the dwarf set forward with a quickened pace and hoped the schematics were not too terribly wrong regarding the turns he needed to make in this maze of ventilation shafts.
An electric click made Aaron pause in his advance and look back. The point from where he had entered had a fan covering nearly the entire opening. The fan for the ventilation outlet, from which the tiny dwarf had entered, slowly began to turn. Aaron sprinted further into the shaft. The fan was spinning faster now, sucking air through the ventilation shaft and forcing it outside. The dwarf could feel his feet slipping on the slick metal as the wind picked up and threatened to push him back to the whirring blades of death. The walls and floor provided nothing to hold on to, but an intersection was nearby. He slipped, struggled, and desperately leaped with outstretched hands, reaching for the corner where the shafts met.
Aaron – Dexterity (No skill) 5 vs. Normal DT – SUCCESS
Fingertips clung to the corner as the fan reached its apex velocity. The wind whipped and pushed Aaron off his feet as the fan pulled him back. But the dwarf held tight and pulled himself around the corner. Once against the wall around the corner, the pull was not nearly as strong, and Aaron could keep his feet on the floor of the ventilation shaft.
Too many brushes with death today; that’s what Aaron thought as he flipped his Hacklet open to recheck his direction of travel. Nodding with confirmation and the route he needed to travel, he closed the Hacklet, adjusted the shoulder bag, and pushed through the strong winds as quickly as he could. The next objective was locating the prisoners whom he needed to free.